serpa

Updated: June 26, 2025

Major Serpa Pinto twice crossed Africa in an attempt to connect the Portuguese settlements on the two coasts. Similarly, Lieutenant Wissmann also crossed Africa twice, between 1881 and 1887, in the interests of the Congo State, though he ultimately became an official of his native country, Germany.

Joseph Jacobs - The Story of Geographical Discovery: How the World Became Known

Up to the year 1853, the lower part of the river, as far as about a hundred miles beyond Borba, was regularly visited by traders from Villa Nova, Serpa, and Barra, to collect sarsaparilla, copauba balsam, turtle-oil, and to trade with the Indians, with whom their relations were generally on a friendly footing.

Henry Walter Bates - The Naturalist on the River Amazons

The brutal German, whose crimes made the Akikuyu hostile to all whites, marked his path with blood from the Indian Ocean to Victoria Nyanza. Serpa Pinto, renowned for the scientific value of his work, aroused condemnation and disgust because he fought his way through many tribes, among whom Livingstone and Arnot had wandered almost alone and in perfect safety.

John Lord - Beacon Lights of History, Volume 14 : The New Era; A Supplementary Volume, by Recent Writers, as Set Forth in the Preface and Table of Contents

He had passed us by night below Serpa, on his way to Barra, and so had arrived about three weeks before me. Besides ourselves, there were half-a-dozen other foreigners here congregated Englishmen, Germans, and Americans; one of them a Natural History collector, the rest traders on the rivers.

Henry Walter Bates - The Naturalist on the River Amazons

After a considerable amount of friction owing to the encroachments of Major Serpa Pinto, the limits of Portuguese Angola on the west coast were then determined, being bounded on the east by the Congo Free State and British Central Africa; and at the same time Portuguese East Africa was settled in its relation both to British Central Africa on the west and German East Africa on the north.

Joseph Jacobs - The Story of Geographical Discovery: How the World Became Known

On the 22nd, we passed the mouth of the most easterly of the numerous channels which lead to the large interior lake of Saraca, and on the 23rd ,threaded a series of passages between islands, where we again saw human habitations, ninety miles distant from the last house at Cararaucu. On the 24th we arrived at Serpa.

Henry Walter Bates - The Naturalist on the River Amazons

Some of these excellent people were men of substance, being owners of trading vessels, slaves, and extensive plantations of cacao and tobacco. We stayed at Serpa five days.

Henry Walter Bates - The Naturalist on the River Amazons