The article on the a cclimatisation of plants from the East in Brazil during the 17 th and 18 th centuries is very interesting and informative, although it is less forward-looking in terms of methodological novelties. This is, in fact, a subject to which he would return, always looking at the “ usefulness ” of botanical transfers between the East and the Americas, their economic usefulness and possibly how they affect ed trade flows by displacing the demand for exotic products.

More unexpected is the attention given to the p opular riots in the time of D. João V. Since this king was one of LFA ’ s favourite characters, he shows how popular emotions were not lacking in the circumscribed Portuguese environment either . A ccording to mechanisms of unrest known elsewhere, namely studied by French historiography, using the scarce economic elements available for the period, the author nevertheless manages to show how the urban and rural riots of 1709, 1710, 1721 , and 1723 were triggered and then quelled. Not many, as you might expect, during a period when the economic situation was not particularly troubled.

The article “ Sobre a introdução e a difusão do milho maís em Portugal ” [On the introduction and spread of maize in Portugal] is particularly noteworthy among his research. This subject caught the attention of many historians (e.g. , Vitorino Magalhães Godinho, Frédéric Mauro , and António de Oliveira), geographers (Orlando Ribeiro), botanists , and other experts, and LFA did not fail to make an excellent contribution on the subject. The “ maize revolution ” is a passionate topic, which received yet another contribution with this article that better date s the spread of maize according to the regions of the country and avoids a generalisation of an expansion that would have been slower than many have claimed. And later too, with its generalisation dating back to the 18 th and 19 th centuries, especially in the North.

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