XIVᵉ siècle – XVIIIᵉ siècle
Southern Rivers, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, and Sierra Leone
Traduction non disponible · Original (anglais) · français indisponible
The Afro-Portuguese community emerged along the Southern Rivers and Atlantic islands from Portuguese expatriates, African auxiliaries, and descendants of unions between Portuguese settlers and African women. Known initially through the lançados, its members combined Portuguese language and European dress with African customs and religious practices. They acted as commercial intermediaries between European ships and African societies, becoming influential merchant families in Guinea-Bissau and Sierra Leone. Their defense of unrestricted trade brought them into conflict with chartered companies.
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Le récit
From the fifteenth century onward, Portuguese expatriates populated the Southern Rivers and Atlantic islands, especially Cape Verde. These merchant adventurers and trading-company agents were known as lançados. Most were Portuguese, although the group also included some Greeks, Spaniards, and Indians; they recruited African auxiliaries called grumetes and traveled through the Senegal, Gambia, Casamance, and Guinea river valleys.
Many lançados settled in the Cacheu and Geba sectors of what is now Guinea-Bissau. Living in villages close to African communities, they took African wives or mistresses and laid the foundations of an Afro-Portuguese society. During the seventeenth century, migration from Portugal slowed, and mestizos came to outnumber people of wholly Portuguese origin. The community increasingly derived its social and cultural character from these mixed families.
The group combined Portuguese speech, European clothing, and whitewashed houses with African tattooing and ethnic markings. Its religious life also blended Catholic devotion to Christian saints with ancestor worship. Economically, members acted as a comprador class: they supplied European ships, traded seasonally in connection with African agriculture, and sometimes accumulated enough wealth to operate independently of European vessels.
Powerful merchant families emerged, including the Bibiana Vaz family in the Cacheu sector during the seventeenth century. In Sierra Leone, José Lopez de Moura became the richest man in the first half of the eighteenth century and participated in regional political life. Conflict with the Royal African Company culminated in a revolt led by Lopez de Moura, whose followers destroyed the company’s factory in Sierra Leone, preventing it from resuming operations there.
XIVᵉ siècle – XVIIIᵉ siècle
Southern Rivers, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, and Sierra Leone
Traduction non disponible · Original (anglais) · français indisponible
The Afro-Portuguese community emerged along the Southern Rivers and Atlantic islands from Portuguese expatriates, African auxiliaries, and descendants of unions between Portuguese settlers and African women. Known initially through the lançados, its members combined Portuguese language and European dress with African customs and religious practices. They acted as commercial intermediaries between European ships and African societies, becoming influential merchant families in Guinea-Bissau and Sierra Leone. Their defense of unrestricted trade brought them into conflict with chartered companies.
Poursuivre l’exploration
Le récit
From the fifteenth century onward, Portuguese expatriates populated the Southern Rivers and Atlantic islands, especially Cape Verde. These merchant adventurers and trading-company agents were known as lançados. Most were Portuguese, although the group also included some Greeks, Spaniards, and Indians; they recruited African auxiliaries called grumetes and traveled through the Senegal, Gambia, Casamance, and Guinea river valleys.
Many lançados settled in the Cacheu and Geba sectors of what is now Guinea-Bissau. Living in villages close to African communities, they took African wives or mistresses and laid the foundations of an Afro-Portuguese society. During the seventeenth century, migration from Portugal slowed, and mestizos came to outnumber people of wholly Portuguese origin. The community increasingly derived its social and cultural character from these mixed families.
The group combined Portuguese speech, European clothing, and whitewashed houses with African tattooing and ethnic markings. Its religious life also blended Catholic devotion to Christian saints with ancestor worship. Economically, members acted as a comprador class: they supplied European ships, traded seasonally in connection with African agriculture, and sometimes accumulated enough wealth to operate independently of European vessels.
Powerful merchant families emerged, including the Bibiana Vaz family in the Cacheu sector during the seventeenth century. In Sierra Leone, José Lopez de Moura became the richest man in the first half of the eighteenth century and participated in regional political life. Conflict with the Royal African Company culminated in a revolt led by Lopez de Moura, whose followers destroyed the company’s factory in Sierra Leone, preventing it from resuming operations there.