Preface and Chapter One Summary

The Viceroy of Ouidah, by Bruce Chatwin, is the story of a nineteenth century Brazilian slave trader in Africa named Francisco Manoel da Silva. It is a frightening tale of ambition, violence, and superstition in an eerie shipping port of West Africa. The Preface, written in first person, tells how Chatwin first goes to the Kingdom of Dahomey in 1971, and then returns six years later, by which time a new president has changed the country's name to the Republic of Benin. Chatwin has returned to research the life of De Souza, work which goes well until a coup attempt occurs, during which he is mistaken for a mercenary and jailed for two days. When he is set free, he leaves Benin and never returns, but travels on to research De Souza's earlier life in Brazil. Chapter One...