Atlantic Creoles and Other Non-elite encounters

Standard history’s view of Portuguese rise to power

Attributed to Portugal’s dominance in sea power

Caveat to standard history’s view of Portugal’s rise to power

Standard history does not mention the key role African navigators played in facilitating Portugal’s success

How did Africans help the Portuguese with sea travel

informed them about the best sailing routes, harbors, and local markets

Where was navigational help the most in need

East Africa, the prevalence of Arabic in the East meant they didn’t need translators

What happened to East Africans that were kidnapped

Usually put to work as navigators

Swahili impact on trade

Had trade connections with the Middle East, India, and China giving navigational directions to the Portuguese

Portuguese encounters with Africans speaking unfamiliar languages

Portguese kidnapped them and brought them back to Portugal to expand their language base

two ways slaves that were interpreters on Portuguese ships gained freedom

• when they worked on a ship their master would be paid in a slave, when an interpreter earned four slaves for their master they were freed

• Portuguese determined they were of more use as freemen

How did Portugal obtain interpreters

They were either taken by force or persuasion

Alternative use for interpreters

Interpreters could be interrogated by other african interpreters to get information on what languages were spoken where and the trade politics of unfamiliar areas

What shows the efficacy of taking Africans for interpreters

The Dutch and English began bringing/kidnapping Africans for training as interpreters and assisstants

African response to kidnapping

Coastal African communities kept track of people who were taken. When foreign ships returned they would demand to know what happened to their people

Impact of Portuguese inviting translators instead of kidnapping

coastal communities became more willing to provide skilled interpreters

What did diplomatic customs in Africa and European kingdoms dictate

The exchange of hostages would take place to ensure anyone left on a ship to work would be returned safely

How did training and recruitment of translators become more standardized

the development of portuguese settlements and the establishment of training centers run by religious authorities

Atlantic Creole

Europeans who settled in Africa

Africans who settled in Europe or the Americas

persons of combined Africana and European descent

persons whose work caused them to traverse the Atlantic

Examples of Atlantic Creoles

enslaved persons, formerly enslaved, pirates, sailors

Origins of Atlantic Creoles

first emerged around trading factories along the coast of Africa in the 15th centruy by European expansionists

Coastal factories importance

became meeting points for all manner of transatlantic traders

First coastal factory built

Elmina

When was Elmina established

1482

What did Elmina give inspiration to

Fort Nassaw- Dutch

St. Louis- French

earliest Portuguese settlers in Africa

Portuguese criminals joined African communities after being dropped off on sections of the coast

Why were Portuguese criminals dropped off in Africa

They needed to scout for opportunities for the Crown

WHo were these Portugues criminals joined by

illegal traders who became middlemen between official Portuguese and African traders

How did settlers integrate with Africa

settlers lived under the rule of coastal African kings and chiefs

Some married African spouses and got land and leadership roles

Extent of settler integration with Africa

They often integrated completely:

wearing African dress

undergoing circumcision rights

Participating in African rituals

Eurafricans/Luso-Africans

Offspring of African mothers and Portuguese fathers

What job did Luso-Africans obtain

Often became prominent traders since they were familiar with Atlantic commerce, fluent in new languages, and knew its trade and culture

How did African languages become creolized

Coastal Africans were more adept at learning Portuguese than the Portuguese were at learning their languages

Creolized

modified through a process of linguistic or cultural mixing

Creolized in practice

African languages incorporated hundreds of Portuguese words

Crioulo

Hybrid language developed by traders combining various languages

Languages Crioulo incorporaed

East and West African languages

Portuguese

Arabic

Impact of Crioulo

enabled Atlantic creoles to communicate widely since it borrowed liberally from many languages

Characterization of Crioulo

language borrowed many words but had a unique and original grammatical structure

Other names for Crioulo

Negro speech

Guinea speech

language of the Atlanic

New class development in trading settlements

merchant princes

Merchant princes

wealthy intermediaries who acted as middle men to facilitate business and political relations between African states and European traders

What ethnicity were merchant princes usually

Merchant princes were both of European and african ancestry

Luso-African presence importance

Profoundly changed both African and Portuguese culture

How did Luso-Africans change African and Portuguese culture

Both cultures shared in Luso-African culture like church attendance, baptism, creolized forms of Catholicism, new forms of clothing food and artistic expression