Eustache de la Fosse

Eustache de la Fosse was a Flemish-speaking sailor and merchant from Tournai, who traveled with Spanish sailors from Palos, Spain, to territories of West Africa (1479–80) in what is now Guinea-Bissau. A manuscript, dated 1548, describing his voyage was preserved at the Valenciennes Library.

In 1479, Eustache de la Fosse, went to the coast of Guinea on board Spanish vessel Mondanina thus defying the ban of the King of Portugal, which has reserved the monopoly of trade on the African shores. Boarded by Portuguese ships, he was captured, and brought back to Lisbon where he was sentenced to death. He managed to escape and new adventures lead him to Spain, and finally in Ghent.