Hans Staden's True History: An Account of Cannibal Captivity in Brazil

by Hans Staden, Neil Whitehead, Michael Harbsmeier (Translator)

In 1550 the German adventurer Hans Staden was serving as a gunner in a Portuguese fort on the Brazilian coast. While out hunting, he was captured by the Tupinambá, an indigenous people who had a reputation for engaging in ritual cannibalism and who, as allies of the French, were hostile to the Portuguese. Staden’s True History, first published in Germany in 1557, tells the story of his nine months among the Tupi Indians. It is a dramatic first-person account of his capture, captivity, and eventual escape. Staden’s narrative is a foundational text in the history and European “discovery” of Brazil, the earliest European account of the Tupi Indians, and a touchstone in the debates on cannibalism. Yet the last English-language edition of Staden’s True History was published in 1929. This new critical edition features a new translation from the sixteenth-century German along with annotations and an extensive introduction. It restores to the text the fifty-six woodcut illustrations of Staden’s adventures and final escape that appeared in the original 1557 edition. In the introduction, Neil L. Whitehead discusses the circumstances surrounding the production of Staden’s narrative and its ethnological significance, paying particular attention to contemporary debates about cannibalism. Whitehead illuminates the value of Staden’s True History as an eyewitness account of Tupi society on the eve before its collapse, of ritual war and sacrifice among Native peoples, and of colonial rivalries in the region of Rio de Janeiro. He chronicles the history of the various editions of Staden’s narrative and their reception from 1557 until the present. Staden’s work continues to engage a wide range of readers, not least within Brazil, where it has recently been the subject of two films and a graphic novel.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Travel, Brazil, Anthropology

296 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1982

Reviews

[Jonathan Ashleigh · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a tough read because, as the reader, you are not always sure about what is going on.

Hans Staden was a German explorer who travelled to South America in the mid-sixteenth century. He was captured by a tribe native to Brazil, but managed to survive and return to Europe. This book is his widely read account describing his captivity. In it, he claims the native people who held him captive practiced cannibalism.

I wish this book and The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon could be put together and told from the explorer's perspective and also be a true story. That would be a good book.

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

The intro is very long and the writer uses a slew of complicated and long words. Obviously his vocabulary is very advanced... but to the average reader it becomes very confusing and uninteresting. It really was not necessary either. Once you get to the actual book written by Staden, it is quite interesting. Though the chapters are short, and the book seems a compilation of short stories, it is a pretty good account of his experience and an interesting read. I give the intro 2 stars.... the actual narrative by Staden 4 stars. I would suggest that you skip the introduction unless you like to read things like "Tupi cosmology and shamanism encouraged the expansive and therefore transculturating social system that broke down the rectitude of social and cultural individuation". Yes, that's an actual quote from the intro. A very drug out description of the contents of Staden's book. Staden's account is very basic. Not extremely detailed but you get a good idea of the way these natives lived and his experience with them.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was easy to read and occasionally entertaining. His extreme anxiety was curious and pretty comical. But, yeah, I'm not a big fan of travel narratives, so it is what it is.

[Doris Raines · Rating 3 out of 5]

I LIKE THIS BOOK I JUST LOVE TRUE STORYS 👌😎🍿

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an incredibly important book for Brazilian history. Hans Staden's account is both interesting and illuminated, if sensationalized somewhat by himself in writing his account. I picked it up while doing some research on the 'donatários' in Brazil and found the text very useful in a number of ways. The only issue I found in this translation was how the translator kept some of the original names without clarification and replaced some of the Portuguese names with Spanish equivalents, which was annoying to work through at times and felt somewhat inconsistent. The Portuguese translation I also read was better in some ways, but didn't have as many footnotes as this one to expand on the research. Overall, very good book and good translation with that one caveat.

[Marco · Rating 2 out of 5]

¿Deberíamos seguir leyendo textos tan marcadamente coloniales como el testimonio de Hans Staden sobre su cautiverio con una tribu tupinambá? Supongo que tiene su mérito para el estudio académico; a mí, en cambio, la lectura me dio mucha bronca.
Dos estrellas porque me sorprendió la mirada etnográfica y la descripción tan detallada de costumbres, estructuras sociales, flora y fauna.

[Lucius]

dnf ... only read part 1 (this was for a class), thus i can't really speak to the book as a whole. however, of what i did read, staden seems an incredibly unreliable narrator with a strong habit for sensationalizing his life. which makes sense if you want a book to sell.

[no cuenten lo que leo]

que aburrimiento x dios

[Gabriel Martins · Rating 2 out of 5]

Quase cômico

[Enzo Cosenza · Rating 5 out of 5]

If Brazil was a serious country this would be a mandatory reading at school