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Western Power in Asia: Its Slow Rise and Swift Fall, 1415 – 1999

Western Power in Asia: Its Slow Rise and Swift Fall, 1415-1999 is a unique contribution to the understanding of present-day Asia, offering readers a unique overview of the 500 extraordinary years of Western power and influence in Asia. Never before has so much political narrative on the entire Western colonial experience been covered in a single volume like this book. 

Author and Asian history expert Arthur Cotterell brings each era to life, giving incisive analysis to key events, using well-chosen illustrations and quotations from contemporary sources to represent Western and Eastern voices from each period in question. Painting a vast historical canvas of the whole colonial period from the arrival of the Portuguese in India in the fifteenth century till the delayed liberation in 1999 of their last colony, Eastern Timor, this book provides a reflective insight into the origins of many of today’s economic and trade structures in the robust region of Asia. 

A knowledgeable and comprehensive survey, Western Power in Asia will be an important and authoritative resource for students and anyone interested in world history.