Johnson, Anthony 59as well as trading posts on both the coasts of East and West
Africa. Th ese entrepôts would eventually equip the Portu-
guese with a strategic global location through which they
could carry out trade throughout Africa as well as in Ara-
bia, India, and Indonesia. Th e early establishment of a co-
lonial presence throughout Africa by the Portuguese was
merely an example of the colonization eff orts that would
be carried out by numerous European powers, including
England, France, Germany, Italy, and others. Eventually
Europe’s imperialist presence and objectives would diff use
throughout Africa and would leave an indelible mark not
only on Africa, Europe, and various parts of the Atlantic
World, but on the entire globe as well.
See also: ReconquistaChristina BushBibliography
Alvares, Francisco, Henry Edward John Stanley, C. F. Becking-
ham, and George Wynn Brereton Huntingford. Th e Prester
John of the Indies; A True Relation of the Lands of the Prester
John, Being the Narrative of the Portuguese Embassy to Ethio-
pia in 1 520. Cambridge, UK: Published for the Hakluyt Soci-
ety at the University Press, 1961.
Nowell, Charles E. “Th e Historical Prester John.” Speculum: A
Journal of Medieval Studies 22 (1958):435–45.
Slessarev, Vsevolod. Prester John; Th e Letter and the Legend. Min-
neapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1959.
Th ornton, John. Africa and Africans in the Making of the Atlantic
World, 1 400– 1 800. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University
Press, 1992.Johnson, Anthony
Anthony Johnson (ca. 1600–1670), sold to the English at
Jamestown of the Virginia Colony in 1621, is referred to in
early documents as “Antonio a Negro.” He was sold for his
labor in some form of servitude similar to enslavement. Re-
cords refer to him as “servant” as opposed to “slave” and, at
that early date in Virginia, both European and African im-
migrants entered the colony in a form of indentured servi-
tude. Not much is known about his early years in Virginia.
Antonio worked on the Bennett family’s plantation and was
one of fi ve individuals (out of 56 people) to survive an at-
tack by the local Native Americans in 1622. Th e census of
1625 listed him as “servant.” He married an African woman
(“Mary, a Negro”) from the same plantation. Antonio ap-
parently was not only a strong worker, but also won theimperialist aims was important, as Prester John’s Kingdom
could be potentially invaluable in the success of ousting
Muslims from the Iberian Peninsula. Th e idea that the mo-
tivation for African exploration was born from the desire
to transcend the expansive Muslim hegemony and gain
control of the eastern trade routes into Arabia and through
parts of Asia such as India and Indonesia constitutes a long-
term goal.
Short-range goals, on the other hand, were less con-
cerned with sweeping objectives such as becoming free from
Muslim dominion or controlling expansive trade routes, but
instead focused on the step-by-step process of expeditions
that was more in alignment with the fi nancial constraints
of expeditions. Despite the diff erences that existed between
long-term and short-range goals of European expansion,
both were marked by an element of economic gain.
Under the realm of economics European expansion
and conquest took on two distinct trajectories. Th e fi rst
type of European expansion in Africa sought to fi nance
small expeditions along the coast through the acquirement
of certain mainland goods such as gold and slaves. During
these types of short voyages, there was the expectation that
along the route either trading or raiding would take place.
Th e other type of European expansion was concerned with
exploitable land. For Europeans, the purpose of acquir-
ing this land, which may or may not have been previously
inhabited, was the acquisition of valuable raw goods. Th e
colonization of these lands underwent a general process by
which they were prepared for cultivation and subsequent
profi t production. Aft er the removal of existing profi t-
producing materials, such as timber or honey, was carried
out, the colonized land would be prepared for its primarily
profi t-producing function as crops such as sugar or wheat
were introduced.
In the 1500s, upon their arrival on the western coast
of Africa, the Portuguese were privy to an expansive com-
mercial network and trade. Goods originating from places
as far east as Indonesia were being funneled into Africa via
the trans-Saharan trade. Th e Portuguese quest for Prester
John also led to substantive eff ects of exploration. Although
the search for Prester John is primarily associated with the
Portuguese, the modes and motivations for exploration in
Africa would be adopted later by other European powers in
the 17th and 18th centuries. Th e aft ermath of the search for
Prester John worked in concert with Portuguese commer-
cial aspirations, prompting the erection of various fortresses