European Exploration of Africa - Europeans in The Middle Ages

Europeans in The Middle Ages

With the expansion of Islam in the Middle Ages, North Africa was culturally cut off from non-Muslim Europe. The Islamic Empire created a barrier between Europe and the rest of the world, with European traders paying heavy tributes to obtain prized commodities like West African gold, East Asian spices and silk. The Italian republics of Venice and Genoa, among others, specialized in this trade.

In addition, the Jews of modern Spain, Portugal, and Morocco were allowed to trade in both cultural regions. Among them were Abraham Cresques and his son Jehuda, whose 1375 Catalan Atlas improved European knowledge of Africa and other regions, with a good deal of Muslim geographical knowledge and some educated guesses and imagination to fill in the blanks. This atlas details the Catalan expedition of Jaume Ferrer to the Gold River in 1346, which according to the map went south of Cape Bojador and to what is called West Africa Finisterrae.

The Genoese were also interested in circumventing the Muslim monopoly on Asian trade. In 1291, Tedisio Doria ordered Vandino and Ugolino Vivaldi to reach India via the Atlantic Ocean. When the expedition was lost, Doria sent ambassadors to Mogadishu to find out their fate.

Another interesting factor motivating European exploration was rumours of a powerful Christian kingdom, ruled by a priest-king known as Prester John, located somewhere in the eastern portion of Africa. Prester John was often identified as a Christian king who was a descendant of the Three Magi. Europeans sought his aid to defeat the Muslim nations that separated them from the Orient, or at least help them circumvent the Muslim monopoly.

Naval charts of 1339 show that the Canary Islands were already known to Europeans. In 1341, Portuguese and Italian explorers prepared a joint expedition. In 1342 the Catalans organized an expedition captained by Francesc Desvalers to the Canary Islands that set sail from Majorca. In 1344, Pope Clement VI named French admiral Luis de la Cerda Prince of Fortune, and sent him to conquer the Canaries.

In 1402, Jean de Bethencourt and Gadifer de la Salle sailed to conquer the Canary Islands but found them already plundered by the Castilians. Although they did conquer the isles, Bethencourt's nephew was forced to cede them to Castile in 1418.

In 1455 and 1456 two Italian explorers, Alvise Cadamosto from Venice and Antoniotto Usodimare from Genoa, working for the king of Portugal, followed the Gambia river, visiting the land of Senegal, while another Italian sailor, Antonio da Noli from Genoa explored Cabo Verde and the Bijagos islands.