Portudal

Portudal is a coastal trading place on Senegal’s Petite Côte, where a sheltered roadstead offered ships an anchorage in the kingdom of Baol. Portuguese fleets stopped here in the early sixteenth century, including that of Vasco da Gama in 1502. Luso-African merchants later acted as intermediaries between European ships and African suppliers, trading goods including ivory, hides and enslaved people. Their position depended on relationships with the rulers of the coastal kingdoms.