Who is Gonclavez Antam?

• A. Portuguese navigator who mapped the West African coast.
• B. A Dutch captain who opened West Africa to trade.
• C. Portuguese sea captain who made the first European landing on the west African coast south of the Sahara and brought back the first kidnapped Africans to Portugal in 1441.
• D. An English trader who later joined the Royal African Company.

Answer: (C)

The main idea here is understanding the origins of European contact with sub-Saharan Africa and the start of the Atlantic slave trade. Gonclavez Antam refers to a Portuguese sea captain who, in 1441, reached the West African coast south of the Sahara and brought back the first kidnapped Africans to Portugal. This voyage, often paired with Nuno Tristão, is widely cited as the first recorded instance of Europeans landing on that stretch of coast and initiating the early slave trade to Europe. It sits within the broader wave of 15th-century Portuguese exploration sponsored by princes like Henry the Navigator, which sought new routes, gold, and enslaved people. The other options point to different roles or nationalities that came later, whereas this description matches the early, specific expedition that began European involvement in that region and the trans-Atlantic slave trade.