Battle of Guinea

16th century map of the Portuguese possessions in western Africa

Date	Spring or Summer of 1478
Location	Gulf of Guinea, western Africa
Result	Decisive Portuguese victory

Belligerents

Kingdom of Portugal

Crown of Castile

Commanders and leaders

Jorge Correia
Mem Palha

Pedro de Covides (POW)

Strength

11 ships

35 ships

Casualties and losses

no ships lost

all ships and crew captured

The Battle of Guinea took place on the Gulf of Guinea, in western Africa, 1478, between a Portuguese fleet and a Castilian fleet in the context of the War of the Castilian Succession.

The outcome of the battle of Guinea was probably decisive for Portugal reaching a very favourable sharing of the Atlantic and territories disputed with Castile in the Peace of Alcáçovas (1479). All with the exception of the Canary Islands stayed under Portuguese control: Guinea, Cape Verde, Madeira, Azores and the exclusive right of conquering the Kingdom of Fez. Portugal also won exclusive rights over the lands discovered or that were to be discovered south of the Canary Islands.

In 1478, Prince John of Portugal, who had been charged since 1474 by his father, King Afonso V of Portugal, with the administration of the Portuguese maritime expansion, received news that a large Castilian fleet of thirty five ships commanded by Pedro de Covides had been sent from Seville by Isabella I of Castile and Ferdinand of Aragon to Portugal's claimed Mina, in the region of the Gulf of Guinea, to attack the Portuguese there and trade with the natives. He immediately prepared and organized a fleet of eleven ships with the objective of intercepting the Castilian expedition, giving the command of the fleet to Jorge Correia and Mem Palha, two of his knights.

When the Portuguese fleet of eleven ships arrived at the Gulf of Guinea, the Castilians were already in the area for about two months trading with the Africans. Cheap goods like shells, old clothes, brass bracelets and other items were being traded in exchange for gold, while slave raids along the coast of Guinea were also being conducted.

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