III. Belägerung der Statt und Festung Mozambique.

Title

III. Belägerung der Statt und Festung Mozambique.

Description

Arrival of the Dutch in Maputo Bay, formerly Delagoa Bay in Mozambique (Africa).

ca. 1600

Artist

Bry, de (1528-1598)

Theodorus de Bry (1528-1598) Frankfurt a.M. Around 1570, Theodorus de Bry, a Protestant, fled religious persecution south to Strasbourg, along the west bank of the Rhine. In 1577, he moved to Antwerp in the Duchy of Brabant, which was part of the Spanish Netherlands or Southern Netherlands and Low Countries of that time (16th Century), where he further developed and used his skills as a copper engraver. Between 1585 and 1588 he lived in London, where he met the geographer Richard Hakluyt and began to collect stories and illustrations of various European explorations, most notably from Jacques Le Moyne de Morgues. Depiction of Spanish atrocities in the New World, as recounted by Bartolome de las Casas in Narratio Regionum indicarum per Hispanos Quosdam devastatarum verissima. In 1588, Theodorus and his family moved permanently to Frankfurt-am-Main, where he became citizen and began to plan his first publications. The most famous one is known as Les Grands Voyages, i.e., The Great Travels, or The Discovery of America. He also published the largely identical India Orientalis-series, as well as many other illustrated works on a wide range of subjects. His books were published in Latin, and were also translated into German, English and French to reach a wider reading public. The two collections of travelogues published by Theodor de Bry in Frankfurt are among the most important of the early modern period and established his reputation for posterity: He created The Arrival of Columbus in the New World in 1594. The West Indian Voyages (ed. 1590-1618) chronicled the discovery and conquest of the Americas by Europeans, while the East Indian Voyages followed the rise of Holland as a trading power in Asia around 1600. Both series appeared in German and Latin, were intended for a European audience, and were richly illustrated with copper engravings. Theodor de Bry was only able to publish six parts of his complete works. After his death, his sons Johann Theodor and Johann Israel and then Johann Theodor's son-in-law Matthäus Merian continued the work until 1634. In the end, it contained 25 parts and over 1500 copper engravings. The brothers were succeeded as engravers and publishers by Sebastian Furck.

Historical Description

Before the great exploratory trips by the Europeans, Arabs had ruled the coast off Africa for centuries. They traded between Africa, the Orient and India in gold, ivory and African slaves. The first Portuguese to land in Sofala in 1497 was Pedro da Covilhã, who was commissioned by the Portuguese king to explore the sea route from Arabia to East Africa. In 1498 Vasco da Gama reached Mozambique on the way to India: On the island of Mozambique he met Sheikh Moussa Ben Mbiki, from whom the name Mozambique is derived. The Portuguese then seized these trading centers and penetrated inland along the Zambezi in search of gold. For centuries the Portuguese were content with trading slaves and cared little about the population. Their rule lasted into the 20th century, and living conditions in the colonies deteriorated considerably as a result of forced labor, exploitative employment contracts and reckless treatment. Until 1898, the city of Ilha de Moçambique was the country's capital. She also gave the country its name.