30/04/2024
The expulsion of the Jews from Spain and Portugal.
It was the year of 1492, when the Moorish stronghold of Granada surrendered to the armies of king Ferdinand and queen Isabella. For the first time since the year 711, all of Spain was in Christian hands. The decree to expel the Judeans from Spain was signed on March 31, in one of the corridors of the great Alhambra, the palace of the Moorish kings of Granada.
The reason given for the expulsion of the Judeans, was that it was thought they corrupted the Marranos (Judeans converted to Christians), by privately encouraging them in disloyalty to Christianity. The ultimatum given to the Judeans, expired on August 1, 1492. But the last group of Judeans, did not leave until August 2, 1492.
This date is of a strange coincidence. That day was the day of Ab, the fast day, which is in reminiscent of the destruction of the first and second temples. Professor Allen H. Godbey says that the reign of the last Judean king of Ghana terminated in 1492.
In order to satisfy queen Isabella of Spain, king Manoel of Portugal promulgated a royal decree, expelling the Judeans and Moors from his country, in 1498. The Judeans who were expelled from Spain and Portugal were scattered throughout the Mediterranean coast. It is estimated that over 100.000 Judeans departed from Spain and Portugal, during the persecutions and the expulsion. Some of these Judeans went to Northern Europe, Italy and Turkey; but most of them went to Muslim nations of Northern and Western Africa. These black Judeans would naturally go to African countries, most of all, because of less persecution, and they could disguise them self, easier among other blacks.
R.H.M Elwes, gives a graphic description of the Portuguese Judean, Baruch Spinoza: “Middle sized, good features, skin Somewhat black (mixed), curly hair, long eyebrows of the same color, so that one might know by his looks that he was a descendent of the Portuguese Judeans.”
When the Judeans were expelled from Spain, about 100.000 entered Portugal. They were permitted to enter under the condition that they pay the poll tax, with the understanding that they would leave the country, within the eight months. Also, at this time, the king obligated himself to take the Judeans wherever they desired at the termination of the eight months. When the eight months expired, many Judeans were stranded, because the king did not provide enough ships in time.
All the black Judeans who were left behind were deprived of their freedom and sold into slavery.
During the reign of king Joao, the second (John the second), seven hundred black Hebrew children were ruthlessly taken away from their parents in Portugal and transported to the island of San Thome, off the West Coast of Africa. This island is located near Nigeria, Cameroon and Gabon.
Allen H. Godbey says that the Portuguese founded the island of San Thome in 1471. In the year of 1484, King Joao the Second of Portugal, who reigned in the years of 1481–1495, offered the Judeans of his kingdom the choice of baptism or settling at the island of San Thome. Multitudes of Judeans were sent to this island, during the reign of king Joao the second of Portugal. These Judeans, or “Judeos”, as the Portuguese called them, are serious, reserved and wealthy, holding most of the trade in their hands.
The Portuguese were the first Europeans to establish themselves on the West coast of Africa. First, they came with merchants, then, secondly, they came as conquerors and slavers. Later in this work, the black Judeans in the Portuguese possessions in West Africa, will be discussed in greater detail.
The West African Judeans during the slave trade
The black Judeans who migrated to Sudan from the North, converged with the Judeans migrating from the Eastern Sudan to the countries of the Niger river. It is a known fact that the Judeans and Judaism were in Africa, fifteen hundred years before Islam and that everywhere the Arabs went, the Judeans were there. The black Judeans guided the Arabs and Moors into Spain and acted as interpreters. When the Muslims came into the Saharah, they found the black Judeans, stationed on all trade routes, and I can positively say, that where Mohammedanism is currently prevailing in Sudan, Judaism once had been dominant.
There is much evidence, and still much more to be revealed by scholars. that there existed prior to the slave trade and subsequent to it, many Judean tribes, colonies and kingdoms in West Africa:
The Moorish writer, Leo Africanus, informs us of the past existence of a medieval Hebrew state called Kamnuria, or Kanuria; it’s two main gate cities were Kamnuri, (obviously its capital) and Naghira; and this state was located north of the Senegal River. According to this Moorish Judean this black African Hebrew state had vanished by his time. There are two reasons given for the ruin of this kingdom:
The intensive sandstorms in the Saharah Desert, caused drought and rendered the cities uninhabitable;
The migration of the Fulas, or Fulbe towards the West.
The Kanuri Judeans call the Fulas or Fulbe, “Fellata”; these Fulas, transmigrated the entire Sudan, from the Nile to Senegal. The Kanuri Judeans are now located in central Sudan, along trail, hundreds of miles North, South, East and West of Lake Chad., where they migrated from Senegal.
It is the conclusion of some scholars that when the Judean kingdom of Ghana fell, many Hebrew tribes established settlements, among the African tribes, throughout central and western Africa. Thus, the Moorish writer, Al Edrisi, of Andalusia, Spain, wrote in the early part of the twelfth century about the powerful Hebrew colony of Lamlam.
Lamlam was situated about two hundred miles, west of Timbuktu. The Hebrew merchants were then monopolizing the trade that was concentrated at Timbuktu. Lamlam was entirely Judean and fought wars against to maintain her control of trade. Edrisi also said that there were only two towns, south of the kingdom of Ghana and continues: “According to what the people of this country report, the inhabitants, are Judeans”.
When they had reached the age of puberty, they were branded on the countenance or at least on the temple with fire. leaving identifying marks. All the dwellings in their countries were built on the bank of a river, which flowed into the Nile. Edrisi meant the Niger River. It was the belief of the time that the Niger formed the upper reach of the Nile.
The black African Hebrews had settlements not only in the interior of Africa; but also had communities on the West coast of Africa, from Marocco to Angola. In the year 1856, Dr. J.L. Wilson wrote his history of Western Africa: He transmits to us the composite religious culture of some inhabitants of Senegambia (Senegal) and Guinea; “in Senegal”, he said “there is a complete medley paganism, Judaism and Mohammedanism, and it is difficult to say which of the three occupies the most prominent place or exerts the greatest influence upon the character of people”. However, the sentiment of the inhabitants regarding this multi-religious mixture was that the combination of the three religions furthered the welfare of all.
How do we rationalize and explain the medley of paganism, Judaism and Mohammedanism near the ruins if the medieval Judean kingdom of Kamnuria? It is obvious to researchers that after the break-up of the Hebrew kingdom of Ghana, Kamnuria and Lamlam, the black Judeans migrated to remote regions of the interior and the coast; then these Hebrews came under the pressure of Muslim propaganda and pagan influence, resulting in what is known as “cultural diffusion”. If you recall what Slouschz said, many Judeans became Muslim but still retained their Judean origin.
Wilson also informs us that in Northern Guinea, there is a congregation of Judaism and paganism combined and in Southern Guinea there is a combination of Judaism, paganism and some traces of Christianity. In Northern Guinea or Portuguese controlled Guinea, Judaism is more highly practiced.
Some of the outstanding rites are purifications, the observance of the new moons, a designated period of the weeping of the dead, during which time they wear sack and cloths and ashes; bloody animal sacrifices with the careful sprinkling of blood upon the door posts and the altars; the division of the tribes into different families, frequently into twelve parts (the twelve tribes of Israel); formal processions, circumcision and various other practices, probably of Hebrew derivation.
A few of these rituals, especially circumcision, might have been derived from the Muslims, but we are forced to consider the entire congeries of the Hebrew cultural traits which is indicative of the Hebrew faith.
Wilson says: “Although the Natives of Africa retain these outwards rites and ceremonies with the utmost tenacity, they have little or no knowledge to their origin, or the particular object which they are intended to commemorate. many of them are performed to shield themselves from threatened evil, or to secure some coveted good. But in the great majority of the cases, they are attended merely as a matter of habit; and the only reason assigned for observing them is that their ancestors did the same before them”.
It stands to good reason that their ancestors observed these Hebrew rites, they were surely Hebrews.
It is written in Psalm 83:4:
“They have said, Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation; that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance”.
Like the black Judeans in America, some of the Judeans of Guinea don’t remember their heritage, nor their nationality. This deplorable ignorance is attributed to various causes:
The fall of the Hebrew kingdoms
The lack of communication with Judean educational centers
Intense prosecution and deliberate blotting out of the mind their true heritage and nationality.
Thus, Nahum Slouschz said this about the Islamized Judeans he met: “In most cases these Hebrews by race and Muslim man by faith seek to hide their origin, which has become a burden to them.”
In another example, the persecutions of the black Judeans in Portugal, was so ruthless and frequent that Cecil Roth tells us the Judeans did not divulge to their children the secret of their faith until they had attained the age of reason. The Hebrew faith is such that if you deny your faith, you will eventually deny your nationality. The sociologist and psychologist know, and history has proven that, if you deny your culture and nationality over a long period of time, you will totally forget it through a process of assimilation.
The black Judeans came to Africa not only by land but also by sea. As you recall, in the year 1484, king Joao the Second of Portugal deported great numbers of black Judeans to the African island of San Thome. The Island of San Thome, near Nigeria and Cameroon, was discovered by the Portuguese in 1471 and it was established as a penal colony; to this island, black Judeans were sent, who would refuse baptism. It is obvious that the black Judeans were deported to San Thome not only to mete out punishment to them, but king Joao’s ulterior motive was to establish a commercial base with sophisticated black Judeans in his growing empire in Africa. As time elapsed, the black Judeans in Portugal and the black Judeans in the Portuguese colonial possessions became known as “black Portuguese”.
They were called black Portuguese because they were born in Portugal, and they knew the history, culture and language of Portugal. As it has been mentioned before, king Joao the Second of Portugal, furnished ships in order to deport the Judeans to any country they desired; however, unscrupulous Portuguese captains exacted as much money as they could from the Judeans and dumped their human cargo at various places along the West African coasts. As a result, Allen Godbey writes that Winwoode Reade met the black Judeans in Guinea, West Africa, who called themselves Portuguese and claimed descent from Portugal; Reade wrote his book in 1864. In another case, Daniel P. Mannix writes us that Captain Cutler, a slave trader from Boston, was “barbarously murdered […] with two of his sailors, by a community of black Portuguese established near the mouth of Sierra Leone River.”
The Portuguese were the first Europeans to trade on the West African coast and to establish colonies on a large scale:
The Canary Islands were discovered by the Portuguese in 1341,
ceded to Spain by Papal Bull in 1344:
Senegal was discovered by the Portuguese in the fifteenth century;
and the first settlements are believed to be black Portuguese;
The Gambia River was discovered by the Portuguese in the fifteenth century;
Sierra Leone first visited by the Portuguese in 1462;
Guinea, discovered by Portuguese in 1464;
The Island of San Thome, discovered by the Portuguese in 1471,
the new inhabitants were black Judeans, deported here in 1484;
black Judeans migrated to the Angola coast from San Thome between the years 1484–1499;
the white Portuguese missionaries reached Angola by 1560;
but white settlers did not establish a community until 1575.
Let us return to the Judeans of the island of San Thome. Scholars uncertain concerning the exact number of Judeans deported to this island; it is certain that the number lies in the thousands perhaps even ten thousands. Continuous. research is needed in African Hebrew history, especially in the excavation of ruined Hebrew cities of Africa.
It is my sincere belief that a greater number of black Judeans were deported to the Western coast of Africa, than is admitted by some writers. By edict of king Manoel of Portugal in 1496 (banishing the Judeans from Portugal), all Judeans were to be out of Portugal by October, of the year of 1497. However, considering this matter, he decided to Christianize the Judeans, fearing the loss of a valuable population. He wanted to continued use of their knowledge and services. He concluded that the only way the Judeans could be tolerated in his country was to force them into Christianity.
In March 1497, a command was proclaimed throughout Portugal for all Hebrew children between four and fourteen years of age to be brought for baptism. All parents who did not bring their children voluntarily had their children violently ceased from them by the Portuguese officials and forced into baptism.
Cecil Roth writes: “Scenes of indescribable horror were witnessed as they torn away by royal bailiffs. The latter did not obey their instructions too closely, frequently seizing young people of both sexes up to the age of twenty. In many cases, parents smothered their offspring in their farewell embrace. In others, they threw them into wells in order to save the, from the disgrace of the apostasy and dragged to the churches and forcibly baptized by over-zealous fanatics.”
Horrendous conditions like these (and much worse_ compelled many Judeans to escape secretly out of the country. These black Judeans went to Portuguese colonial possessions in Western Africa. Remember that the Portuguese colonies in Western Africa were Guinea, the Island of San Thome Senegal and Angola and a few other islands near the African coast (Cabo Verdia for example). During the persecutions in Portugal, thousands of Judeans left the country. The Judeans were leaving the country in such large numbers that in 1499 and 1531 the kings published a decree forbidding the New Christians (black Judeans) from leaving Portugal without permits.
At this time many Judeans became Christian out of fear; many of them were known as secret Judeans, practicing Judaism in secret under the guise of Christianity. Some writers call these Judeans “nominal Christians”, Judeans who are Christians in name only, but practiced Judaism in secret.
In spite of all the prejudices against the black Judeans of Portugal. they excelled in all trades, skills, professions and businesses. The wealth if the Judeans was tremendous. Portugal is only a small nation about the size of the State of Florida; nevertheless, in the year 1610 the Judeans alone were worth 80.000.000 Ducates. The Judeans would engage in commerce and dominated the Portuguese market and export trade; so, naturally the black Judeans would engage in commerce and trade in many parts of Africa, after they had fled from Africa.
Now let us return to the Judeans of Noth-Africa. With influx of tens of thousands of Judeans from Spain and Portugal, seeking refuge in African ports, Marocco received a great share. But before this date, many Judean tribes were entrenched in Fez, the Atlas and the desert. In Marocco there was a revival of Moorish and Judean science in all areas. The Hebrew academy in Fez competed with the one in Kairuan, Algeria. There were many debates and lectures between the sages and scholars of these schools. Eldad, the Danite, a Hebrew from the Judean kingdom of Ghana visited these schools in the ninth century.
There was a celebrated Hebrew college at Sijilmasa, in the desert, south of Fez. The school of Sijilmasa produced many illustrious scholars. There were grammarians, masters of, Tablet law, poets and philosophies. This period of Judean scholarship came to an end, when the fanatical Almohades (“Unitarians”) went on the war path in 1145 and destroyed the city of Sijilmasa; this reign of terror was carried out against all non-Muslims. Concerning the destruction of Sijilmasa, Ibn Ezra writes: “I say, let there be mourning for the community of Sijilmasa, City of Great Scholars and Sages; she sees her light covered with shadows, the pillars of the tablets destroyed, and the Mishnah was trodden under the foot.”
The Jews intermarried among the Greeks when the latter established their colony in Libya called Cyrenaica; some intermarriages occurred between Jews, Romans, and Vandals when the latter two invaded North Africa; and before the Jews were expelled from Spain and Portugal there were some intermarriages. Considering all this intermingling, many Jews of North Africa still retain much of their colored features. According to Maurice Fishburg (who was quoted by Allen Godbey) lie "was unable to distinguish a Jew from a Mohammedan while passing along the streets of Algiers, Constantine (a city of northern Africa), and Tunis. It is remarkable that among the non-Jewish natives there are seen many Jews of Negroid type. Fishburg visited Africa during the early part of the twentieth century. There are black Jews living in the multitude of oases in the Sahara Desert. Nahum Slousthz, the white Jewish rabbi, visited these Jews of North Africa and the Sahara during the turn of this century. Slouschz obtained his information of these Jews from three sources:
from the historical records of the Arabs,
from the oral traditions of the inhabitants of the Sahara,
from archeological evidence excavated from the ruins of old Judean cities in the Sahara and Sudan, which date from the thirteenth century. About halfway down the eastern border of Algeria, there are large settlements of black Jews at a place called Wargla, says Slouschz. Jews were at Wargla as early as 620 a.d. according to Godbey. Again Godbey says
"In the Wargla oasis of Algeria, 350 miles from the Mediterranean, is a colony of Jews 'as black as Negroes.' " In the Gharian section of Libya, not too far from Wargla, there exists the troglodyte Jews. It is reported that the Jews (led to the strongholds of the Nefoussa mountain range because of Roman and Arab persecution. Godbey quotes II. S. Cowpcr who says that the Jews of the city of Tripoli assert that they migrated from Gharian. These Jews constructed
subterranean synagogues and underground houses. Slouschz visited the strongholds of these troglodyte Judeans in the early part of this century. The Judeans had built compartments three and four stories underground, containing a population of thirty thousand. Godbey says that:
"Hesse-Wartegg visited their cities of Beni-Abbas, Jebel Nefussa, Yehud Abbas. Tigrena, Jebel Iffren." They had shops, stores, schools, and synagogues, all underground.
The achievements of these Judeans prove what a persecuted society can do under adverse conditions. These Judeans had a foundation to build on, unlike other persecuted people; they had their history, culture, laws, language, and skills.
Between Wargla and the Gharian, there is a Judean town called Tigrena. Here, the Judeans have also constructed subterranean compartments.
Nahum Slouschz. says he was guided to an ancient synagogue which was located underground; at this time he made an extensive observation of the village which contained twenty underground courts and its 700 inhabitants; also, he found there a young man teaching Hebrew."
When Slouschz was in this city about one hour, the men had just returned from the market: Slouschz says they are "all of a fine, dark type." The rabbi was descended from Judeans who had immigrated from Morocco. The rabbi, at this time, informed Slouschz of the fact that there existed in the district many traces of deserted Jewish cities and cemeteries now abandoned. The Jews of this country have handed down the oral tradition that in ancient times they constituted the majority of the population but that epidemics, wars and frequent conversions to Islamism have reduced their number."
On one occasion Slouschz met a Judean itinerant merchant of Nefoussa who had just arrived from Fezzan; this Jew had traveled all the routes of the Sahara; he assured Slouschz that other Judean existed at least in the east Sudan (Chad, Sudan, and Ethiopia), "A black-skinned population which some call the Felici, and which are generally known among the Tauregs as the Krit.
They observe the Sabbath and are known to be of Judean origin.
Many of the tribes in the Sahara and in the Sudan arc Muslims in religion but are Hebrew in nationality. Nahum Slousclu says: "Numbers of these Islamized Judeans may be found everywhere."
They are among the Nomads of Algeria, the Smul, the Hanansha, the Traras, the Masmata, the Majercin, the Kabyles, the Tuat; you will find them among the Ureshfana, the Ghariani, the Brami in Tripoli; you will find them in southern Morocco among the powerful clans of the Daggatuns, who control the routes to the Sudan and southward.
They are non-Judean by religion but aware of their Hebrew origin. They are friendly to the Judean merchants. Frequently the Judean is the only communication between these tribes and the outside world.
The Daggatun Judeans are scattered in clans through many caravan route oases of the Sahara and the Sudan. Godbey says the word Daggatun means traders; they are located near Timbuktu and hundreds of miles northward; they are also found east of Timbuktu and Gao. The two main factors that motivated the black Judeans to pe*****te into North Africa were commerce and persecution; also, these two factors impelled them to migrate into central Africa which is known as Sudan.
