The Lands of Cazembe: Lacerda's Journey to Cazembe in 1798

The Lands of Cazembe documents the 1798 expedition led by Portuguese explorer Francisco José de Lacerda e Almeida, who traveled from Tete in present-day Mozambique into the interior of Central Africa. Commissioned by the Portuguese colonial administration to establish a transcontinental trade route, the expedition sought to link the empire's eastern and western African holdings. The resulting journals provide a detailed, if Eurocentric, account of the Mwata Kazembe kingdom and the geopolitical landscape of the region at the turn of the 19th century.

Lacerda's manuscript was posthumously published after his death during the journey, serving as a critical primary source for historical geographers and historians of African colonial contact. The text is celebrated for its precise topographical observations and ethnographic notes, which offered European readers of the era rare, albeit filtered, insights into the Lunda Empire. Modern editions, such as this reprint, are typically intended for academic study and preservation of the original 19th-century records.