Description:
Frankfurt, Wolfgang Richter, 1598, folio (300 x 200mm), crushed Morocco gilt by Pratt, with Engraved Title-Page, Engraved Arms of Frederick IV, 2 folding engraved maps on 3 sheets and 14 half page engraved plates.Pigafetta's report of the Kingdom of Congo and of the Surrounding Countries, 1591 was translated into English, Latin (as Regnum Congo), French, Dutch, and German.
In it Pigafetta explains that he was ordered by Pope Sixtus V to transcribe the account of Duarte Lopez, a Portuguese trader who had spent twelve years in the Congo. Lopez's narrative gives a detailed account of his voyage on his uncle's ship, and the history and geography of the kingdom of Congo and its six administrative regions under the rule of its king (named by Lopez 'Don Alvarez'). The account demonstrates the extent of Portuguese exploration across West Africa in the sixteenth century, of which later explorers were unaware
Duarte Lopes travelled within central Africa, in what is now the Democratic Republic of the Congo and… Read More