Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Illustrations
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- 1 Two Sephardic Communities on Senegal's Petite Côte
- 2 Jewish Identity in Senegambia
- 3 Religious Interaction
- 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
- Conclusion
- Appendix I The Jewish Traders of Porto d'Ale and Joal, Their Relatives, and Some of Their New Christian Partners in Senegambia and in 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)
- Bibliography
- Index
Conclusion
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 03 May 2011
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Illustrations
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- 1 Two Sephardic Communities on Senegal's Petite Côte
- 2 Jewish Identity in Senegambia
- 3 Religious Interaction
- 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
- Conclusion
- Appendix I The Jewish Traders of Porto d'Ale and Joal, Their Relatives, and Some of Their New Christian Partners in Senegambia and in 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)
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
Visiting the coast of Sierra Leone in early 1667, the Frenchman Nicolas Villault engaged a local grumete or, as the Frenchman called him, a More [Maure] to carry him by boat along the Atlantic shore. Their small vessel was caught in rough seas, and the two men were in danger of drowning. The boatman, however, managed to bring them safely through the perilous passage. As they reached shore, and as soon as he had brought the raft out of the waves and onto the beach, this local More paused and offered a prayer. Villault writes:
Un jour allant à terre dans le Canos d'un More, en abordant, je l'entendis marmotter et comme j'oüis distinctement ces mots, Abraham, Isaac et Jacob, je l'interrogeay sur ce qu'il disait, il me répondit qu'il remerciait sa Fetiche de l'avoir preservé en Mer, et que tous les Mores en faisaient le mesme.
In a previous paragraph the Frenchman describes the religion of Sierra Leone as diverse; some Africans had been converted by the Portuguese (to what religion he does not say, but the reader may presume Catholicism), and the remainder were “Mahometan ou Idolâtre.” He makes a general observation that the inhabitants “worshiped certain extravagant figures they name ‘Fetiches’.”
However, he does not directly comment on the fact that the three patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are associated not with Islam, or even specifically with the Catholic faith of most grumetes. Rather, he leaves it to his reader to make the association to Judaism.
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- The Forgotten DiasporaJewish Communities in West Africa and the Making of the Atlantic World, pp. 199 - 210Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2011