Nuno Tristão
Encyclopedia
Nuno Tristão was a 15th century Portuguese
explorer and slave
trader, active in the early 1440s, traditionally thought to be the first Europe
an to reach the region of Guinea
(legendarily, as far as Guinea-Bissau
, but more recent historians believe he did not go beyond the Gambia River
).
-rigged caravel
to explore the West Africa
n coast beyond Cape Barbas, the furthest point reached by Henry's last captain five years earlier (Afonso Gonçalves Baldaia
, in 1436). Around Rio de Oro
, Tristão met up with the ship of Antão Gonçalves
, who had been sent on a separate mission by Henry that same year to hunt monk seal
s that basked on those shores. But Gonçalves happened to capture a solitary young camel-driver, the first native encountered by the Portuguese since the expeditions began in the 1420s. Nuno Tristão, who carried on board one of Henry's Moorish servants to act as an interpreter
, interrogated Gonçalves's captive camel-driver. Tristão and Gonçalves were led by his information to a small Sanhaja Berber
fishing camp nearby. The Portuguese attacked the fishermen, taking some ten captives, the first African slaves taken by the Portuguese back to Europe. Gonçalves returned to Portugal immediately after the slave raid, but Nuno Tristão continued south, reaching as far as Cape Blanc (Cabo Branco), before turning back.
. On Arguin island, Tristão encountered a Sanhaja Berber village, the first permanent settlement seen by Henry's captains on the West African coast. Tristão immediately attacked it, taking some fourteen villagers captive and returned to Portugal with his captives. Tristão's report of easy and profitable slave-raiding grounds in the Arguin banks prompted numerous Portuguese merchants and adventurers to apply to Henry for a slave-trading license. Between 1444 and 1446 several dozen Portuguese ships set out for slave raids around Arguin Bay.
, where the Sahara desert ends and forest begins, and the coastal population changed from 'tawny' Sanhaja Berbers to 'black' Wolof
s. Tristão is believed to have reached as far as the Ponta da Berberia (Langue de Barbarie
), just short of the entrance to the Senegal River
. Bad weather prevented his entering the river or landing there, so he set sail back. On the way home, Tristão stopped by the Arguin banks and took another 21 Berbers captive.
Nuno Tristão arrived in Portugal declaring he had finally discovered sub-Saharan Africa
, or in the nomenclature of the time, the "Land of the Blacks" (Terra dos Guineus, or simply Guinea
). Portuguese slave raiders immediately descended on the Senegalese coast, but finding alert and better-armed natives on that coast, the slave raids were not nearly as easy nor as profitable as they had hoped.
n coast. Somewhere south of Cap Vert, Tristão came across the mouth of a large river. Tristão took 22 sailors with him on a launch
upriver, to search for a settlement to raid. But the launch was ambushed by thirteen native canoes with some 80 armed men. Quickly surrounded, Nuno Tristão, along with most of his crew, was killed on the spot by poisioned arrows (two might have escaped). Tristão's caravel, reduced to a crew composed of clerk Aires Tinoco and four grumetes ('ship boys'), immediately set sail back to Portugal. (However, the account of Diogo Gomes
differs here; he asserts the caravel never made it back - that the native canoes overpowered and seized it, and then dragged the caravel and dismantled it upriver.)
It is uncertain how far Nuno Tristão actually sailed and where he died. Up until the 1940s, Portuguese tradition asserted Tristão died at Rio do Nuno (Nunez River
, modern Guinea
), or that he fell just short of it, and died at Rio Grande (Geba River
, Guinea-Bissau
). As a result, Nuno Tristão was traditionally credited as the 'discoverer' of Portuguese Guinea (modern Guinea-Bissau), and even said to have been the first European to set foot on the landmass of what is now the modern city of Bissau
. If true, then Nuno Tristão's last journey was an enormous leap beyond the previous Portuguese milestone (Cabo dos Mastos, Cape Naze, Senegal).
However, modern historians, drawing from larger evidence (including the accounts of Diogo Gomes
and Cadamosto), have generally dismissed this claim and now generally agree that Nuno Tristão only reached as far as the Sine-Saloum
delta, still in Senegal, just a few miles south of Cape of Masts (Cape Naze) or, at their most generous, the Gambia River
. Exactly where has been subject to debate. In his careful investigation, historian Teixeira da Mota concluded that Nuno Tristão first prodded up the Saloum River
(Rio de Barbacins, 13°57′47"N 16°45′10"W) then sent his launch up the Diombos River (Rio de Lago, 13°47′57"N 16°36′19"W), the south bank of which was controlled by the Mandinka
king known as Niumimansa, of the Niumi Bato. It was these Mandinka (or Mandikized) warriors that ambushed and killed Nuno Tristão.
The death of Nuno Tristão, Henry's favorite captain, was the beginning of the end of this wave of Henry's expeditions. Another set of ships would be still go out the next year, but would also take significant casualties, and as a result, Portuguese expeditions were temporarily suspended. Henry the Navigator did not dispatch another expedition to the West African coast again until a decade later (Cadamosto in 1455).
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, active in the early 1440s, traditionally thought to be the first Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
an to reach the region of Guinea
Guinea (region)
Guinea is a traditional name for the region of Africa that lies along the Gulf of Guinea. It stretches north through the forested tropical regions and ends at the Sahel.-History:...
(legendarily, as far as Guinea-Bissau
Guinea-Bissau
The Republic of Guinea-Bissau is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Senegal to the north, and Guinea to the south and east, with the Atlantic Ocean to its west....
, but more recent historians believe he did not go beyond the Gambia River
Gambia River
The Gambia River is a major river in West Africa, running from the Fouta Djallon plateau in north Guinea westward through Senegal and The Gambia to the Atlantic Ocean at the city of Banjul...
).
First Voyage
Nuno Tristão was a knight of the household of Henry the Navigator. In 1441, Tristão was dispatched by Henry in one of the first prototypes of the lateenLateen
A lateen or latin-rig is a triangular sail set on a long yard mounted at an angle on the mast, and running in a fore-and-aft direction....
-rigged caravel
Caravel
A caravel is a small, highly maneuverable sailing ship developed in the 15th century by the Portuguese to explore along the West African coast and into the Atlantic Ocean. The lateen sails gave her speed and the capacity for sailing to windward...
to explore 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 beyond Cape Barbas, the furthest point reached by Henry's last captain five years earlier (Afonso Gonçalves Baldaia
Afonso Gonçalves Baldaia
Afonso Gonçalves Baldaia was a 15th Century Portuguese nautical explorer. He explored much of the coast of Western Sahara in 1435-36 on behalf of the Portuguese prince Henry the Navigator. He would later became one of the first colonists of Terceira Island in the Azores.- Background :Next to...
, in 1436). Around Rio de Oro
Río de Oro
Río de Oro , is, with Saguia el-Hamra, one of the two territories that formed the Spanish province of Spanish Sahara after 1969; it was originally taken as a Spanish colonial possession in the late 19th century...
, Tristão met up with the ship of Antão Gonçalves
Antão Gonçalves
Antão Gonçalves was a 15th century Portuguese explorer and slave trader who was the first European to buy Africans as slaves from black slave traders....
, who had been sent on a separate mission by Henry that same year to hunt monk seal
Mediterranean Monk Seal
The Mediterranean monk seal is a pinniped belonging to the Phocidae family. At some 450-510 remaining individuals, it is believed to be the world's second-rarest pinniped , and one of the most endangered mammals in the world.It is present in parts of the Mediterranean Sea and the eastern Atlantic...
s that basked on those shores. But Gonçalves happened to capture a solitary young camel-driver, the first native encountered by the Portuguese since the expeditions began in the 1420s. Nuno Tristão, who carried on board one of Henry's Moorish servants to act as an interpreter
Interpreting
Language interpretation is the facilitating of oral or sign-language communication, either simultaneously or consecutively, between users of different languages...
, interrogated Gonçalves's captive camel-driver. Tristão and Gonçalves were led by his information to a small Sanhaja Berber
Zenaga people
The Sanhaja or Senhaja were once one of the largest Berber tribal confederations of the Maghreb, along with the Zanata and Masmuda...
fishing camp nearby. The Portuguese attacked the fishermen, taking some ten captives, the first African slaves taken by the Portuguese back to Europe. Gonçalves returned to Portugal immediately after the slave raid, but Nuno Tristão continued south, reaching as far as Cape Blanc (Cabo Branco), before turning back.
Second Voyage
In 1443, Nuno Tristão was sent out by Henry again, and pressed beyond Cape Blanc to reach the Bay of ArguinBay 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....
. On Arguin island, Tristão encountered a Sanhaja Berber village, the first permanent settlement seen by Henry's captains on the West African coast. Tristão immediately attacked it, taking some fourteen villagers captive and returned to Portugal with his captives. Tristão's report of easy and profitable slave-raiding grounds in the Arguin banks prompted numerous Portuguese merchants and adventurers to apply to Henry for a slave-trading license. Between 1444 and 1446 several dozen Portuguese ships set out for slave raids around Arguin Bay.
Third Voyage
As fishing settlements around the Arguin banks were quickly devastated by the Portuguese slave raiders, in 1445 (or possibly 1444), Nuno Tristão was sent by Henry to press further south and look for new slave-raiding grounds. Tristão reached as far south as borderlands of SenegalSenegal
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...
, where the Sahara desert ends and forest begins, and the coastal population changed from 'tawny' Sanhaja Berbers to 'black' 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...
s. Tristão is believed to have reached as far as the Ponta da Berberia (Langue de Barbarie
Langue de Barbarie
The Langue de Barbarie is a thin, sandy peninsula, adjacent to the Atlantic Ocean, located in western Senegal, in the neighbourhood of the city of Saint-Louis.. The peninsula separates the ocean from the final section of the Senegal River...
), just short of the entrance to 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...
. Bad weather prevented his entering the river or landing there, so he set sail back. On the way home, Tristão stopped by the Arguin banks and took another 21 Berbers captive.
Nuno Tristão arrived in Portugal declaring he had finally discovered sub-Saharan Africa
Sub-Saharan Africa
Sub-Saharan Africa as a geographical term refers to the area of the African continent which lies south of the Sahara. A political definition of Sub-Saharan Africa, instead, covers all African countries which are fully or partially located south of the Sahara...
, or in the nomenclature of the time, the "Land of the Blacks" (Terra dos Guineus, or simply Guinea
Guinea (region)
Guinea is a traditional name for the region of Africa that lies along the Gulf of Guinea. It stretches north through the forested tropical regions and ends at the Sahel.-History:...
). Portuguese slave raiders immediately descended on the Senegalese coast, but finding alert and better-armed natives on that coast, the slave raids were not nearly as easy nor as profitable as they had hoped.
Fourth Voyage
In 1446 (or perhaps 1445 or 1447, date uncertain), Nuno Tristão set out on his fourth (and final) trip down the West AfricaWest 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. Somewhere south of Cap Vert, Tristão came across the mouth of a large river. Tristão took 22 sailors with him 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...
upriver, to search for a settlement to raid. But the launch was ambushed by thirteen native canoes with some 80 armed men. Quickly surrounded, Nuno Tristão, along with most of his crew, was killed on the spot by poisioned arrows (two might have escaped). Tristão's caravel, reduced to a crew composed of clerk Aires Tinoco and four grumetes ('ship boys'), immediately set sail back to Portugal. (However, the account of Diogo Gomes
Diogo Gomes
Diogo 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...
differs here; he asserts the caravel never made it back - that the native canoes overpowered and seized it, and then dragged the caravel and dismantled it upriver.)
It is uncertain how far Nuno Tristão actually sailed and where he died. Up until the 1940s, Portuguese tradition asserted Tristão died at Rio do Nuno (Nunez River
Nunez River
Nunez River is a river in Guinea with its source in the Fouta Djallon highlands. Lying between the Kogon River to the north and the Pongo River to the south, the Nunez empties into the Atlantic Ocean along the coast of Guinea-Conakry. The river is swollen each year during the rainy season,...
, modern Guinea
Guinea
Guinea , officially the Republic of Guinea , is a country in West Africa. Formerly known as French Guinea , it is today sometimes called Guinea-Conakry to distinguish it from its neighbour Guinea-Bissau. Guinea is divided into eight administrative regions and subdivided into thirty-three prefectures...
), or that he fell just short of it, and died at Rio Grande (Geba River
Geba River
The Geba is a river of West Africa that rises in Guinea, passes through Senegal, and reaches the Atlantic Ocean in Guinea-Bissau. It is about in total length.Its tributary the Colufe River joins the Geba at Bafatá...
, Guinea-Bissau
Guinea-Bissau
The Republic of Guinea-Bissau is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Senegal to the north, and Guinea to the south and east, with the Atlantic Ocean to its west....
). As a result, Nuno Tristão was traditionally credited as the 'discoverer' of Portuguese Guinea (modern Guinea-Bissau), and even said to have been the first European to set foot on the landmass of what is now the modern city of Bissau
Bissau
Bissau is the capital city of Guinea-Bissau. The city's borders are conterminous with the Bissau Autonomous Sector. In 2007, the city had an estimated population of 407,424 according to the Instituto Nacional de Estatística e Censos...
. If true, then Nuno Tristão's last journey was an enormous leap beyond the previous Portuguese milestone (Cabo dos Mastos, Cape Naze, Senegal).
However, modern historians, drawing from larger evidence (including the accounts of Diogo Gomes
Diogo Gomes
Diogo 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...
and Cadamosto), have generally dismissed this claim and now generally agree that Nuno Tristão only reached as far as the Sine-Saloum
Sine-Saloum
Sine-Saloum is a region in Senegal located north of The Gambia and south of the Petite Côte. It encompasses an area of 24,000 square kilometers, about 12% of Senegal, with a population in the 1990s of 1,060,000....
delta, still in Senegal, just a few miles south of Cape of Masts (Cape Naze) or, at their most generous, the Gambia River
Gambia River
The Gambia River is a major river in West Africa, running from the Fouta Djallon plateau in north Guinea westward through Senegal and The Gambia to the Atlantic Ocean at the city of Banjul...
. Exactly where has been subject to debate. In his careful investigation, historian Teixeira da Mota concluded that Nuno Tristão first prodded up the Saloum River
Saloum River
The Saloum River rises about 105 kilometers east of Kaolack, Senegal, and flows into the Atlantic Ocean. The significant Saloum Delta is located at its mouth, which is protected as Saloum Delta National Park. The river basin lies within the Kingdom of Saloum....
(Rio de Barbacins, 13°57′47"N 16°45′10"W) then sent his launch up the Diombos River (Rio de Lago, 13°47′57"N 16°36′19"W), the south bank of which was controlled by the Mandinka
Mandinka people
The Mandinka, Malinke are one of the largest ethnic groups in West Africa with an estimated population of eleven million ....
king known as Niumimansa, of the Niumi Bato. It was these Mandinka (or Mandikized) warriors that ambushed and killed Nuno Tristão.
The death of Nuno Tristão, Henry's favorite captain, was the beginning of the end of this wave of Henry's expeditions. Another set of ships would be still go out the next year, but would also take significant casualties, and as a result, Portuguese expeditions were temporarily suspended. Henry the Navigator did not dispatch another expedition to the West African coast again until a decade later (Cadamosto in 1455).