The scientific importance of this work is immense - primarily to Africa, since it is the first systematic grammar of Quimbundo, and secondly to Brazil, for several reasons. ${ }^{4}$ It bears witness to the use, at that time, of an African language, Quimbundo, by slaves from Angola, who may not have been native speakers of the language, but who used it in their interactions with other Africans. It was a fully African language, close to that spoken today in Angola, not to be confused with a pidgin or Creole language (Bonvini, 2008, p. 38). This document is also important because it reveals that, in seventeenth century Bahia, where the largest black population was concentrated at the time, at least one African language was being used by African slaves to such an extent as to attract the attention of the Jesuits, who wished to learn it in order to catechize its speakers.  
The second document on African languages spoken in Brazil is entitled Lingoa geral de Minna, traduzida ao nosso Igdioma, por Antonio da Costa Peixoto, Curiozo nesta Siencia, e graduado na mesma faculdade: E. ${ }^{\circ}$ - the heading that appears on the title page of the manuscript Obra Nova da Lingua Geral de Minna, written in Ouro Preto by Antonio da Costa Peixoto and published in 1731, with a second edition in 1741. This document depicts a particular linguistic situation resulting from the concentration, in the mining quadrilateral of Vila Rica-Vila  
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[^0]:    4 Maria Carlota Rosa (2013) presents the facsimile of Pedro Dias' Arte and carefully analyses the work within the context in which it was written.