The Portuguese in West Africa, 1415–1670

Cambridge University Press 978-0-521-76894-8 - The Portuguese in West Africa, 1415-1670: A Documentary History Edited by Malyn Newitt Frontmatter More information

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 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.

© in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-0-521-76894-8 - The Portuguese in West Africa, 1415-1670: A Documentary History Edited by Malyn Newitt Frontmatter More information

THE PORTUGUESE IN WEST AFRICA, 1415–1670

A Documentary History

Edited by

MALYN NEWITT King’s College London

cambridge university press Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, 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

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First published 2010

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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

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CONTENTS

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 43 Doc. 8 Slave raiding on the Sahara coast, 1445 44 Doc. 9 The Portuguese run into opposition, 1446 47 Doc. 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 60 Doc. 13 Sugar and slaves 61

vi v CONTENTS

Doc. 14 Hunting escaped slaves in São Tomé 63 Doc. 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 67 Doc. 17 Markets and dances: Africa responds to Europe 71 Doc. 18 The Wolof kingdom at the end of the fifteenth century 74 Doc. 19 Relations between the coastal peoples of Upper Guinea and the Cape Verde Islands 78 Doc. 20 Trade and piracy on the Senegal coast 82 Doc. 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 100 Doc. 26 The arrival of the Portuguese embassy at the Kongo Court, 1491 103 Doc. 27 The king of Kongo is baptized and goes to war, 1491 106 Doc. 28 The province of Mbata and its relations with the Portuguese and the Kongo king 108 Doc. 29 The accession of Dom Afonso I of Kongo 111 Doc. 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 121 Doc. 32 Donation charter to Paulo Dias de Novais, 1571 123 Doc. 33 Warfare in the Kongo and Angola 136 Doc. 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 148 Doc. 36 The slave trade is good for the Kongo 151

CONTENTS v 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 181 Doc. 47 An Essex man in the Angolan wars 183 Doc. 48 War in the reed beds – Angola after the expulsion of the Dutch 186 Doc. 49 Account of the battle of Mbwila, 1665 192 Doc. 50 Portuguese defeat in Sonyo in 1670 200 12. People and places 205 Doc. 51 The town of Cacheu in the early seventeenth century 205 Doc. 52 São Salvador, capital of the kingdom of Kongo 209 Doc. 53 The Court of the kings of Kongo 211 Doc. 54 Losses suffered by white traders 214 Doc. 55 The kingdom of Kongo in 1595 218 Doc. 56 The laws and customs of the Wolofs 226 Doc. 57 Black ants, Tangomaos and the Bagas 228

Glossary 231 Bibliography 235 Index 239

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

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 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 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.

Alcazar Seguer Tangier Ceuta Arzila Larache

FEZ Mazaga˜o Tit Azamour O u m e r Rb ia Safi MOROCCO

Mogador Marrakesh Larache Portuguese fortress towns Massa Town not under Santa Cruz Portuguese control FEZ State MOROCCO Geographical name Massa 0 50 100 miles

0 50 100 150 200 km

Portuguese possessions in Morocco.

xii

PORTUGAL AZORES Lisbon CASTILE

Lagos Ceuta

Porto Santo MADEIRA

CANARY ISLANDS

Cape Blanco Arguim

CAPE VERDE ISLANDS R iv e r Se Cape of n e g Santiago Masts a l River G am b ia

SIERRA LEONE

AZORES Geographical regions Lisbon Portuguese towns and settlements R. Gambia Geographical features N

0 250 500 750 miles

0 250 500 750 1000 1250 km

The north-east Atlantic.

0 25 50 75 miles WOLOFS 0 25 50 75 100 125 km

WOLOFS Ethnic Group SALOUM Joal CANTOR State Bissau Port Gambia River River

Sutoco er Gambia Riv CANTOR

K A A B M U A N D I N G A S

Casamance Rive B r River AN ngos F HU omi EL N D U S ˜ o P Sa ES Cacheu CACANDA (PAPEIS) r Mansoa Rive Geba Rive Bissau r BU GUINALA SI S Rio G BIGUBA ran de

BISSAGOS ISLANDS

Senegambia region.

xiv

SANHAJA CAYOR African state l WOLOFS Ethnic group River Senega Joal Port River Senegal Geographic feature

CAYOR

S F O L O W Cape Verde Lambai Saloum ver BAOL Ri Bezeguiche (Recife) C. dos Mastos Porto d’Ale Joal SALOUM N

0 50 100 miles

0 50 100 150 km

Upper Guinea.

B A G A S Cape Verga SOSOS

r Rive arim Tag

S ie r r a L e N o a

0 25 50 miles Sherbro 0 25 50 75 100 km Island

Sierra Leone region.

xvi

Ri ve

r V R

o i

l v t

e a

BENIN N

e r

Axim Elmina WARRI

Gulf of Guinea PRÍNCIPE

SA˜ O TOMÉ Cape Lopes ANO BON

LOANGO re ai r Z ve Ri N Mpinda KONGO

0 250 500 750 miles

0 250 500 750 1000 1250 km

Gulf of Guinea.

xvii

r Zaire OKANGA ive LOANGO R NSUNDI MBATA

R R i v i e v e r r N

C k Mpinda Sa˜o Salvador u i

s a i SONYO n g

MPEMBA o

WANDU MBAMBA MBWILA MATAMBA

Dande River

er Luanda Riv Bengo River Lucala

Massangano NDONGO r Cu Rive anza Cambambe KASANJE

Luanda Centres of Portuguese trade and settlement SONYO Provinces of the Kongo Kingdom N MBWILA African states

0 50 100 150 miles

0 50 100 150 200 250 km

Kongo and Angola.

xviii