End of the Middle-Ages View on:'White, brown, black Moors' in East Africa.
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Drawing from Mombasa around 1850. The Arabs in East Africa where at that moment mostly from Oman. The Berber wears Turkish clothes which is normal as N-Africa except for Morocco were provinces of Turkey. And the man from the Comoros is a Swahili like most of the people in those islands.
The Portuguese called the Swahili Moors. But also the Arabs, Persians and Indians were called Moors. In many cases they give the skin color of these Moors. Under I give a none exhaustive list. This text should be seen in connection with the previous page: The Genetic Make-up of the Elite of the Swahili; Comoros; Madagascar.
Taken from: A description of the coasts of East Africa and Malabar, in the beginning of the sixteenth century. Duarte Barbosa 1514. Transl Stanley.
SOFALA.
…………………… They are black men, and men of color — some speak Arabic, and the rest make use of the language of the Gentiles of the country. ……………….
ISLAND OF QUILOA.
………………….. These people are Moors, of a dusky color, and some of them are black and some white; they are very well dressed with rich cloths of gold, and silk, and cotton, and the women also go very well dressed out with much gold and silver in chains and bracelets on their arms, and legs, and ears. The speech of these people is Arabic, and they have got books of the Alcoran, ……………
ANGOY.
………….. These men are very brown and copper colored; they go naked from the waist upwards, and from thence downwards, they wrap themselves with cloths of cotton and silk, and wear other cloths folded after the fashion of cloaks, and some wear caps and others hoods, worked with stuffs and silks; and they speak the language belonging to the country, which is that of the Pagans, and some of them speak Arabic. ……………………
ISLAND OF MOMBAZA.
………….. The people are of dusky white, and brown complexions, and likewise the women, who are much adorned with silk and gold stuffs. …………
MELINDE
………………… The inhabitants are dusky and black, and go naked from the waist upwards, and from that downwards they cover themselves with cloths of cotton and silk, and others wear wraps like cloaks, and handsome caps on their heads. ……………..
MAGADOXO.
……………….. All the people speak Arabic; they are dusky, and black, and some of them white. …………
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
(all in 1498)
……… (About Mozambique); The people of this country are of a ruddy complexion and well made. They are Mohammedans, and their language is the same as that of the Moors. Their dresses are of fine linen or cotton stuffs, with variously colored stripes, and of rich and elaborate workmanship. They all wear toucas (head-dress fastened under the chin) with borders of silk embroidered in gold. They are merchants, and have transactions with white Moors, four of whose vessels were at the time in port, ……………….
……… the ambassador (of Moçambique) was a white Moor and sharif, that is priest, and at the same time a great drunkard. ………………
………… the King of Mombasa sent the captain-major a sheep and large quantities of oranges, lemons and sugar-cane, together with a ring, as a pledge of safety, ………….. This present was conveyed to us by two men, almost white, who said they were Christians, which appeared to be the fact. ……………
Taken from: Documentos Sobre Os Portugueses Em Mocambique E Na Africa Central 1497-1840 Vol I
ACCOUNT OF THE VOYAGE OF D. FRANCISCO DE ALMEIDA, VICEROY OF INDIA, ALONG THE EAST COAST OF AFRICA (Manuscrito de Valentim Fernandes d1519)
[1506] (This is the eyewitness account of Hans Mayer)
(about Kilwa in 1506) …………… In this land there are more Negro slaves than white Moors who work in the gardens tilling the corn etc. ……………. The white Moors who are the owners of these slaves wear two cotton cloths namely one tied at the waist that reaches to the feet. ……………
(when looting Mombasa in 1506) ………… And all the people of the city had taken shelter in this palm grove. At its entrance were not less than 500 bowmen all of them Negro slaves of the white men, their captivity being more a matter of obedience than subjection like those of Kilwa. ………… Many people were taken captive, women, some white, and children and some merchants from Cambay. ………
SUMMARY OF A LETTER FROM PERO FERREIRA FOGAÇA, CAPTAIN OF KILWA, TO THE KING
1506 August 31
………………… that a great quantity of ivory is to be had between Sofala and Kilwa ………….. and that Your Highness may have as much as you want since no king or white Moors are to be found there ……………
Taken from: Documentos Sobre Os Portugueses Em Mocambique E Na Africa Central 1497-1840 Vol IV
LETTER FROM JOÃO VA Z DE ALMADA, CAPTAIN OF SOFALA, TO THE KING Sofala, 1516 June 26
……………….. and where the people are whiter than the blacks, and these say that there they see a land bordering with Bonapotapa which they call Ambar. Here these people, whom I say are whiter than the blacks, come to sell copper rods and from there they come to the land of Bonapotapa ……
…………………. in Ambar, the land we spoke of above to Your Highness to which the copper rods come the saw a white man dressed like us, with clothing like ours made from the cloths of the land, tending cows, ………………
Taken from: Da Ásia de João de Barros, dos feitos que os Portuguezes fizeram no descubrimento e conquista dos mares e terras do Oriente ; João de Barros 1552. (first decade)
(In 1498 when the ships of Vasco da Gama start leaking). ……… Here most of them had blue-dyed cotton cloths around them, and others had headdresses, silk cloths, and even colored caps. With signs (they made it clear), that against the rising of the Sun there were white people, who sailed in ships, like those of theirs (=the Portuguese), whom they saw passing below, and above that coast ………………
(In 1498) …… after a few days they reached a town called Mozambique, ……………… and among them were white men with caps on their heads and dressed in cotton like the Moors of Africa, which was a great pleasure for us.
(Description of Mozambique island on the first voyage of Vasco da Gama 1498)
…………… The settlers, who were Moors, came from outside, who made that town a stopover for the City of Quiloa, when going to Cofala, which was behind; the land here was poorly treated, and the natives, who were black with wild hair, like those from Guinea, lived on the mainland. …………………
Taken from : Chronica d'el-rei D. Manuel by Góis, Damião de, 1502-1574; Pereira, Gabriel, d. 1911 (1909) Vol1
…………… This island of Mozambique has a very good port, it lies in low-lying, marshy land, its chiefs are traders from different nations, which trade in many parts of it, its natives are black, ……………
Taken from: Three Voyages of Vasco da Gama, and his Viceroyalty. From the Lendas da India of Gaspar Correa (1492-1563); accompanied by original documents. Transl Stanley.
(First Voyage of Vasco da Gama 1498)
(The sheikh of Mozambique comes to visit the ships)
…………… The Moors who came with him were dressed in the same fashion; they were fair men, and dark men, and others swarthy, because they were sons of Cafre women of the country and white Moorish merchants who since a long time have established their commerce throughout all the countries of India, ……………