ABSTRACT
Chapter 5 translates customs payments made by the last nine ships that returned to the Cape Verde Islands after trading in West Africa from June 1515 to January 1516. Cape Verde-based merchants declared hundreds of captive Africans as well as tons of rice, milho, and ivory. The translation identified the Portuguese royal auditor, Bento Fernandez, as auditing the colony’s customs receipt book, and increasing the taxes owed to the Portuguese government and the Order of Christ. The auditor also voided a number of verbal agreements made between merchants and rendeiros who purchased the contract to collect royal taxes in the islands. The government audit may have led to the indictment of head customs officer Alvaro Diaz, who was cleared of the charges, and even rich enough to outfit his own ship to trade in West Africa.
