In 1469, Alphonzo Farmed The Guinea
Trade For Five Years To Fernando Gomez, For The Yearly Rent Of 500 Ducats,
Or About 138 Pounds; Taking, Him Bound At The Same Time, To Extend The
Discoveries For 500 Leagues To The Southwards During The Period Of His
Exclusive Privilege.
In 1471, according to Marmol, Juan de Santareu and
Pedro de Escobar, discovered the _Oro de la Mina_, or the _Gold coast_;
and advancing still farther, under the guidance of two experienced pilots,
Martin Fernandez and Alvaro Esteves, they discovered _Cabo Catalina_, or
Cape St Catherine, in lat.
1 deg. 40' S. This promontory, which is thirty-one
leagues to the south of Cabo de Lope Gonzales, derived its name from the
day of the saint on which it was first seen, and forms the northern
boundary of the great kingdom of Congo. The discovery of this cape is
assigned by some writers to Sequiera, a knight belonging to the royal
household.
The celebrated Portuguese historian, Emanuel de Faria, in his _Asia
Portuguesa_, has recorded all the Portuguese voyages, from their first
attempts under Don Henry, to their developement of China and Japan, and
has even left an account of all the ships that sailed from Lisbon for
Africa and Asia, down to the year 1600; but was unable to ascertain the
dates of many important events. Neither he nor De Barros have been able
to remove the uncertainty respecting the first discovery of the island of
St Thomas on the coast of Africa, the south end of which touches the
equinoctial. During the remainder of the reign of Alphonzo, the line of
coast, from Cape Verga in lat. 10 deg. N. to Cape St Catherine in 1 deg. 40' S.
was much frequented by the Portuguese. Of this coast an ample account has
been given by Dapper and Barbot, chiefly following a tract published by
Gotard Artus of Dantzick, which is to be found in De Bry's Collection,
and that of David von Nyendael and others. This was the work of a Dutch
navigator, which was first translated in to German, and thence by Artus
into Latin. But our peculiar department is confined to actual voyages and
travels, and the progress of discovery; and it would both much exceed our
proper limits, and would be an entire deviation from our plan of
arrangement, to admit lengthened geographical and topographical
disquisitions; which, so far as they are at all admissible, must be
reserved for the more particular voyages and travels, after those of
general discovery have been discussed.
There are four principal islands in the Gulf of Guinea, or Bight of
Biafra, as it is usually called by English navigators, Ferdinand Poo,
Princes isle, St Thomas, and Annobon, the discovery of which have been
related as follows by Barbot, and his account seems the most probable[2].
Fernando Lopez discovered the first of these in 1471, in lat. 3 deg. 40' N.
giving it the name of _Ilha formosa_, or the Beautiful Island, which was
afterwards changed to that of _Fernando Poo_, which it still retains. In
an account of the kingdom of Congo, in Churchill's Collection, viii. 527,
more properly named the Oxford Collection, or that of Osborne, v. 2. This
island, and a river on the coast of the continent of Africa, directly
east, now called Cameroon River, are said to have taken their names of
Fernando Poo from their first discoverer. Some writers assign the
discovery of these four islands, and that of St Matthew, to Fernando
Gomez, who formed the Guinea trade. Perhaps they were discovered under
his auspices, by the navigators whom he employed. This island is composed
of very high land, easily seen at a great distance, and the Portuguese
had formerly sugar plantations upon it. The _Ilha do Principe_, or
Princes Island, in lat. 1 deg. 30' N. was either discovered by Fernando Lopez,
or by Santaren and Escobar, about the same period, and probably received
its name in honour of the illustrious prince, Don Henry. This island is
described as consisting of high table mountains, pyramidal at their bases,
and visible at the distance of twenty leagues; being about nine leagues
long by five leagues broad. It is said to abound in oranges, lemons,
bananas, cocoa-nuts, sugar-canes, rice, many species of sallad herbs, and
to be susceptible of producing the European grains. The mandioca, or root
of the cassada plant, is generally used for bread, of which the juice
while raw is said to be a virulent poison; while its meal, or rasped root,
after the malignant juice is carefully pressed out, is used for bread.
The inhabitants also, have sheep, hogs, goats, and an immense number of
poultry; but these have probably been introduced by the Portuguese.
The _Ilha de San Thome_, or island of St Thomas, which is said to have
received its name from the saint to whom the chapel of the great
monastery of _Thomar_ is dedicated, and to which all the African
discoveries are subjected in spirituals, has its southern extremity
almost directly under the equinoctial, and is a very high land of an oval
shape, about fifteen leagues in breadth, by twelve leagues long.
The most southerly of these islands, in lat. 1 deg. 30' S. now called Annobon,
was originally named Ilha d'Anno Bueno, or Island of the Happy Year,
having been discovered by Pedro d'Escovar, on the first day of the year
1472. At a distance, this island has the appearance of a single high
mountain, and is almost always topt with mist. It extends about five
leagues from north to south, or rather from N. N. W. to S. S. E. and is
about four leagues broad, being environed by several rocks and shoals. It
has several fertile vallies, which produce maize, rice, millet, potatoes,
yams, bananas, pine-apples, citrons, oranges, lemons, figs, and tamarinds,
and a sort of small nuts called by the French _noix de medicine_, or
physic nuts[3]. It also furnishes oxen, hogs, and sheep, with abundance
of fish and poultry; and its cotton is accounted excellent.
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