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THE PORTUGUESE IN WEST AFRICA, 1415–1670

The Portuguese in West Africa, 1415–1670, brings together a collection of documents – the majority in new English translation – that illustrate aspects of the encounters between the Portuguese and the peoples of north and west Africa. This period witnessed the diaspora of the Sephardic Jews, the emi-gration of Portuguese to west Africa and the islands, and the beginnings of the black diaspora associated with the slave trade. The documents show how the Portuguese tried to understand the societies with which they came into contact, and to reconcile their experience with the myths and legends inher-ited from classical and medieval learning. They also show how Africans reacted to the coming of Europeans, adapting Christian ideas to local beliefs and making use of exotic imports and European technologies. The docu-ments also describe the evolution of the black Portuguese communities in Guinea and the islands, as well as the slave trade and the way that it was organized, understood and justified.

Malyn Newitt is Emeritus Professor in the Department of Portuguese and Brazilian Studies at King’s College London. He is the author or editor of twelve books on Portuguese colonial history, including History of Portuguese Overseas Expansion, as well as multiple journal articles.

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THE PORTUGUESE IN WEST AFRICA, 1415–1670

A Documentary History

Edited by

MALYN NEWITTKing’s College London






cambridge university pressCambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore,

São Paulo, Delhi, Dubai, Tokyo, Mexico City

Cambridge University Press32 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10013-2473, USA

www.cambridge.orgInformation on this title: www.cambridge.org/9780521159142

© Malyn Newitt 2010

This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written

permission of Cambridge University Press.

First published 2010

Printed in the United States of America

A catalog record for this publication is available from the British Library.

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication dataThe Portuguese in West Africa, 1415–1670 : a documentary history / [edited by]

Malyn Newitt.p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.ISBN 978-0-521-76894-8 (hardback)

1. Africa, West–Discovery and exploration–Portuguese–Sources. 2. Portuguese–Africa, West–History–Sources. 3. Africa, West–History–To 1884–Sources. 4. Slave

trade–Africa, West–History–Sources. I. Newitt, M. D. D. II. Title.DT472.P67 2010

303.48’2469060903–dc22 2010018052

ISBN 978-0-521-76894-8 HardbackISBN 978-0-521-15914-2 Paperback

Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of URLs for external or third-party Internet Web sites referred to in

this publication and does not guarantee that any content on such Web sites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate.






v

List of Maps page ix

Preface xi

Introduction 1

1. The Portuguese in Morocco 25

Doc. 1 The Portuguese celebrate Mass in the mosque in Ceuta, 1415 25

Doc. 2 Christians and Moors – single combat in the struggle to control Ceuta during the Moroccan wars 28

Doc. 3 The Moors of Massa recognize Portuguese overlordship 31

Doc. 4 Letter Patent of Dom Manuel to the Jews of Safi, 1509 35

Doc. 5 Letter of João de Meneses to Dom Manuel on the state of Azamour, 1514 37

Doc. 6 The Portuguese of Azamour raid the Bedouins, 1519 40

2. The early voyages to west Africa 43

Doc. 7 Prince Henry ‘the Navigator’ is remembered 43Doc. 8 Slave raiding on the Sahara coast, 1445 44Doc. 9 The Portuguese run into opposition, 1446 47Doc. 10 Duarte Pacheco Pereira tries to come to terms with

‘difference’ 51

3. The Atlantic Islands 55

Doc. 11 Madeira and the Canary Islands in the fifteenth century 55

Doc. 12 How to survive tropical heat and disease 60Doc. 13 Sugar and slaves 61

CONTENTS






vi CONTENTS

Doc. 14 Hunting escaped slaves in São Tomé 63Doc. 15 New Christians have poisoned the bishop of São Tomé 65

4. The Upper Guinea Coast and Sierra Leone 67

Doc. 16 Cadamosto meets Budomel 67Doc. 17 Markets and dances: Africa responds to Europe 71Doc. 18 The Wolof kingdom at the end of the fifteenth century 74Doc. 19 Relations between the coastal peoples of Upper

Guinea and the Cape Verde Islands 78Doc. 20 Trade and piracy on the Senegal coast 82Doc. 21 The slave trade and royal luxury in the land

of the Bussis 85

5. Elmina and Benin 90

Doc. 22 The foundation of the castle and city of São Jorge da Mina, 1482 90

Doc. 23 The importance of reaching an accommodation with the private traders 96

Doc. 24 Christianity and the Obas of Benin 97

6. Discovery of the Kingdom of Kongo 100

Doc. 25 The Manisonyo embraces Christianity, 1491 100Doc. 26 The arrival of the Portuguese embassy at the

Kongo Court, 1491 103Doc. 27 The king of Kongo is baptized and goes to war, 1491 106Doc. 28 The province of Mbata and its relations with the

Portuguese and the Kongo king 108Doc. 29 The accession of Dom Afonso I of Kongo 111Doc. 30 Relations between Kongo and the Portuguese

of São Tomé 116

7. Angola, Paulo Dias and the founding of Luanda 121

Doc. 31 Early relations with Angola 121Doc. 32 Donation charter to Paulo Dias de Novais, 1571 123Doc. 33 Warfare in the Kongo and Angola 136Doc. 34 The escape of Paulo Dias from Angola and the

founding of Luanda 142

8. The slave trade 148

Doc. 35 The arrival of slaves from west Africa in Lagos, 1444 148Doc. 36 The slave trade is good for the Kongo 151






CONTENTS vii

Doc. 37 The slave trade from west Africa to the Cape Verde Islands in the sixteenth century 153

Doc. 38 The slave trade in the Cape Verde Islands, 1594 155

9. Conflict in the kingdom of Kongo in the 1560s 159

Doc. 39 Christianity and a disputed succession in the kingdom of Kongo 159

Doc. 40 The Jaga invasions 162

10. Christianity in the Kongo 167

Doc. 41 Support sought from Portugal to maintain the true faith 167

Doc. 42 Noble Kongolese youths are sent to Portugal and Rome to be educated, 1539 169

Doc. 43 Report of the visit ad limina of Francisco de Villanova, bishop of São Tomé, 1597 171

Doc. 44 Maleficium and its forms 174

11. The Angolan wars 178

Doc. 45 Conflict between the Portuguese and Kongo in the early seventeenth century 178

Doc. 46 The life of Dom Pedro II Afonso 181Doc. 47 An Essex man in the Angolan wars 183Doc. 48 War in the reed beds – Angola after the expulsion

of the Dutch 186Doc. 49 Account of the battle of Mbwila, 1665 192Doc. 50 Portuguese defeat in Sonyo in 1670 200

12. People and places 205

Doc. 51 The town of Cacheu in the early seventeenth century 205Doc. 52 São Salvador, capital of the kingdom of Kongo 209Doc. 53 The Court of the kings of Kongo 211Doc. 54 Losses suffered by white traders 214Doc. 55 The kingdom of Kongo in 1595 218Doc. 56 The laws and customs of the Wolofs 226Doc. 57 Black ants, Tangomaos and the Bagas 228

Glossary 231

Bibliography 235

Index 239






ix

Portuguese possessions in Morocco page xii

The north-east Atlantic xiii

Senegambia region xiv

Upper Guinea xv

Sierra Leone region xvi

Gulf of Guinea xvii

Kongo and Angola xviii

MAPS






xi

This book was originally designed to be part of a series of publications (since discontinued) entitled Portuguese Encounters with the World in the Age of the Discoveries, and was to be the companion volume to the one on east Africa that was published by Ashgate in 2002. The general editor of the series laid down the format to which all the volumes were to conform. The object of the series was to provide a selection of original sources in English translation that would illustrate the interaction of the Portuguese with the peoples of Africa, Asia and America in the period from 1400 to 1700. The emphasis would be on the way Europeans and non-Europeans reacted to these first contacts, and how their mentali-ties and cultures were changed by the experience. This volume follows closely the original conception of the Portuguese Encounters series.

Anyone approaching the history of the Portuguese in northern and western Africa soon becomes dependent on the great collections of doc-uments edited by Pierre de Cenival, António Brásio and Louis Jadin, which have never been translated into English. English readers have had to rely on the publications of the Hakluyt Society and the schol-arly volumes edited by Paul Hair and Avelino Teixeira da Mota. These are the main sources from which the documents in this collection have been drawn, supplemented with extracts from von Ehingen, Pigafetta, Cadornega, Carletti, the Anonymous Pilot who wrote about São Tomé and the manuscript of Valentim Fernandes.

I am immensely grateful for the scholarly insights and editorial skills of John Villiers, the General Editor of the original Portuguese Encounters series. His vision and persistence are responsible for the appearance of the volumes, which have contributed substantially to widening the understanding of Portuguese expansion in the English-speaking world.

I would especially like to acknowledge help with translation received from Alexander Keese and Maria Eduarda Pinheiro.

PREFACE






xii

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Mogador

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Massa

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Portuguese possessions in Morocco.






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R. Gambia N

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xiv

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CANTORWOLOFS

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Senegambia region.






xv

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Upper Guinea.






xvi

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Cape Verga

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SierraLeoa

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B

AG A S

Tagarim River

Sierra Leone region.






xvii

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N

Axim Elmina WARRI

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Gulf of Guinea.






xviii

0

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100 250 km

50

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N

Luanda

Mpinda

LOANGO

SONYO

NSUNDIMBATA

WANDU

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MBWILA

Sao Salvador

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kisiRiver Zaire

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River Lucala

River Cuanza

MPEMBA

Centres of Portuguesetrade and settlement

Provinces of the KongoKingdom

African statesMBWILA

SONYO

Luanda

Kongo and Angola.






Documents

THE PORTUGUESE IN WEST AFRICA, 1415–1670 - Assetsassets.cambridge.org/97805217/68948/frontmatter/9780521768948... · THE PORTUGUESE IN WEST AFRICA, 1415–1670 The Portuguese in