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Chapter 4. An overview of the role of interpreters during the Portuguese expansion through Africa (1415–1600)

  • Marcos Sarmiento Pérez
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Towards an Atlas of the History of Interpreting
This chapter is in the book Towards an Atlas of the History of Interpreting

Abstract

Portugal’s great breakthrough between 1415 and 1499 during the Age of Discovery was rounding the African coastline, from Ceuta in the Strait of Gibraltar to Mogadishu in the Horn of Africa. The current chapter, founded on prior research, advances an overview of the strategies adopted by the Portuguese to obtain linguistic mediators as well as the patterns of mediation they applied throughout the successive zones of contact. After a brief presentation of the different historical contexts, the study delves into the types of scenarios that required interpreters, as well as their status and compensation throughout both the initial explorations and the subsequent stages extending to the final years of the 16th century.

Abstract

Portugal’s great breakthrough between 1415 and 1499 during the Age of Discovery was rounding the African coastline, from Ceuta in the Strait of Gibraltar to Mogadishu in the Horn of Africa. The current chapter, founded on prior research, advances an overview of the strategies adopted by the Portuguese to obtain linguistic mediators as well as the patterns of mediation they applied throughout the successive zones of contact. After a brief presentation of the different historical contexts, the study delves into the types of scenarios that required interpreters, as well as their status and compensation throughout both the initial explorations and the subsequent stages extending to the final years of the 16th century.

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Chapter 1. Voices from around the world 1
  4. Chapter 2. Indigenous interpreters on trial in the Spanish Empire 25
  5. Chapter 3. Interpreters of Mapudungun and the Chilean State during the 1880–1930 period 53
  6. Chapter 4. An overview of the role of interpreters during the Portuguese expansion through Africa (1415–1600) 81
  7. Chapter 5. Mediating a complex cultural matrix 120
  8. Chapter 6. Interpreting with “human sympathy” 145
  9. Chapter 7. The colonized in conflict 171
  10. Chapter 8. Interpreters of mission 193
  11. Chapter 9. Domesticating dragomans 212
  12. Chapter 10. The interpreter as “anti-hero” 238
  13. Chapter 11. When the armies went back home 268
  14. Chapter 12. Conclusion 288
  15. Biographical notes 296
  16. Place index 300
  17. Name index 302
  18. Language index 305
  19. Subject index 306
  20. Image index 309
https://doi.org/10.1075/btl.159.04sar

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Chapter 1. Voices from around the world 1
  4. Chapter 2. Indigenous interpreters on trial in the Spanish Empire 25
  5. Chapter 3. Interpreters of Mapudungun and the Chilean State during the 1880–1930 period 53
  6. Chapter 4. An overview of the role of interpreters during the Portuguese expansion through Africa (1415–1600) 81
  7. Chapter 5. Mediating a complex cultural matrix 120
  8. Chapter 6. Interpreting with “human sympathy” 145
  9. Chapter 7. The colonized in conflict 171
  10. Chapter 8. Interpreters of mission 193
  11. Chapter 9. Domesticating dragomans 212
  12. Chapter 10. The interpreter as “anti-hero” 238
  13. Chapter 11. When the armies went back home 268
  14. Chapter 12. Conclusion 288
  15. Biographical notes 296
  16. Place index 300
  17. Name index 302
  18. Language index 305
  19. Subject index 306
  20. Image index 309
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