The Christian Imagination by Willie James Jennings

At dawn on August 8, 1444, Infante Henrique-Prince Henry of Portugal, the Navigator-sat on horseback at the port of Lagos patiently awaiting the disembarkation of cargo that had arrived from Cape Blanco. Spectators assembled to witness the portentous ritual that was about to occur. People from town and countryside lined the streets and crowded together on boats, all hoping to catch sight of this sign of Portugal's arrival as a world power. The day before this staged event, Lancarote de Freitas, the man who had led the very successful expedition in search of this cargo, had suggested to his lord, Prince Henry, that it be taken from the ship and herded to a suitable place for auction and distribution.

Lancarote's suggestion pleased the Infante. The place of auction and distribution would be a field just outside the city gates. The early-morning unloading time, also suggested by Lancarote, would catch the cargo during a lull in their lament. His rationale for these suggestions arose from the source of the lament: "Because of the long time we have been at sea as well as for the great sorrow that you must consider they have at heart, at seeing themselves away from the land of their birth, and placed in captivity, without having any understanding of what their end is to be. " [1] Carefully planned and perfectly executed, the disembarkation and movement from port to field, from hostile sea to Portuguese interior, had the effect Prince Henry desired. These actions announced boldly that under his leadership Portugal would stand beside the Muslims, Valencians, Catalans, and Genoese as peoples with power over black flesh. They now emerged as bearers of black gold, slave traders [2]