myhistorialcommunicationtothefirstinternationalcongress

My historical communication to the First Internacional
Congress of the History of Discoveries in 1960
By Manuel Luciano da Silva, Medical Doctor

My card of Congressman. It was written in French because at that time French was the internatinal language...

During the second week of September 1960, (from 4th to 12th), the Portuguese Government to celebrate the 500^th anniversary of the death of Prince Henry the Navigator, organized the First International Congress of the History of the Discoveries, which was held in the University of Lisbon .

Scholars from more than seventy nations participated in this international event. Eight Americans were present and I was one of them. The others were professors of various American Universities and some of them were invitees of the Portuguese Government. I paid all my own expenses: trip, food and hotel.

The American congressmen at the main entrance of the University of Lisbon . Dr. Luciano da Silva is on the extreme left holding a piece of paper.

It was on Thursday, September 8^th, 1960, that I, as a legalized congressman, made my presentation in the University amphitheater called Aula Magna of the University of Lisbon , Portugal.

My lecture was entitled “Prince Henry the Navigator and Dighton Rock ”. I used 40 color slides and a 24 minute 8 mm film about the history of Dighton Rock . There were more than two thousand people attending my lecture!

On the following day, September 9^th, 1960, the “Diário de Notícias” (The Portuguese Daily News) -- at the time considered the best Portuguese newspaper – on the first page had these following headlines:

“ The most agitated period began about 4:30 pm, when Dr. Luciano da Silva, a young physician, (Fellow in Internal Medicine at the famous Lahey Clinic, in Boston , U. S. A. ), started his original presentation and detailed argumentation in favor of the priority of the arrival of the navigators Corte Reais in North America, even before Columbus. He based his facts on the inscriptions of Dighton Rock , in Berkley , Massachusetts .”

“ If it were not for Prince Henry the Navigator – Dr. Da Silva said – Dighton Rock would not existed. The inscriptions were made in 1511 by Miguel Corte Real and he stressed based on his original investigation that the first civilized language that the Wampanoag Indians spoke was Portuguese. The American Indians -- he continued -- have Portuguese blood”.

“We should reveal that the amphitheater was full to capacity. The Spanish participants in the Congress, concentrated themselves in the Aula Magna – followed very attentively the thesis that Dr. Luciano da Silva was presenting (which was documented with excellent color slides and a color film, done at his expense and his family, he confessed with pride), the Spaniards in the meanwhile continued to speak softly to each other, and some of them even went outside to discuss the subject, laudly.”

“Dr. Luciano da Silva from the stage, with his old briefcase – loaded with photographs, copies an even newspapers – concluded with vigor: the American Continent was discovered by the Portuguese in 1424, even before Columbus was born!”

“Dr. Luciano da Silva gave credit to Professors Delabarre and Joseph Fragoso for their Portuguese interpretations of the Dighton Rock inscriptions, and then demonstrated his original investigation that the first civilized language that the Wampanoag Indians spoke was Portuguese, before Columbus arrived in America.”

“It is the Dictionary of American-Indian that reveals to us that information, Dr. da Silva said. From whom did the American Indians learned if not from the Portuguese such words as ‘bacalhau’ (codfish), ‘canada’ (narrow passage), ‘abrigada, ‘abrigador' (bay, shelter), ‘saco’ (sac), ‘curvo’ (curve), ‘akoa’ (water), ‘fogo’ (fire), ‘brigs’ (fight) and so many other words typical of the old Portuguese?”

“And then, Dr. Luciano da Silva presented his original discovery that the American Indians had Portuguese blood, because of their Portuguese names: ‘Testaquina’ ( strong head), ‘Amenquina’ (chief of the Indians in Maine ), and he explained that the name ‘Quina’ in Portuguese signifies nobility and leadership. Among the American Indian words we find a large number of names that used in their composition the name ‘Quina’, which is also the name for the Portuguese national symbol: ‘Quinapang’, ‘Quinapaag … The Bothers Quina … and Dr. da Silva shows the front page of the Diário de Noticias , which the day before gave the news that the Quina Brothers from Lisbon had won an Olympic medal in Rome, Italy, proving that the name Quina still exists in Portugal today!”

“And Dr. da Silva raised this question: Why is it that in America , the heart of the Atlantic the Portuguese name is used ‘Mar dos Sargasso’, instead of ‘Mar de los Sargazos’ in Spanish, or in Italian ‘Mar dei Sargassi’?”

“A tumultuous applause – the loudest of The Congress -- resounded throughout the theater, when Dr. Luciano da Silva finished presenting his film (and when he said: this could only be done by getting into the rubber boots and sacrifice, not sitting comfortably in the libraries…), going up to the stage to comment and congratulate the Author, Mr. Castro Junior, followed by Dr. João da Silva, Jorge Preto and prof. Rogers. This one asked the author to tune down and also to cut on his publicity. We need more research. In whom was he basing his work? In America the title of “Prof” is different from the same in title in Portugal . Where did he get the information about the Portuguese Indians words? And Dr. Luciano da Silva, with same vigor as before, tapping Rogers on his shoulder and told him: “I got this information from the old books that exist in the catacombs of the University (Harvard) where you teach Portuguese!... And he further answered Rogers : When we refer to Plato or Aristotle do we ask them if they have the title Professor?”

That was all! Prof. Rogers was applauded by the Spaniards. There was a certain confusion. Some Portuguese thought that the applause was for Dr. Luciano da Silva, they joined in….

And so for peace to be restored, we moved to the next presentations….”