Lançarote de Freitas
Encyclopedia
Lançarote de Freitas, better known as Lançarote de Lagos or Lançarote da Ilha, was a 15th century Portuguese
explorer and slave
trader from Lagos, Portugal
. He was the leader of two large Portuguese slaving raids on the West Africa
n coast in 1444-1446.
and chamberlain
in the household of the Portuguese prince Henry the Navigator. Sometime in the 1430s or early 1440s, Lançarote was appointed by Henry as almoxarife (customs-collector) of Lagos, Portugal
.
The naval expeditions that Henry the Navigator had been sending down the West Africa
n coast since at least the early 1430s had, during their first few years, yielded little profit. They had sailed mostly along the Sahara desert coast, with no native settlements in sight or encounters worth reporting. But in 1443, one of Henry's captains, Nuno Tristão
, returned from an expedition with some 14 captive African natives, Sanhaja Berbers
seized from small native fishing settlements he found in the Bay of Arguin
. The prospect of easy and profitable slave-raiding grounds around the Arguin banks aroused the interest of numerous Portuguese merchants and adventurers.
That same year (1443), the regent prince Peter of Coimbra granted his brother Henry the Navigator an exclusive monopoly on all trade south of Cape Bojador
. A consortium of merchants of Lagos, sometimes referred to as the Companhia de Lagos ('Lagos Company', although it was probably little more than a temporary association of merchants, rather than an incorporated company
in the proper sense), applied to Henry for a license. Possibly on account of his intimate relationship with Henry, the Lagos merchants elected Lançarote as their head.
Lançarote's fleet headed straight to the southern end of the Arguin Bay, where they had been told by Nuno Tristão
's captives that populous fishing settlements could be found. A pre-dawn raid on Nar (Nair
island) yielded the first set of captives. This was followed up by raids on the larger neighboring island of Tider (Tidra
island) and Cerina (Serenni peninsula). In just a few days, the Lagos fleet had taken some 235 hapless Berber natives captive. The remaining population having fled the coastal settlements and hidden in the hinterlands, there was little point remaining in the area. By August, the fleet had arrived back in Lagos with their human cargo.
The spectacle of the disembarcation, partition and sale of the Arguin slaves in Lagos, in the presence of Prince Henry, mounted on his horse, is described in heart-breaking detail in Zurara's Crónica. For this lucrative enterprise, Lançarote was knighted by Henry on the spot (even though, according to Zurara, Henry gave away his own allotment - some 46 slaves, to which he was entitled as licenser of the expedition - among his captains and household servants).
and, more speculatively:
This fleet is said to have carried Gil Eanes
and Estêvão Afonso as passengers.
Setting out in August, 1445 (or 1446), Lançarote's Lagos fleet was just one of several fleets that set out from Portugal for the Arguin banks that year. Caught by bad weather, Lançarote arrived at Cape Blanc with only nine ships still together, the remaining having strayed off. He proceeded to the northern end of the Arguin banks, anchoring in at ilha das Graças (uncertain, possibly Madeleine island or Pelicans island). There, Lançarote was met by one of his missing ships, Vicente Dias, who had gone on ahead to Arguin island and stumbled across a small fleet of three Lisbon ships, headed by Dinis Eanes de Grã, who had preceded them and devastated the remaining settlements on the northern end of the bay, taking some 100 captives. At Grã's suggestion, Lançarote's fleet, now thirteen strong (only Palançano's fusta remained unaccounted for) attacked Arguin island again (taking 4 captives), then headed to the southern end of Arguin Bay, taking 57 captives at Tider and an additional 5 somewhere further down (possibly around Cape Timris). The element of surprise being gone and the bulk of the population having already evacuated the coast, Lançarote's captives were principally Sanhaja Berber tribesmen who had decided to stay and put up a fight.
Dissatisfied with the meager number of captives and realizing that Arguin Bay was too thoroughly deserted to yield up any more, Lançarote decided to take his fleet south to raid the Wolof
lands of Senegal
, which had been discovered (but not yet raided) by Nuno Tristão
and Dinis Dias
the previous year. However, not all his ships were up for the journey, several of them running short on supplies. As a result, Lançarote partitioned his fleet, taking only six or seven caravels with him, sending the remaining ships back to Lagos under the command of Soeiro da Costa (a few of which would conduct an unauthorized slave raid on the Canary islands
of La Palma
and Gomera
on their way home).
Lançarote's squadron soon arrived at Barbary Point, the mouth of the Senegal River
, which was as yet unexplored. He dispatched Estêvão Afonso on a launch
to search upriver for settlements. The exploration didn't get very far. Venturing ashore at one point along the river bank, Afonso abducted two Wolof children from a local woodsman's hut, only to be chased down and furiously beaten by their father. Having barely escaped with their lives, the launch immediately returned to the waiting caravels.
After sending back yet another caravel to Lagos, Lançarote proceeded with his five remaining ships around Cape Vert into Dakar Bay
. The squadron landed in the island of Bezeguiche (Gorée
island), where they found a marker left behind by Álvaro Fernandes
, a Portuguese explorer from Madeira who had preceded them there only a few weeks earlier. Fernandes had attempted to take a few Wolof canoes captive, with the result that the Wolof tribesmen of the mainland were already alert and in arms against the arriving ships. Not quite realizing this, Lançarote sent out Gomes Pires on a launch to the mainland to open contact with the local Wolof
chieftans, but Pires's approach was prevented by a hail of arrows.
His first strategy foiled, Lançarote ordered the Portuguese to prepare a raid on the mainland Wolof villages 'in the style of Arguin', but this came to nought. Before being able to organize the attack, a sudden storm enveloped the area, and forced the Portuguese caravels out of Bezeguiche bay, scattering them in various directions.
Lançarote managed to hold two other caravels (Álvaro de Freitas and Vicente Dias) together with him, but lost sight of the other two. Realizing they were now too few to launch an attack on the Wolof mainland, Lançarote's trio set sail back to the Arguin banks, where they anchored in at Tider and took an additional 59 captives, before returning to Lagos. The remaining two ships (Lourenço Dias and Gomes Pires) made their way back to Portugal by themselves (Pires making a brief stop in Cape Blanc, to buy some seal pelts and slaves from some Berber traders).
Little more is heard about Lançarote de Lagos. In number of captives, the 1445/6 slaving expedition had been somewhat of a disappointment (at least relative to the first 1444 expedition). The prospect for future slave raids seemed dim. The Arguin banks were devastated and it was unlikely the Berber populations would return to the coasts in significant numbers, or allow themselves to be taken by surprise. The Wolof-dominated coasts of Senegal were too strong and alert for small groups of venturing Portuguese slave-raiders. If slave raids were to have any prospect of success, the element of surprise was necessary, which now meant sailing well below Senegal to new 'hunting grounds' - lengthier expeditions which required probably more supplies and capital than what Lagos merchants were willing to front or captains willing to sail. The killing of Nuno Tristão
and his crew the next year (1446 or 1447) probably dampened any remaining enthusiasm among Lagos merchants for renewing the slave raids.
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
explorer and slave
Slavery
Slavery is a system under which people are treated as property to be bought and sold, and are forced to work. Slaves can be held against their will from the time of their capture, purchase or birth, and deprived of the right to leave, to refuse to work, or to demand compensation...
trader from Lagos, Portugal
Lagos, Portugal
Lagos is a municipality at the mouth of Bensafrim River and along the Atlantic Ocean, in the Barlavento region of the Algarve, in southern Portugal....
. He was the leader of two large Portuguese slaving raids on the West Africa
West Africa
West Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of the African continent. Geopolitically, the UN definition of Western Africa includes the following 16 countries and an area of approximately 5 million square km:-Flags of West Africa:...
n coast in 1444-1446.
Background
Lançarote de Freitas (better known simply as Lançarote de Lagos) was trained as a squireSquire
The English word squire is a shortened version of the word Esquire, from the Old French , itself derived from the Late Latin , in medieval or Old English a scutifer. The Classical Latin equivalent was , "arms bearer"...
and chamberlain
Chamberlain (office)
A chamberlain is an officer in charge of managing a household. In many countries there are ceremonial posts associated with the household of the sovereign....
in the household of the Portuguese prince Henry the Navigator. Sometime in the 1430s or early 1440s, Lançarote was appointed by Henry as almoxarife (customs-collector) of Lagos, Portugal
Lagos, Portugal
Lagos is a municipality at the mouth of Bensafrim River and along the Atlantic Ocean, in the Barlavento region of the Algarve, in southern Portugal....
.
The naval expeditions that Henry the Navigator had been sending down the West Africa
West Africa
West Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of the African continent. Geopolitically, the UN definition of Western Africa includes the following 16 countries and an area of approximately 5 million square km:-Flags of West Africa:...
n coast since at least the early 1430s had, during their first few years, yielded little profit. They had sailed mostly along the Sahara desert coast, with no native settlements in sight or encounters worth reporting. But in 1443, one of Henry's captains, Nuno Tristão
Nuno Tristão
Nuno Tristão was a 15th century Portuguese explorer and slave trader, active in the early 1440s, traditionally thought to be the first European to reach the region of Guinea .-First Voyage:Nuno Tristão was a knight of the household of Henry the Navigator...
, returned from an expedition with some 14 captive African natives, Sanhaja Berbers
Zenaga people
The Sanhaja or Senhaja were once one of the largest Berber tribal confederations of the Maghreb, along with the Zanata and Masmuda...
seized from small native fishing settlements he found in the Bay of Arguin
Bay of Arguin
The Bay of Arguin, or Banc d'Arguin, is a bay on the Atlantic shore of Mauritania. It is south of Cap Blanc, north of Cap Timiris, and contains the islands of Arguin and Tidra.The bay contains the 12,000 km² Banc d'Arguin National Park....
. The prospect of easy and profitable slave-raiding grounds around the Arguin banks aroused the interest of numerous Portuguese merchants and adventurers.
That same year (1443), the regent prince Peter of Coimbra granted his brother Henry the Navigator an exclusive monopoly on all trade south of Cape Bojador
Cape Bojador
Cape Bojador or Cape Boujdour is a headland on the northern coast of Western Sahara, at 26° 07' 37"N, 14° 29' 57"W. , as well as the name of a nearby town with a population of 41,178.It is shown on nautical charts with the original Portuguese name "Cabo Bojador", but is sometimes...
. A consortium of merchants of Lagos, sometimes referred to as the Companhia de Lagos ('Lagos Company', although it was probably little more than a temporary association of merchants, rather than an incorporated company
Company
A company is a form of business organization. It is an association or collection of individual real persons and/or other companies, who each provide some form of capital. This group has a common purpose or focus and an aim of gaining profits. This collection, group or association of persons can be...
in the proper sense), applied to Henry for a license. Possibly on account of his intimate relationship with Henry, the Lagos merchants elected Lançarote as their head.
First Slave Raid (1444)
Having acquired their license, the Lagos company equipped a fleet of six ships and about thirty men that set out for the Arguin banks in the Spring of 1444. The six captains are normally recorded as:- 1. Lançarote de Freitas
- 2. Gil EanesGil EanesGil Eanes was a 15th-century Portuguese navigator and explorer.Little is known about the personal life of Gil Eanes, prior to his role in the Portuguese Age of Discovery, and was considered a household servant and shield-bearer of the Infante Henry the Navigator...
- 3. Estêvão Afonso
- 4. Rodrigo Álvares
- 5. João Dias
- 6. uncertain (variously given as Martim Vicente, Gil Vasques, João Bernaldez or even Gonçalo de SintraGonçalo de SintraGonçalo de Sintra or de Cintra , was a 15th century Portuguese explorer and slave raider.According to chronicler Zurara, Gonçalo de Sintra was a young squire or stirrup boy in the household of Portuguese prince Henry the Navigator, Duke of Viseu...
).
Lançarote's fleet headed straight to the southern end of the Arguin Bay, where they had been told by Nuno Tristão
Nuno Tristão
Nuno Tristão was a 15th century Portuguese explorer and slave trader, active in the early 1440s, traditionally thought to be the first European to reach the region of Guinea .-First Voyage:Nuno Tristão was a knight of the household of Henry the Navigator...
's captives that populous fishing settlements could be found. A pre-dawn raid on Nar (Nair
Nair (Mauritania)
Nair is a small offshore island off the Banc d'Arguin National Park, Mauritania....
island) yielded the first set of captives. This was followed up by raids on the larger neighboring island of Tider (Tidra
Tidra
Tidra is an offshore island 18 miles long and 5 miles wide. Roughly the size of Manhattan ....
island) and Cerina (Serenni peninsula). In just a few days, the Lagos fleet had taken some 235 hapless Berber natives captive. The remaining population having fled the coastal settlements and hidden in the hinterlands, there was little point remaining in the area. By August, the fleet had arrived back in Lagos with their human cargo.
The spectacle of the disembarcation, partition and sale of the Arguin slaves in Lagos, in the presence of Prince Henry, mounted on his horse, is described in heart-breaking detail in Zurara's Crónica. For this lucrative enterprise, Lançarote was knighted by Henry on the spot (even though, according to Zurara, Henry gave away his own allotment - some 46 slaves, to which he was entitled as licenser of the expedition - among his captains and household servants).
Second Slave Raid (1445/46)
Lançarote organized a second Lagos fleet for another large slave raid in 1445 (or 1446). The Lagos fleet was composed of 14 ships, the captains normally given as:- 1. Lançarote de Freitas
- 2. Soeiro da Costa (alcaide of Lagos and Lançarote's father-in-law)
- 3. Álvaro de Freitas (probably a relative of Lançarote)
- 4. Gomes Pires (captain of the king's caravel)
- 5. Rodrigo Eanes Travassos (of the household of the regent Peter of Coimbra),
- 6. a knight known as Palançano (aboard a fustaFustaThe fusta or fuste was a narrow, light and fast ship with shallow draft, powered by both oars and sail -– in essence a small galley. It typically had 12 to 18 two-man rowing benches on each side, a single mast with a lateen sail, and usually carried two or three guns...
) - 7. Vicente Dias of Lagos
- 8. Martim Vicente
- 9. a captain nicknamed Picanço (speculated to be Diogo GomesDiogo GomesDiogo Gomes , was a Portuguese navigator, explorer and writer.Diogo Gomes was a servant and explorer of Portuguese prince Henry the Navigator. His memoirs were dictated late in his life to Martin Behaim...
) - 10. Lourenço Dias
and, more speculatively:
- 11. Diego Gonçalves,
- 12. Pedro Alemão,
- 13. Gil Gonçalves,
- 14. Leonel Gil (son of Gil Eanes).
This fleet is said to have carried Gil Eanes
Gil Eanes
Gil Eanes was a 15th-century Portuguese navigator and explorer.Little is known about the personal life of Gil Eanes, prior to his role in the Portuguese Age of Discovery, and was considered a household servant and shield-bearer of the Infante Henry the Navigator...
and Estêvão Afonso as passengers.
Setting out in August, 1445 (or 1446), Lançarote's Lagos fleet was just one of several fleets that set out from Portugal for the Arguin banks that year. Caught by bad weather, Lançarote arrived at Cape Blanc with only nine ships still together, the remaining having strayed off. He proceeded to the northern end of the Arguin banks, anchoring in at ilha das Graças (uncertain, possibly Madeleine island or Pelicans island). There, Lançarote was met by one of his missing ships, Vicente Dias, who had gone on ahead to Arguin island and stumbled across a small fleet of three Lisbon ships, headed by Dinis Eanes de Grã, who had preceded them and devastated the remaining settlements on the northern end of the bay, taking some 100 captives. At Grã's suggestion, Lançarote's fleet, now thirteen strong (only Palançano's fusta remained unaccounted for) attacked Arguin island again (taking 4 captives), then headed to the southern end of Arguin Bay, taking 57 captives at Tider and an additional 5 somewhere further down (possibly around Cape Timris). The element of surprise being gone and the bulk of the population having already evacuated the coast, Lançarote's captives were principally Sanhaja Berber tribesmen who had decided to stay and put up a fight.
Dissatisfied with the meager number of captives and realizing that Arguin Bay was too thoroughly deserted to yield up any more, Lançarote decided to take his fleet south to raid the Wolof
Wolof people
The Wolof are an ethnic group found in Senegal, The Gambia, and Mauritania.In Senegal, the Wolof form an ethnic plurality with about 43.3% of the population are Wolofs...
lands of Senegal
Senegal
Senegal , officially the Republic of Senegal , is a country in western Africa. It owes its name to the Sénégal River that borders it to the east and north...
, which had been discovered (but not yet raided) by Nuno Tristão
Nuno Tristão
Nuno Tristão was a 15th century Portuguese explorer and slave trader, active in the early 1440s, traditionally thought to be the first European to reach the region of Guinea .-First Voyage:Nuno Tristão was a knight of the household of Henry the Navigator...
and Dinis Dias
Dinis Dias
Dinis Dias was a 15th century Portuguese explorer.In 1445, as Dias was beginning to enter old age and made the decision to take up exploring because "he was unwilling to let himself grow soft in the well being of repose", left Portugal and sailed down the West African coast, setting a new record by...
the previous year. However, not all his ships were up for the journey, several of them running short on supplies. As a result, Lançarote partitioned his fleet, taking only six or seven caravels with him, sending the remaining ships back to Lagos under the command of Soeiro da Costa (a few of which would conduct an unauthorized slave raid on the Canary islands
Canary Islands
The Canary Islands , also known as the Canaries , is a Spanish archipelago located just off the northwest coast of mainland Africa, 100 km west of the border between Morocco and the Western Sahara. The Canaries are a Spanish autonomous community and an outermost region of the European Union...
of La Palma
La Palma
La Palma is the most north-westerly of the Canary Islands. La Palma has an area of 706 km2 making it the fifth largest of the seven main Canary Islands...
and Gomera
La Gomera
La Gomera is one of Spain's Canary Islands, located in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Africa. In area, it is the second-smallest of the seven main islands of this group.- Political organization :...
on their way home).
Lançarote's squadron soon arrived at Barbary Point, the mouth of the Senegal River
Sénégal River
The Sénégal River is a long river in West Africa that forms the border between Senegal and Mauritania.The Sénégal's headwaters are the Semefé and Bafing rivers which both originate in Guinea; they form a small part of the Guinean-Malian border before coming together at Bafoulabé in Mali...
, which was as yet unexplored. He dispatched Estêvão Afonso on a launch
Launch (boat)
A launch in contemporary usage refers to a large motorboat. The name originally referred to the largest boat carried by a warship. The etymology of the word is given as Portuguese lancha "barge", from Malay lancha, lancharan, "boat," from lanchar "velocity without effort," "action of gliding...
to search upriver for settlements. The exploration didn't get very far. Venturing ashore at one point along the river bank, Afonso abducted two Wolof children from a local woodsman's hut, only to be chased down and furiously beaten by their father. Having barely escaped with their lives, the launch immediately returned to the waiting caravels.
After sending back yet another caravel to Lagos, Lançarote proceeded with his five remaining ships around Cape Vert into Dakar Bay
Dakar
Dakar is the capital city and largest city of Senegal. It is located on the Cap-Vert Peninsula on the Atlantic coast and is the westernmost city on the African mainland...
. The squadron landed in the island of Bezeguiche (Gorée
Gorée
Île de Gorée Île de Gorée Île de Gorée (i.e. "Gorée Island"; is one of the 19 communes d'arrondissement (i.e. "commune of arrondissement") of the city of Dakar, Senegal. It is a island located at sea from the main harbor of Dakar ....
island), where they found a marker left behind by Álvaro Fernandes
Álvaro Fernandes
Álvaro Fernandes , was a 15th Century Portuguese slave-trader and explorer from Madeira, in the service of Henry the Navigator. He captained two important expeditions , which expanded the limit of the Portuguese discovery of the West African coast, probably as far as the northern borderlands of...
, a Portuguese explorer from Madeira who had preceded them there only a few weeks earlier. Fernandes had attempted to take a few Wolof canoes captive, with the result that the Wolof tribesmen of the mainland were already alert and in arms against the arriving ships. Not quite realizing this, Lançarote sent out Gomes Pires on a launch to the mainland to open contact with the local Wolof
Wolof people
The Wolof are an ethnic group found in Senegal, The Gambia, and Mauritania.In Senegal, the Wolof form an ethnic plurality with about 43.3% of the population are Wolofs...
chieftans, but Pires's approach was prevented by a hail of arrows.
His first strategy foiled, Lançarote ordered the Portuguese to prepare a raid on the mainland Wolof villages 'in the style of Arguin', but this came to nought. Before being able to organize the attack, a sudden storm enveloped the area, and forced the Portuguese caravels out of Bezeguiche bay, scattering them in various directions.
Lançarote managed to hold two other caravels (Álvaro de Freitas and Vicente Dias) together with him, but lost sight of the other two. Realizing they were now too few to launch an attack on the Wolof mainland, Lançarote's trio set sail back to the Arguin banks, where they anchored in at Tider and took an additional 59 captives, before returning to Lagos. The remaining two ships (Lourenço Dias and Gomes Pires) made their way back to Portugal by themselves (Pires making a brief stop in Cape Blanc, to buy some seal pelts and slaves from some Berber traders).
Little more is heard about Lançarote de Lagos. In number of captives, the 1445/6 slaving expedition had been somewhat of a disappointment (at least relative to the first 1444 expedition). The prospect for future slave raids seemed dim. The Arguin banks were devastated and it was unlikely the Berber populations would return to the coasts in significant numbers, or allow themselves to be taken by surprise. The Wolof-dominated coasts of Senegal were too strong and alert for small groups of venturing Portuguese slave-raiders. If slave raids were to have any prospect of success, the element of surprise was necessary, which now meant sailing well below Senegal to new 'hunting grounds' - lengthier expeditions which required probably more supplies and capital than what Lagos merchants were willing to front or captains willing to sail. The killing of Nuno Tristão
Nuno Tristão
Nuno Tristão was a 15th century Portuguese explorer and slave trader, active in the early 1440s, traditionally thought to be the first European to reach the region of Guinea .-First Voyage:Nuno Tristão was a knight of the household of Henry the Navigator...
and his crew the next year (1446 or 1447) probably dampened any remaining enthusiasm among Lagos merchants for renewing the slave raids.
Sources
- João de BarrosJoão de BarrosJoão de Barros , called the Portuguese Livy, is one of the first great Portuguese historians, most famous for his Décadas da Ásia , a history of the Portuguese in India and Asia.-Early years:...
(1552–59) Décadas da Ásia: Dos feitos, que os Portuguezes fizeram no descubrimento, e conquista, dos mares, e terras do Oriente. Vol. 1 (Dec I, Lib.1-5) - Gomes Eanes de Zurara (1453) Crónica dos feitos notáveis que se passaram na Conquista da Guiné por mandado do Infante D. Henrique or Chronica do descobrimento e conquista da Guiné. [Trans. 1896-99 by C.R. Beazley and E. Prestage, The Chronicle of the Discovery and Conquest of Guinea, London: Halykut]
- Cortesão, Armando (1931) "Subsídios para a história do Descobrimento de Cabo Verde e Guiné", Boletim da Agencia Geral das Colonias, No. 75. As reprinted in 1975, Esparsos, vol. 1, Coimbra
- Diffie, Bailey W., and George D. Winius (1977) Foundations of the Portuguese empire, 1415-1580 Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press
- Manuel de Faria e SousaManuel de Faria e SousaManuel de Faria e Sousa was Portuguese historian and poet during the period of the Iberian Union, frequently writing in Spanish.right|thump|300px|Portrait of Manuel de Faria e Sousa in Ásia portuguesa...
(1675) ""Empieça la Memoria de todas las Armadas", in Asia Portuguesa, Vol. 3, p.525-61 - Quintella, Ignaco da Costa (1839–40) Annaes da Marinha Portugueza, 2 vols, Lisbon: Academia Real das Sciencias. vol. 1