Coastal Western India is a contribution to several areas of historical study. Most obviously, it lies in the area of Indo-Portuguese history, a field of research at present undergoing a renaissance. Secondly, this book contributes to another fast-growing area, that of maritime history. Finally, some of these studies should interest historians of India. Among the topics covered in this book are a survey of the Goa archives, an historiographical study of “corruption” and “corsairs” in the sixteenth century, analyses of the crowd in Portuguese India and of Goa as a “port city”, an investigation of the role of Indians in the Portuguese Indian economy, and a discussion of Indian seafarers.