Rivers & landmarks · named by the Portuguese in the 15th century
Cestos River (Nuon/Nipoué)
The river the Portuguese named Rio dos Cestos, 'river of baskets', after the malagueta pepper sold there in basketwork.
Biography
The name records a transaction: pepper measured and sold in woven baskets at the river mouth. It became a fixed point on every European chart of the Grain Coast and one of the coast's more active slaving as well as provisioning stations.
Inland the river drains Bassa and Krahn country, and its lower reaches were controlled by towns that regulated access upstream.
Historical significance
The place-name itself is documentary evidence of a functioning indigenous measure-and-market system at first contact.
Timeline
- 1460s–70sNamed by Portuguese navigators
- 17th–18th c.Pepper, rice and slave trading at the mouth
- 19th c.Under naval surveillance as an illegal embarkation point
On the map
Associated with Rivercess. Open the historical atlas.
Related entries
References
- Rodney, Walter (1970). A History of the Upper Guinea Coast.
- Hair, P. E. H. (1967). 'Ethnolinguistic Continuity on the Guinea Coast.'
Suggested reading
- Hair (1967).