The Second Expedition of Dias, 1574.
After a considerable delay, Dias was sent out as “Conquistador” of the territory recently visited by him. He left Lisbon on October 23rd, 1574, with seven vessels and three hundred and fifty men, most of them cobblers, tailors, and tradesmen.400 Among his officers were Pedro da Fonseca, his son-in-law, Luis Serrão, André Ferreira Pereira, and Garcia Mendes Castellobranco, all of whom subsequently won distinction as “Conquistadores.” Three Jesuit fathers (with P. Balthasar Barreira as superior), and three Dominicans accompanied him. These latter, however, not finding the country to their liking, soon sought more comfortable quarters in Kongo. Dias was authorised to grant estates (including full seignorial rights) to all such among his companions as were prepared to build a small fort at their own expense.
In February, 1575, the fleet sighted the coast near the Kwanza, and passing over the bar of Kurimba cast anchor in the fine bay of Luandu, and on February 20th Dias laid the foundations of a church.401 The island, at that time, was inhabited by forty Portuguese who had come from Kongo, and a considerable number of native Christians. Its cowry fisheries yielded great profit to its owner, the King of Kongo, who was represented by a governor.402 Not finding the site originally chosen for his capital to be suitable, Dias, in 1576, removed to what is now known as the Morro de S. Miguel, and he named the new colony “Reino de Sebaste na conquista de Ethiopia,” in honour of the King who fell gloriously at Al Kasr el Kebir, and its capital S. Paulo de Luandu.
Meanwhile the customary presents were exchanged with the King, whose name or title seems to have been Ngola a kiluanji. The King’s gifts included slaves, cattle, copper and silver bracelets, and aromatic Kakongo wood. The Cardinal King D. Henrique (1578-80) converted the silver bracelets into a chalice, which he presented to the church of Belem.
Friendly relations continued for three years. The King had been duly helped against his rebellious sobas; Pedro da Fonseca lived at the King’s residence as “ministro conservador” of the Portuguese, and a brisk trade seems to have sprung up with the new town of S. Paulo de Luandu, when it was insinuated to the King that the Portuguese ultimately intended to take possession of his country, and to sell his subjects abroad as slaves. The Catalogo traces these insinuations to the jealousy of a Portuguese trader “inspired by the Devil,” and although neither Garcia Mendes nor Abreu de Brito alludes to this infamy, their not doing so does not disprove the positive statement of the Catalogo.403 Moreover, whether the King’s mind was influenced by envoys from Kongo, or by a traitorous Portuguese, it must be admitted that the intentions of the Portuguese were not altogether misrepresented.
At all events, the results were immediately disastrous, for twenty Portuguese traders, who were at the King’s kabasa at the time, were murdered, together with one thousand slaves, and their merchandise was confiscated.