Jews from Cape Verde and Portugal were already known in Joal as early as 1591 and a synagogue was noted there in 1641. In 1606, in Portudal, also on the Senegalese coast there were 100 Portuguese following the Laws of Moses. Boulegue notes that in 1614 the Governor of Cape Verde recorded that the greatest number of lançados were Jews. In 1622 the Cape Verdean Governor, Dom Francisco de Mourra, reported to the Portuguese King that the Guinea coastal rivers were full of Jews who were masters of the local regions and were quite independent of the Crown. No doubt such information relating to the Jewish danger gave justification to the Portuguese to punish two wealthy members of the Jewish comunity around the synagogue in Rufisque, Senegal, for economic excesses in 1629. When a branch of the Portuguese Inquisition was established in Cape Verde in 1672, one result was the seizure of Jewish-owned merchandise. As the 17th century evolved, the Portuguese were steadily displaced from Senegambia, but they retained their bases in the Cape Verde islands and in Guinea at Cacheu, Bolama, Bissau, Buba, Geba, Mansoa. In the 16th and 17th centuries the term ganagoga was also used in the Upper Guinea/Cape Verde region to imply Jewish lançados, but in practice ganagoga also meant people who were able to speak many local African languages. Allied with them were the tangomaos who represented a still deeper connection to the African interior for the lançados. It seems most likely that the term tangomao is a corrupted form of targuman, which means translator in Arabic. Muslims and Arabic-speakers were and are widespread in this area, especially the northern and interior regions where the tangomaos or lançados traded.
Posted on: Mon, 21 Apr 2014 12:42:12 +0000
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