Mathieu de Costa

Mathieu da Costa (sometimes d'Acosta) was a member of the exploring party of Pierre Dugua, the Sieur de Monts, and Samuel de Champlain that travelled from France to the New World in the early 17th century. He was the first recorded free black person to arrive to the land that, on 1 July 1867, would become Canada.

There is little documentation about Mathieu da Costa. Of at least partial African ancestry, he is known to have been a freeman favoured by explorers for his multilingual talents. Numerous mixed-race African-Portuguese persons were part of the Atlantic Creole generation, often working as sailors or interpreters. His portfolio of languages is thought to have included Dutch, English, French, Portuguese, Mi'kmaq, and pidgin Basque, the dialect many Aboriginals used for trading purposes.

With the Portuguese

He was originally engaged by the Portuguese as a translator, having learned their language quickly. It was thought that his skills would be valuable in future cartography expeditions to the New World. As early as 1499, João Fernandes Lavrador explored Greenland and the north Atlantic coast of Canada. The following year, brothers Gaspar and Miguel Corte-Real, explored what is today the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador, and Greenland, claiming these lands for Portugal. João Álvares Fagundes and Pêro de Barcelos established fishing outposts in Newfoundland and Nova Scotia around 1521; however, these were later abandoned, as the Portuguese shifted their focus to South America.

The tradition of Europeans depending on such translators was more than a century old by the time da Costa started working with them. An interpreter, translator, and general go-between such as da Costa was known as um grumete in the Portuguese-speaking world. Da Costa would later be sought by both the English and the Dutch to help in their contacts with Aboriginal peoples in North America, but the French secured his services.

In Holland

Mathieu da Costa was in Amsterdam, Holland, in February 1607. Apparently the Dutch had seized Pierre Du Gua de Monts's ships near Tadoussac at the St. Lawrence River (as later named) in a trade dispute, and took Da Costa as well. His abduction strongly suggests that his talents helped bridge the gap between the Europeans and the First Nations of Canada.

Working for Du Gua

French documents record da Costa working for the leaders of Port Royal in 1608. In 1608 he was hired for three years by Pierre Du Gua de Monts. It may be assumed that Da Costa accompanied Du Gua de Monts and Samuel de Champlain on one or more of their voyages to Acadia and the St Lawrence area. However, in 1609, his presence is recorded in Rouen, France, and in a jail in Le Havre, France, in December. Whether he visited Canada that year is open to question.

Du Gua's activities in Canada did not end until 1617. A court case related to expenses incurred by Nicolas de Bauquemare of Rouen to support da Costa dragged on until 1619, although there is no positive indication that Mathieu da Costa was personally present.

There is controversy as to how da Costa had learned to communicate with Aboriginal peoples. One theory suggested that the North American cultural context of trading centers, with multi-lingual populations, was very similar to the African trading ports.

Da Costa's translation and communication skills helped reduce the cultural gap between early French explorers and the First Nations.His work in Canada is honoured at the Port-Royal National Historic Site in Port Royal, Annapolis County, Nova Scotia.

Commemorations

A domestic rate postage stamp honoring da Costa was issued by Canada Post on February 1, 2017, in conjunction with Black History Month.

A plaque at Port Royal, Nova Scotia commemorates da Costa's contribution. It is part of the Mathieu da Costa African Heritage Trail, a series of monuments marking African Nova Scotian history in the Annapolis Valley.It was unveiled in July 2005

The Mathieu da Costa Challenge was an annual creative writing and artwork contest started in 1996 by the Department of Canadian Heritage. The challenge encourages youth to discover how diversity has shaped Canada’s history and the important role that pluralism plays in Canadian society.