Calunga and the Legacy of an African Language in Brazil

2: Historical Overview

15 CHAPTER TWO historical Overview In your voice— the voice of the sugarfields, the ricefields, the coffeefields, the rubberlands the cottonlands . . . the plantations of Virginia the fields of the Carolinas of Alabama Cuba Brazil rising from the mills that grind the sugarcane the voice of Harlem District South . . . wailing the blues, breasting the Mississippi chanting the groan of wagon wheels . . . the voice of all America, of all Africa the voice of every voice united —Viriato da Cruz, twentieth-century Angolan poet and revolutionary, from “Black Mother: A Song of Hope” (quoted in Davidson 1973:151) the origins of Calunga can be attributed to a series of historical factors. Of particular importance are the fifteenth-century Portuguese explorations and the subsequent establishment of the Portuguese Empire. Another key factor is the Atlantic slave trade, which “transformed the economic, political, and cultural character of the peoples, nations, and continents involved in the largest, albeit involuntary, migration in the history of humankind” (Dodson 2001:118). But it must be underscored that little is actually known regarding the specific history of Calunga. This problem is a consequence of a general lack of knowledge regarding Africa and the African diaspora, which have been themes of objective scholarship only since the latter half of the twentieth century (Azevedo 1998:25). ch a p t er t wo 16 This chapter draws on the writings of scholars—particularly historians of Africa and the African diaspora, Portugal, and Brazil—to provide a general sociohistorical overview of the context in which Calunga evolved. A more specific historical overview of Minas Gerais and Calunga is in chapter 4. the iBeria-aFriCa COnneCtiOn The Iberian Peninsula has an extensive history with Africa. One standard historical period to highlight is the Moorish conquest and occupation of the peninsula from AD 711 to 1492. Arriving from contemporary Morocco via the Straits of Gibraltar, the Moors subsequently conquered most of the peninsula , establishing themselves in the region they named al-Andalus. By 718 the Iberian Peninsula was divided: Islamic al-Andalus in the central and southern regions and the Christian dominions of Portugal, Galicia, León, Castilla, Navarro, Aragón, and Catalonia in the north (Azevedo 2005:9). Map 2. Lusophone countries and territories in Europe, the Atlantic islands, Africa, and South America. Historical Overview 17 During the Muslim occupation of Iberia, Christian Iberians learned of great cities, schools, trading systems, and armies in sub-Saharan West Africa (Landers 2006:2). Much of the knowledge of northern and subSaharan African cultures came from Moorish scholars and traders. One example is Abu Ubayd al-Bakri, a scholar from Córdoba, who wrote an important book in Arabic, The Book of the Routes and Realms. Completed in 1068, this book detailed some of the peoples and cultures of sub-Saharan Africa. Interestingly, al-Bakri did not travel much out of al-Andalus but rather used travelers and traders as sources for his book (Davidson 1998:25). Note, for example, al-Bakri’s description of King Tunka Manin of ancient Ghana: When the king gives audience to his people, to listen to their complaints and to set them to rights, he sits in a pavilion around which stand ten pages holding shields and gold-mounted swords. On his right hand are the sons of the princes of his empire, splendidly clad and with gold plaited in their hair. The governor of the city is seated on the ground in front of the king, and all around him are his counselors in the same position . The gate of the chamber is guarded by dogs of an excellent breed. These dogs never leave their place of duty. They wear collars of gold and silver, ornamented with metals. The beginning of a royal meeting is announced by the beating of a kind of drum they call deba. This drum is made of a long piece of hollowed wood. The people gather when they hear its sound. (Quoted in Davidson 1998:28–29, italics his) In the medieval era ancient Ghana was a key supplier of gold and diamonds to northern Africa, western Europe, and the Near East. “Even kings in distant England,” writes Africa historian Basil Davidson (1998:31), “had to buy West African gold before they could order their craftsman to make coins.” Muslim traders also provided spices, from as far away as India and China, to medieval Iberians by means of a system of trading routes...