One of the most tragic episodes in the history of the African Jewish Community has arrived in two small islands on 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 Spaniards expelled the Jews who did not convert to Catholicism three years earlier, many of them fled to Portugal. King Manuel of Portugal heavily taxed the Jews to finance his national colonies. The king wanted to colonize the small islands of Sao Tome and Principe, but did not want to risk too much Portuguese to do so. To punish the Jews who would not pay the tax, King Manuel expelled nearly 2,000 children from two to ten years in these islands. Only 600 were still alive a year later.
Some of the surviving Jewish children retained some semblance of their parents’ religion. In the early 1600s, the local bishop indicated with disgust that there were still Jewish observances on the island and returned to Portugal because of his frustration. Jewish religious observances declined in the 18th century, but in the 19th and 20th centuries some Jewish traders came to the islands and founded a new, small community. Today there is no known Jew in the Islands, but the descendants of the children, who are distinguished by the skin which is slightly lighter than that of their fellow citizens, bear witness to their ancestors.