Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Maps
- Preface
- Portuguese possessions in Morocco
- The north-east Atlantic
- Senegambia region
- Upper Guinea
- Sierra Leone region
- Gulf of Guinea
- Kongo and Angola
- Introduction
- 1 The Portuguese in Morocco
- 2 The early voyages to west africa
- 3 The Atlantic Islands
- 4 The Upper Guinea Coast and Sierra Leone
- 5 Elmina and Benin
- 6 Discovery of the Kingdom of Kongo
- 7 Angola, Paulo Dias and the founding of Luanda
- 8 The slave trade
- 9 Conflict in the kingdom of Kongo in the 1560s
- 10 Christianity in the Kongo
- 11 The Angolan wars
- 12 People and places
- Glossary
- Bibliography
- Index
- References
2 - The early voyages to west africa
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 June 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Maps
- Preface
- Portuguese possessions in Morocco
- The north-east Atlantic
- Senegambia region
- Upper Guinea
- Sierra Leone region
- Gulf of Guinea
- Kongo and Angola
- Introduction
- 1 The Portuguese in Morocco
- 2 The early voyages to west africa
- 3 The Atlantic Islands
- 4 The Upper Guinea Coast and Sierra Leone
- 5 Elmina and Benin
- 6 Discovery of the Kingdom of Kongo
- 7 Angola, Paulo Dias and the founding of Luanda
- 8 The slave trade
- 9 Conflict in the kingdom of Kongo in the 1560s
- 10 Christianity in the Kongo
- 11 The Angolan wars
- 12 People and places
- Glossary
- Bibliography
- Index
- References
Summary
PRINCE HENRY ‘THE NAVIGATOR’ IS REMEMBERED
From Duarte Pacheco Pereira, Esmeraldo de Situ Orbis, Damião Peres ed., 3rd edition (Lisbon, 1988), book 1, chapter 33.
Translated by Malyn Newitt.
Duarte Pacheco Pereira probably made several voyages to west Africa before accompanying Afonso de Albuquerque to the East in 1503. There he was involved in the defence of the factory of Cochin and in the first serious fighting between the Portuguese and the Indians of Calicut. He returned to Portugal in 1505 and appears to have busied himself with the manuscript of his book, mysteriously entitled Esmeraldo de Situ Orbis. This work provides the first comprehensive account of Portuguese explorations and activities in western Africa. It is largely a compendium of geographical information, but the author incorporates much historical detail and gives his reflections on the peoples of the region and their relations with the Portuguese. He abandoned the manuscript unfinished around 1506, although he himself lived until 1533. It was first published in 1892.
This extract shows how the reputation of Henry ‘the Navigator’ had developed in the forty years since his death. Duarte Pacheco does not share either the doubts expressed by many modern historians concerning Henry's role in the peopling of the islands and the discovery of the upper Guinea coast or twenty-first century reservations about the slave trade. It was the wealth brought to Portugal by these discoveries, including the trade in 3,500 slaves a year, which for him was the principal reason why Portugal should honour the prince and pray for his soul.
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- Chapter
- Information
- The Portuguese in West Africa, 1415–1670A Documentary History, pp. 43 - 54Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2010