Lançados facts for kids

The lançados (which means "the thrown out ones" or "the cast out ones") were Portuguese settlers and adventurers. They lived in places like Senegambia, Cabo Verde, Guinea, and Sierra Leone along the coast of West Africa. Many of them were Jews or New Christians (Jews who were forced to convert to Christianity). They were escaping unfair treatment from the Portuguese Inquisition.

These lançados often married African women from local important families. This helped them get protection and make good trading connections. They set up secret trading networks for things like weapons, spices, and enslaved people. This secret market made the Portuguese Crown (the government of Portugal) angry because it stopped them from collecting taxes.

Even though there weren't many lançados, their mixed-race children became very important. These children helped Europeans and native Africans communicate and trade. They had a lot of power in the early port cities like Bissau and Cacheu.

History of the Lançados

How the Lançados Started

By 1460, Portuguese explorers had traveled along the West African coast. They knew places like Cabo Verde, Sierra Leone, and Elmina (in modern-day Ghana). The Portuguese king wanted to control all trade, especially the trade of enslaved people, so he named official traders.

In 1479, Portugal and Castile (part of Spain) signed the Treaty of Alcáçovas. This treaty ended a war and stopped Castile from challenging Portugal's control over the slave trade. Portugal then grew its trade and settlements in West Africa without much opposition.

During this time, many Portuguese people went to West Africa. Some were merchants who willingly "threw themselves" (lançavam) into contact with Africans for trade. They often avoided paying taxes to the Portuguese king. However, most lançados were forced to leave Portugal or left on their own. This included Jews and New Christians escaping the Portuguese Inquisition. Others were called degredados, who were people exiled as punishment. A few lançados were not Portuguese, but from Spain, Greece, or India.

Life and Culture of the Lançados

Lançados lived and traded in coastal areas. They often lived alone or in small groups, with the permission and protection of local Africans. Over time, some lançado settlements grew large. They even built their own ships and hired Africans called grumetes [pt] to be soldiers.

The lançados were active in river valleys like the Senegal, Gambia, and Casamance. They also lived in regions like Cacheu and Geba River in today's Guinea-Bissau, and in the Port Loko area of Sierra Leone. Some lived as far southwest as Elmina. Their biggest settlements might have been at Buba and Rio Grande de Buba in Guinea-Bissau.

Most male lançados did not bring Portuguese women with them. Instead, they married or had families with African women. This led to children who were part Portuguese and part African. Some lançados lived with African people for so long that they became part of the local cultures.

Because of this long contact, the Portuguese language (or a language similar to it) became widely spoken in West Africa. It was almost as common as the local Mande languages.

The lançados formed a new group with a mixed culture. They spoke Portuguese, wore European clothes, and lived in Portuguese-style houses. But they also adopted African customs like tattooing and scarification. Their beliefs were a mix of Catholicism, West African Vodun, and ancestor worship. This strong mix of languages and family ties created a unique Luso-African culture that still exists today.

Growth and Decline of the Lançados

The number of lançados grew quickly in the early 1500s. This was partly because Portuguese kings Manuel I and João III treated Jews unfairly. The lançados helped French, English, and Dutch traders along the West African coast. To fight this, the Kingdom of Portugal built strong trading posts called feitorias.

During the time when Portugal was united with Spain (late 1500s to early 1600s), lançados began trading with inland groups like the Susu and Mandé peoples. For about 200 years, lançados and their descendants controlled trade in the inland areas of Guinea.

Over time, fewer white Portuguese people moved to Africa. So, the mixed-race descendants of the lançados became more numerous than Europeans. By the late 1600s, these mixed-race people, called mestiços, became important leaders in the Afro-Portuguese community. They were more numerous than both white and black people. They also controlled trade with the Biafada people and the Port Loko region.

The importance of the lançados began to fade in the 1700s. This happened when the Portuguese king took direct control of the coastal areas and started making deals directly with local African rulers.

Notable Lançados

• Bibiana Vaz (born around 1630, died after 1694)
• Ganagoga (meaning "The Man who Speaks all the Languages" in the Biafada language). His real name was João Ferreira. He was a lançado who was a New Christian. In the 1500s, he married the daughter of a Fula king in Fuuta Tooro and had a child with her. Because he spoke many languages, he was very important among the Fula leaders and was close to the head of the Casão family on the Gambia River.

See also

In Spanish: Lançados para niños

• African Portuguese
• Assimilados
• Degredados
• Luso-Africans
• Lusotropicalism
• Mestiço
• Órfãs do Rei
• Pluricontinentalism
• Prazeros
• Retornados
• Signares