Cacheu | |
|---|---|
 Fortress of Cacheu | |
  Cacheu Location in Guinea-Bissau | |
| Coordinates: 12°16′14″N16°09′57″W / 12.27056°N 16.16583°W | |
| Country |  Guinea-Bissau |
| Region | Cacheu Region |
| Captaincy founded and fort built | 1588 |
| Incorporated (town) | 1605 |
| Elevation | 44 m (144 ft) |
| Population (2009 census) | |
• Total | 9,882 |
Cacheu is a town in northwestern Guinea-Bissau lying on the Cacheu River, capital of the eponymous region. Its population was estimated to be 9,849 as of 2008 [update] . [1]
The town of Cacheu is situated in territory of the Papel people. The name is of Bainuk origin: Caticheu, meaning 'the place where we rest'. [2]
Cacheu was one of the earliest European colonial settlements in sub-saharan Africa, due to its strategic location on the Cacheu river. Cacheu developed a European/Afro-European population from the late sixteenth century through informal settlement of Cape Verdian and Portuguese traders, adventurers and outcasts ( lançados ). The authorities in mainland Portugal also sent to Cacheu degredados - people condemned to exile for a variety of offences. [3]
In 1567 the English slaver John Hawkins raided the settlement. [4] Due to such threats and a period of social conflict with their hosts the Papels, in 1589 the traders sought and received permission from the king of Cacheu to build a fort. They then abandoned the town and moved en masse into the new stockade in 1591 in an attempt to avoid the control of the local government. [5] The Papels unsuccessfully stormed the fort before an agreement was reached allowing cohabitation. [6] The fort did not have a secure water supply, however, and the locals used their control over water to pressure the Portuguese into trade concessions. [7]
In 1598 a resident priest was appointed, and in 1605 the settlement was offered a municipal charter by the Portuguese crown. [8] [9] At this time the settlement had around 1500 inhabitants, of whom 500 were white. [10] A new fort, which still stands today, was built of stone in the 1640s. [9]
Cacheu was an important slave trading point for the Portuguese in the Upper Guinea region, where the crown endeavoured to ensure that duties on all slaves exported were paid. It was also a center of boat-building, with most of the artisans being African. [11] The lancados, Papels, and other European traders all regularly violated this supposed monopoly. [12] To bolster these attempts, in 1676 the Portuguese launched the Company of Cacheu and Rivers and Commerce of Guinea, the first of several that tried and failed to control the trade of slaves from Cacheu to the New World. [9] In 1684 a prominent lancado trader, Bibiana Vaz, even captured the captain-major and imprisoned him at Farim for 14 months. [13] When representative of the Company arrived the 'Republic of Cacheu' refused to let them land, demanding control over trade and direct communication with the king. A triumvirate, which included Bibiana's brother, ruled the town "in the name of the people", meaning the Afro-Portuguese traders for several months before the company regained control. [14]
The condition of the garrison deteriorated progressively from the latter part of the 17th century up through the 19th. In 1878, a reinforced Portuguese force successfully attacked Cacanda in retaliation for the earlier assassination of the captain-major of Cacheu, the first of a series of 'pacification campaigns' that would culminate in the final conquest of the region in 1914. As Portuguese Guinea expanded and solidified, however, towns such as Bolama, Bissau and Canchungo became administrative centers at the expense of Cacheu. [15]
Roads in the town are paved with oil palm kernels. Notable buildings in Cacheu include the Portuguese-built 16th century fort, dating from the period when Cacheu was a centre for the slave trade. For more history, one can also visit the Cacheu Memorial of Slavery & Black Traffic memorial museum (Memorial da Escravatura e Tráfico Negreiro de Cacheu). [16] Other attractions in the town include the Cacheu River Mangroves Natural Park and a regular market. The market serves the surrounding areas which export coconuts, palm oil and rice. [17]
Cacheu is twinned with:
Guinea-Bissau, officially the Republic of Guinea-Bissau, is a country in West Africa that covers 36,125 square kilometres (13,948 sq mi) with an estimated population of 2,026,778. It borders Senegal to its north and Guinea to its southeast.
The region now known as Guinea-Bissau, in West Africa, has been inhabited by humans for thousands of years. During the 13th century CE, it was a province of the Mali Empire which later became independent as the empire of Kaabu. The Portuguese Empire claimed the region during the 1450s, but its control was limited to several forts along the coast during most of this period; it gained control of the mainland after a series of "pacification campaigns" from 1912 to 1915, which used military forces to violently crush local resistance. The offshore Bijagos Islands were not colonized until 1936. Guinea-Bissau gained independence from Portugal in 1974. The introduction of multi-party politics in 1991 led to the first multi-party elections in 1994. A civil war broke out in 1998, which lasted until the following year.
Bissau is the capital and largest city of Guinea-Bissau. As of 2015, it had a population of 492,004. Bissau is located on the Geba River estuary, off the Atlantic Ocean, and is Guinea-Bissau's largest city, major port, its administrative and military center.
Portuguese Guinea, called the Overseas Province of Guinea from 1951 until 1972 and then State of Guinea from 1972 until 1974, was a Portuguese overseas province in West Africa from 1588 until 10 September 1974, when it gained independence as Guinea-Bissau.
Farim is a town of northern Guinea-Bissau. It sits on the north bank of the Farim/Cacheu River, about 215 km up the river from Cacheu. Population 8,661.
The lançados were settlers and colonizers of Portuguese origin in Senegambia, Cabo Verde, Guinea, Sierra Leone, and other areas on the coast of West Africa. Many were Jews—often New Christians—escaping persecution from the Portuguese Inquisition.
Honório Pereira Barreto was a governor of the Portuguese province of Guinea.
Religion in Guinea-Bissau is diverse, with no particular religion comprising an absolute majority of the population. Islam is the most widely professed faith, and significant populations of Christians and adherents of traditional African religions are also present in the country.
The kingdom of Kasa, also known as Kasanga, was the dominant kingdom in lower Casamance during the 15th and 16th centuries. Many of the inhabitants of the realm were Bainuk or other native ethnicities, but it was ruled by a Mandinkized elite. The capital was at Brikama, on the south bank of the Casamance River.
São Domingos is both a Sector and a city in the Cacheu Region of Guinea-Bissau. The sector contains the main border checkpoint to Senegal between Jegue, Mpack on the Senegalese.
Vaz is a Portuguese language surname.
Cape Verde was a colony of the Portuguese Empire from the initial settlement of the Cape Verde Islands in 1462 until the independence of Cape Verde in 1975.
Papels, also known as Moium, Oium, Papei, Pepel or Pelels, are an ethnic group primarily located in Guinea-Bissau, though are also found in Casamance (Senegal) and Guinea. Their population in Guinea-Bissau is about 183,000, with 9,000 living outside of the country. They traditionally engaged in hunting and agriculture.
Bissau-Guinean Americans are Americans of Bissau-Guinean descent. As was the case with almost all current West African coastal countries, the first people in the United States from present-day Guinea-Bissau were imported as slaves. Thus, in the 21st century, there are many African Americans who have discovered, through DNA analysis, they descend mainly or at least partly, from Bissau-Guinean enslaved people.
Bibiana Vaz de França was a prominent nhara slave-trader in Cacheu, Guinea-Bissau.
Bissau is a city in Guinea-Bissau, a country in West Africa, formerly part of the kingdom of Kaabu and part of the Mali Empire.
Crispina Peres was a "Senhora" slave trader, natural from Geba, nowadays Guinea-Bissau.
Guinea-Bissau–Turkey relations are the foreign relations between Guinea-Bissau and Turkey. Turkey has an embassy in Bissau. Guinea Bissau has an embassy in Ankara.
Guinala or Quinara was an important Biafada kingdom in pre-colonial Guinea-Bissau situated between the Geba and Rio Grande de Buba rivers. The main port town, also called Guinala, was located on a tributary of the Buba, with the capital Bruco a short distance inland.
Geba is a village in Guinea-Bissau, on the north bank of the eponymous Geba river.
12°16′N16°10′W / 12.267°N 16.167°W
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