The Strange Adventures of Andrew Battell, of Leigh, in Angola and the Adjoining RegionsBattell, Andrew
History
The Strange Adventures of Andrew Battell, of Leigh, in Angola and the Adjoining Regions
Battell, Andrew
Angola -- Discovery and exploration; Congo (Democratic Republic) -- Discovery and exploration
Six months after his arrival, the Governor took the field against the
powerful chief Kafuche. His force was the most formidable that had ever
been at the disposal of a Governor, numbering no less than eight hundred
Portuguese. It was joined at Songo by a portion of the garrison of
Masanganu. Unhappily, the Governor died before coming in contact with
the enemy, and appointed Manuel Cerveira Pereira as his successor.
Battell calls this man an “upstart,” and he certainly had many enemies;
but he is well spoken of by the Jesuits, and was an able soldier. On
August 10th, 1603, he inflicted a crushing defeat upon Kafuche, at
Agoakaiongo,[444] on the very spot where, seven years before, the
Portuguese had met with a great disaster. Overcoming the stout
resistance of the chiefs of the Museke,[445] he arrived at the head of
the navigation of the Kwanza, and there, at Kambambe, he founded the
Presidio da N.S. do Rozario (1604). Having punished several of the
neighbouring chiefs, including Shila mbanza (Axilambanza), the
father-in-law of King Ngola, and left João de Araujo e Azevedo[446] in
command of the new presidio, Pereira returned to the coast.
S. Paulo de Luandu had by that time grown into a fine town, where
commerce flourished. Unfortunately for the lasting prosperity of the
colony, human beings constituted the most valuable article of export,
and the profits yielded by this slave trade attracted Dutch and French
interlopers, notwithstanding a royal decree of 1605, which excluded all
foreign vessels from the vast territories claimed by Portugal. In 1607
there were four “Presidios” or forts in the interior, namely Muchima,
Agoakaiongo, Masanganu, and Kambambe.[447]
D. MANUEL PEREIRA FORJAZ AND BENTO BANHA CARDOSO, 1607-15.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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