The Invisible Become Visible

Ben Lowe

Description

This represents the first of three novels on history''s forgotten or too little remembered people, including in particular the indigenous people of Sub-Saharan Africa, Brazil, Haiti and Mexico. It is a history of peoples living lives in communities for thousands of years until invaders come; a history that is long overdue; a history from the perspective of the invaded and the enslaved; a history that looks very different from the norm, casting a sinister mirror on the invaders. From Congo to Mocambo to Samba starts with the beginnings of the Portuguese empire from 1487, how people experienced Portuguese Armadas marauding up the east coast of Africa and their attacks on various ports and coastal stretches. From South African oral history we see how the Khoisan lived from 1487, and how they experienced and responded to unexpected European visitors. In India we see the tragic impact on locals as the Portuguese Armadas continue their negotiation by cannon fire. We see, too, the Armadas imp

Sujets

• Historical fiction

Informations

• Publié par: Hansib Publications
• Date de parution: 03 novembre 2022
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781912662784
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

How Portugal, Holland, France, Germany and England destroyed old Africa and old Brazil in their desperate desire for easy profits and rapid wealth, and paved the way for their heating of the planet to dangerous levels.

First published in Great Britain by Hansib Publications in 2022
Hansib Publications Limited
76 High Street, Hertford, SG14 3WY, UK
[e-mail]
www.hansibpublications.com
Copyright Ben Lowe, 2022
Cover image: A scene from battle that ended Palmares, Brazil s largest Free Slave and Tupi community, after nearly 90 years.
ISBN 978-1-912662-76-0
ISBN 978-1-912662-77-7 (Kindle)
ISBN 978-1-912662-78-4 (ePub)
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
All rights reserved.
Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the publisher of this book.
Design Production by Hansib Publications Ltd
Printed in Great Britain
In memory of all those colonised, massacred and enslaved by the European powers between 1487 and 1888 .
To the planet that the European powers and their wider diaspora have come so close to the brink of overheating .
And to my sons, Max and Miki .
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
My thanks to
Kash Ali and Hansib for agreeing to publish these three novels, and for their dedication in preparing them for publication;
Max Farrar, for recommending Hansib, and for your support;
Pam Scobie, who believed in me from my first rough and ready draft, and gave me the confidence to persevere with this mammoth undertaking. I am grateful for her extraordinary patience in urging me to work that much harder in moulding and shaping characters, in stimulating me to improve my sense of place. When she saw me reluctant to learn to write a screenplay, she would not allow me to refuse, in the kindest way. Through turning each novel into screenplays I learnt to focus on the dialogue far more and this became far sharper and more developed as a consequence in the novels.
Metaphorically, it is as though she saw a few scraps of material and some string and realised that a fine kite was possible from these bits, and guided me through until three fine kites were made. I am beyond grateful.
Paul Redgrave for his comments on an early draft of the first novel, which were extremely helpful.
CONTENTS
Glossary
Characters
Bantu Family Tree
Prologue
1. China: The Gift of Friendship
2. Portugal: Empire on the Warpath
3. Mozambique Island: Cannon Balls Hurt
4. Indian Spice Trade: Insult and Pique
5. Brazil Discovers Europe
6. Miri
7. De Almeida: A Cock May Crow too Loud
8. Khoikhoi: Coming of Age
9. East Africa and Brazil: Upheaval as Portugal Arrives
10. Resistance Builds
11. Otapo
12. The Return Passage
13. Mande
14. The Reunion
15. Like Father Like Son under Unrelenting Sun
16. The Rise of the Dutch Empire
17. Hope Wrestles with Fear
18. The Tempting Magnet of Home
19. Slippery Interloper Takes on Early Man
20. Free Slave Community in South Africa
21. The End of Palmares
22. Khoikhoi Gather at Blombos Cave, 1700
Bibliography
GLOSSARY
A Brief Explanation of some Words and Phrases used in this volume .
BRAZIL
Pau brazil: tree native to the Amazon rain forest. It is the source of brazilwood, or pernambuco; and a red dye used widely in Brazil. The wood is also very suitable for making bows (for a bow and arrow).
Caiman: a member of the alligatorid species, along with alligators; caimans mainly inhabits swamps, marshes, rivers and lakes, in South America and Central America. Often the length of the largest caiman, the black caiman, can be up to 4.5 metres (15 feet); the smaller caiman tends to be no more than 2.1 metres (6 and a half feet), but some can be 2.7 metres.
Mocambo: fugitive communities of former slaves, and at times also indigenous peoples. They could vary from the very large mocambos - Palmares was 200 miles long at one time, and held 20-30,000 people - to the very small, with just a handful of people.
Quilombo: this is mostly an alternative term to mocambo, a community of ex-slaves and often Tupi and other indigenous people too. The word is from the Kimbundu (Bantu) word kilombo (from today s Angola), meaning war camp.
Tupi: The Tupi people were among the most numerous peoples indigenous to Brazil s territory prior to colonisation and they inhabited almost all the Atlantic coast at that time. It is estimated that they then numbered around 1 million people. There were many other linguistic/tribal groups in Brazil at that time and since that time. I use the term Tupi inexactly as I use it to refer to all people indigenous to Brazil when they came across the Portuguese and their ships. I am acutely aware of the very many terms in the novel unfamiliar to the reader, wished to minimise such terms, and so I have used Tupi generally as I do not wish to use the wholly wrong colonialist term Indian except where this is necessary in Spanish or Portuguese dialogue. The Tupi tribal groups often numbered 300 to 1500. Their names, one or two if which appear in the novel, include Tupinamba, Tupiniquim, Potiguara. I do not report them eating humans as the anthropologists studying their culture are divided on this. They are believed to have been in the territory we call Brazil for some 2,900 years prior to 1,500. Many died from smallpox that was brought to Brazil by the Portuguese, others from influenza, also imported by the Portuguese. Much of the culture of the indigenous peoples, including the Tupi, is part of Brazil s culture today.
INDIA
Zamorin/Samudiri: the ruler of Calicut, a major trading port on the West Coast of India, was called the Samudiri; the term Zamorin is the Europeanised version.
Anjediva: an island in Goa on India s west coast. It is now called Anjadip.
Quilon: ancient fortress in Kerala, now called Kollam.
Cranganore: now Kodungallor, is a historically significant town on the Malabar coast in Kerala, north of Cochin.
Cochin: now Kochi, a major port on the Malabar coast in Kerala.
AFRICA
Ouidah: or Whydah, a city on the coast of Benin
Bonobo: an ape closely related to the chimpanzee
Okavango river and delta: the Okavango river reaches its mouth inland, in a region otherwise characterised largely by grassland, and the river s delta flows into the desert during the rainy season from November to April when the river is in full flow. The whole region becomes richly verdant and full of varied flora and fauna during this time.
Lake Lusiwasi: this is in central province, Zambia
Serenje: this is the name of a town and region in Central Province, Zambia
SOUTH AFRICA
Kraal: a village surrounded by a fence or by thorn bushes; or alternatively a palisade.
Khoikhoi/Khoisan: the Khoikhoi were one of two dominant indigenous peoples in the southern part of Africa at the time they encountered the Portuguese and (later) the Dutch in their ships. Alongside the Khoikhoi were the San people, who had inhabited the region far longer, for tens of thousands of years. The Khoikhoi, who may not have been in the region longer than two thousand years at that time, probably had the first encounters with the Europeans. They had a chief, and there were Khoikhoi who had wealth in cattle or goat ownership, and others who lacked such wealth. The San were far more egalitarian and shared everything. Khoisan refers to both the San people alone and (for many anthropologists) the two peoples - the Khoikhoi and San - together. The combined term is by far the most commonly used of the two. The languages that involve tongue-clicking originate from the Khoisan people. The Khoisan people are recognised as one of the earliest distinct genetic groups in humanity.
Chainouqua: a khoikhoi tribe that traded with Dutch settlers in the 17th century and at times conflicted with other Khoikhoi who were unhappy with the Dutch settlers taking land and cattle.
CHARACTERS
Mozambique Island
Nawal - mother of Mahmud
Mahmud - her son
Sohail - mother of Ahmed
Ahmed - son
Mozambique Island, and in Bunyoro and Brazil
The Bantu family (see also separate family tree)
Felani
Mai
Niambi - daughter of Felani and Mai
Katchani - husband of Niambi
Matimba - son of Niambi and Katchani
Aneni
Wotambo - son of Kotani and Aneni
Vimbo - daughter of Kotani and Aneni, wife of Matimba
Barawa - son of Matimba and Vimbo
Otapo - son of Barawa
Atwooki - daughter of Barawa
Maira - wife of Otapo
Mande - son of Otapo and Maira
Caua - son of Otapo and Maira
Tucan - daughter of Otapo and Maira
Rosa - partner of Mande
Tsepo - daughter of Mande
Kanda - son of Mande
Rosalina - daughter of Mande
India, Port of Calicut
Zamorin (aka Samudiri)
Portuguese in Brazil, explorers
Nicolao Coelho - explorer
Bartolomeu Dias - explorer
Miguel - prisoners/desperados
Paolo - prisoners/desperados
Brazil, Portuguese soldiers
Ribeiro
Dias
Portuguese Armadas to East Coast of Africa and India
Bartolomeo Dias
Vasco da Gama
Paulo da Gama - brother of Vasco
De Almeida
Diego - interpreter
Allenquer - crew member
Brazil - Tupi (indigenous people)
Janaina
Anahi
Jaci
Piata
Ubijara
Caua
Tupillola
Minimatu
Cauasan
Ubirrata
Tupi women taken on Portuguese ship
Idoi
Tupilaroma
Aroi
Wai
Udoi
Ulara
Potira (goes to live with Portuguese)
Slave Plantation, Salvador Brazil
Otapo
Mobuka - friend of Otapo
Haram - slave rescuer
Matumbo - slave
Bantu family stories
Old Sage
South Africa (then the southern tip of Africa)(1) Khoikhoi
Akasu
Tsawe Tika
Brazil: Palmares
Mo - leader for brief period
Otapo
Maira
Mande, Tucan and Caua - children of Maira and Otapo
Crew for Haram s ship
Mbeki
Edmundo - carpenter
Mwesu - ship builder