ABSTRACT
This chapter proposes to examine the chronicler's account of the visit to Portugal of the Wolof king Pina calls "Bemoim" — a name that possibly derives from the Wolof word bumi, "heir". This affair seems to have attracted scant interest among modern historians though it was the only occasion on which John II actually received in Portugal one of the Black African sovereigns whose suzerain he considered himself to be. The work of Rui de Pina is of special interest to historians of the maritime expansion of Europe. Pina describes the Wolof king as having arrived in Portugal in 1488, when the court was in Setubal. Pina's account of reception of Bemoim in Portugal deals with events that Pina himself must have witnessed. Barros follows the latter's account for the most part but, since he wrote a generation later and belonged to a more sophisticated historical tradition, he criticizes Pina for being too short on essential details of the affair.
