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978-0-521-76894-8 - The Portuguese in West Africa, 1415-1670: A Documentary History
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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 emigration 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 inherited 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 documents 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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978-0-521-76894-8 - The Portuguese in West Africa, 1415-1670: A Documentary History
Edited by Malyn Newitt
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THE PORTUGUESE IN
WEST AFRICA, 1415–1670
A Documentary History
Edited by
MALYN NEWITT
King’s College London
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Edited by Malyn Newitt
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cambridge university press
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São Paulo, Delhi, Dubai, Tokyo, Mexico City
Cambridge University Press
32 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10013-2473, USA
www.cambridge.org
Information 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 data
The 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 Hardback
ISBN 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.
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CONTENTS
List of Maps
page ix
Preface
xi
Introduction
1.
The Portuguese in Morocco
Doc. 1
Doc. 2
Doc. 3
Doc. 4
Doc. 5
Doc. 6
2.
3.
1
25
The Portuguese celebrate Mass in the mosque
in Ceuta, 1415
Christians and Moors – single combat in the
struggle to control Ceuta during the Moroccan wars
The Moors of Massa recognize Portuguese
overlordship
Letter Patent of Dom Manuel to the Jews of
Safi, 1509
Letter of João de Meneses to Dom Manuel on the
state of Azamour, 1514
The Portuguese of Azamour raid the Bedouins, 1519
25
28
31
35
37
40
The early voyages to west Africa
43
Doc. 7
Doc. 8
Doc. 9
Doc. 10
43
44
47
Prince Henry ‘the Navigator’ is remembered
Slave raiding on the Sahara coast, 1445
The Portuguese run into opposition, 1446
Duarte Pacheco Pereira tries to come to terms with
‘difference’
51
The Atlantic Islands
55
Doc. 11 Madeira and the Canary Islands in the fifteenth
century
Doc. 12 How to survive tropical heat and disease
Doc. 13 Sugar and slaves
55
60
61
v
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vi
4.
5.
v
CONTENTS
Doc. 14 Hunting escaped slaves in São Tomé
Doc. 15 New Christians have poisoned the bishop of São Tomé
63
65
The Upper Guinea Coast and Sierra Leone
67
Doc. 16
Doc. 17
Doc. 18
Doc. 19
67
71
74
Cadamosto meets Budomel
Markets and dances: Africa responds to Europe
The Wolof kingdom at the end of the fifteenth century
Relations between the coastal peoples of Upper
Guinea and the Cape Verde Islands
Doc. 20 Trade and piracy on the Senegal coast
Doc. 21 The slave trade and royal luxury in the land
of the Bussis
85
Elmina and Benin
90
Doc. 22 The foundation of the castle and city of São Jorge
da Mina, 1482
Doc. 23 The importance of reaching an accommodation
with the private traders
Doc. 24 Christianity and the Obas of Benin
6.
7.
8.
78
82
90
96
97
Discovery of the Kingdom of Kongo
100
Doc. 25 The Manisonyo embraces Christianity, 1491
Doc. 26 The arrival of the Portuguese embassy at the
Kongo Court, 1491
Doc. 27 The king of Kongo is baptized and goes to war, 1491
Doc. 28 The province of Mbata and its relations with the
Portuguese and the Kongo king
Doc. 29 The accession of Dom Afonso I of Kongo
Doc. 30 Relations between Kongo and the Portuguese
of São Tomé
100
Angola, Paulo Dias and the founding of Luanda
121
Doc. 31
Doc. 32
Doc. 33
Doc. 34
121
123
136
Early relations with Angola
Donation charter to Paulo Dias de Novais, 1571
Warfare in the Kongo and Angola
The escape of Paulo Dias from Angola and the
founding of Luanda
103
106
108
111
116
142
The slave trade
148
Doc. 35 The arrival of slaves from west Africa in Lagos, 1444
Doc. 36 The slave trade is good for the Kongo
148
151
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CONTENTS
9.
v
vii
Doc. 37 The slave trade from west Africa to the Cape Verde
Islands in the sixteenth century
Doc. 38 The slave trade in the Cape Verde Islands, 1594
153
155
Conflict in the kingdom of Kongo in the 1560s
159
Doc. 39 Christianity and a disputed succession in the
kingdom of Kongo
Doc. 40 The Jaga invasions
159
162
10. Christianity in the Kongo
167
Doc. 41 Support sought from Portugal to maintain the
true faith
Doc. 42 Noble Kongolese youths are sent to Portugal and
Rome to be educated, 1539
Doc. 43 Report of the visit ad limina of Francisco de
Villanova, bishop of São Tomé, 1597
Doc. 44 Maleficium and its forms
167
169
171
174
11. The Angolan wars
178
Doc. 45 Conflict between the Portuguese and Kongo in
the early seventeenth century
Doc. 46 The life of Dom Pedro II Afonso
Doc. 47 An Essex man in the Angolan wars
Doc. 48 War in the reed beds – Angola after the expulsion
of the Dutch
Doc. 49 Account of the battle of Mbwila, 1665
Doc. 50 Portuguese defeat in Sonyo in 1670
178
181
183
186
192
200
12. People and places
Doc. 51
Doc. 52
Doc. 53
Doc. 54
Doc. 55
Doc. 56
Doc. 57
205
The town of Cacheu in the early seventeenth century
São Salvador, capital of the kingdom of Kongo
The Court of the kings of Kongo
Losses suffered by white traders
The kingdom of Kongo in 1595
The laws and customs of the Wolofs
Black ants, Tangomaos and the Bagas
205
209
211
214
218
226
228
Glossary
231
Bibliography
235
Index
239
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MAPS
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
ix
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PREFACE
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 mentalities 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 documents 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 scholarly 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.
xi
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N
Alcazar Seguer
Tangier
Larache
Ceuta
Arzila
FEZ
Mazagão
Tit
Azamour
m
Ou
er
Safi
Mogador
Rb
i
a
MOROCCO
Marrakesh
Larache
Portuguese fortress
towns
Massa
Town not under
Portuguese control
State
FEZ
MOROCCO Geographical name
Santa Cruz
Massa
50
0
0
50
100 miles
100
150
200 km
Portuguese possessions in Morocco.
xii
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PORTUGAL
AZORES
Lisbon
CASTILE
Lagos
Ceuta
Porto Santo
MADEIRA
CANARY ISLANDS
Cape Blanco
Arguim
CAPE VERDE
ISLANDS
r
ve
Ri
Se
n
e
l
River G
am
bi
a
ga
Cape of
Santiago Masts
SIERRA LEONE
AZORES
Lisbon
R. Gambia
0
0
Geographical regions
Portuguese towns and settlements
Geographical features
250
250
750 miles
500
500
750
N
1000
1250 km
The north-east Atlantic.
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25
0
WOLOFS
25
0
50
75
125 km
100
Ethnic Group
State
Port
Bissau
Gambia River River
WOLOFS
CANTOR
SALOUM
Joal
75 miles
50
Sutoco
er
Gambia Riv
CANTOR
KA
M
FE
BAN
LU
PE
S
Casamance River
HU
NS
Sã
o
min
Do
gos
AN
D
IN
A
G
BU
A
S
R ive r
Cacheu
C A C A N D A (PAPEIS)
r
Mansoa Rive
Geba River
Bissau
BU
GUINALA
SI
S
Rio Gr
an
d
BIGUBA
e
N
BISSAGOS ISLANDS
Senegambia region.
xiv
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SANHAJA
African state
Ethnic group
Port
Joal
River Senegal Geographic
feature
CAYOR
WOLOFS
River Senegal
O
LO
FS
C AY O R
Cape Verde
Bezeguiche
(Recife)
C. dos Mastos
Porto d’Ale
W
Lambai
Saloum
ver
Ri
BAOL
Joal
SALOUM
N
100 miles
50
0
0
50
100
150 km
Upper Guinea.
xv
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B
A
G
A
S
Cape Verga
SOSOS
arim
Tag
oa
Le
ra
er
Si
N
25
0
0
r
Rive
25
50 miles
50
75
Sherbro
Island
100 km
Sierra Leone region.
xvi
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Ri
ve
Elmina
Axim
Gulf
of
River Niger
a
olt
rV
BENIN
WARRI
Guinea
PRÍNCIPE
SÃO TOMÉ
Cape Lopes
ANO BON
LOANGO
air
rZ
ve
i
R
N
Mpinda
KONGO
0
0
e
250
250
750 miles
500
500
750
1000
1250 km
Gulf of Guinea.
xvii
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Zaire
ver
Ri
LOANGO
OKANGA
NSUNDI
Rive
o
r Cuang
São Salvador
SONYO
kisi
er N
Riv
Mpinda
MBATA
MPEMBA
WANDU
MBAMBA
MBWILA
River
MATAMBA
Dande
River Bengo
Luanda
River Lucala
Massangano
River Cuanza
NDONGO
Cambambe
KASANJE
Luanda
SONYO
N
MBWILA
0
0
Centres of Portuguese
trade and settlement
Provinces of the Kongo
Kingdom
African states
50
50
150 miles
100
100
150
200
250 km
Kongo and Angola.
xviii
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