40. Acknowledgement of receipt, issued by Afonso Ribeiro

National Archive of Torre do Tombo (Portugal)
Corpo Cronológico, Parte II, mç. 10, doc. 63
SENDER: Afonso Ribeiro
PLACE OF DEPARTURE: Sofala (Mozambique)
GENERAL INFORMATION: Acknowledgement of receipt, issued by Afonso Ribeiro, provisions tax officer at the fortress of Sofala, for a ream of paper and half a canada of ink. Dated 1505.

To administrate an empire on the other side of the globe, as shown on this document, the Portuguese replicated the institutions and bureaucratic practices of the metropolis in each of their outposts. This document also testifies to the sort of material and scriptural infrastructure required to do so efficiently. On a very small sheet of paper Afonso Ribeiro, provisions tax officer in Sofala (Mozambique), acknowledges that he had received one ream of paper and half a canada of ink from the factor Manuel Fernandes. This kind of paperwork was kept in order to seek to control the economic and logistical aspects of a fortress that was several months’ travel away from the central administration in Lisbon.

(Roger Lee de Jesus)