The Four Exploradores of 1741
In the Year of Our Lord One Thousand Seven Hundred and Forty One,
four Seperate Expeditions Lead by four Honourable Individuals,
Left their Respective Home Ports,
Commissioned and Blessed by King Jose V of Portugal,
to Explore the Ocean Sea,
to Find Unchartered Lands,
and to Claim these Lands for the Crown.
Their Names will Forever be Reminded in Portugal,
and their Deeds will now Be Written Down,
so that they will never be forgotten.
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Rodrigo da Costa
the Ambassador
A cavalheiro of greastest intellect, Rodrigo da Costa set sail to claim the Gulf of Guinea for King Jose. If it wasn't for his efforts, two European nations might have filled the grande Niger river with their red blood. Soon upon his arrival da Costa built a large fort at the Eastern bank of the Niger to act as base of operations for his expeditions.
Meanwhile his forces explored large parts of the coastline. However after two months an espanhol force arrived at the western bank of the Niger River. Their intentions were unknown and many people feared that a war would distrubt the growth of the Portugese colonies. At once the great Rodrigo da Costa arranged a meeting with the espanhol leader.
After long and hard negotiations they came to an agreement. All lands west of the Niger river would be given to Spain and all lands east of the river would be Portugese. Now da Costa was free to march to coastline southwards, claiming much valuable land for the crown.
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Lourenço de Almeida
the Merchant
In the far south another grande cavalheiro had been issued by King Jose V to lead an expedition into the unexplored lands of Namibia. Lourenço de Almeida, an famous and successfull empreendedor, imediatamente assembled an expedition of adventurers to change the bushland into a profitable colony of the crown. He had ambitious plans and being a courageous man he even risked to invest his very own wealth into this expedition.
On his journey through the wild lands of Namibia he met many dangers, but even though he was able to build not less then three forts to protect the newly acquired lands from the dangers of Africa.
Lourenço de Almeida was a fierce believer in a principle invented together with his friend Diogo Botelho. The ultimate goal to bring prosperty to the black continent would be achieved with the three C's: Commerce, followed by Christianity leads to Civilization. Therefore de Almeida tried at every opportunity to etablish friendly relations with the savage barbarians which populate the Namibian lands.
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Diogo Botelho
the Christian
A man of grande belief was Diogo Botelho. He had allready been spreading the word of Jesus all throughout the Black Continent for years, when the King assinged him in his wisdom to spread Christianity in lands were the people still prayed to idols and sacrified their children! Botelho was more then happy to leave Arabia, where the muslims had given him a hard time. Faster then anybody else he assembled a large force, including at least one dozen missionaries. His designation was the Horn of Africa. Maybe one of the most backward places on the entire continent. With the cross in his right hand and the sword in the left hand he was able to convert large parts of the area to Portugal.
Unlike his mercantile friend Lourenço de Almeida, Diogo believed in a different assingment of the three C's, Firstly Christianity, then Commerce and Civilisation. Diogo disliked the idea of Portugese traders comming into contact with savage idol-whorshippers.
On his route along the Horn, Diogo built a large number of monastaries and supplied the Holy Book to many infidel tribes. Most importantly were the four fortified monastries, which would also act as a bases of operations for later expeditions
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Francisco de Sousa
the Conquerer
The fourth of the cavalheiros of 1741 was Francisco de Sousa. Surely a person of grande courage and força de Sousa also had a certain adventurous trait of character.
Nevertheless he conquered large parts of the Windward Coast for the crown. His expedition was the only one to start from Lisbon. Upon reaching his designation de Sousa built several forts. After months of living together with his companheiros he had developed a special relationsship for them. This might explain the unfortunate course that his expedition took.