The World Archives - Page 6 of 8 - The Elephant and Macaw Banner

Archive for the ‘The World’ Category

Elephant and Macaw Theme

The Elephant and Macaw Banner series now has its own musical theme! You can find it at the following link:

This song was composed and performed by Luciano Albo (with participation by Xipa Baiano on percussion and Paulo Arcari on snare drum).

The music is symbolic of the series, the intent being to introduce two separate themes–one for Gerard and the other for Oludara–then gradually weave them together. Gerard’s theme is the Renaissance-style music at the start, and Oludara’s the African drums.

Hope you enjoy it!

Pineapple

In “The Fortuitous Meeting”, Gerard mentions that the pineapple is “regarded as one of the sweetest flavors in the world. It is so treasured by the Portuguese, they ship trees all the way to India to make sure the fruit is never far from their colonies.”

Pineapple1

The pineapple was indeed held in high esteem in the sixteenth century. The men who wrote the earliest descriptions and histories of Brazil were unanimous in their praise of the fruit. Here are a few of their comments:

“The fruit is very fragrant, tasty, one of the best in the world, full of juice and flavor.” – Fernão Cardim
“The flavor is very sweet and so suave that no Spanish fruit is its equal in form, flavor and smell.” – Gabriel Soares de Sousa
“They are so flavorful that, in the opinion of all, there is no fruit in this realm that bests their taste.” – Pero de Magalhães de Gândavo
“A fruit that in form, smell, and flavor exceeds all others in the world.” – Frei Salvador

Shortly after the Portuguese and Spanish discovered the fruit, they began shipping it to other tropical colonies for cultivation.

Today, the pineapple is referred to as “ananás” in Portugal, but as “abacaxi” in Brazil. I believe this is because the Spanish learned the word “naná” from their contact with the Guarani, which they soon transmitted throughout the Iberian Peninsula. But the Brazilians continued to use the Tupi version “ibá” (fragrant) + “cati” (fruit). I’ll be discussing the different Tupi peoples and their language much more in the future.

So on that note, I think it’s time for me to have a snack! Bet you can’t guess what…

Pineapple2

(Photographs by Christopher Kastensmidt)

Réis

The Real (plural “réis”) was the standard unit of currency in Brazil from the first landing of the Portuguese in 1500 until the transition to the Cruzeiro in 1942. It was quite a stable monetary system when compared to currencies in modern Brazil, which switched a shocking seven times during the twentieth century!

So, at the time Gerard van Oost and Oludara visited Brazil in the late sixteenth century, the Portuguese real was firmly established as the principal currency.

However, actual coinage in Brazil was scarce at the time. So rare, in fact, that in 1614, the Governor of Brazil decided to use sugar as valid coinage! This lack of money occurred because the Portuguese crown did not allow minting coins in Brazil until 1694. Ironically, the Dutch were the first to mint coins in Brazil, during the time of their colony in Recife (1630-1654). These coins became known as Brazilian Florins (or Ducats):

XII_Florins

(Image: Museu Histórico Nacional)

To compensate for the lack of coinage, coins from all over the world entered circulation, though most came from Portugal, Spain, and their colonies. So during the sixteenth century, people were using coins all the way from the copper Ceitil (worth only one-sixth of a real) to the huge golden Português (4000 réis!), both shown below (not to scale):

(Image: Banco Central do Brasil)

Portugues2

(Image: Museu Histórico Nacional)

The Portuguese were meticulous record keepers, using réis for all their accounting. To write values above one-thousand, the “$” was used, so twenty thousand reís would be written as 20$000. And in Renaissance Europe, royal bookkeeping often required numbers in the millions, which were known as “contos” of réis. These numbers used a colon to separate the millions, so 2:000$000 would be two-million réis or two “contos de réis”.

The real is also the name of Brazil’s currency today (since 1994), although it now uses the plural “reais” instead of the old form of “réis”.

In “The Fortuitous Meeting”, the slave trader Pero de Belém offers to sell Oludara for forty thousand réis (40$000), around double the normal price of a slave at that time, and more than all but the affluent could afford. For comparison, the Governor’s personal guards at the time earned just 6,000 réis a year! You’ll have to read the story to find out how Gerard manages to attain such an exhorbitant sum and help his friend.

Note: This post is dedicated to M. G. Ellington, a huge supporter of the Elephant and Macaw Banner series, and the first person to comment on the website. Thanks, M. G.!

Caravel

Called “caravela” in Portuguese, the caravel is one of the most amazing ships in naval history. It was used by the Portuguese from the 15^th through the 18^th centuries! However, it did go through many modifications along the way, some of them significant.

The early caravels were around 20×6 meters and had a displacement (mass) of 50 tons. Their design was based on earlier Middle Eastern ships. They used two or three masts with lateen sails which allowed them to sail against the wind. Caravels had the advantage of being small and agile, often used for advanced transport and exploration before sending in larger cargo ships like the carrack and galleon.

This versatile ship helped make Portugal one of the world’s great naval powers in the fifteenth century.

Lateen Caravel

(Image: Brazilian Navy)

Later versions combined three lateen-sail masts with a foremast of two “round sails” (actually square sails which billowed out roundly in the wind). The dimensions increased to around 30 meters long and a displacement of 150 tons. This new design became known as the “caravela redonda” (round caravel). The square sails increased speed, while the augmented size allowed the addition of cannons, so the ships could be used for combat as well as transport and exploration.

(Image: Livro de Lisuarte de Abreu – 16th century)

In “The Fortuitous Meeting”, Gerard speaks of his trip from Europe to Brazil in a Caravel.

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