‘Furnisht with such members as are after a sort burthensome unto them’: White Traveller Perceptions of Black Male Bodies and the Construction of Race, 1450–1730

Abstract

This article explores how European travellers to Africa perceived African masculinity, the male body and sexuality during the period of 1450–1730. It argues that their observations helped Europeans construct early notions of racial difference at a time when skin colour was not the most important marker of difference classifying people. It draws upon a range of European accounts of their voyages and encounters with Africans from 1450 to 1730. It mostly analyses English narratives, but it also examines Portuguese, Dutch and French accounts that were translated into English at the time and read by English audiences.