Antônio Francisco Lisboa, the Aleijadinho (the “little cripple”), prominent Brazilian artist, was born in 1738 to a Portuguese architect father, Manoel Francisco Lisboa, and his Brazilian slave, Isabel. He died in 1814, in his native state of Minas Gerais, Brazil, poor and unknown. A foremost … Read MoreAleijadinho (Antonio Francisco Lisboa), 1738-1814)
The Mali Empire was the second of three West African empires to emerge in the vast savanna grasslands located between the Sahara Desert to the north and the coastal rain forest in the south. Beginning as a series of small successor trading states, Ancient Ghana, … Read MoreMali Empire (ca. 1200-1545 )
Palmares, or Quilombo dos Palmares, was a settlement of fugitive slaves established gradually from the early 1600s to 1694, about 60k inland from the northeast coast of Brazil around the regions of Pernambuco and Alagoas. Estimates indicated that 10,000 to 20,000 fugitive slaves, native Brazilians, … Read MorePalmares (ca. 1605-1694)
Many Europeans have long exhibited a fascination with the African continent. However their knowledge of Africa was often incorrect or incomplete. In the following article University of Cincinnati historian John K. Brackett describes the Italian idea of Africa during the 15th and 16th Centuries. An … Read MoreAfrica and Africans in the Imagination of Renaissance Italians (1450-1630)
In the following account, Professor Allison Blakely of Boston University describes the presence of blacks in Early Modern Europe. His article reminds us that persons of African ancestry resided across Europe. Their numbers ranged from a few hundred scattered across Germany, Scandinavia and Russia in … Read MoreThe Black Presence in Pre-20th Century Europe: A Hidden History
