Go to AfricaBib home

Go to AfricaBib home AfricaBib Go to database home

bibliographic database
Line
Previous page New search

The free AfricaBib App for Android is available here

Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:Sources on early Sierra Leone: (8) Bartolomeu Andre's letter, 1606
Author:Hair, P.E.H.ISNI
Year:1975
Periodical:Africana Research Bulletin
Volume:6
Issue:3
Pages:34-59
Language:English
Geographic term:Sierra Leone
Subject:historical sources
Abstract:Bartolomeu André was a Portuguese trader who lived, or at least had a house, in the district around the Sierra Leone estuary. Contemporary sources agree in considering him the leading member of the community of Portuguese traders operating on a regular basis in Sierra Leone. André's letter of 20 February 1606 was adressed to the King of Portugal. This letter is reproduced here in English translation. The letter reveals Andre's character and ambitions, i.a. a declared hostility to foreign Europeans, notably the English and the Dutch. Although André must have had a great deal of knowledge about Sierra Leone and its peoples, he limits himself to describing the exportable products and commercial potential, and he writes about these in an optimistic rather than a objective tone. What appears to be the original letter, in a hand presumed to be that of Andre, is extant in a Portuguese archive; a copy is in the Rome archives of the Society of Jesus. The letter was published in the original orthography in 1946, and in modernised orthography by Brasio in 1968. Notes.
Views