ABSTRACT
The spectacular rituals surrounding Andres’ passing from the world of the living to the world of the dead bore witness to the material wealth he accumulated during a lifetime of dealings with traders and clients from near and far. Shedding light on Africa and Africans’ little-studied role in the early modern global networks of luxury exchange and collecting within the context of the slave trade, this chapter aims to counter some enduring misconceptions. The transcontinental flow in curiosities, fineries, and artistic forms as well as its material traces have remained largely invisible in studies of and approaches to the history of Africa and the Atlantic world in the early modern period. Goods of luxurious material and spectacular workmanship traveled with Iberian explorers and missionaries as gifts from their kings aimed at dazzling newly encountered people and at demonstrating the power and munificence of the European monarchs.
