1800?-1900?

Angolan slave and explorer who, in the company of Amaro José, made the first recorded transcontinental transit of Africa. Returning from their journey in 1815, Baptista was appointed captain of the Portuguese "Company of Pedestrians," with the charge of "keeping open the communication that had been discovered between the two coasts of Western and Eastern Africa." However, it seems likely that this company did much because very little Portuguese exploration of Africa occurred subsequently.