Pieter van den Broecke’s Journal of Voyages to Cape Verde, Guinea and Angola, 1605-1612

2000

Journals G161 H2 Ser.3 no.05

London: Hakluyt Society

Antwerp-born Pieter van den Broecke (1585-1640) was an agent in the service of a number of Dutch trading firms. He travelled to Africa four times, trading in Senegal, Ghana, Zaire, Angola, and the kingdom of Loango. It was a high-risk business: working on the margins of those areas controlled by the Portuguese, avoiding shipwrecks, and hoping for good profits on a safe return. Iron bars and textiles were traded against African hides, ambergris, rice, wax, ivory and gold. Indeed, on his fourth trip (1611), he brought in a cargo of 65,000 pounds of ivory to Amsterdam from a captured Portuguese ship. Abridged versions of his narrative exist, but this is the first full English translation. It is a rich source of information, especially on those communities he encountered during his travels.