Author: Margarite Hutchinson

Publisher:

Published: 2015-06-30

Total Pages: 204

ISBN-13: 9781330509241

Excerpt from A Report of the Kingdom of Congo: And of the Surrounding Countries; Drawn Out of the Writings and Discourses of the Portuguese The last twenty-five years have seen the veil drawn back from a great part of the continent of Africa. The labours of many travellers following in the steps of Livingstone have combined to throw a light on the Dark Continent, of which we knew as little as the inhabitants knew of us. We have learnt much of the physical features of the country, and of the character of the tribes with whom explorers have made acquaintance, but we have also learnt that much that has appeared to us so new was, in fact, only rediscovered. The maps of the 16th century fairly illustrate the knowledge of that time. If we compare them with the maps of the beginning of the 19th century, we cannot fail to observe how much of that knowledge was loft, although more recent explorations showed how much of truth was contained in them. The translation that is now offered to the public will have its use in showing the kind of information that was to be had in Europe in the 16th century, and the character of the men who obtained it. It may do more. It may stimulate research into this long-neglected portion of history; and possibly the investigation of libraries in Portugal and Spain may yet throw more light on the condition of Central Africa at that time, and on the nature of the Portuguese Government over it; and, perhaps, give us some answer to the questions how that government was formed, and how it came to be lost. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.