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Sao Tome and Principe
One of the most tragic episodes in the
history of African Jewry occurred on two small
islands off the west coast of Africa called Sao
Tome and Principe. The islands were not yet under
Portuguese influence in 1496 when Portugal
expelled its Jews in accordance with the Spanish
Inquisition. When the Spanish had expelled the
Jews who would not convert to Catholicism three
years earlier many of them had fled to Portugal.
King Manuel of Portugal had placed a huge head
tax on the Jews there in order to finance his
nation’s colonies. The king wished to
colonize the small islands of Sao Tome and
Principe but did not wish to risk too many
Portuguese to do so. To punish the Jews who would
not pay the head tax, King Manuel deported almost
2,000 of two to ten year old children to the
islands. Only 600 were alive a year later.
Some of the surviving Jewish children
retained some semblance of their parents’
religion. In the early 1600s the local bishop
noted with disgust that there were still Jewish
observances on the island and returned to
Portugal because of his frustration with them.
Observances had declined by the 18th
century, but in the 19th
and 20th centuries some
Jewish traders arrived on the islands and seeded
a new, small community. Today there are no known
practicing Jews on the Islands but the
descendants of the children, who distinguish
themselves by skin that is slightly lighter than
that of their neighbors, have expressed interest
in learning more about the customs of their
ancestors.
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