Cape Verde / Ribeira Grande

Jews of Cabo Verde

“Richer in money than in virtue”

The Portuguese-speaking island off the African coast is called Cabo Verde (Green Cape) in Portuguese and Cape Verde in English.

Cape Verde Jewish Heritage Research Project has a Facebook group.

The Moroccan Jews of Cabo Verde – Preservation of Memory. A talk by Carol Castiel.

The information below all comes from Tobias Green’s PhD thesis. Using documents from a variety of sources he has managed to rebuild a forgotten episode in Sephardi history. His research is fascinating as it provides evidence of links between different locations that tend not to be highlighted in more general histories. Of particular interest to me is that people are travelling between Spanish and Portuguese territory. Several of the names look interesting with respect to my own research.

Much of the trade was contraband. In the mid-16th Century Cabo Verde had a near monopoly on the Trans-Atlantic slave trade. The cloth brought from Goa in India was sometimes used to buy the slaves. By 1574 there was an established route from Cabo Verde to Cartagena in Spanish South America, Joao Ferreria – known locally as Ganagoga – married the daughter of the Fulani king of Futa Toro and had a child with her. Green argues that in the 16th Century the New Christians identfied themselves as “others” rather than “whites”.

Name	Dates Active	Birthplace	Other Locales of Activity	Residence in Caboverdean Space	Period
Fernam de Loronha	c. 1504-1507	?	Brazil, Mina, Slave Rivers (Benin/Nigeria)	Transient	1497-1550
Antonio Rodrigues Mascarenhas	c. 1510-1516	?	?	None/Transient	1497-1550
Duarte Gonçales	c. 1527-34?	Canary Islands	Canary Islands	Ribeira Grande	1497-1550
Diogo and João da Fonseca	c. 1518-42	?	None	Brava	1497-1550
Pero Moniz	c. 1533-45?	?	Coimbra	Ribeira Grande	1497-1550
Duarte de Leão	1540s	Mogadouro	Lisbon, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Santo Domingo		1497-1550
Diogo Barassa	c. 1540-60	Fronteira	?	Fogo, Santiago	1550-1600
João Ferreira (Ganagoga)	1560-80?	Crato	?	Futa Toro	1550-1600
Luis de Carvajal	1548-63	Mogadouro	Seville, Mexico. Santo Domingo	Ribeira Grande	1550-1600
Francisco Jorge	1548-63	Mogadouro	Salamanca, Mexico	Buguendo	1550-1600
Mestre Dioguo	c. 1550-62	?	?	Fogo, Buguendo	1550-1600
Antonio Henriques	c. 1550-65 ?	?	?	Fogo, Buguendo	1550-1600
Fernão Sanches	1580s/90s	?	?	Maio	1550-1600
Francisco Lopes	1580s/90s	?	?	Boa Vista	1550-1600
Manuel Nunes	1597	?	?	Ribeira Grande	1550-1600
Jorge Fernandes Gramaxo	1595-1600	Algarve	Amsterdam, Cartagena, Lisbon, Seville	Ribeira Grande	1550-1600
Jeronimo Rodrigues Freire/ Jacob Peregrino	1610-c.25	Tancos	Amsterdam, Venice	Portudal	1600-1640
Manoel Peregrino	1612-35	?	Amsterdam	Portudal	1600-1640
Pero RodriguesVeiga	1610-20 ?	Antwerp	Bahía, Rotterdam	Portudal	1600-1640
Simão Rodrigues d’Évora	1607-15 ?	Antwerp	Amsterdam, Lisbon	Portudal	1600-1640
Baltasar Lopes de Setuval	1610-15 ?	?	?	Cacheu	1600-1640
Jeronimo Rodrigues Solis	1617	?	Angola	Ribeira Grande	1600-1640
Francisco da Cunha Sequeira	1617-20	?	?	Ribeira Grande	1600-1640
Antonio Rodrigues Lamego	1623	?	Cartagena, Rouen	Cacheu	1600-1640
Manoel Henriques	1630-50?	?	Cartagena, Panamá	Ribeira Grande	1640-1672
Adão Dias de Solis	1635-50	Lisbon?	Antwerp, Cartagena, Guatemala, Seville	Cacheu, Ribeira Grande	1640-1672
Manoel Rodrigues Salgado	1635-60?	?	Cartagena	Cacheu, Geba	1640-1672
João Rodrigues Duarte	1635-60?	Montemor-o-Novo	Cartagena, Lima	Cacheu	1640-1672
Vicente Rodrigues Duarte	1635-60?	Montemor-o-Novo	?	Cacheu	1640-1672
Manoel de Mattos	1633-61?	?	Lima	Geba, Ribeira Grande	1640-1672
João Rodrigues Freire	1629-64?	?	Pernambuco, Portugal	Ribeira Grande	1640-1672

Source: Tobias Green, Centre of West African Studies, University of Birmingham. MASTERS OF DIFFERENCE: Creolization and the Jewish Presence in Cabo Verde, 1497-1672, Tables 1-4.