The Forgotten Diaspora : Jewish Communities in West Africa and the Making of the Atlantic World / Peter Mark, José da Silva Horta.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Mark, Peter, 1948- author.

Horta, José da Silva, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Jews--Senegal--Petite Coast--History--16th century.

Jews.

Jews--Senegal--Petite Coast--History--17th century.

Sephardim--Senegal--Petite Coast--History--16th century.

Sephardim.

Sephardim--Senegal--Petite Coast--History--17th century.

Crypto-Jews--Iberian Peninsula--Senegal--Petite Coast--History--16th century.

Crypto-Jews.

Crypto-Jews--Iberian Peninsula--Senegal--Petite Coast--History--17th century.

Petite Coast (Senegal)--Ethnic relations.

Petite Coast (Senegal).

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xv, 262 pages) : digital, PDF file(s).

Place of Publication:

Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 2011.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

This book traces the history of early seventeenth-century Portuguese Sephardic traders who settled in two communities on Senegal's Petite Côte. There, they lived as public Jews, under the spiritual guidance of a rabbi sent by the newly established Portuguese Jewish community in Amsterdam and were protected from agents of the Inquisition by local Muslim rulers. The Petite Côte communities included several Jews of mixed Portuguese-African heritage as well as African wives, offspring, and servants. The blade weapons trade was an important part of their commercial activities. These merchants participated marginally in the slave trade but fully in the arms trade, illegally supplying West African markets with swords. This arms trade depended on artisans and merchants based in Morocco, Lisbon, and northern Europe and affected warfare in the Sahel and along the Upper Guinea Coast. The study discovers previously unknown Jewish communities and by doing so offers a reinterpretation of the dynamics and processes of identity construction throughout the Atlantic world.

Contents:

1. Two Sephardic Communities on Senegal's Petite Côte

2. Jewish Identity in Senegambia

3. Religious Interaction: Catholics, Jews, and Muslims in Early Seventeenth-Century Upper Guinea

4. The Blade Weapons Trade in Seventeenth-Century West Africa

5. The Luso-African Ivories as Historical Source for the Weapons Trade and for the Jewish Presence in Guinea of Cape Verde

6. The Later Years: Merchant Mobility and the Evolution of Identity

Conclusion

Appendix I: The Jewish Traders of Porto d'Ale and Joal: Their Relatives ad Some of their New Christian Partners in Senegambia and the United Provinces and Portugal: A Comprehensive List (ca. 1606-ca. 1635)

Appendix II: A Chronological Outline of the Institutional Proceedings against the Jews of Porto d'Ale and Joal (1611-1643).

Notes:

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 05 Oct 2015).

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9786613012043

9781107214118

1107214114

9780511994425

0511994427

9781283012041

1283012049

9780511992193

051199219X

9780511993213

0511993218

9780511989384

0511989385

9780511987601

0511987609

9780511921537

0511921535

9780511991202

0511991207

OCLC:

704258007