The Myth of Prester John and Iberian visions of Ethiopia

Abstract

During a dramatic meeting near Debra Libanos in early 1524, emperor Lebna Dengel and D. Rodrigo de Lima, the first Portuguese ambassador in Ethiopia, discussed the contents of a world map that had been offered by the Portuguese king, D. Manuel I. Looking at the map, the Ethiopian emperor pointed out that Portugal was a very small country, and he advised the ambassador that if the Portuguese sovereign really wanted, as he said, to secure the Red Sea Route from the Turks and to take Mecca and Jerusalem with the help of the Ethiopian Christians, he should ally with the Spanish and the French kings to achieve the necessary military power.