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The Diary of the Swiss Leonhard Thurneysser and Black Africans in Renaissance Lisbon

An excerpt of a German 16th Century manuscript is presented together with it's translation. The author is presumed to be Leonhard Thurneysser zum Thurn (Basel 1531–Cologne 1596), who claims to have started writing it in Lisbon as a guest of the Portuguese humanist Damião de Góis about 1555/56. The excerpt deals with black Africans as observed by the author in Lisbon. It contains detailed descriptions of their bodies and their habits. Furthermore it describes how they were sold as slaves on the streets of Lisbon. He also speculates about the reasons for their blackness, resorting to alchemy and astrology. Based on a letter from the emperor of Ethiopia he mentions the ties between Ethiopia and Portugal as well as with the Roman Church.