By April 7, 2008 Read More →

North Africa

 

  1. Overview
    1. Overview- North Africa
  2. Secondary sources
    1. Israel, Jonathan. “The Jews of Spanish Oran and Their Expulsion in 1669.” Mediterranean Historical Review 9, no. 2 (1994)- 235-255. Abstract- Discusses the Jewish population driven from Spanish Oran and Mers el-Kébir in North Africa by the territorial governor, the marqués de los Veléz, in 1669. Los Veléz maintained that the expulsion of the closely-knit, Spanish-speaking Jewish community of 466 men, women, and children would strengthen the Spanish and Christian position on the Barbary Coast. Despite expulsion of Jews from Spain itself, the Spanish crown welcomed the Jews in Oran as a link between Christian Spaniards and Muslims of North Africa. Fluent in Spanish as well as Arabic, Jews served as interpreters, intelligence gatherers, moneylenders, merchants, and slave traders. Spain’s mounting fear of Jewish sympathies toward Turkish conquests and the messianic Shabbatian frenzy served as catalysts for the expulsion orders. The Jewish community sailed for Villa France de Niza, a port belonging to the duke of Savoy, on 16 April 1669.
    2. Valensi, Lucette. “Multicultural Visions- The Cultural Tapestry of the Jews of North Africa,” Cultures of the Jews (2002), 887-931.
  3. Images
    1. Abudarham, Fez, 1516, SHF 1729-3, Fol. 137v.

Posted in: Early Modern Period

Comments are closed.