End of the Middle-Ages View of the Portuguese.
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Taken from: A description of the coasts of East Africa and Malabar, in the beginning of the sixteenth century. Duarte Barbosa 1514. Transl Stanley.
MAGADOXO.
Leaving …… Brava, on the coast further on towards the Red Sea, there is another very large and beautiful town, called Magadoxo, belonging to the Moors, and it has a king over it, and is a place of great trade in merchandise. Ships come there from the kingdom of Cambay and from Aden with stuffs of all sorts, and with other merchandise of all kinds, and with spices. And they carry away from there much gold, ivory, beeswax, and other things upon which they make a profit. In this town there is plenty of meat, wheat, barley, and horses, and much fruit; it is a very rich place. All the people speak Arabic; they are dusky, and black, and some of them white. They are but bad warriors, and use herbs with their arrows to defend themselves from their enemies.
Taken from: Álvaro Velho: Roteiro da primeira viagem de Vasco da Gama. (1497-1499).
Álvaro Velho was on board but left on the return at Sierra Leone.
(On the return voyage) [Magadoxo]
We found ourselves off a large town, with houses of several stories, big palaces in its center, and four towers around it. This town faced the sea, belonged to the Moors, and was called Magadoxo. When we were quite close to it we fired off many bombards, and continued along the coast with a fair wind. We went on thus during the day, but lay to at night, as we did not know how far we were from Milingue [Malindi] whither we wished to go.
Taken from: The Commentaries of the Great Afonso Dalboquerque, Second Viceroy of India ... edited by Walter de Gray Birch 2017 Vol I
(in 1507)
……. Having collected his ships, the chief captain (Tristao de Cunha in 1507) set sail, and kept along this coast with all the fleet, intending to touch at Magadaxo. And, as it had been agreed the other day that they should attack the city, Afonso Dalboquerque went forward and anchored in front of it. But when the chief pilot of the fleet, by name Afonso Lopez Buraquinha, perceived that it was the intention of the chief captain to attack Magadaxo, and that much time would be spent (since he was well acquainted with the navigation of these parts having gone thither already in company with Antonio de Saldanha) he went to him and told him that the monsoon of those parts was now nearly exhausted and if he went any farther on that coarse there would be no time left for him to double the shallows of St. Lazarus, which were distant fifty leagues, — but when they were doubled, the head- winds, which at that season blew off that shore, could not do him any injury, even if they were to come; for there was plenty of sea-room for tacking. ………….
(in 1507)
The end of April was now come, when Francisco de Tavora arrived at the Cape of Guardafum, where the great Afonso Dalboquerque (1453-1515) was stationed, and brought with him in his company Diogo de Melo and Martim Coelho whom he found at Melinde, having come from Portugal; and while all three were in the latitude of Magadaxo, they captured a ship of Cambaya, laden with clothing, and after having stripped her of all she carried, they set her on fire. Afonso Dalboquerque was highly delighted at the arrival of Diogo de Melo and Martin Coelho, and divided with them the spoils of the prize ship; ………
Taken from: Chronica d'el-rei D. Manuel by Góis, Damião de, 1502-1574; Pereira, Gabriel, d. 1911 (1909) Vol 4
…………………………(1507) From this place of Brava went Tristao da Cunha to the city of Magadaxo inhabited by Moors, which is one of the oldest and richest of all that coast, XVIII leagues of Brava, in which the great deal of merchandise from India, Persia, Gujarat Arabian Sea, and other parts, and to see if the residents wanted peace, he sent Lionel Coutinho to give them the message.
But they took him badly, because he threw a captive of Brava ashore, to tell them why he was coming, and they tore him to pieces before him, at the command of many covered horsemen, who were walking along the beach, and from the boat they heard Lionel Coutinho said that if he went out on land they would do the same to him, and he saw a lot of people by the walls and around them, with which Tristan da Cunha new that he would want to fight against this city, but the pilots asked him not to do it, because he was running out of time to go to Çocotora, so he gave up on doing it, and he ordered to set course to the island, where he arrived in the month of April, in the above-mentioned year of MDVII (1507AD ) ……………