Andrew Battel

Who is Andrew Battel?

Andrew Battel, was an English traveler. His account of his long stay in Portuguese captivity in Angola, and his travels in the region are essential primary sources for the history of that region, particularly for his early account of the Imbangala and his detailed description of Loango.

Battel was born in Essex about 1565. On 20 April 1589 he sailed with Captain Abraham Cocke for Rio de la Plata. After a troublesome voyage they reached the mouth of the river in the autumn, but were forced by hunger and adverse winds to return along the coast of Brazil. Landing at the island of São Sebastião, the crew was separated, and Battel with five companions was carried off by the Indians to the river Janeiro and delivered to the Portuguese. After four months' imprisonment he was transported to Luanda, the Portuguese settlement in Angola. He was imprisoned in that town for four months, and then sent 150 miles up the Kwanza River and confined in a fort, till, through the death of the Portuguese pilot, he was employed to take the governor's pinnace down to Luanda.