2 Atlantic African, American, and European Backgrounds to Contact, Commerce, and EnslavementWestern Europeans sought a diff erent route to reach the
famed “spice islands.”
From its propitious perch in southwestern Europe, Por-
tugal was well suited to seek a sea route to the East. Prince
Henry, son of Portugal’s King João I, led a military off ensive
against Morocco in 1415 intended to extend the scope of
Christian infl uence in the region. Aft er attacking and sack-
ing the city of Ceuta, Henry’s forces looted gold, spices, oils,
and other commodities. In this way, Prince Henry observed
North African marketplaces and recognized fi rst hand the
wealth and riches that might be had from the Eastern trade.
Upon his return to Portugal, Henry devoted himself head-
long into overseas commercial expansion. In 1420, Prince
Henry was appointed by Pope Martin V to govern the Mili-
tary Order of Christ, an infl uential association of noblemen,
whose mission had both religious and commercial designs.
Indeed, Prince Henry came to be known as “Th e Naviga-
tor” due to his zealous sponsorship of Atlantic exploration.
Henry became a patron of Portuguese discovery as he over-
saw the development of naval arsenals and observatories
and established the Vila do Infante, or Prince’s Town, which
trained geographers, navigators, and map-makers.^8 Prince
Henry’s expansionist designs later received papal sanction
when, in 1455, Pope Nicholas V issued a bull, the Romanus
Pontifex, which granted Christians the right:to invade, search out, capture, vanquish, and subdue all Sara-
cens and pagans whatsoever... and the kingdoms, dukedoms,
principalities, dominions, possessions, and all movable and
immovable goods whatsoever held and possessed by them
and to reduce their persons to perpetual slavery, and to apply
and appropriate to himself and his successors the kingdoms,
dukedoms, counties, principalities, dominions, possessions,
and goods, and to convert them to his and their use and
profi t.^9In eff ect, Nicholas V claimed for Catholicism all lands
and persons, whether yet known or unknown, as the right-
ful property of the Church. Portuguese expansion, under
the aegis of Prince Henry, constituted a particular form of
imperialism that enjoyed the political support of the royal
court, religious sanction from the highest levels of church
authority, and a commercial impetus, driven by European
demand for Eastern goods.
Th ough the early maritime exploration of the Portu-
guese refl ected a singular national zeal and religious fervor,
the varied conditions necessary for actual Atlantic expan-that Europeans fi rst discovered, then navigated the western
and southern coasts of Africa in the 15th century is his-
torically inaccurate. But the perdurability of the historical
“fact” of a set of European discoveries in this era (including,
of course, the “discovery” of America by Christopher Co-
lumbus) invites critical attention. V. Y. Mudimbe, in con-
sidering the question, argues:
Taken at its fi rst meaning, this discovery [that is, this unveil-
ing, this observation] meant and still means the primary vio-
lence signifi ed by the word. Th e slave trade narrated itself
accordingly, and the same movement of reduction progres-
sively guaranteed the gradual invasion of the continent. Th us,
doubtless, it was a discovery in this limited sense.... We do
know what is inscribed in this discovery, the new cultural
orders it allowed, and in terms of knowledge, the texts that
its discourses built and whose achievement is to be found
in... the “colonial library.”^6Th e historical veracity of European discoveries in Af-
rica and in other areas of the world is secondary to a much
larger project. If the notion of European discovery may not
be said to tell the Truth, it most certainly tells a truth; namely
that of European claims to power. As Mudimbe writes, “that
discovery spells out only one viewpoint, the European.”^7
Notably, Eastern interest in and knowledge of the West
was also uneven. Many people in the East, including not
only Asia but also North and West Africa, regarded Europe
as something of a backwater, disconnected from the cen-
ters of commodity production and commercial exchange
occurring in other parts of the world. Indeed, North Africa,
along with West and West-Central Africa, were key centers
of global trade in the 15th and 16th centuries, being linked
not only to the trans-Saharan trade, but also through the
Red Sea to trading networks in South Asia.
Although European knowledge of Africa, India, and
the Far East was uneven and largely inaccurate during the
15th century, many in the West desired greatly to retain
access to Eastern goods, principally the spices that fi ltered
into Europe through Constantinople, the virtual bridge be-
tween Europe and Asia. When, in 1453, Constantinople fell
to Ottoman Turks, Europeans faced a veritable commercial
and religious crisis. Th e fall of Constantinople refl ected not
only the fall of the Byzantine Empire, but also called into
serious question Western access to Eastern goods. With
Muslim political and commercial power entrenched in the
Middle East, and thus in control of the lucrative spice trade,