The Central Upper Guinea coast in the pre-contact and early Portuguese period, fifteenth to seventeenth centuries

The dynamics of regional interaction

Abstract

This article investigates pre-contact trading networks and early Portuguese African commerce along the central Upper Guinea coast. My focus is the coastal region extending from the River Casamance in the south across Rio de São Domingos (alternately, in Portuguese sources, Rio de S. Domingos)1 to the estuary complex comprising the Rio Geba and Rio Grande (map). The Rio de São Domingos-Geba-Grande coast falls within the scope of George Brooks’ two ground-breaking volumes on trade in this region (1993, 2003). Nevertheless, the region’s commercial importance in the pre-contact and early contact periods and the mechanisms whereby its diverse populations interacted to foster a wider regional culture warrant further historical consideration.