ABSTRACT
In these words, written around 1505-1507, a leading Portuguese cosmographer, well acquainted with the coast of Central Africa reported on raffia cloth as one of the products of the kingdom of Kongo (and of the neighboring Loango coast) that had most struck the imagination of his compatriots since their arrival in these lands. Early visitors were astonished to find excellent cloth 'very well woven and with many colors' made out of raffia. Indeed some of this cloth was ornamented 'in high and low relief like velveted satin among us', and the ability to execute quite naturalistic 'needle work'on such cloth was admired. The return gift of the king of Kongo to the king of Portugal c. 1488 comprised many pieces of dyed cloth 'in vivid colours'.2 Evidently he had a hoard of these cloths in his store houses. Europeans found such cloths desirable. Cushions covered with them and lengths of decorated Kongo mfula cloth are already listed in the estate of a Portuguese trader of Sao Tome who died in 1507.3 Nor was this passing praise. The excellence and diversity of raffia textiles from western Central Africa continued to be extolled by Europeans until well into the eighteenth century - including the favorable comparison with Italian fabrics.4
