Online Encyclopedia

JOHN FERNANDEZ (Joao, Joam)

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V10, Page 279 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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JOHN FERNANDEZ (Joao, Joam)  , Portuguese traveller of the 5th century . He was perhaps the earliest of
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modern explorers in the upland of West Africa, and a
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pioneer of the
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European slave- and gold-trade of
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Guinea . We first hear of him (before 1445) as a captive of the
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Barbary Moors in the western Mediterranean; while among these he- acquired a knowledge of Arabic, and probably conceived the design of exploration in the interior of the continent whose coasts the Portuguese were now unveiling . In 1445 he volunteered to stay in Guinea and gather what information he could for Prince Henry the Navigator; with this
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object he accompanied An tam Gon9alvez to the "
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River of Gold " (Rio d'Ouro, Rio de Oro) in 23° 40' N., where he landed and went inland with some native shepherds . He stayed seven months in the country, which
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lay just within Moslem Africa, slightly north of Pagan Negroland (W . Sudan); he was taken off again by Antam Gon9alvez at a point farther down the coast, near the " Cape of Ransom " (Cape Mirik), in 190 22' 14"; and his account of his experiences proved of
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great
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interest and value, not only as to the natural features,
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climate,
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fauna and
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flora of the south-western
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Sahara, but also as to the racial
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affinities, language, script, religion, nomad habits, and trade of its inhabitants . These people—though Mahommedans, maintaining a certain trade in slaves, gold, &c., with the Barbary coast (especially with
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Tunis), and classed as "
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Arabs," "
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Berbers," and " Tawny Moors "—did not then write or speak Arabic . In 1446 and 1447 John Fernandez accompanied other expeditions to the Rio d'Ouro and other parts of West Africa in the service of Prince Henry . He was personally known to Gomes Eannes de Azurara, the historian of this early period of Portuguese expansion; and from Azurara's language it is clear that Fernandez' revelation of unknown lands and races was fully appreciated at home . See Azurara, Chronica de . . . Guine, chs.
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xxix., xxxii., xxxiv.,
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xxxv., lxxvii., lxxxiii., xc., xci., xciii .

End of Article: JOHN FERNANDEZ (Joao, Joam)
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