1. Hair, P. E. H., “The Abortive Portuguese Settlement of Sierra Leone, 1570-1625” in Vice-Almirante A. Teixeira da Mota in memoriam (2 vols.: Lisbon, 1987–1989), 1:171–208.Google Scholar (Note that “Sierra Leone” in contemporary usage referred only to a limited district around the Sierra Leone estuary, therefore events can be said to happen “at Sierra Leone.”) Pedro Álvares Pereira's disgrace appears to have had nationalist overtones: he had been secretary of the council of state for Portugal and thus responsible for reporting Lisbon matters to Madrid, and the belief at Lisbon that he was too pro-Spanish, and therefore too little regardful of Portuguese interests and claims, underlay the accusations of corruption brought against him. But in 1613 he was again disgraced, this time apparently being suspected by Madrid of participating in a conspiracy of Portuguese nobles. The punishment, described as being “imprisoned,” was actually exile from the capital and a form of house arrest.

2. Whereas the researcli underlying this paper began when attention was drawn to archive documents, as detailed in the following note, the episode had in fact been very briefly mentioned in a printed history, the Storia del Granducato di Toscana by the eighteenth-century historian, [Jacopo] Riguccio Galluzzi (on 6:98, of the 11-volume 1822 Florence edition). The documents are listed below and are referred to in the text by their listed number.

3. The sequence of our research is of some mild historiographical interest. In 1965 a guide to Materials for West African History in Italian Archives was published in London, the relevant investigation of the Tuscan archives having been undertaken by David Chambers. In 1990, on re-examining this guide for all Sierra Leone references, P.E.H.H. noted (on pp. 125-26) entries referring to documents in the state archives at Florence on “the purchase of Sierra Leone to found a Tuscan colony.” Chambers added that “search might bring other references to the Sierra Leone project to light,” and he also drew attention, most helpfully, to a very rare printed source which mentioned and documented the project: Uzielli, G., Studi sui Granduchidi Toscana. Cenni Storici sulle imprese scientifiche Marittime e Coloniale di Ferdinando I Granduca di Toscana, 1587-1609 (Per Florence, 1901).Google Scholar As Chambers pointed out, this booklet was a presentation volume in only 102 copies (prepared, following an Italian custom, to celebrate a wedding, in this case that of the author's daughter). Chambers having named a library in Florence which possesses a copy, P.E.H.H. obtained a microfilm and found that, although Uzielli's description of the Sierra Leone project was slight, the work contained transcripts of several of the relevant documents (but, as Chambers noted, the documents were not all given a proper archival reference). At this stage a colleague of P.E.H.H., Cecil Clough, who was consulted for help with the Italian of the transcripts, and kindly pointed out the reference to the Sierra Leone project in Galuzzi. Knowledge of these printed sources suggested that it was worthwhile to pursue the research and examine the original documents—hence the more recent UNESCO guide to Italian archives was tackled (Giglio, Carlo and Lodolini, Elio, eds., Guida delle Fonti per la Storia dell' Africa a Sud del Sahara esistenti in Italia, Guide to the Sources of the History of Africa 5, (3 vols.: Zug, 1973–1982).Google Scholar From the fairly detailed summaries of individual documents in the state archives at Florence that were supplied in this guide, it was possible to select eight documents (listed on 2:365-8,372) that appeared to deserve study—more than the number in either Chambers or Uzielli. Clough now put P.E.H.H. in touch with J.D.D., who was currently undertaking postgraduate historical research in Florence, and J.D.D. sought out the documents in the archive, checked them, and arranged to obtain microfilms. (Regrettably, one document listed in the Guida, on 1:368, and within filza 4274 A, containing a note on the economic resources of Sierra Leone, cannot now be found.) On return to England, J.D.D. translated die material, with help from Gough, and he has contributed to the history of the Tuscan background.

4. Although the Genoese and Venetian involvement in the “Discoveries” is well-known, the extent of subsequent Italian interest in the New Worlds tends to be underestimated. The interest continued throughout the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, at least spasmodically, not only in the missionary, literary, and scientific fields but even in the economic. For Africa it is revealing to see the summary of pre-1700 Italian activities in that continent, as recorded in printed and archive sources, presented in Giglio, and Lodolini, , Guida, 1:43–55.Google Scholar

5. Galluzzi, Storia. Presumably the episode is evidenced somewhere in the voluminous state archives of Spain (there is nothing in the collection of contemporary Spanish state papers that found its way into the British Museum/Library). The second author hopes to investigate Tuscan-Spanish relations in the period at a future date, hence the subject is lightly passed over in the present paper.

6. The documents being repetitive as well as vague, although we have transcribed them we have decided not to reproduce them here in full.

7. What exactly the Pereiras expected to gain from the transfer is not made clear in the documents. Although two documents refer to the “purchase” of Sierra Leone from Pedro Álvares Pereira, it is nowhere indicated what price was being considered. Generally the proposed takeover is presented in broader terms, as the ‘business’ of Sierra Leone, and it appears that in negotiations with Madrid a withdrawal of the grant from Pedro Álvares Pereira and a regrant to the Grand Duke was ostensibly being discussed. Indeed it seems very unlikely that the Crown would have agreed to a simple transfer by purchase. It is possible that some deceit was being practiced, with the Pereiras being outmaneuvered by die Tuscans. But it is perhaps more likely that all parties had agreed, off the record and via die palace backstairs, to some compensation for Pedro Álvares Pereira, if not a sum for purchase then perhaps a cut in the trading profits of the new grantee. However, Francisco Pereira may have seen the proposed transfer as an opportunity for forwarding the influence of his own religious order in the mission field, since at a later stage he sent Augustinian priests to Sierra Leone who endeavored to oust the Jesuits already there (Hair, , “Portugese Settlement,” 198–202Google Scholar). The final section of document 3 is not based on the Jesuit sources but discusses the proposed takeover, and may therefore represent the personal contribution of Francisco Pereira. The final sentence reads—“Request the King that, for the benefit of souls and to produce children for the Catholic Church, he concede to him [the Grand Duke] a conquista in Guinea, telling His Majesty forUirightly how this will adorn [his reign].”

8. A summary account of Sierra Leone and Barreira's account of his arrival and early success there, together with letters from the king of Sierra Leone and a resident Portuguese trader, was published in 1605 and 1607 in Lisbon (Guerreiro, Fernão, Relaçam anual das cousas que fizeram os Padres da Companhia de Jesus nas partes da India Oriental e em alguas outras, Lisbon [5 parts, 1603–1611], part 2, 1605, ff. 135–37v, part 3, 1607, ff.148v-58vGoogle Scholar). This material later became available, at least in part, in several other European languages, including Italian, but the publications P.E.H.H. knows about did not appear until after 1608.

9. We are much indebted to Ann Mackenzie and Maria Guterres of the Department of Hispanic Studies, University of Liverpool, for a transcription and literal translation of this letter, on which the free translation above is based.

10. Disappointing but not unexpected. No Italian had visited Sierra Leone, and until 1608 only two Portuguese Jesuits were working there (see the chronology of the mission in Hair, P.E.H., ed., Jesuit Documents on the Guinea of Cape Verde and the Cape Verde Islands 1585-1617, [Department of History, University of Liverpool, 1989]).Google Scholar The senior missionary, Fr. Barreira, while in the Cape Verde Islands before reaching Sierra Leone had seen André Alvares de Almada's manuscript account of the coast up to Sierra Leone, and either he made a summary of it which he sent to the Jesuits in Portugal, or else he sent a complete copy which was summarized in Portugal; the summary was then published by Guerreiro. The reports Barreira wrote from Sierra Leone in the period from 1605 to 1607 were mostly also published by Guerreiro, and the remainder, if extant, appear now all to be known and in print. At the beginning of the research it seemed to P.E.H.H. just possible that some information from these then-unpublished reports had found its way into the Florentine documentation, but since the information from Barreira principally concerned religious matters it is hardly surprising that this turned out not to be the case. One archive document is missing (see note 3), but although it is listed as discussing the economic resources of Sierra Leone, it is unlikely to have contained any material not ultimately deriving from Almada.

11. For a similar appraisal of Sierra Leone as a potential Iberian naval base in defence of South Atlantic trade, see Hair, P.E.H., ed., To Defend Your Empire and the Faith: Advice Offered…c.1590…by Manoel de Andrada Castel Blanco (Liverpool, 1990).Google Scholar