So it was English privateers who brought the first Africans to Virginia? I've always read that it was

Dutch traders who brought the first Africans to the English colony. Right. And part of the reason why

there was confusion about the Dutch is because a Dutch man of war was a type of ship. And so when people

in the references called it a Dutch man of war, people assumed it was a Dutch man of ship. And so when people in the references called it a Dutch man of war, people assumed

it was a Dutch vessel. There was also a lot of confusion because these ships were not clearly

marked as English ships. They were hiding their identity. And so they were carrying what is called a mark. And these marks were the

authority of other entities who were not involved in the 30 years war, such as the Duke of Savoy,

or William of Orange, who was a Dutch leader, William of Orange was the one who provided a mark

to the white lion. And the Duke of Savoy was the one who gave the mark to the treasurer.

But the controversy actually started because the Duke of Savoy actually signed a treaty agreement with Spain, and therefore

the mark was removed because he would not participate officially in any privateering operations,

especially against any Spanish or Portuguese vessels. And so by the time the treasure arrived,

the mark was no longer effective.

So that created a lot of controversy. And we would see in the records, even the Virginia

company trying to hide the fact that they were engaged in this kind of piracy on the high seas.

So this whole story really is a lesson, I think, to all of us,

that history is often not written in stone, that instead, as you uncover more documents,

you dig deeper. For example, historians Linda Haywood and John Thornton went into the Portuguese records to find out a lot more

information about who these people were, the fact that they came from the kingdom of Nodongo,

that these were people, many of them had already converted to Christianity even before being

kidnapped into slavery, that these individuals were urbanites,

that they had a life and a culture that was completely separate from what they were forced

...