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Оглавление2 Early written Portuguesesources on the tacoais manillas of the Portuguese
1) The Venetian Alvise da Cadamosto (Luís de Cadamosto) undertook voyages to the West African coast in 1455 and 1456 on behalf of the Portuguese Infante D. Henrique. However, his reports only appeared in Italian 30 years after his death in 150720. In one place manillas are listed to pay for a service.
[…] a poderla pasar e chel se sia duj negri se offerse a passar e domandando zoche li uolea dar / domando che li desse do mauille de stagno per vnoche vna cossa che vallo vn grosson lina / (Cadamosto, A. ((D. Peres ed. 1988)):36, 127)
English translation by Newitt (2010:69):
In spite of this two blacks offered to go and when I asked what I should give them, they said that they should be given two manilhas of tin each, which is something they greatly value.
In a German edition from the year 1508, which was commented edited by Uta Sadji in 1980:
Also warn do zwen Moren / die erbotten sich sie wölten do hin schwimmen /fragte ich sie /was ich jne zu lone geben sollte / antworten sie / ich solt yerzlichem geben zwo Maiulie von zine das ist ein dinge / der eines eins grossen groschen werdt ist. (Cadamosto, A. ((U. Sadji ed. 1980)), Book 1 Chapter XXI).
The manillas listed by Cadamosto were made of tin. An indication that could well be true because, as stated elsewhere, tin rings were also used in trade with the natives (see here pp. 36, 42, 47 and 49). Newitt, however, is of the opinion that this is probably an error. Various other publications (eg Dapper 1668 and 1670) also list pewter bangle manillas which became brass manillas when translated or incorporated into other texts.
To my knowledge, 1456 is the earliest time when manillas are documented by written texts in trade with the West African coast.
2) Dr Hieronymus Münzer (Friedrich Kunstmann ed. 1857), an Augsburg humanist, physician and geographer, stayed in Portugal in 1494–95 and recorded his travel experiences and the information he received about the Guinean coast during this time. He was assisted by Valentim Fernandes, quoted in the following section, who supported him as an interpreter.
Kunstmann published and translated the original Latin text:
1) Et vidimus multos pannos varii coloris distinctos quos ex Tunis facit apportari. Item tapetes, telam, caldarios cupreos, pelves, pater noster citrina ex vitro et alia infinita genera. [Kunstmann 1857:301]. – Wir sahen viele Stoffe in verschiedenen Farben, welche aus Tunesien importiert worden waren. Außerdem Teppiche, Gewebe, Kupferkessel, Schüsseln, karminrote Glasperlen und viele andere Dinge. – We saw many fabrics in different colours, which had been imported from Tunisia. Also, carpets, fabrics, copper kettles, bowls, crimson glass beads and many other things.
2) Rex sibi servat has mercancias, quas nulli nisi ipsi licet invehere in Aethiopam, equos, tapites, telam, pannos ex Ibernia et Anglia, tela, stannum pro moneta eorum, vasa cuprea, stannea, item quasdam testas ostrearum ex Canariis, quas Aethiopes contra fulmina in collo portant, pater noster ex Nuremberga, crocea viridia, item monilia ex aurichalco. (Kunstmann 1857:355–356). – Dem Könige waren folgende Waaren zur Einfuhr in Guinea vorbehalten: Pferde, Tapeten, Gewebe, Tücher aus Irland und England, Wurfgeschosse, Zinn zur Münze, Geschirr von Kupfer und Zinn, Austernschalen von den canarischen Inseln, welche die Aethioper als Schutzmittel gegen den Blitz am Halse tragen, Paternoster aus Nürnberg, grüne Binden, Halsbänder aus Messing. (p. 337) – The following goods were reserved for the king to import into Guinea: horses, wallpaper, fabrics, cloths from Ireland and England, projectiles, pewter for coins, dishes of copper and tin, oyster shells from the Canary Islands, which the Ethiopians wear at the neck as protection against lightning, paternoster from Nuremberg, green bandages, brass collars.
Münzer is quoted by Strieder (1930: XXXIV) as follows:
Auch Dr. H. Münzer aus Nürnberg, der 1495 Portugal bereiste, erwähnt ‘manilia ex aurichalco’ als portugiesische Ausfuhrartikel nach Westafrika neben, stanum (pro moneta eorum!), vasa cuprea et stanea‘ und neben Paternoster aus Nürnberg. – Dr H. Münzer from Nuremberg, who travelled to Portugal in 1495, also mentions ‘manilia ex aurichalco’ as a Portuguese export article to West Africa alongside, stanum (pro moneta eorum!), vasa cuprea et stanea' and paternoster [beads] from Nuremberg.
Here, monilia in Münzer have become collars in Kunstmann and later manilia in Strieder whereby it should be noted that already in the introductory text under point four it is pointed out that manilla could be derived from the Latin word monilia (for necklace). There are also two Spanish editions of Münzer’s Journey to Spain and Portugal (1951 and 1991)21, in which the relevant paragraph, however, conceals this object: “[…] y otras infinitas cosas.” – “[…] and infinite other things.” Jerónimo Münzer [transl by José López Toro] Viaje pro España y Portugal 1494–1495. Madrid, 1951:
[…] Envia a Génova paños de lana de varios colores, como las alfombras que fabrican en Túnez; igualmente, telas, caballos, mercaderías de Nüremberg, muchas calderas de cobre, jofainas de latón, paño de grana y amarillo, capas de Inglaterra e Irlanda, y otras infinitas cosas. [1951:67 similar to 73] – […] Send to Guinea woollen cloths of various colours, like the carpets they make in Tunisia; also fabrics, horses, commodities from Nuremberg, many copper cauldrons, brass basins, cloth of red and yellow, coats of England and Ireland, and other infinite things.
Jerónimo Münzer [Gómez-Moreno Caldera ed.] Viaje por España y Portugal (1494–1495). Madrid, 1991:
[…] Envia a Génova paños de lana de varios colores, como las alfombras que fabrican en Túnez: igualmente, telas, caballos, mercaderías de Nüremberg, muchas calderas de cobre, jofainas de latón, paño de grana y amarillo, capas de Inglaterra e Irlanda, y otras infinitas cosas. [1991:167 similar to 179] – […] Send to Guinea woollen cloths of various colours, like the carpets they make in Tunisia; also fabrics, horses, commodities from Nuremberg, many copper cauldrons, brass basins, cloth of red and yellow, covers of England and Ireland, and other infinite things.
In both publications “commodities from Nuremberg” are listed, but no rings or manillas. In the earlier Portuguese publication by de Vasconcelos «Itinerário» do Dr. Jerónimo Münzer (Excertos), Coimbra, 1931, the two text passages previously quoted by Kunstmann, can also be found in Latin versus Portuguese.
Mittit in geneam pannos de lana varii coloris ut tapetes qui fiunt in tunnis. Item telam, equos, varias merces ex Nuremberga caldaria multa cuprea: pelues auricalceas, pannum rubeum, flauum pallia ex anglia et Irlandia et infinita alia. (p. 14). – Manda para a Guiné panos de lã de várias côres como os tapetes que se fazem em Túnis, e também tela, cavalos, várias mercadorias de Nuremberg, muitas caldeiras de cobre, bacias de latão, pano vermelho, pano amarelo, capas da Inglaterra e da Irlanda, e muitas outras cousas. (p. 14). – It sends to Guinea woollen cloths of various colours such as the carpets made in Tunis, and also fabrics, horses, various goods from Nuremberg, many copper cauldrons, brass basins, red cloth, yellow cloth, covers from England and Ireland, and many other things.
Rex sibi servat has mercancias, quas nulli nisi ipsi licet invehere in Aethiopam, equos, tapites, telam, pannos ex Ibernia et Anglia, tela, stannum pro moneta eorum, vasa cuprea, stannea, item quasdam testas ostrearum ex Canariis, quas Aethiopes contra fulmina in collo portant, pater noster ex Nuremberga, crocea viridia, item monilia ex aurichalco. (p. 52). – O Rei reserva para sì o monopólio da exportação, para a Etiópia, das mercadorias seguintes: cavalos, tapetes, tela, panos da Irlanda e da Inglaterra, armas brancas, estanho para as moedas dos negros, vasos de cobre ou de estanho, certas conchas de ostras das Canárias, que os etiopes trazem ao pescoço como amuleto contra o raio, contas de Nuremberg amarelas e verdes e manilhas de latão; […]. (p. 52). – The King reserves a monopoly on the export to Ethiopia of the following goods: horses, carpets, canvas, cloths from Ireland and England, white weapons, tin for black peoples, copper or tin vessels, certain oyster shells from the Canaries, which the Ethiopians wear around their necks as an amulet against lightning, yellow and green beads from Nuremberg and brass manillas; […].
Almost at the same time Strieder (1930) and Vasconcelos (1931) translated from Münzer’s original Latin text the passage […] pater noster ex Nuremberga, crocea viridia, item monilia ex aurichalco […] as follows with […] yellow and green paternoster [beads], as well as manillas from brass […]. This confirms that, as already stressed, goods from Nuremberg were stored and traded in Lisbon. However, it cannot be deduced from this text that (tacoais) manillas were produced in Nuremberg.
3) Braamcamp Freire (1908) published various records from the Portuguese Royal Court archives from the Flanders (Antwerp) royal factor’s cartas de quitação from 1495 to 1512. These documents show to what extent brass and copper manillas (tacoais type) were exported at the turn of the 16th century from this part of Europe to Portugal.
Em 1 de novembro de 1510 nova carta de João Brandão, tambem datada de Antuerpia, anunciando ter fretado «uma grande náu de piripeo […]» – On November 1, 1510, a new letter from João Brandão, also from Antwerp, announced that he had chartered a large […] ship.
Nella carregará os mastros comprados segundo a ordem enviada de Lisboa, e para a alastrar, o que sempre é conviente fazer-se quando se mandam mastros, […] algum cobre e alguns barris de manilhas, provavelmente das de cobre para o resgate dos escravos nos rios de Guiné. (Braamcamp Freire 1908:383, Doc. XXII). – [This ship] will load the masts bought on Lisbon 's order and to settle the load, which is always convenient when sending masts, [… do they load] some copper [ingots?] and some barrels with manillas, probably those of copper, for the rescue [the purchase] of slaves at our rivers of Guinea.
Lista das mercadorias permutadas com os estados de Flendres e Brabante no reinado de D. Manuel. (Braamcamp Freire 1908:408/413). – List of goods exchanged with Flanders and Brabant during the reign of King Manuel.
| Manilhas | 1) Barris [de manilhas] dellas mandados em 1510 para lastrar uma náu [doc. XXII]; |
| 2) 550 [barris de manilhas ?] para resgate dos escravos nos rios de S. Tomé, em anno añterior ao de 1510 [Cartas de quitação, 228]; | |
| 3) [manilhas] de latão e cobre, 447, 484 que pesaram 258, 173 libras, em 1495–98 [Cartas de quitação, 468]; | |
| 4) [manilhas] de latão de cobre roxo 937,586 libras, em 1498–1505 [Cartas de quitação, 584]. | |
| Manillas | 1) Barrels [with manillas] of the order of [year] 1510 for settling of the ships [cargo]; |
| 2) 550 [barrels with Manillas?] for the purchase of slaves at the rivers of S. Tomé, in the year before 1510; | |
| 3) [Manillas] of brass and copper, 447,484 [pieces], weighing 258,173 pounds [1 Antwerp pound = 470 g], in [the years] 1495–98; results in one manilla of 271 g. | |
| 4) [Manillas] of brass from red copper 937,586 [Antwerp?] pounds in [the years] 1498–1505. |
Unfortunately, there are no seller’s nor manufacturer’s entries of these tacoais manillas. However, the large German (metal) trading companies Schetz (see pp. 66, 68), Fugger (see pp. 67, 70, 71), Welser (see p. 70), Paller and others all had permanent commercial agencies in Antwerp, so they were probably also included in the manilla trade. Whether one delivered or received brass or copper manillas could only be decided optically according to the metal colour, unless one knew the manufacturer and their production methods.
4) The German printer Valentim Fernandes lived in Lisbon at the beginning of the 16th century. All his life he kept close contacts to his hometown Nuremberg and arranged good contacts between the then big German trading houses (Welser, Fugger, Höchstetter and others) and the Portuguese Royal Court in Lisbon. For example, when selling copper and brass and when buying spices (pepper). (Westermann 1992).
Around 1508, probably on behalf of Queen Leonora of Portugal, Fernandes compiled a work on Portuguese–West African relations from existing documents ("O manuscrito Valentim Fernandes", Baião 1940; “Description de la Côte Occidentale d'Afrique”, Monod et al., 1951). Fernandes had never been to Africa himself. His informant, who knew the regions from his own experience, was Johann Rodriguez22.
For 1456 Fernandes reports that the Mandinga in Guinea received from the Portuguese brass bracelets (bracelets de laiton), pearls and horses for seven blacks:
Os porugueses leuã pera la manilhas de latã, e cõtas de maçanũgo, e pãne vermelho e mãtas dAlantejo, e algodõ q carregã e as ilhas do Cabo Verde, e cauallos q dã huũ cauallo por sete negros. (Baião 1940:77)
For trade at Cape Roxo (Republic of Guinea-Bissau, Map 4) there is a similar passage with the addition:
Em tẽpo passado dauã 14 escrauos por hũu cauallo e despois x- e agora 6 e 7 e 8. E assy mesmo dauã por hũu esprauo 6 e 7 manilhas de latã e agora 20 e 25. (Baião 1940:87) – In earlier times […] / One gave 6 or 7 brass manillas for a slave, but currently 20 to 25.
Once again, it should be emphasised that during translation from Portuguese into French by Monod et al. (1951) the manilhas became bracelets.
Kunstmann (1860:812), pointed out in his adaptation of Fernandes' "Description of the West Coast of Africa", that Cadamosto and Almada’s previous works were used. He translated the passage quoted above as follows:
Die Portugiesen bringen hierher Armbänder aus Messing, kleine Glaswaaren, rothes Tuch, wollene Decken aus der Provinz Alentejo, Baumwolle, die sie auf den Inseln des grünen Vorgebirges einladen, endlich Pferde, von welchen eines für sieben Neger vertauscht wird. – The Portuguese brought here brass bracelets, small glassware, red cloth, woolen blankets from the province of Alentejo, cotton, which they invited to the islands of the green foothills, and finally horses, one of which was exchanged for seven negroes.
In the original text manilha stands for bracelets.
5) Alpern (1995:13) believes that
[…] open-ended bracelets or rings called manillas (manilhas in Portuguese) were among the first European goods traded on the coast of Kwaland23 in the 1470s and were still being imported when the slave trade ended in the nineteenth century.
Manilla use until the nineteenth century, however, only applied to the extent that the term manilla had persisted for ring-shaped metal objects of value. Their shape and metal composition, however, as well as their places of manufacture and further use had changed significantly.
6a) In 1965 Ryder (1965a) compiled the results of his search for commercial documents in Portuguese archives in the publication “Materials for West African History in Portuguese Archives” by document title. Because these documents were not kept in chronological order
– be it that other aspects had led to a different archiving or that the documents were confused over the course of the centuries – they are listed in his publication in their encountered, not chronological order. However, they give subsequent researchers the opportunity to find the documents they are looking for at various archive locations and to process them in a targeted manner.
From Ryder’s publication, I have selected those documents whose titles refer to manillas and put them in chronological order (with simultaneous reference to the place of discovery). The text of the original publication’s footnotes has been retained.
from: “Corpo Cronológico”, Part II:
1518 maço 77 89. Fernão Lopes Correia: loss of manillas at Axem24. São Jorge
from: “Corpo Cronológico”, Part I:
1531 maço 48 7. Casa da Mina: manillas and cowries for São Tomé. Supply of slaves to Mina and West Indies. Lisbon25
from: “Corpo Cronológico”, Part II:
1522 maço 149 29. Ship’s book for slaving voyage to Benin [navire São Miguel] (see here p. 25, 29, 37)
1540 maço 231 27. Lourenço Correia: manillas and basins. Axem
1540 maço 232 6. Lourenço Correia: brass manillas. Axem
1540 maço 232 103. Lourenço Correia: brass manillas. Axem
1540 maço 233 61. Lourenço Correia: brass manillas. Axem
1540 maço 233 106. Lourenço Correia: brass manillas and basins. Axem
6b) In his further publication “Benin and the Europeans 1485–1875” in 1969, Ryder dealt with early European relations with the Kingdom of Benin in today's Nigeria. The passages referring to manilla use by the Portuguese are listed below. The text from the original publication’s footnotes has been retained.
– p. 40: During his twenty months as a factor [in Ughoton – equivalent to the Huguatoo of Pacheco Pereira – in the Kingdom of Benin, Map 22] Bastiam Fernandez, for example received manillas, cloth […] for the use of the establishment. Manillas, of which he had 12,750, were mostly expended on slaves. In Pacheco Pereira’s time a slave had cost between 12 and 15 manillas, but that price moved steadily upwards to reach 57 manillas in 1517 26. Benin had also shifted its preference for copper manillas in the earlier years of the trade to those made of brass, though 7, 991 of the copper variety were sent to Ughoton as late as 1505 27. An increased use of brass in cire perdue casting may have influenced the change.
– p. 42: The new captain [of São Tomé], Fernão de Mello, who took up his office in 1500, signed with the king of Portugal a contract embodying the same arrangement, but with most of the benefit going to the captain. His contract stipulated that de Mello should receive from (an officer of the) Casa da Mina [Elmina] 16,000 manillas to be used ‘for the barter of slaves and pepper in the rivers of the said island’. Later he received another 1, 877 manillas from the royal factor at Ughoton [550 from Frandes (Flanders), 530 of copper, 600 of brass, and the remaining 140 of thick copper, and one of these is counted as two of the others]28.
This section’s text can be found in the original by Braamcamp Freire (1904:351) and as an early English translation by Blake (1942, Vol. I: 111) and Herbert (1984:126).
– p. 53: Whereas the factor [Bastian] Fernandez had received 12,750 manillas in twenty month, one of [Antonio] Carneiro’s29 ships carried 13,000 manillas to Benin in a single voyage.
– p. 55: Care was to be taken that no slave costs more than 40 manillas, and that those bought at this price were young and healthy.
– p. 56, 295: The instruction given to [Bastian] Fernandes by the royal factor stressed that he must not pay more than 50 manillas for the best slaves30 – efforts to reduce the price to 40 manillas had soon been abandoned.
– p. 57: A house in Benin City rented by the pilot for 10 manillas served as a store to which the ship’s cargo was carried from Ughoton by hired porters paid at the rate of one manilla a head-load […].
– p. 58: Another expenditure worth noting was the 26 manillas given for fibre mats which served as […] beds for the slaves.
– p. 61: […] that one small Flemish manilla was at that time equivalent to 130 cowries, and that the manilla could serve only for large transactions.
The pilot of the São Miguel bought 228 tusks of ivory. He used manilas to pay for 197 tusks, giving 3,845 manillas in all.
– p. 62: 1517 Carneiro’s ship had acquired 187 tusks for 1, 623 manillas.
– p. 63: 1526: Porters brought up from the [Royal ship] São João 110 loads of manillas (each load containing 100 manillas) [= 11,000 manillas!], 70 loads of cowries weighing altogether 20 quintals, and 10 loads of linen and red cloth [to the city of Benin].
From these manillas amongst other things, 80 slaves were bought at 50 manillas per person (= 40,000 manillas)31.
– p. 64: To victual his ship (São João) the pilot bought yams to a value of 1,600 manillas.
– p. 67: One of the last Portuguese voyages to Benin […] was 1535 by the [ship] Santo Antonio32. Twelfe barrels of cowries and 10,000 copper and brass manillas accounted for the bulk of the outward cargo.
During this time, the Portuguese Congo missionaries also appealed to the Portuguese king for help, stating that hardly any ships would enter the Congo and the trade with Congolese manillas would cease.
7) In 1986 in her doctoral thesis “The Portuguese Trade with West Africa 1440–1521”, Mrs. Ivana Elbl of the University of Toronto, refers to a large number of Portuguese documents. However, Elbl’s dissertation is only available as not a very good microfiche. Of the more than 700 pages, I used the passages that contain references to manillas. The footnote texts follow the original publication. The publication’s numeric sources are added at the end of the bibliography.
Chapter VIII (of the thesis)
Portuguese Exports, pp. 365–368 (Insertions in square brackets were made by the author.)
The Gambia River, a principal artery channelling commerce between the coastal Manding regions and the hinterland, constituted a market for textiles, mostly uncut cloth, brass in the form of manillas, alaquequequas [alaguecas = blood stones] and beads33. Cantor, moreover, bought coloured silk and headwear, mostly berets and hats, and other merchandises34. The Manding hinterland also imported Alentejo [region in Portugal] mantles35. There was no demand for Moorish clothing comparable to that of Senegal. According to V. Fernandes, Portuguese ships also brought many horses up the Gambia36. All these commodities were probably imported in the past from elsewhere.
Brass manillas, basins of different sizes [so-called neptunes and others], red woollen cloth and carnelian beads, and alaquequas had a universal appeal from the southern bank of the Gambia River ro Cape Mount37 [peninsula in the extreme northwest of Liberia (Map 6, 7)]. The uniformity strongly supports the opinion, voiced also by G. Brooks, that the coast was linked to the Sudanic network before the arrival of the Portuguese38. Many coastal and riverain states south of the Gambia, such as Casa or Birasu, also constituted lively markets for horses39. The Biafada [in today's Guinea-Bissau] and Cocoli states on the Gambia River were, by the end of the fifteenth century, among the best customers of the Portuguese horse merchants40. The Banhun-controlled states on the Cacheu River [Rio Cacheu in Guinea-Bissau, see Maps 4, 5] are not expressly mentioned as importing horses either by Pacheco Pereira od Fernandes. It is curious because all surrounding regions imported them. The demand for horses ended on the Bulala branch of the Rio Grande.
Between Rio Grande and Cape Verga [in Guinea-Bissau, Maps 5, 6] there was much demand for tin41, as well as between Sherbo Bay and Cape Mount42[peninsula in the extreme northwest of Liberia, see Maps 6, 7]. The value of tin was high in these areas43. Most of it was reexported to the hinterland, which, incidentally, produced much of the Upper Guinea iron44. The tin exported to the Sherbo [Bay]-Cape Mount region was sent, together with local sea salt, north to the Gola lands on the upper Mano [forms the border between Sierra Leone and Liberia] and Loffa River [= small Cape Mount River, rises in Guinea and flows into the Atlantic in Liberia], in return for gold from the Kerouane [Kérouané in Guinea] goldfields from where, according to Pacheco Pereira, came all the Gold found in the Sierra Leone45. The exports of tin to these metal-producing areas are intriguing. One might be tempted to speculate about local bronze production, provided that copper was brought from elsewhere. On the Malgueta Coast [= Malguetta Coast = Grain Coast = Pepper Coast, today Sierra Leone and Liberia] only sales of metals – large basins, barber basins, and brass manillas – are well documented. On the Ivory Coast there was no trade46.
The structure of demand on the Gold Coast [Ghana] represents a combination of coastal demand and a demand attesting to a well-established and deep connection with Sudanic trading networks and the trans-Saharan trade. The Portuguese exports consisted of 40% textiles, 37% metals and 10% slaves. The remaining 13% represented beads and other adornments, wine, and minor items47. The overwhelming majority of textiles imported to Mina were different articles of Moorish clothing, namely hanbels [Moroccan linen fabric], djellabas [long-flowing robe from Morocco], and alquices [a wrap of white fabric, about 6 x 2 m, which was worn only by women (Teixeira da Mota 1969a: 7)], hundreds of which were sold each year48. Except for mantles49 no other European clothing found a market in Mina. Portuguese, Castilian, and other woollen cloth, however, was very popular in Mina, and so were linen of different kinds, Benin cloth, and, in the sixteenth century, cotton cloths from India50.
As in other West African regions, the chief share of the metal imports of the Gold Coast was represented by brass utensils – different kinds of basins, kettles, pots, and manillas. Copper was sold in unwrought ingots, though some copper pots and kettles were also sold. Lead and tin were sold in small amounts in the late 1510’s51. The beads were divided among crystal and glass beads, carnelian beads, imitation pearls, and highly priced coris pearl and yellow and grey stone beads from Benin52. Slaves were imported by the Portuguese from Benin, the Niger Delta, the Bight of Bonny, and, occasionally, from the Grain Coast53[Sierra Leone and Liberia].
The coast from the Benin River to the Cross Riber demonstrated a remarkable appetite for copper in the form of manillas, which fetched high prices in terms of slaves and other goods54. Brass manillas were also imported, but in Bonny and east of there they were worth less than copper ones55. The Lagos Lagoon, on the other hand, imported only brass manillas56. The purchasing power of copper manillas decreased in the 1510’s57, but in 1522 copper manillas still formed the majority of the trading truck58. Cowries, however, were by that time more appreciated than manillas59. Benin and the Niger Delta also imported linen, woollen cloth, and, in the 1500’s, Indian cottons60. Benin was also interested in some imported garments and headwear, for example capes, mantles, berets, and toques61. The demand for crystal and carnelian beads was universal in West Africa.
Metals: Some passages from pages 396 to 403 are without lists.
Pages 396 and 397
Metals were the second most important artikle in Portuguese trade with West Africa. They accounted for 21.2% of all transactions in Arguim [Arguin, a hard to reach island off the coast of Mauritania, [Map 8] and 30.2% of the overall value of merchandise sold there62. In Mina [Elmina] the percentages were even higher. According to J. L. Vogt, 37% of all imports to Mina were metals63, mostly copper and its alloys, although some tin and lead were also traded. Portugal traditionally acquired most of its metals in Flanders, with the exception of iron64.
The paragraph on page 396 for Portugal’s unspecified copper import volumes has been skipped.
These imports were supplemented by those of copper and brassware. In 1498–1504, the Flanders factory dispatched to Portugal over 67,000 kg of copper and brass basins and manillas (bracelets). In the next twenty years the number of imported manillas dropped significantly, although the quantities exported to Mina remained high. it is thus possible that manillas for the Africa trade were at that time being cast in Portugal, given the sizeable imports of copper and tin.
Pages 399–405
West African trade traditionally favoured metal ware over bulk metal. Most Portuguese metals arrived in the form of basins and pots, or as manillas. Ingots were preferred only in the case of wholesale transactions. Basins added over 4,000 kg to the brass and copper exports in the first decade of the sixteenth century, and from 7,000 to almost 9,000 kg in the second decade. Manillas accounted for over 15,000 kg more in the 1490 ’s for over 42,000 kg in the 1500 ’s, 68,000 kg in 1511–1513, and for almost 70,000 in 1513–1514. In 1517–1519 their share dropped to a little over 45,000 kg but in 1519–1521 it rose again to almost 54,000 kg.
While copper manillas were at first preferred on the Nigerian coast, the rest of West Africa, including the Gold Coast, favoured brass ones [manillas]65. This fact accounts for the prevalence of brass manillas among the Crown trading truck. In 1494–1497, the Guinea House had in stock 46,433 brass manillas and only 4,154 copper ones [manillas], besides 158 “Flanders” manillas66. We encounter the same situation in Mina in 1513–1514, when the factory received 198,434 brass manillas and only 25,803 copper manillas61. The Santiago carried on its 1526 voyage only brass manillas, a total of 2,345 pieces68.
Nevertheless, brass manillas were also sold in the Niger Delta and Benin [old Kingdom of Benin], despite the original preference for the copper manillas. Thus in 1506 the Benin factor received, in fact, brass manillas only69. Under the terms of his contract on the delivery of slaves to Mina, Fernam de Mello received 16,000 manillas of an unspecified nature from the Guinea House and also 1,877 manillas from the royal factor of Benin. The latter were evenly divided between large copper manillas [530], brass manillas [600] and “Flanders” manillas [550]70. In 1522 both [ships] San Miguel and the Santa Maria de Conceicão, however, brought in copper manillas only. The former carried 5,739pieces [manillas], the latter 4,010 pieces71.
Copper manillas were heavier than brass ones. A copper manilla usually weighed 0.4 kg72 though they also came in an extra-large variety that weighed double the normal one73. Brass manillas weighed about 0.3 kg74. The prices of manillas varied, depending on type and location. Thus, while in Sierra Leone a brass manilla bought only 61 reis worth of iron75, in Mina it sold for 120 reis worth of gold76. V. Fernendes quoted 40 reis as a selling price in Portugal77.
8) In about 1490, the historian Rui de Pina, appointed by the royal court, highlighted Fort of São Jorge da Mina’s foundation of 21 January 1482 on the Gold Coast by Diogo de Azambuja in the “Crónica de El-Rey D. João II”.
E assy ordenou pera o Rey, e pera os seus hũ bõo presente de muitos lambres, e bacias, manylhas, e pano outro, que ante de tudo lhes fosse pera sua brandura primeiro dado,[…]. (Pina ((Carvalho ed. 1950)):12)
Translations by Blake and Newitt:
He [Diogo de Azambuja] sent the king [the regional king] and his people a good present of brass basins and manilhas, shawls and other cloth, which were to be given to them to obtain their goodwill. (Blake 1942, Vol. I: 76; Newitt 2010:94)
9) Other very early Portuguese government documents also make brief references to manillas. For example, in a three-year report (1491, 1492 and 1493) by Cape Verde Islands customs officer, Afonso Annes do Campo, 100 brass manillas (according to a translation by Blake 1942, Vol. I: 87) are listed among the merchant ship receipts for food sales to intermediate stations. A relatively small amount, considering the following documents.
10) In a letter dated August 24, 1499, King Manuel I of Portugal is informed about Elmina78 Factory stocks (Braamcamp Freire 1906:286):
[…] de manilhas de cobre, 12,461 peças, que pesaram 82 quintaes, 15 arrates; de manilhas de latam, 139,299 peças, que pesaram 703 quintaes, 2 arrobas, 28 arrates e meo. – […] 12,461 pieces of copper manillas with a weight of 82 quintai and 15 arratai as well as 139.299 pieces of brass manillas with a weight of 703 quintai, 2 arroba and 28 arratai.
Who might have counted this quantity of manillas so exactly (see Blake: 1942 Vol. I 101f., here page 29)? It is probably rather a calculated book inventory. However, if one assumes exact numbers, the weight of a copper manilla can be calculated at 387 g and that of a brass manilla at 296 g. They are thus considerably lighter than the pieces supplied by the Kingdom of Congo.
11) The hitherto unpublished instruction “Regimento das cazas das Indias e Mina” by the Portuguese King Manuel I from 1509 gives an insight into the Portuguese Factory stock economy in Elmina. (Peres 1947:8).
Do Provimento que teraa acerca das mercadarias que compre os trautos: […] Pero por quanto no resgate de Sam Jorge da Mina falecerão algũas vezes manilhas, por as nam haver tanta abastança na Caza como convinha, y somos nisso dezservido, mandamos ao ditto nosso Feitor que do fornimento tenta tal cuidado, que, alem do que arrezoadamente cada anno se gastar no ditto resgate, sempre haja na Caza cem mil manilhas de sobejo, para nellas estarem deposito. […]. (Peres 1947:8).
– fragmentary freely translated by Malowist (1968:240 and 2010:389): […] in his statutes concerning Casas das Indias e Mina, [the central institution managing trade with Africa, King Emanuel stated] that the lack of manillas often made transactions at Mina [Elmina] difficult, and that there should therefore always be 100.000 [tacoais] manilhas in reserve, so that dispatching them to Africa should be always feasible.
Very early in the 16th century large quantities of manillas were already being sold to Lisbon for trade with West Africa. It is all the more astonishing that hitherto no trace of them has been found on the first part of the journey from their assumed production sites in Flanders, Germany or Hungary / Republic of Slovenia. It is only at the commercial centres in Bruges and Antwerp that they become tangible.
12) A further São Jorge da Mina inventory, by factor Estevão Barradas, for the period between 20 August 1504 and 10 January 1507 includes, among many other goods, the receipt of 287,813 manillas of copper or brass, according to the letter of 22 March 1510 (Blake, Vol. I 1942:107; Magalhães-Godinho 1969:383; Garrard 1980:73). This corresponds to an average monthly access of 9,924 manillas!
13) Ayres Bothello, factor of Axim 79 (Maps 3 and 9) in his income statement of 16 February 1508 for the previous 17 months mentions the receipt of a total of 67,095 ordinary brass manillas! This corresponds to 3,946 manillas per month (Blake 1942, Vol. I: 97).
Elsewhere, Blake (1942, Vol. I: 101f.) quotes from a report of 5 October 1509 to King Manuel concerning the workload in São Jorge da Mina, that for counting and weighing goods (fabrics, manillas, etc.) eight to ten people were employed for five or six days.
14) Magellan, born in Portugal, started his expedition to circumnavigate the Earth in the service of the Spanish King on 10 August 1519. Among the objects listed in his ships’ cargo for trade with the natives (mercaderías para rescate) are textiles and brass basins (bacías de latón pequeñas) of various sizes, 2,000 brass manillas and 2,000 copper manillas80 (Fernández de Navarrete 1837:9; Pigafetta ((Cabrero Fernandez ed.)) 2002:189)81. However, Magellan had no contact with the West African mainland coast. He only stopped at the Cape Verde Island of Sao Tiago (Santiago) before continuing his journey in a westerly direction. On the Cape Verde Islands, manillas were already a known trading money at that time, so that they were perhaps already sold there.
15) Enciso’s “Suma de geografía […]” from the year 1519, has remained obscure thus far. Martín Fernández de Enciso was a Spanish navigator who described shipping routes, including to West Africa, in his “Guide” from hitherto unpublished Portuguese sources. His communications about Guinea are considered particularly valuable, although he had never been to Guinea himself (Hair 1976).
The following quotations page references are from the version published by J. Ibáñez Cerdá in 1948, since the edition of 1519 is not paginated.
A) En esta tierra [Guinea] se prenden los hermanos unos otros y se venden. También venden los padres a los hijos, a los que se los compran; y dánlos a los de los navíos a troque de paños de colores y de manillas de cobre y de otras cosas. (p. 166) – In this land [Guinea] the brothers tie each other up and sell themselves. The parents sell also the children, to those who buy them; and give them to the ships by means of colourful cloths and copper manillas and other things.
B) En esta tierra usan pedazos de cobre fechos al cabo como cruces por moneda. Estiman mucho el cobre y en poco el oro. Dan el oro a troque de manillas de cobre y conchas de pescado y de paños de colores. (p. 167) – In this land they use copper pieces as coins, which are shaped like crosses at the end… They estimate copper very much and gold little. They give gold for copper manillas and shells and colourful fabrics.
C) A este Castillo de la Mina trean los negros el oro que cogen adentro de la tierra a vender como lo cogen, sin lo fundir, y danlo a troque de paños de colores y de manillas de cobre y de conchas y de otras cosas livianas, a los factores que tiene en el Castillo el de rey de Portugal. (p. 167) – To this Castle Mina the blacks bring the gold that they take out of the earth to sell as they take it out, without melting it, and give it in exchange with colourful fabrics and of copper manillas and shells and other cheap things to the factors of the King of Portugal in the castle.
The part concerning Guinea was already transferred in 1540/41 by Barlow in a similar work in English:
A) In this countrey one take another, as the brother the sister or brother and the father the sone, and sellis them to the shippis of portugal that comes theder for pecis of cloth of colours and for rynges of latyn [brass], and so thei bryng into speyne to selle for slavys. (p. 105).
B) In this contrey thei use pecis of coper markyd with crosses fort her money. Thei exteme moche the copper and litle the golde. Thei geve the golde in trucke of rynges of latyn and copper and for certein red shelles of fysshes and cloth of colours. (p. 106).
C) To this castle the negros bryng the golde and selleth it for tucke of clothe of colour and rynges of latyn, shelles and other tryfles to the factours that the king of portugal hathe there. (p. 106).
In all three passages Barlow translated manillas with copper, rynges of latyn / of copper, although he was familiar with the Spanish language. Here, too, information about the manillas’shape and weight is missing. The country of origin may be Portugal, which does not mean that they were also produced there. Nevertheless, the manillas can also be attributed to the tacoais manilla type.
16) A letter from Antonio Affonso to the Portuguese King D. Manuel I of 19 June 1522 results that the Fort Sam Jorge da Mina (Elmina) stored 302,920 [brass] manillas:
[…] de manilhas de toda sorte de latam 302920 e mea peça. (Braamcamp Freire 1903:201; Herbert 1984:126)
17) The Portuguese astronomer and geographer Duarte Pacheco Pereira was governor of Elmina on the Gold Coast from 1520 to 1522. In his book “Esmeraldo de situ orbis” he reports in Book I, Chapter XXIX that the Manding (Mandinga) on the coast of Gambia sold their goods for red, blue and green fabrics, shawls, brass manillas and blood stones to the Portuguese merchant ships82.
[…] mesmos Mandingas […] e nos ditos nauios Resguatam pano verhelmo, azul e verde, de pouca valia, e asym comprom lenços e seda de colores solta e manilhas de latam […] e outras muitas mercadorias. (Pacheco Pereira ((Diaz ed.)) 1905:87; Pacheco Pereira ((Kimble ed.)) 1937:88; Pacheco Pereira ((Mauny ed.)) 1956:64–65; Herbert 1974:414; Newitt 2010:52).
It is also stated in several passages that gold was acquired with brass bracelets (manillas) or for a brass bracelet a bushel of pepper. The purchase of gold with brass bracelets is also listed elsewhere. In the Niger Delta, palm oil, panther skins and slaves were bought with brass and copper bracelets (Pacheco Pereira ((Dias ed.)) 1905:96, 105, 117; Pacheco Pereira ((Kimble ed.)) 1937:98, 110, 117; same quote in Blake 1937:85). Pacheco Pereira has visited the city of Benin four times. On his way there he had also made contact with the inhabitants of Geebuu83 via the Rio do Laguo (the entrance to the Lagos Lagoon). There prisoners of war were sold as slaves to the Portuguese at a particularly favourable price of 12 to 15 manillas made of brass or copper, whereby copper manillas were preferred:
[…] honde toma muitos catiuos que nós compranos ha doze e quinze manilhas de latam ou de cobre, que elles mais estimam. – […] they [the Geebuu residents] made a large number of prisoners whom they sold to us for 12 to 15 brass or copper bracelets84 which they preferred (Blake 1937:93, Pacheco Pereira ((Dias ed.)) 1905:117; Pacheco Pereira ((Kimble ed.)) 1937:126; Pacheco Pereira ((Mauny ed.)) 1956:130–131, 134–135; Hodgkin 1975:120).
Mauny (1956:190, n. 278) comments: “Cette importation de cuivre et de laiton servait entre autres à la fabrication des fameux, bronzes du Benin.” Pacheco Pereira also reports on purchases on the Fernando Poo Islands and the opposite mainland of Cameroon85:
[…] e tudo isto vendem por sal aos negros da dita aldea; e ha jente dos nossos nauios compram estas cousas por manilhas de cobre, que aquy sam muito estimadas, mais que as de latam; e por oito e dez manilhas se pode aquy hauer hum bom escrauo. – […] Ils vendent tout cela pour sel aux Nègres dudit village. Les gens de nos navires achètent ces choses pour de bracelets de cuivre qui sont ici très estimés, plus que ceux de laiton. Avec 8 ou 10 bracelets on peut avoir ici un bon esclave. (Pacheco Pereiras citation and the French translation by Mauny 1956:146–147) – […] and everything they exchange for salt with the Negroes of this village. The people of our ships buy these things with copper manillas which are highly esteemed here, more than those made of brass. With 8 or 10 bracelets you can get a good slave here.
And further:
[…] e pode aly Resguatar escrauos ha oito e a dez manilhas de cobre ha peça. […] e por hũa manilha de cobre se acha aqui hum grande dente d’alyfante. – Avec 8 ou 10 bracelets de cuivre on peut avoir ici un bon esclave. [ …] et pour un bracelet de cuivre on a ici une grande défense d’éléfant. (Pacheco Pereiras citation and French translation by Mauny 1956:148–149) - With eight or ten copper manillas you can have a good slave here. […] and for a copper manilla we have here a great elephant tooth.
The English edition of Kimble (1937) speaks of brass bracelets or copper bracelets, as in the French translation by Mauny (1956) of bracelets de laiton. In Mauny, however, the Portuguese and the French texts are directly juxtaposed, so that one can see that the word manilha appears in the original. It is not possible to decide which type of manilla was meant with the word manilha alone. The early date would speak for tacoais type manillas.
The aforementioned text passage by Pacheco Pereira can also be found in Roth (1903:5) with the supplementary footnote (3):
These bracelets are still a medium of exchange in other parts of Africa and are manufactured in Birmingham and sent out by the Liverpool traders. It is said that in some cases the natives are so particular that they test the manilla by its sound when struck together, which they do behind their backs, and that, therefore, the mixing of the metal has to be carefully attended to.
Here, the manillas used by the Portuguese in Benin are equated with the Birmingham manillas, but this is neither true for their metal composition or their shape.
14) Vogt (1973a: 99, 1979:213) calculated [tacoais] manilla consumption (for the purchase of local goods) for different periods from 1504 to 1531 using the Portuguese Fort São Jorge da Mina (Elmina) stock book recorded by Gonçalo de Campos. The following two tables show the results:
Table I Sale of numbers of [tacoais] manillas in the Portuguese trading stations of São Jorge da Mina (Elmina) and Axem. From: Vogt (1979:213).
Table II The quantities of [tacoais] manillas sold in the months of 1529 at Fort São Jorge da Mina (Elmina). From: Vogt (1973a: 99).
It is easy to see how many [tacoais] manillas the Portuguese brought to the West African coast. Vogt (1979:147) also points out that around the year 1500, manillas constituted the main commodity, while about a hundred years later iron bars in the form of voyage iron replaced them. This resulted, among other things, from the fact that Portugal itself did not have sufficient quantities of copper but was dependent on suppliers of other European countries (Vogt 1979:211). Vogt (1973a: 94) gives the weight of a brass manilla as approx. 600 g without further reference.
19) André Alvarez de Almada was born around 1550 in Santiago, the largest of the Cape Verde Islands (Heuijerjans 2010 ((text left by P. E. H. Hair in 1986)). At a young age, he travelled to Spain and Portugal to obtain permission for his compatriots to settle in Sierra Leone. Permission was refused because the Portuguese feared that such a permit would depopulate the inhospitable Cape Verde Islands. Later he made several trade trips from the Cape Verde Islands to West Africa, including to Cacheu in what is now Guinea-Bissau (Map 5). His records from around 1594 are only preserved in later copies and were first published in 1841. He only casually lists manillas next to textiles, among other things, as European trading goods for the country's own products:
[…] cavalos, roupa branca da Índia, contaria da Índia, de Veneza, margarita grossa e delgada, fio vermelho, pana verhelmo, vinta-quatreno, grão, búzio, papel, cravo, manilhas de cobre, bacias de barbar, caldeirões de cobre de um arratel até dois, […]. (Almada ((L. Silveira ed.)) 1946:31) – […] horses, white linen from India, would count from India, […], copper manillas, barbarian bowls, copper cauldrons from one arratel to two, […].
Hair, who translated the text into English, mentions copper bracelets in several places, with which Almada mainly bought gold from the local population (Almada ((Hair ed. 1984)):47– 49). He states a price of 1,440 bracelets for a pound of gold86. His attempt even to pay with broken bracelets was rejected by the local Manding dealers.
A comparison with the original Portuguese text shows that manilhas are always mentioned. Almada’s question about the use of the manilhas were answered to the effect that they would be used exclusively as a bracelet. Which is why broken manilhas were rejected.
For this assertion, however, no further confirmation could be found in the entire literature about Portuguese manilla use in West Africa that I have read.
20) In his “Hydrographia, exame de pilotos […]”87, the Portuguese author Manoel de Figueiredo (1614) recorded on three pages the use of manillas in trade on the West African coast. I could not determine whether Figueiredo had gained his knowledge from earlier writings or from his own experience in the region.
– page 35f.: Sierra Leone:
on de ha resgare de couros, & escrauos porcoraes, e manilha, è pano vermelho, léço, bacias, è outras cousas desta calida […]. – Translated roughly: There you can buy leather and slaves for [manillas], red fabrics, […], basin [neptunes] and other things.
– page 55f.: Kingdom of Benin:
o mais do tempo fazem guerra aos vezinhos, onde captiuáo muytos escrauos, & os vendem a troco de Manilha, & os trazem ao regate do Castello de Sam Iorge da Mina. – Translated in meaning: Many captive slaves are bought with manillas for the Castel Elmina.
– page 57: Rio Real:
[…] & todo isto vendem por sal aos negros, & a gente dos nauios vay resgatar a esta aldea por manilha, as de cobre saõ a quis mais estimadas, que por oyto manilhas dão hum escrauo, & saõ homés gueirreiros que pucas vezes tem paz. – […] and they exchange everything for salt with the blacks of this village and the people of our ships exchange these things for copper manillas, which are valued here, more than those made of brass, and for eight to ten manillas one can get a good slave here.
21) There is a report of the year 1684 by Francisco de Lemos about the Soninke on the Rio Cacheu that reveals that the Portuguese understood ‘manilha ’ as different kinds of rings.
Vendesse nesta povoação aos negros muita prata em patacas para faserem manilhas, en hũ inverno que ali morei se venderão mais de oito mil patacas que tinhão vindo de Indias en hum navio […] (p. 159). – In this village I sold to the Negroes a lot of silver in patacas, from which they make manilhas. This winter, in which I lived here, I sold more than 8000 patacas coming from India in a ship […].
So Portuguese silver coins, imported in the form of patacas, were processed by the Soninke into bracelets (manilhas)!
20 For the dates of life see Valentim Fernandes (Friedrich Kunstmann ((ed.)) 1860).
21 Münzer, Jerónimo (Basílio de Vasconcelos ed) “Itinerario” do Dr. Jerónimo Münzer (excertos). Coimbra 1931:52; Münzer, Jerónimo (trad. José López Toro): Viaje por España y Portugal 1494–1495. Madrid 1951:67; Münzer, Jerónimo (Gómez-Moreno Calera ed.): Viaje por España y Portugal (1494–1495). Madrid 1991:167.
22 compare Kunstmann (1850:174).
23 Alpern 1993:33–34: “I prefer the term ‚Kwaland’ [Region of the Kwa speaking people] to ‘Lower Guinea’ for its greater precision.”
The texts in footnotes 24 to 77 were taken from the original publications.
24 Fort Santo Antonio de Axem in Ghana. See Maps 3, 9.
25 In Brásio, Monumenta I: 547.
26 Archivo Nacional da Torre do Tombo [= A.T.T.] (Lisbon) Corpo Cronológico I, maço 22, No. 70, 24. August 1517: “This was the price in large manillas; the price of a slave in a smaller manilla, known as the Flemish manilla, varied from 80 to 90.”
27 A.T.T. Núcleo Antigo, maço 166, f. 369r.
28 This supplement in square brackets is from Blake, J. W. (1942): Accounts of Fernão de Mello, Captain of São Thomé Island, 9 December 1510. Vol. I: 111–112.
29 Antonio Carneiro, royal secretary, to whom King Manuel had given the concession over the island of Príncipe.
30 In the Portuguese original stands for “slave”: “peça” = “piece” = piece of goods!
31 By Ryder quoted by A.T.T. Corpo Cronológico II: maço 151, no. 69. The ship's book of the São João.
32 A.T.T. Corpo Cronológico II: maço 187, no 18 (2).
33 Pacheco Pereira, Duarte (A. F. de Silva Dias ed.): Esmeraldo de situ orbis (Lisboa 1905), 87 // Pacheco Pereira, Duarte (G.H.T. Kimble ed.) (1937); Fernandes, V. (A. Baião ed.) (1940:75 und 77).
34 Pacheco Pereira, Duarte: Esmeraldo, 87.
35 Fernandes: O Manuscrito, 77.
36 Fernandes: O Manuscrito, 5.
37 Fernandes: O Manuscrito, 85; Pacheco Pereira, Duarte: Esmeraldo, 89, 91f., 94ff., 101f.
38 Brooks, Gorge E: Kola trade and state-building in Upper Guinea coast and Senegambia 15th–17th century. (Boston 1980); Brooks, Gorge E: Western Africa to c. 1660 A. D. (unpublished 1964) 78f., 85f.
39 Pacheco Pereira, Duarte: Esmeraldo, 89; Fernandes: O Manuscrito, 84.
40 Pacheco Pereira, Duarte: Esmeraldo, 91; Fernandes: O Manuscrito, 87.
41 Fernandes: O Manuscrito, 87; Pacheco Pereira, Duarte: Esmeraldo, 92.
42 Pacheco Pereira, Duarte: Esmeraldo, 102.
43 Pacheco Pereira, Duarte: Esmeraldo, 102f.
44 Pacheco Pereira, Duarte: Esmeraldo, 92 und 96.
45 Pacheco Pereira, Duarte: Esmeraldo, 103.
46 Pacheco Pereira, Duarte: Esmeraldo, 109.
47 Vogt, J. L. (1979:76).
48 Vogt, J. L. (1979:67–68); Pacheco Pereira, Duarte: Esmeraldo, 113–115.
49 Numerical Sources Schedule 6.4, 6.5, 6.6 * see list at the end of the complete list of the literature.
50 Numerical Sources Schedule 6.4 und 6.6 * see list at the end of the complete list of the literature.
51 Numerical Sources Schedule 6.3 und 6.6 * see list at the end of the complete list of the literature.
52 Vogt, J. L. (1979:71–72); Numerical Sources Schedule 6.2 und 6.7 * see list at the end of the complete list of the literature.
53 Pacheco Pereira, Duarte: Esmeraldo, 115; de la Fosse: A Viagem de Eustàche de la Fosse à costa occidental de Africa. In: Brásio: Monumenta Missionaria Africana. 2a ser. Vol. 1 Lisbon 1958, doc. 73, S. 464–465; Vogt, J. L. (1979:72).
54 Pacheco Pereira, Duarte: Esmeraldo, 119, 123–126.
55 Pacheco Pereira, Duarte: Esmeraldo, 123–126.
56 Pacheco Pereira, Duarte: Esmeraldo, 117.
57 Ryder, A. F. C. (1969:53).
58 The Santa Maria de Conceicão carried 4,010 copper manilhas in 1522. (Numerical Sources Schedule 7.3).
59 The pilot of the Conceicão could not sell his manillas because the market wanted cowries. He had to borrow 30,000 cowries from a pilot of another ship and buy some locally for capes.
60 Numerical Sources Schedule 7.1 * see list at the end of the complete list of the literature.
61 Numerical Sources Schedule 7.1 * see list at the end of the complete list of the literature.
62 Numerical Sources Schedule 4.3 * see list at the end of the complete list of the literature.
63 Vogt (1979:76).
64 The activity of the royal factor in Bruges can serve as an example of the purchases prior to the Discoveries. Between 3 April 1441 and 1 January 1442, Pedro Eanes bought over 13,000 kg of copper. (Silva Marques, Descobrimentos Portugueses documentos para a sua história Vol. I: 431, Lisbon 1944).
65 Ryder, A. F. C. (1969:40).
66 Numerical Sources Schedule 2.1 * see list at the end of the complete list of the literature. According to Ryder (1969:40), the Flemish manillas was much smaller than the normal manillas.
67 Numerical Sources Schedule 6.4 * see list at the end of the complete list of the literature.
68 Numerical Sources Schedule 5.4 * see list at the end of the complete list of the literature.
69 Numerical Sources Schedule 7.1 * see list at the end of the complete list of the literature.
70 Braamcamp Freire, A. (1904): Archivo historico portuguêz 2,351, doc. 228.
71 Numerical Sources Schedule 7.2 and 7.3 * see list at the end of the complete list of the literature.
72 Numerical Sources Schedule 2.1 (*see list at the end of the complete list of the literature): “12,461 copper manillas weighed 82 quintais and 15 arrateis [one manilla = 387 g]; Vogt (1979):69 gives 0.6 kg as a standard weight of a manilla without quoting his source.”
73 Braamcamp Freire, A. (1904): Archivo historico portuguêz (Lisboa) 2,351, doc.228: “[…] 530 (manilhas) de cobre e 140 de cobre grosso e estas se contam por duas outras.”
74 Numerical Sources Schedule 2.1: “139,299 brass manillas weighed 703 quintais 2 arrobas and 28.5 arrateis [one manilla = 297 g].”
75 Numerical Sources Schedule 5.4 (*see list at the end of the complete list of the literature): “80 reis taken as the price of a piece of iron.”
76 Vogt (1979:75).
77 Fernandes: O Manuscrito “Valentim Fernandes”. Edited by A. Baião, Lisbon 1940.
78 The Castel Elmina was founded in 1482 by the Portuguese: Castele de São Jorge da Mina. In 1627, the Dutch conquered it and kept it until it was taken over by the British in 1872.
79 Also Fort Santo Antonio / Fort St. Antony in Ghana.
80 This cargo list can be found as document II only in the edition published by Cabrero Fernandez (2002). In the German and English editions this cargo list is not mentioned.
81 I owe this reference to Miguel Ibáñez Artica.
82 Clear textual conformity with the previously quoted Valentim Fernandes.
83 According to Mauny (1956:190 n. 269) the present city of Ijebu-Ode in the Nigerian state of Ogun (Map 16); s. a. Fage (1980:65); Ezra (1992:299 and Map 1).
84 Again, the translators call them bracelets, while the original text is manilhas.
85 For the topography of the places mentioned by Pacheco Pereira cf. Ardener (1968:83–84).
86 This information I could not find in the original text.
87 There is also a translation into French from 1640 of Nicolas le Bon, but this publication « Hydrographie ou examen, auquelsont contenuës les regles […] » is only available in the Bibliothèque interuniversitaire Sainte-Geneviève in Paris.
