9 said river, by readily believing suspicions of disloyalty and treason against Bemoym, or more truthfully because he wanted to return to the kingdom, he slew the said

Bemoym with a sword, and then returned to this kingdom; whereat the king, being in Tavilla, grew very sad; and he overlooked this crime by Pero Vaaz, seeing that he did not visit heavy punishment upon him or many others who served it for the same reason; yet the king strongly disapproved of their killing him, since, being accomplices in such an error, they ought to have been treated as they treated him, because they had him freely in their power without offence or peril.

Duarte Pacheco Pereira, Esmeraldo de Situ Orbis, pp. 21-24

The wealth of (1508)

As the Portuguese moved farther and farther along the coast of Africa, they reported on the great amounts of trade in which the local people engaged, the wealth and power of many of the communities, and the skill evident in the production of items such as delicately carved ivory necklaces and finely woven mats. This was a continent teeming with people and commerce. And where the Portuguese could not go, such as inland areas where the followers of Islam ruled, they imagined the existence of dog- faced people and men with bristles like those of pigs. Duarte Pacheco Pereira wrote this account of Africa’s wealth in 1505–8 after spending many years in the late 1400s as a ship’s captain employed by King John II of . He was involved in the building of , traveled to in the early 1500s, and returned to serve as governor of the castle from 1520 to 1522.

The Senegal River and its hinterland 10

The first black men are found at the Rio de Çanaguá [Senegal River]. This river is the beginning of the kingdom of Jalofo, which extends nearly a hundred leagues in length and forty in breadth; on the north the Rio de Çanaguá divides it from the

Azanegues; on the south it borders Mandingua and on the east the kingdom of

Turucol . . . The King of Jalofo can put 10,000 horsemen into the field and 100,000 footmen; they are all naked except the nobles and honourable men, who wear blue cotton shorts and drawers of the same stuff. These peoples, as those of the great kingdom of Mandingua and of Turocol and other negroes, are all circumcised and worship in the false sect of Mahomet. They are given to vice and are rarely at peace with one another, and are very great thieves and liars, great drunkards and very ungrateful and shameless in their perpetual begging.

All these people and others who dwell near them are ignorant of the source of the Rio de Çanaguá, which is so large and deep that they call it the Rio Negro.

Many intelligent Ethiopians who know different provinces and countries for five hundred leagues up this river have told us that its source is unknown; but from its course and beginnings we know that it rises in a great lake of the river Nile thirty leagues long and ten broad, so that it seems that this is the branch which the Nile throws out through Ethiopia in a westerly direction, the other branch flowing north and disemboguing by four months in the sea of Egypt . . . At the head of this lake is a kingdom called Tambucutu, which has a large city of the same name on the edge of the lake. There also is the city of Jany, inhabited by negroes and surrounded by a stone wall, where there is great wealth of gold; tin and copper are greatly prized there, likewise red and blue cloths and salt, all except the cloths being sold by 11 weight; also greatly prized here are cloves, pepper and saffron, and fine thin silk and sugar. The commerce of this land is very great, and in the above-mentioned places and in Cooro as well, fairs are held; every year a million gold ducats go from this country to Tunis, Tripoli of Soria and Tripoli of Berbery and to the kingdom of Boje and Feez and other parts. This Rio de Çanaguá would be navigable for small vessels were it not for a great rock a little over 250 leagues from its mouth before one arrives at Tambucutu and the other towns. This rock is called Feleuu and it runs across the river so that no ship or boat can pass, as the water pours over it in a cataract. The ships of your Highness ascend this river only so far as the kingdom of

Turocol, which the tide reaches sixty leagues from the mouth and bar of the river.

There six or seven slaves are bartered for one horse of no great value, and some gold in return for kerchiefs and red cloths and stones called “alaquequas,” which we are familiar with as stones that staunch blood. In this country there are very large snakes, twenty feet long and more and very thick . . . There are also in this river very large lizards, many of them twenty-two feet long, and their mouths are so large that they can easily swallow a man . . . This river is rife with fever . . .

The Gambia River and its hinterland

150 leagues from its mouth is a district called Cantor, where there are four towns, the principal of which is called Sutucoo and has some four thousand inhabitants; the names of the other three are Jalancoo, Dobancoo and Jamnamsura; they are all enclosed with wooden palisades and are distant from the river by half a league, a league and a league and a half. At Sutucoo is held a great fair, to which the

Mandinguas bring many asses; these same Mandinguas, when the country is at 12 peace and there are no wars, come to our ships (which at the bidding of our prince visit these parts) and buy common red, blue and green cloth, kerchiefs, thin coloured silk, brass bracelets, caps, hats, the stones called “alaquequas” and much more merchandise, so that in time of peace, as we have said, five and six thousand doubloons of good gold are brought thence to Portugal. Sutucoo and these other towns belong to the kingdom of Jalofo, but being on the frontier of Mandingua they speak the language of Mandingua. This Rio de Guambea divides the kingdom of

Jalofo from the great kingdom of Mandingua . . . When ascending the Guabuu

[Gambia River] the kingdom of Jalofo is on the N and that of Mandingua on the S, extending nearly 200 leagues in length and eighty in breadth. The king of

Mandingua can put into the field twenty thousand horsemen, and infantry without number for they take as many wives as they choose; when their king is very old and cannot govern or when he is afflicted with a prolonged illness, they kill him and make one of his sons or relatives king. 200 leagues from this kingdom of Mandingua is a region where there is abundance of gold; it is called Toom. The inhabitants of this region have the faces and teeth of dogs and tails like dogs; they are black and shun conversation, not liking to see other men. The inhabitants of the towns called

Beetu, Banbarranaa and Bahaa go to this country of Toom to obtain gold in exchange for merchandise and slaves which they take thither. Their mode of purchase is as follows: he who wishes to sell a slave or other article goes to a certain place appointed for the purpose and ties the slave to a tree and makes a hole in the ground as large as he thinks fit, and then goes some way off; then the Dogface comes and if he is content with the size of the hole he fills it with gold, and if not he covers 13 up the hole and makes another smaller one and goes away; the seller of the slave then returns and examines the hole made by the Dogface and if he is satisfied he goes away again, and the Dogface returns and fills the hole with gold. That is their mode of commerce, both in slaves and other merchandise, and I have spoken with men who have seen this. The merchants of Mandingua go to the fairs of Beetu and

Banbarranaa and Bahaa to obtain gold from these monstrous folk . . . The people of this country all speak the language of Mandingua and follow the sect of Mahomet.

South to Serra Lyoa

There is a river called Casamansa, the people on whose banks belong to the

Mandingua. Here are some shallows of mud, with five or six fathoms, running out two leagues into the sea, and at the end of this mud there are shallows of sand with twelve and fifteen fathoms, extending for four leagues. In this Rio de Casamansa iron is greatly prized, and slaves are bartered for horses and handkerchiefs and red cloths . . . I will not speak of the channel of this river, for it often changes; he who would enter it must take soundings at its bar to find the deepest part . . .

The Rio Grande has at its mouth five or six islands, very low and full of woods

. . . the channels flowing between them are not very narrow, but in places they have bad shallows of rock through which the tide runs with great force . . . The tidal waters flow in so strongly that . . . leagues above its mouth there is a macareo [tidal bore] where the incoming tide raises the water twelve and fifteen fathoms and runs with such violence that a ship at anchor there could only escape being swamped by a miracle . . . 14

The coast from Rio Grande to Cabo da Verga lies NW by N and SE by S and occupies thirty-five leagues. This country is very low and difficult to recognise; the bottom is foul with great reefs of rock and on that account very dangerous, so that it should only be navigated by day; for greater security it should only be done in small vessels of from 25 to 30 tons, for a larger ship will run the risk of being wrecked. All the negroes of this country are idolators, and although they are ignorant of the law, they are circumcised; this is due to the fact that they are neighbours of the

Mandinguas and other peoples who are Mohammedans . . . In all this country along the coast there is a certain amount of gold, for which we barter bloodstones, yellow and green beads, tin, linen, brass bracelets, red cloth and basins such as barbers use, and we obtain slaves there in exchange for such merchandise. The houses in this country are thatched huts and the inhabitants are usually at war with one another; they possess elephants . . . and various other animals and birds of strange kinds; they live on rice and maize and other vegetables, and also meat and fish, of which there is an abundance . . .

Concerning Serra Lyoa

The greater part of the inhabitants of this land are called Bouloos, a very warlike people and rarely at peace; they call gold “emloan” and water “men.” Sometimes these negroes eat one another, but this is less usual here than in other parts of

Ethiopia; they are all idolators and sorcerers and are ruled by witchcraft, placing implicit faith in oracles and omens. In this country there is gold in small quantity, which the Boulooes barter for salt. They take the salt to a place called Coya, whence the gold comes; it is very fine, of nearly twenty-three carats . . . In this land they 15 make ivory necklaces more delicately carved than in any other country, also very fine and beautiful mats of palm-leaf which they call “bicas.” In this country are many elephants . . . and many other animals such as are not to be found in or in any other country of Europe. Here, as well, are wild men, whom the ancients called satyrs. They are covered with hairs almost as coarse as the bristles of a pig; they seem human and lie with their wives after our fashion, but instead of speaking they shout when they are hurt . . . Many believe that Serra Lyoa is so-called because there are lions here, but this is not so, for Pero de Sintra, a knight of Prince Henry’s household, who discovered Serra Lyoa at the prince’s bidding, seeing that it was a wild, rough country, called it the Lioness, and there was no other reason; and there can be no doubt of this, for he told me so himself . . .

In all this Serra Lyoa there is much fish, rice, maize, hens, capons, and a few cows and other cattle, but whoever comes here must guard against the negroes, for they are very bad people and shoot with poisoned arrows . . . In this country there are large canoes made from a single tree, many of which carry fifty men; they use them for war and other purposes. The country is full of woods which extend for nearly a thousand leagues along the coast . . . At this point the discoveries undertaken by the virtuous Prince Henry came to an end . . .

We must therefore pray God for his soul; he died on the 13th of November in the year 1460 and is buried in the monastery of Santa Maria da Vitoria da Batalha, in the chapel of King John his father. The benefits conferred on Portugal by the virtuous Prince Henry are such that its kings and people are greatly indebted to him, for in the country which he discovered a great part of the Portuguese people now 16 earn their livelihood and the Kings of Portugal derive great profit from this commerce; for, from the Rio de Çanaguá on the frontier of the kingdom of Jalofo, where are the first negroes . . . to Serra Lyoa inclusive, when the trade of this country was well ordered, it yielded nearly 3,500 slaves and more, many tusks of ivory, gold, fine cotton cloths and much more merchandise. Therefore we must pray

God for the soul of Prince Henry, for his discovery of this land led to the discovery of the other Guinea beyond Serra Lyoa and to the discovery of India, whose commerce brings us such an abundance of wealth.

King Afonso of the Kongo, letters to the king of Portugal, July 6 and October 18,

1526, pp. 25-27

Trying to regulate the trade in slaves (1526)

In 1491, Nzinga a Nkuwu, king of the Kongo kingdom, which was inland and south of the Congo River, adopted Christianity and was baptized by the Portuguese as João I. His son, Afonso Mvemba a Nzinga, who took the throne as Afonso I in 1509, made

Christianity the state religion. Both kings engaged in an expanding trade with the

Portuguese, first in copper, which the Kongolese forged into high-quality manillas

(bracelets), which were used as a unit of currency, and then, increasingly, in slaves, which the Portuguese needed for their plantations on São Tomé. However, the demand was more than Afonso could manage, and in 1526 he wrote a series of letters to the king of Portugal asking for the latter’s help in regulating the behavior of the European merchants, a request that went unheard. 17

Sir, Your Highness should know how our Kingdom is being lost in so many ways that it is convenient to provide for the necessary remedy since this is caused by the excessive freedom given by your factors and officials to the men and merchants who are allowed to come to this Kingdom to set up shops with goods and many things which have been prohibited by us, and which they spread throughout our

Kingdoms and Domains in such an abundance that many of our vassals, whom we had in obedience, do not comply because they have the things in greater abundance than we ourselves; and it was with these things that we had them content and subjected under our vassalage and jurisdiction, so it is doing a great harm not only to the service of God, but to the security and peace of our Kingdoms and State as well.

And we cannot reckon how great the damage is since the mentioned merchants are taking every day our natives, sons of the land and sons of our noblemen and vassals and our relatives, because the thieves and men of bad conscience grab them wishing to have the things and wares of this Kingdom which they are ambitious of; they grab them and get them to be sold; and so great, Sir, is the corruption and licentiousness that our country is being completely depopulated, and Your Highness should not agree with this or accept it as in your service. And to avoid it we need from those [your] Kingdoms no more than some priests and a few people to teach in schools, and no other goods except wine and flour for the holy sacrament. That is why we beg of Your Highness to help and assist us in this matter, 18 commanding your factors that they should not send here either merchants or wares, because it is our will that in these Kingdoms there should not be any trade in slaves or outlets for them . . . [emphasis in original] (July 6, 1526)

Sir . . . many of our people, keenly desirous as they are of the wares and things of Your Kingdoms, which are brought here by your people, and in order to satisfy their voracious appetite, seize many of our people, freed and exempt men; and very often it happens that they kidnap even noblemen and sons of noblemen, and our relatives, and take them to be sold to the white men who are in our

Kingdoms; and for this purpose they have concealed them; and others are brought during the night so that they might not be recognized.

And as soon as they are taken by the white men they are immediately ironed and branded with fire, and when they are carried to be embarked, if they are caught by our guards’ men the whites allege that they have bought them but they cannot say from whom, so that it is our duty to do justice and to restore to the freemen their freedom, but it cannot be done if your subjects feel offended, as they claim to be.

And to avoid such a great evil we passed a law so that any white man living in our Kingdoms and wanting to purchase goods in any way should first inform three of our noblemen and officials of our court whom we rely upon in this matter .

. . who should investigate if the mentioned goods are captives or free men, and if cleared by them there will be no further doubt nor embargo for them to be taken 19 and embarked. But if the white men do not comply with it they will lose their aforementioned goods. And if we do them this favour and concession it is for the part Your Highness has in it, since we know that it is in your service too that these goods are taken from our Kingdom, otherwise we should not consent to this . . .

(October 18, 1526)

Sir, Your Highness has been kind enough to write to us saying that we should ask in our letters for anything we need, and that we shall be provided with everything, and as the peace and health of our Kingdom depend on us, and as there are among us old folks and people who have lived for many days, it happens that we have continuously many and different diseases which put us very often in such a weakness that we reach almost the last extreme; and the same happens to our children, relatives and natives owing to the lack in this country of physicians and surgeons who might know how to cure properly such diseases. And as we have got neither dispensaries nor drugs which might help us in this forlornness, many of those who had been already confirmed and instructed in the holy faith of Our Lord

Jesus Christ perish and die; and the rest of the people in their majority cure themselves with herbs and breads and other ancient methods, so that they put all their faith in the mentioned herbs and ceremonies if they live, and believe that they are saved if they die; and this is not much in the service of God.

And to avoid such great error and inconvenience, since it is from God in the first place and then from your Kingdoms and from Your Highness that all the good 20 and drugs and medicines have come to save us, we beg of you to be agreeable and kind enough to send us two physicians and two apothecaries and one surgeon, so that they may come with their drug-stores and all the necessary things to stay in our kingdoms, because we are in extreme need of them all and each of them. We shall do them all good and shall benefit them by all means, since they are sent by

Your Highness, whom we thank for your work in their coming. We beg of Your

Highness as a great favour to do this for us, because besides being good in itself it is in the service of God as we have said above. (October 18, 1526)

Brother Luis Brandoan letter to Father Sandoval, March 12, 1610, pp. 30-31

A Jesuit justifies the trade in African slaves to a skeptical colleague (1610)

Not all Europeans who engaged in the early slave trade accepted without question the legal and moral basis of the commerce in persons. In 1610, a Catholic priest in ,

Father Sandoval, inquired of a colleague in Angola, Luis Brandaon, rector of the College of the Society of Jesus at St. Paul de Loando [Luanda], Angola, as to the ways in which

Africans were enslaved and how they were treated before being exported. Angola was the main source of slaves for Portuguese possessions in the Americas. It was also, for practically the entire period of the Atlantic slave trade, the largest supplier by far of slaves shipped to the Americas, accounting for almost half of all slave exports from

Africa in the 1700s and the 1800s. This is Brother Luis Brandaon’s response, dated

March 12, 1610.

Your Reverence writes me that you would like to know whether the negroes who