Metalwares and textiles for onward export to Africa started to play an important but little heralded role within Europe itself as Portuguese merchants began selling goods acquired in Africa to northern Europeans. These included the prized “grains of paradise,” or malagueta pepper, a type of chili that the Portuguese bought in large quantity near Sierra Leone and in what is modern-day Liberia, a region they called the Pepper Coast. In exchange, northern Europeans sold the Portuguese the textiles and metal goods that were in heavy demand in the newfound African societies.
