# First collections of oral narratives in Angola and Brazil  
The European voyages of exploration in Africa, beginning with the great Portuguese navigations of the fifteenth century, intensified and expanded with the passage of time. The earliest written records of oral poetry among Africans were produced in the nineteenth century by Christian missionaries who went to Africa on religious indoctrination missions, one of the components of Portuguese colonization. Colonial government agents on administrative postings also kept written records of the songs that were danced to and the folk tales they heard from Africans. The ethnographic literature they produced during their travels is of great interest, especially for the studies being conducted in this early twentyfirst century period, in which we recognize diversity and contact among different spheres, i.e., transculturation. Today we are able to read these books from the colonial period, written by agents of colonization, with critical eyes and ears, seeking sensitivity and rigour in their recording of vocality.