|
|
|
Last Updated: Jun 28, 2008 - 12:29:23 AM |
After passing the Cape of Bojador there was a lull in Portuguese
discovery, the period from 1434 to 1441 being spent in enterprises of
very little distinctness or importance. Indeed, during the latter part
of this period, the Prince was fully occupied with the affairs of
Portugal. In 1437 he accompanied the unfortunate expedition to Tangier,
in which his brother Ferdinand was taken prisoner, who afterward ended
his days in slavery to the Moor. In 1438, King Duarte dying, the
troubles of the regency occupied Prince Henry's attention. In 1441,
however, there was a voyage which led to very important consequences.
In that year Antonio Goncalvez, master of the robes to Prince Henry,
was sent out with a vessel to load it with skins of "sea-wolves," a
number of them having been seen, during a former voyage, in the mouth
of a river about fifty-four leagues beyond Cape Bojador. Goncalvez
resolved to signalize his voyage by a feat that should gratify his
master more than the capture of sea-wolves; and he accordingly planned
and executed successfully an expedition for capturing some Azeneghi
Moors, in order, as he told his companions, to take home "some of the
language of that country." Nuno Tristam, another of Prince Henry's
captains, afterward falling in with Goncalvez, a further capture of
Moors was made, and Goncalvez returned to Portugal with his spoil.
In the same year Prince Henry applied to Pope Martin V, praying that
his holiness would grant to the Portuguese crown all that it could
conquer, from Cape Bojador to the Indies, together with plenary
indulgence for those who should die while engaged in such conquests.
The Pope granted these requests. "And now," says a Portuguese
historian, "with this apostolic grace, with the breath of royal favor,
and already with the applause of the people, the Prince pursued his
purpose with more courage and with greater outlay."
In 1442 the Moors whom Antonio Goncalvez had captured in the previous
year promised to give black slaves in ransom for themselves if he would
take them back to their own country; and the Prince, approving of this,
ordered Goncalvez to set sail immediately, "insisting as the foundation
of the matter, that if Goncalvez should not be able to obtain so many
negroes (as had been mentioned) in exchange for the three Moors, yet
that he should take them; for whatever number he should get, he would
gain souls, because the negroes might be converted to the faith, which
could not be managed with the Moors." Goncalvez obtained ten black
slaves, some gold-dust, a target of buffalo-hide, and some ostrich eggs
in exchange for two of the Moors, and, returning with his cargo,
excited general wonderment on account of the color of the slaves.
These, then, we may presume, were the first black slaves that had made
their appearance in the peninsula since the extinction of the old
slavery.
I am not ignorant that there are reasons for alleging that negroes had
before this era been seized and carried to Seville. The Ecclesiastical
and Secular Annals of that city, under the date 1474, record that negro
slaves abounded there, and that the fifths levied on them produced
considerable gains to the royal revenue; it is also mentioned that
there had been traffic of this kind in the days of Don Enrique III,
about 1399, but that it had since then fallen into the hands of the
Portuguese. The chronicler states that the negroes of Seville were
treated very kindly from the time of King Enrique, being allowed to
keep their dances and festivals; and that one of them was named mayoral
of the rest, who protected them against their masters and before the
courts of law, and also settled their own private quarrels. There is a
letter from Ferdinand and Isabella in the year 1474 to a celebrated
negro, Juan de Valladolid, commonly called the "Negro Count,"
nominating him to this office of mayoral of the negroes, which runs
thus: "For the many good, loyal, and signal services which you have
done us, and do each day, and because we know your sufficiency,
ability, and good disposition, we constitute you mayoral and judge of
all the negroes and mulattoes, free or slaves, which are in the very
loyal and noble city of Seville, and throughout the whole archbishopric
thereof, and that the said negroes and mulattoes may not hold any
festivals nor pleadings among themselves, except before you, Juan de
Valladolid, negro, our judge and mayoral of the said negroes and
mulattoes; and we command that you, and you only, should take
cognizance of the disputes, pleadings, marriages, and other things
which may take place among them, forasmuch as you are a person
sufficient for that office, and deserving of your power, and you know
the laws and ordinances which ought to be kept, and we are informed
that you are of noble lineage among the said negroes."
But the above merely shows that in the year 1474 there were many
negroes in Seville, and that laws and ordinances had been made about
them. These negroes might all, however, have been imported into Seville
since the Portuguese discoveries. True it is that in the times of Don
Enrique III, and during Bethencourt's occupation of the Canary Islands,
slaves from thence had been brought to France and Spain; but these
islanders were not negroes, and it certainly may be doubted whether any
negroes were imported into Seville previous to 1443.
Returning to the course of Portuguese affairs, a historian of that
nation informs us that the gold obtained by Goncalvez "awakened, as it
always does, covetousness"; and there is no doubt that it proved an
important stimulus to further discovery. The next year Nuno Tristam
went farther down the African coast; and, off Adeget, one of the Arguim
Islands, captured eighty natives, whom he brought to Portugal. These,
however, were not negroes, but Azeneghis.
The tide of popular opinion was now not merely turned, but was rushing
in full flow, in favor of Prince Henry and his discoveries. The
discoverers were found to come back rich in slaves and other
commodities; whereas it was remembered that, in former wars and
undertakings, those who had been engaged in them had generally returned
in great distress. Strangers, too, now came from afar, scenting the
prey. A new mode of life, as the Portuguese said, had been found out;
and "the greater part of the kingdom was moved with a sudden desire to
follow this way to Guinea."
© Copyright 2008 by The Madeira Island Web Site
Top of Page
|
|
|
|
