PREFACE.
SINCE the activity of commerce, and the necessity of understanding its relations, induced the maritime powers of Europe to attempt fresh discoveries, all their efforts have been directed towards the new world. When the most fertile parts of that continent, and its still more productive isles, were discovered and explored, the enterprising spirit of navigators carried them even to the south pole; in short, the most distant and hazardous expeditions were undertaken, and immense sums were disbursed to find out a few corners of the earth which were uninhabited.
While, however, those navigators were pursuing their adventures, the discoveries which had long before been made, and the establishments which had been formed in the richest country in the world, a country most proper for producing colonial goods, and one situated nearest to Europe, were neglected. That country would probably have been abandoned altogether, if the necessity of obtaining for other regions its robust cultivators, had not drawn many vessels towards the part which exclusively afforded such a resource.
I allude to the western part of Africa, which, whether on the shores of the sea, or in the interior districts, is of the greatest importance in the double respect of agriculture and commerce. It appears that the ancients were only acquainted with the northern coast of Africa, which extends from the straits of Gibraltar to the isthmus of Suez, and with the eastern coast, contiguous to the Red Sea. The southern part was totally unknown to them; while their notions of the western coast were very confined, and they did nothing but sail along it: even this route, which is now so easy, was to them a dangerous adventure: the Phenicians, Persians, Greeks, Carthaginians, and Romans, successively attempted to reconnoitre in this direction; and it is said, that the Phenicians cleared the pillars of Hercules, passed the straits, and established colonies and factories on several parts of the coast. But the accounts which we have received of all those expeditions, are so replete with fables, and evident contradictions, that it is difficult to place in them any degree of confidence.
According to Herodotus, a few Phenicians left the Red Sea during the reign of Necas, king of Egypt; and after a three years’ voyage, returned to their country by the straits of Gibraltar, but they saw only the coast. Eudoxia, to avoid the wrath of Ptolemy Lathyrus, succeeded in the same enterprise; but no advantage was derived from her voyage. Satas, in the time of Xerxes king of Persia, and Hanno and Himilcon, by order of the republic of Carthage, made similar attempts at discovery, by proceeding from the pillars of Hercules; but they failed in their undertaking. The Nasamones, or ancient inhabitants of the kingdom of Tunis, undertook a similar voyage, though without success. Hence, all those navigators, and many others who might be mentioned, far from affording us information, only gave rise to doubts, and prove the general ignorance and fear which pervaded the ancient sailors. Certain it is, that if such expeditions did take place, the ships kept at a great distance from the continent: for we have no proofs of the appearance of these people, much less their residence, on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean.
The Romans, who were so ardent in extending their empire, did not succeed in fixing it on the western coast of Africa. It is believed that they penetrated from the isthmus of Suez as far as the Niger, and thence to Mount Atlas. But if they reached this famous mountain, it certainly stopped their discoveries in that part of the world: for they thought, that under the torrid zone, the lands burned, and the rivers were torrents of fire; an opinion which was long credited, even by the learned men of those times: and when the Christians, who were the first that presumed to suppose, the countries under the torrid zone to be inhabited, expressed such an opinion, they were looked upon as heretics.
The Spaniards, in more modern times, pretended to have examined all the coasts of Africa, several centuries before the birth of the Messiah; but they said nothing of the interior, and we must give them credit for their reserve. They pretended to have conducted to America the vessels of Solomon and Hiram, when they went in search of the treasures mentioned in scripture; but this pretension was seriously combated by the Portuguese, who insisted on the honour of having made the first discovery of those countries; and with such obstinacy did the latter maintain their opinions, that the subject was brought under legal discussion, and a verdict given in their favour. At this period, some Frenchmen of Dieppe interfered in the famous dispute, and proved, that they were the first navigators who had entered the Senegal, and that they had formed establishments on that part of the coast, long before the Portuguese and other navigators had made their appearance.
These expeditions of the merchants of Dieppe, took place at the commencement of the fourteenth century, and from that time they established themselves on the Senegal, and along the coast as far as Sierra Leone. In September, 1365, they engaged with some merchants of Rouen; and the next year they undertook the strongest maritime expedition which had till then been seen on the African coast. They formed factories at certain distances, which served as an asylum for their merchandise and the persons in their employ, by which the Africans always found a ready market, and the French vessels constant cargoes. From this beginning were produced the establishments of the Senegal, Rufisque, Goree, the river Gambia, Sierra Leone, and two others on the coast of Malaguette, one of which was called “Little Paris,” and the other “Little Dieppe.” In 1382, they erected forts at the gold mine on the coast of Guinea, at Agra, and at Cormentin. The consequences of these discoveries, were immense wealth, and the best profit was probably that afforded by ivory. In 1392, owing to the violent agitation of France, in consequence of the civil war and the illness of Charles VI. the commerce of Africa was entirely abandoned; and the factories for which such great sacrifices had been made, fell into the hands of the Dutch, the Portuguese, the English, and the Spaniards. The Portuguese were the most ardent plunderers, as they were authorised by the Popes, who conceded to them in perpetuity all the territories which they might discover from Cape Bojador to the Indies inclusively; they therefore made several fortunate expeditions, and for a long time enjoyed a decisive superiority.