Rosa Egipcíaca
Rosa Egipcíaca, also known as Rosa Maria Egipcíaca of Vera Cruz and Rosa Courana (1719 – 12 October 1771), was a formerly enslaved writer and religious mystic, who was the author of A Sagrada Teologia do Amor de Deus Luz Brilhante das Almas Peregrinas (The Sacred Theology of Love of God Brilliant Light of Pilgrim Souls) – the oldest book written by a black woman in the history of Brazil. Early life Egipcíaca was born on the , close to where modern-day Lagos is in Nigeria. She was born a member of the Coura people and was enslaved when she was six years old, and taken via the Atlantic slave trade to Rio de Janeiro in 1725. When she arrived she was baptised at the Igreja da Candelária and given the name Rosa (or, as she is sometimes referred to, Rosa Courana – reflecting her West African cultural identity). In 1733 she was sold to Dona Ana Garcês de Morais who owned a mining camp at Inficionado in the Minas Gerais region. Egipcíaca's previous enslaver, José de Souza de Azevedo, had sexually abused her. In the mining camp, as the only enslaved woman, as an escrava de ganho, she was