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Further Considerations on the Sephardim of the Petite Côte

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 May 2014

Tobias Green
Tobias Green*
Affiliation:
Centre of West African Studies, University of Birmingham
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Extract

The publication in these pages of an article by Peter Mark and José da Silva Horta on the Sephardic communities of the Petite Côte in the early seventeenth century represents a significant step forward in our understanding of the Jewish presence in west Africa. Using previously unreferenced material, Mark and Horta have filled out for the first time the nature of this community, and in particular provided valuable evidence as to the group's connections with Lisbon and Amsterdam.

This type of assiduous documentary research has long been needed for this topic. Although some Africanists have referred to the Jewish presence there, such references have tended to draw on the same few documentary sources. So though the work of Jean Boulegue, Antonio Carreira, and Nize Isabel de Moraes has been important in drawing the attention of Africanists to the Jewish presence in Senegambia, one can say that, in general, historians of the upper Guinea coast have not systematized the place of the Sephardim in discourses related to their area of study.

Meanwhile, there is almost a complete absence of reference to the Jewish presence in west Africa among historians of the Sephardim. There are perhaps two overriding explanations for this lacuna. For one thing, these communities were comparatively small and did not have an extended lifespan, and it is of course natural that historians of the Sephardim should concentrate on the most important communities of the diaspora. For another, we suspect that the absence of their commentary on this subject is not entirely unrelated to fears as to what might be uncovered, since it is notorious that one of the major activities of Europeans in Africa at this time was slaving. The implication of a significant number of Sephardim being involved in this activity would not sit comfortably with the traditional interpretation of many historians of the Sephardim that their subjects were, essentially, victims of persecution, and that, where they were slave owners, they treated their charges much better than did Christians.

Type
Research Article
Information
History in Africa , Volume 32 , 2005 , pp. 165 - 183
Copyright
Copyright © African Studies Association 2005

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References

2 Mark, Peter and Horta, José da Silva, “Two Early Seventeenth-Century Sephardic Communities on Senegal's Petite Côte,” HA 31(2004), 231–56Google Scholar.

3 Boulègue, Jean, Les Luso-Africains de Sénégambie, XVIe – XIXe Siècle (Dakar, 1972), 57–62Google Scholar; Carreira, António, Os Portuguêses nos Rios de Guiné, 1500-1900 (Lisbon, 1984), 44–46Google Scholar; de Moraes, Nize Isabel, À la Découverte de la Petite Côte au XVIIe Siécle (Sénégal et Gambie) (2 vols.: Dakar, 1995), 2:300Google Scholar; idem, “Sur les Prises de Gorée par les Portugais au XVIIe Siècle”; BIFAN 31B(1969), 989-1013.

4 See, e.g., Arbell, Mordechai, The Jewish Nation of the Caribbean: The Spanish-Portuguese Jewish Settlements in the Caribbean and the Guianas (Jerusalem, 2002), 30-32, 107–08Google Scholar. Where historians of the Sephardim have entered into the arena of the Jewish presence in west Africa, they have again tended to do so from the perspective of the Jew as victim; see Liba, Moshé (with the editorial cooperation of Norman Simms), Jewish Child Slaves of São Tomé (Wellington, 2003)Google Scholar.

5 Salvador, José Gonçalves, Cristãos-Novos, Jesuitas e Inquisição: Aspectos de sua actuação nas Capitanias do Sul, 1530-1680 (São Paulo, 1969)Google Scholar; idem., Os Cristãos Novos e o Comércio no Atlântico Meridional (com Enfoque nas Capitanias no Sul, 1530-1680) (São Paulo, 1978); Novinsky, Anita, Cristãos Novos na Bahía (São Paulo, 1972)Google Scholar; Wiznitzer, Arnold, The Records of the Earliest Jewish Community in the New World (New York, 1954)Google Scholar; idem., O Livro das Atas das Congregações Judaicas: Zur Israel em Recife e Magen Abraham em Mauricia, Brasil, 1648-1653 (Rio de Janeiro, 1955); Egon, and Wolff, Frieda, Judaizantes e Judeus no Brasil, 1500-1808: Diccionàrio Biogràfico (Rio de Janeiro, 1986)Google Scholar; idem., Judeus em Amsterdã: Seu relaconiamento com o Brasil, 1600-1620 (Rio de Janeiro, 1989). We would note, in addition, that it is important to make a distinction between Jews and cristãos novos (New Christians). Cristãos Novos were descended from converted Jews, but were as likely to be practicing Christians or agnostics as Jews.

6 MesaBernal, Daniel, De los Judíos en la Historia de Colombia (Bogotà, 1996)Google Scholar; Splendiani's monumental work in transcribing and analyzing the books of the Inquisition on Cartagena will remain the standard work on the subject for years to come: Splendiani, Anna-María, Cincuenta Años de Inquisition en el Tribunal de Cartagena de las Indias, 1610-60 (4 vols.: Bogota, 1997)Google Scholar; Liebman, Seymour B., The Jews in New Spain: Faith, Flame and Inquisition (Coral Gables, 1970)Google Scholar; Toro, Alfonso, Los Judíos en la Nueva España: Selectión de Documentos del Siglo XVI, correspondientes al ramo de la Inquisitión (Mexico City, 1932)Google Scholar; idem., La Familia Carvajal: Estudio Histórico Sobre los Judíos y la Inquisitión de la Nueva España en el Siglo XVI, basado en documentos originates y en su mayor parte inéditos, que se conservan en el Archivo General de la Natión de la Ciudad de México (2 vols.: Mexico, 1944); Böhm, Gunther, Nuevos Antecedentes para una Historia de los Judíos en Chile Colonial (Santiago de Chile, 1963)Google Scholar; idem., “Los Judíos en Chile Durante la Colonia”, Boletín de la Academia Chilena de la Historia, no.38(1948), 21-100; Pérez, Pedro Guibovich, En Defensa de Dios: Estudios y Documentos Sobre la Inquisitión en el Perú (Lima, 1998)Google Scholar; Carvacho, René Millar, Inquisitión y Sociedad en el Virreinato Peruano: Estudios Sobre el Tribunal de la Inqusición en Lima (Santiago, 1997)Google Scholar.

7 In the age of postmodernism it is a requisite for some readers to know the perspective of the author, so it is important to point out that my interest in this subject-matter derives both from my status as a secular Sephardic Jew and from a longstanding interest in the region. See Green, Toby, Meeting the Invisible Man: Secrets and Magic in West Africa (London, 2001)Google Scholar.

8 Mark, /Horta, , “Sephardic Communities,” 241–42Google Scholar.

9 Ibid., 247.

10 Ibid., 241.

11 Gemeentearchief (hereafter GAA), Notarial Archive (hereafter NA) 196, f. 323v. “Verklaeren de voon Jacomo Pellingrino e Jacomo Casseres … dat zy … Venetie voor tijd gewoont.”

12 Ibid.

13 GAA, NA 645, ff. 621-22, 887. Both documents refer to Peregrino's trading activities in Senegambia. I will return to this matter in connection with the international webs of commerce; the importance here is its connection of Peregrino to important Sephardic families in Amsterdam.

14 Wiznitzer, Arnold, Jews in Colonial Brazil (New York, 1960), 47Google Scholar.

15 Koen, E.M., “Amsterdam Notarial Deeds Pertaining to the Portuguese Jews in Amsterdam up to 1639”, Studia Rosenthaliana 3(1969), 115n51Google Scholar. See also Lipiner, Elias, Os Judaizantes nas Capitanias de Cima (Estudos Sôbre os Cristãos-Novos do Brasil nos Séculos XVI e XVII), (São Paulo, 1969), 102–03Google Scholar.

16 Wiznitzer, , Colonial Brazil, 47Google Scholar.

17 GAA, Portuguese Jewish Archives, Livro 1, f. 244: “O senhor Jacob Peregrino deve quinze florins em q foi fintado por sua caza.”

18 Mark, /Horta, , “Sephardic Communities,” 243Google Scholar.

19 A particularly egregious example of this is Salvador's, José GonçalvesOs Magnatas do Tràfico Negreiro (Séculos XVI e XVII) (São Paulo, 1981)Google Scholar. Although much of Salvador's work is important, in this book in particular he uses terms such as “Jews” and “cristãos novos” interchangeably, appearing to assume that every cristão novo is a Jew. More recently, I would cite as an instance of this trend Ventura's, Maria da Graça MateusNegreiros Portugueses na Rota das tndias de Castela (1541-1556) (Lisbon, 1999)Google Scholar. Ventura refers to “Jews, New Christians or Judaizers” (“Judeus, cristãos-novos ou judaizantes”) with no attempt to differentiate among these categories or to see how they might overlap: ibid., 36; cf. ibid., 31, 37,117, for unproven assertions of the Judaic origins of the Portuguese slavers.

20 Newitt, Malyn, A History of Mozambique (London, 1995), 9Google Scholar.

21 GAA, NA 645, f. 887: “koopman van te potugees natie en Amsterdam.”

22 Ibid.: “Davidt Abenacatar … [alias] … Fernando Alvares Mello portugees koopman … procuratie van Eliau Benveniste koopman te veneza na Italie … volmacht van Francisco Gommes de Morays koopman en de stalt von pisa.”

23 Ibid. Peregrino had “orders, deze partijen in Guinea te verhandelen en retour-ladingen naar Livorno te zenden.”

24 Ibid.

25 Ibid., f. 888: “Peregrino nu weer in Amsterdam is en zich verborgen houdt uit vrees, dat Melo hem in gijzeling zal laten nemen … “

26 Koen, “Notarial Deeds,” 115n51. Mark/Horta (“Sephardic Communities,” 239) note that Pedro Rodrigues Veiga had come to Senegambia to convert.

27 Mark, /Horta, , “Sephardic Communities,” 239Google Scholar.

28 GAA, NA 62, f. 210v.

29 Ibid.: Pedro Rodrigues Veiga declares that “comprou na bahia hu engenho de acucar nomeado Santo Cosmas.”

30 It is also active confirmation of the presence of genuine crypto-Jews in Brazil at this time.

31 Something that is also confirmed by his presence in the roll of debtors for Beth Jahacob of 1614: GAA, NA 62, f. 210v.

32 Mark, /Horta, , “Sephardic Communities,” 242Google Scholar.

33 Ibid., 243.

34 Cohen, Martin A., “Introduction” in The Jewish Experience in Latin America ed. Cohen, Martin A. (Waltham, 1971), xxiiiGoogle Scholar.

35 GAA, NA 645, ff. 1150-51.

36 GAA, NA 62, f. 218v: “Simão Rodrigues e Estevão Rodrigues estantes nesta cidade de Amsterdam … confissão aver recibido de Dioguo da Silva e Diogo Dias Querido hû carregação de diversas mercadorias … a troque della ou de seus procedidos couros marfim e todas as mais cousas q acharem … “

37 GAA, NA 62, f. 345.

38 GAA, NA 375, f. 262. The ship was captured by pirates on the return voyage, which is why the deposition is made.

39 GAA, NA 52, f. 206r: “Os comisarios de Gaspar Nunes e Gaspar Sanches por nome de Luiz fernandes e Gaspar Fernandes comprarão em hum porto q se chama Joalla hu negro de hu portugues e em Portodalle comprarão outro de outro portugues e em ditto portodalle comprarão os dittos comisarios dous negros dos marinheiros da dita nao de Govert Jansen, os quais dittos quatro negros vierão em dita nao de Govert Jansen pera serviço dos ditos Gaspar Nunez e Gaspar Sanchez.”

40 In other aspects of my research, I have uncovered networks of Sephardic slavers, which were centered more on the Cape Verde islands and the Guinea coast. However, the point that Jews were primarily traders—whatever the “good” being trade—is particularly worth stressing, given the polemics that from time to time emerge regarding the Jewish role in the slave trade. On one side, demagogues such as Louis Farrakhan claim that Jews sold Africans into slavery; on the other, authors such as Eli Faber claim that the Jews were proportionately much less involved in the trade than their commercial activities should have suggested (see Faber, Eli, Jews, Slaves and the Slave Trade: Setting the Record Straight [New York, 1998]Google Scholar). As so often is the case, both extremes would seem to be some way wide of the mark.

41 Tobias Green, “The Role of the Portuguese Trading Posts in Guinea and Angola in the “Apostasy” of Crypto-Jews in the 17 Century” in Proceedings of the C.R. Boxer Centenary Conference (forthcoming).

42 Mark, /Horta, , “Sephardic Communities,” 253Google Scholar.

43 Boulègue, , “Luso-Africains,” 62Google Scholar.

44 Documents relating to the case are as follows: GAA, NA 461, ff. 297-98; GAA, NA 382, ff. 196-200, 202-03.

45 Se algum dia ouviou que o ditta Rebecca chamara a ho ditto Pellegrino, e não querendo elle yr, lhe dissem que era de pouco animo, pois ho tinha para matar hum Goy e não para subir polla escala arriba:” GAA, NA 382, f. 203.

46 Mark, /Horta, , “Sephardic Communities,” 247Google Scholar.

47 GAA, NA 382, f. 196; ibid., f. 200.

48 GAA, NA 645, ff. 595-96: Daniel Belmonte was following the petition of “Manuel Ayres portugees koopman wonende in Amsterdam.” Manuel Peregrino “tegenverding in de Boien de Amsterda e zoon van Jacob Pelegrino berooft en gespoileert was … daar hij geslepen … bij de dochter von de Koning van Jaloffo.”

49 Mark, /Horta, , “Sephardic Communities,” 252Google Scholar.

50 This is not to say that Manuel Peregrino might not have been involved with ritual slaughtering of meat, another suggestion of this source (Mark, /Horta, , “Sephardic Communities,” 247Google Scholar). But this is far from being the same thing as suggesting that he was a rabbi—the implication at this point of the article—since all synagogues had designated butchers who were rarely, if ever, rabbis themselves, its being a completely different skill.

51 Thornton, John, Africa and Africans in the Making of the Atlantic World, 1400-1800 (2d ed.: Cambridge, 1998)CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

52 The congregation of Talmud Torah was founded in Amsterdam in 1639, amalga-mating the previous congregations of Beth Jahacob and Beth Israel. These references to the presence of African Jews in Amsterdam are cited by Kaplan, Yosef, Judíos Nuevos en Amsterdam: Estudio Sobre la Historia Social y Intelectual del Judaísmo Sefardí en el Siglo XVII (Barcelona, 1996), 73Google Scholar.

53 Portuguese Jewish Archives, book 19, f. 173: “Os Señores do Mahamad, Por Justas Consideraçois Hordenam que Avendo Algun Judeo Negro çircucidado nao seja chamada asefer torah … “

54 Ibid., f. 224: “Temo sobre que aya lugar separado en Bet Aghaim para enterarem os negros e mulattos judeos.”

55 Ibid., f. 281: “Reformaçao da escama de 39 que trata de ciruncidar goim declararão os senhores do mahamad que as mesmas penas de hirem em quern circuncida negros.”

56 Netanyahu, B., Towards the Inquisition: Essays in Jewish and Converso History in Late Medieval Spain (Ithaca, 1997), 6Google Scholar.

57 Ibid., 6n30.

58 The classic account of the statutes of purity of blood is Sicroff, Albert A., trans. Armino, Mauro, Los Estatutos de Limpieza de Sangre: Controversias entre los Siglos XV y XVII (Madrid, 1985)Google Scholar.

59 Kaplan, , Judios Nuevos, 62–63Google Scholar.

60 Note 55 above

61 Lô, Alexis de Saint, Relation du Voyage du Cap Vert (Paris, 1637), 167Google Scholar: “nous allames chez un Iuif appellé Peregrin, & qui est comme le Docteur des autres Iuifs de la Coste”

62 Ibid., 103-4: “Nous avons trouvé trois ou quatre Iuifs en ce Port, don't il n'y en avoit qu'un de race & de naissance, les autres ne l'estoyent que pour avoir esté pervertis de celuy-cy, aussi estoit-il en sa Loy extrémement habile: j'ay en la presence de tous les Portugais de ce Port disputé contre luy.”

63 Moraes, “Prises de Gorée.