In 1928, A Sketch of the History of Portugal, a translation by Constantino José dos Santos of Sérgio’s Bosquejo published in 1923, came out in English. Then in 1929, a Spanish translation entitled Historia de Portugal (History of Portugal) was published by Editora Labor in Barcelona. Almost the whole of this book follows the original text very closely, thus showing that the main ideas as well as their development and articulation had been previously decided. This was the arrival point of those first years spent constantly labouring in support of reforms in Portugal where history occupied a central position as an intellectual instrument for acting upon society. For Sérgio, however, who did no archive research, history was a mere reflection on matters that had been disparagingly handed over to investigative history and often simply led to archival erudition.

Nevertheless, his essays and controversial discussions would have a positive impact. We know that right from the start they motivated João Lúcio de Azevedo (1845-1933) to write his Épocas de Portugal económico. Esboços de História (Ages of Economic Portugal. Sketches from History, 1929).

Although not a historian, Sérgio never abandoned the writing of history, nor did he desist from what he called the application of the rationalist method. In 1941, he planned to publish a História de Portugal (History of Portugal) and the first volume sub-titled Introdução geográfica (Geographical Introduction) did indeed come out. However, the political police immediately appeared to hurriedly withdraw it from the market – an official euphemism to say that the censor had banned its sale. There was no shortage of critics - once again, Sérgio had become polemical. The issue this time was the designation ‘agrarian monarchy’ being given to the first era of Portuguese history and this would become one of the main battles he had to fight. It involved convincing readers that fishing and salt were the triggers that started the main maritime commercial activity in Portugal – and that it was not agricultural products that had determined that the bourgeoisie in the ports would devote themselves to transactions with other regions of Europe. Fishing and salt must, therefore, assume a major importance in the explanation of Portugal’s past. It was through these activities that Portugal “expanded” in international trade, wrote Sérgio. However, the dominant official ideology, centred on Portugal as an essentially rural nation, sought to refute such a reality - the reality of a trade in products originating on the coast - which had charted its collective destiny. Later the designation ‘agrarian monarchy’ that Lúcio de Azevedo had coined and given to the 12th-14th centuries would become official.

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