Joaquim Romero Magalhães

Born in Lisbon (1918), the son of Vitorino Henriques Godinho – an army officer and Republican politician – and Maria José Vilhena Barbosa de Magalhães. Secondary studies at Gil Vicente and Pedro Nunes High Schools, degree in Historical and Philosophical Sciences at Lisbon University’s Faculty of Literature (FLUL, 1940), Extraordinary Lecturer at FLUL (1941-1944), researcher at France’s National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS, 1947-1960), PhD in Literature at Paris University’s Faculty of Literature (1959), Full Professor at the Higher Institute of Overseas Studies in Lisbon (ISEU, 1960-1962), Honorary PhD from and Professor at Clermont-Ferrand University’s Faculty of Literature and Human Sciences (FLSH, 1970-1974), Minister of Education and Culture (1974), Full Professor at New Lisbon University’s Faculty of Social and Human Sciences (FCSH-UNL), co-ordinator of the Sociology Department (1975-1988) and Director of the National Library (1984). Winner of the Prix d’Histoire Maritime awarded by France’s Naval Academy (1970) and the Prémio Balzan (1990), corresponding member of the Brazilian Academy of Literature (ABL) and the Royal Academy in London. Directed various literary collections, particularly for Edições Cosmos, and founded and directed the journal Revista de História Económica e Social (1979).

Although he began by studying Philosophy (Razão e História – Introdução a um problema [Reason and History – Introduction to a problem], 1940, Esboço sobre alguns problemas da Lógica [An outline of a few problems of Logic], 1943), his interest soon settled on History, whereupon he immediately began to conduct research on the Discoveries and the Portuguese Expansion. He initially worked on two lines of investigation: a painstaking and erudite study of the sources (Documentos para a História da Expansão Portuguesa [Documents for a History of the Portuguese Expansion], 1943-1956) for a very broad subject area (A Expansão Quatrocentista portuguesa [The Portuguese Expansion in the Fifteenth Century], 1944); and an attempt to reconstitute the cultures and civilisations that existed before the arrival of the Portuguese (História económica e social da Expansão Portuguesa [Economic and social history of the Portuguese Expansion], 1947; O "Mediterrâneo saariano" e as caravanas do ouro – séculos XI ao século XVI [The "Saharan Mediterranean" and the gold caravans – the 11^th to the 16^th centuries], 1956). It was only thus, by conjugating both lines of research, that he felt able to reconstruct Portuguese history and its impact on the world of the 15^th and 16^th centuries. He pursued his studies at the Practical School of Higher Studies (EPHE) in Paris – the home of Lucien Febvre, Fernand Braudel and Ernest Labrousse. There he presented Prix et monnaies au Portugal, 1750-1850 [Prices and money in Portugal, 1750-1850] (1955) and L’économie de l’empire portugais – XV^e et XVI^e siècles [The economy of the Portuguese empire – 15^th and 16^th centuries] (1966). The latter was his PhD thesis and was also published in Portugal between 1963 and 1971 under the title Os descobrimentos e a economia mundial [The discoveries and the world economy], with a number of additions (definitive edition, 1983-1984). He belonged to the grand school of historical studies that grew up around the journal Annales (Économies – Sociétés – Civilisations) and stands out for the way in which he resisted the dictatorship (he was twice removed from his functions at Portuguese universities as a result) and for his civic interventions in the field of democracy. The latter gave rise to several publications, including O Socialismo e o futuro da Península [Socialism and the future of the Peninsula] (1970) and Portugal. A Pátria bloqueada e a responsabilidade da cidadania [Portugal. The blocked Motherland and the responsibility of citizenship] (1985). He also presented some original proposals for the reform of the Portuguese education system: Um rumo para a educação [A path forward for education] (1974).

We owe him the updating and renewal of the study of the history of the Portuguese Expansion within a world context. Taking the thoughts and research of Oliveira Martins, Jaime Cortesão and Duarte Leite as his starting point, he managed to go much further and to construct some very enriching explanations. A economia dos descobrimentos henriquinos [The economy of the discoveries under Prince Henry the Navigator] (1962) and Os descobrimentos e a economia mundial reveal the breadth of the issues with which he concerned himself and show how historical research can conjugate and weave together different aspects of the various social sciences. In the domain of the modern and contemporary history of Portugal he also wrote some fundamental studies and promoted research work that re-wrote the book on many topics: A estrutura da antiga sociedade portuguesa [The structure of Portuguese society of old] (1971), Mito e mercadoria, utopia e prática de navegar, séculos XIII-XVIII [Myth and merchandise, utopia and sailing practises, 13^th – 18^th centuries] (1962). He was also responsible for pointing out new themes and new problems for research work and dissertations that he oversaw, especially during the period in which he taught at New Lisbon University (UNL).

The lessons he gave in erudite rigueur, taking a broader methodological approach and problematizing sources as cultural objects, making attempts at quantification using and cross-referencing the different social sciences, theoretical justification and the application of an historical vision to the different domains of knowledge, as well as in active citizenship all combined to lead to a notable renewal of the study of history in Portugal. As he himself wrote in one of his earliest works, "it is not possible to analyse the problems of the contemporary Portuguese situation without looking at them within the framework of our country’s evolution – that is to say, without studying the conditions under which the world in which we live was formed, the genesis of our culture, of our society and of the politico-economic structure of Portugal". By really pursuing his own proposition that history should be seen in the light of a global dialectic and that history is a way of thinking, he laid the groundwork for a truly rich and stimulating vision of the contemporary world.