Papel People

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. Its population in Guinea Bissau is 183,000, with 9,000 living outside of the country. They traditionally engaged in hunting and agriculture.

History

Origins

Oral history on their origins is as follows, the son of a king from the Kingdom of Quinara on the south of the river Geba called Mecau, arrived at Bissau on one of his hunting trips. Finding Bissau to hold good fertile soil and habitation he opted to reside there establishing a kingdom. From his homeland Quinara he brought his sister Punguenhum who was already with child, and his six wives Intende, Djokom, Mala, Intsoma, Kliker and Intchipolo. Mecau invited other subjects from his fathers kingdom to settle the area of Bissau alongside him. From his sister and six wives seven main Papel clans arose.

* The first clan called N'nssassun (plural, bossassun) from the line of Punguenhum. This line inherited commandership roles in the form of kings and nobles (In Kriol, Jagras). Seeing themselves brave they are represented by the Jaguar ( Totem). Surnames tend to be 'Le' and have traditionally lived in the Bissau region.
* The N'nsso (plural, Bosso) clan from the line of Mala traditionally lived in the Bandim region of Bissau. Due to their historical speciality and dedication to agriculture they represented themselves as the Frog, being in the water like Frogs during agricultural practices and their surnames tend to be 'Co'.
* The N'ndjukomo (plural, Bodjukumo) clan from the line of Intsoma traditionally lived in the Alto Crim region of Bissau. The second most important clan behind the Bossassun. This clan saw themselves as fearless warriors and represented themselves as the Hyena, as they had no fear in battle and attacked their enemies like the Hyena. Surnames tend to be 'Ca'.
* The N'nsafinte (plural, Bosafinte) clan from the line of Djokom traditionally lived in the Safim region of Biombo, those of the clan seeing themselves as cunning and so were represented by the hare, and tend to hold the surname 'Te'.
* The N'niga (plural, Boiga) clan from the line of Kliker traditionally lived in the Calequir region of Bissau, and they represented themselves as the Goat due to the speed and swiftness of their feet, and tend to hold the surname 'Sa'.
* The N'nssuzu (plural, Bossuzu) clan from the line of Intende traditionally lived in the Mindara region of Bissau, and were represented by the Timba (Aardvark) and usually hold the surname 'Dju'.
* The N'nttat (plural, Bottat) from the line of Intchipolo traditionally lived in the Bissalanca region of Bissau, and were represented by the Monkey because their main occupation was to climb trains and extract palm wine. Their surnames tend to be 'Indi'.
These are the historical clans of the Papel.

In the Kingdom of Bissau and the vassal states that belonged to the Papel in the Biombo, the line of succession was matrilineal in which the son of the sovereigns maternal sister was next in line for kingship, or to the nearest male relative in the Kings maternal grandparents line (Page 313). Such matrilineal customs was seen in the taking of clan names, as one would inherit their mothers name but in later times the fathers name could and would be taken.

DNA studies

Genetical studies have been done on the population of Guinea Bissau, the area being an interest due to its ethnic diversity. The paternal lineage of the Papels were suggested to be incredibly distinct within the Guinean population, E1-M33 was discovered in high frequencies amongst the Papels. L3e2b was more exclusively found in the Papel, this haplogroup resembles haplogroups found in East and Central Africa. These findings conclude that in the Papel history there was a migration from East Africa, and the conservation of this lineage is due to the short amount of time the Papels have been in Guinea Bissau, further suggesting that Papels have not been in Guinea Bissau for as long as previously believed.

An interesting finding was the presence of U5b1b in the Papel population that represented a genetic link to the Saami of Scandinavia and North African Berbers, this was suggested to be due to post-glacial expansion. This U5b1b lineage suggests expansion coming over the strait of Gibraltar, and developing into a local West African cluster.

European Contact

1600-1700 AD

The earliest contact between the Papel and European is dated to as early as the late 16th century, André Álvares de Almada singled out Bissau as a safe haven for the Portuguese, routinely being as a refuge for ships under attack from other Europeans, the King of Bissau was said to be a 'best friend' of the Portuguese, sources are not clear but it is suggested his name was King Equendé (p. 304). This suggestion comes from the event in which Barreira encountered a King in Bissau in the year 1605 (p. 304). The relationship as mentioned was pleasant with King Equendé ruling in 1663, relations were so friendly Lemos Coelho encouraged a movement of persons from Cacheu to Bissau due to the excellent treatment of Lançados in the Kingdom of Bissau (p. 304). Another example of these friendly relations were seen in the year 1680, when Papel forces aided in the Portuguese liberation of the Cacheu Fort (p. 305).

Friendly relations carried on until the reign of King Bacompol Co (1687-1696) who was reigning in 1687(p. 314). Evidenced by the exchanging of gifts between Fr. Francisco de Pinhel and the king, friendly relations were to carry on for another six to seven years (p. 306). The aware of the benefits of trade allowed all Europeans ships into his ports, an example was the French in which negotiations between the French official De la Courbe, and the king ending in the refusal of the construction of a French fort, construction of a trading factory was permitted, and south of the Gambia the kingdom became the French trading centre (p. 307). Between 1685 and 1688 the French trading factory exported around 2,800 slaves from the area (p. 307, 308). The main exports traded between the kingdom and the Europeans were slaves, wax, and ivory (p. 310). The trade was characteristic of a tax that all traders had to pay to the King of Bissau, all traders were subject to this tax whether they were Portuguese, French, American or English (p. 57).

Customary of the time missionaries were at work in the kingdom and tended to be mixed in with trade. 1683 to 1686 three Catholic missionaries oversaw a church in the kingdom in an attempt to Christianise the Papel population, due to conflicting interests and overlap between missionary work and trading this put them at odds with the Portuguese who in later years constituted the majority of the missionaries in Bissau (p. 309). Moreover, the relations between different Europeans and the Papel can be simplified with the labelling system they used for different Europeans, referring to the Portuguese as brancos ('whites') and others as estrangeiros ('strangers') (p. 310). The two categories portrays a closer relationship with the Portuguese than any other European. Relations with 'estrangeiros' varied from European to European and the historical circumstances, as seen when a French frigate opened fire on the kingdom causing the Papel to hold a grudge against the French for a time after (p. 310). In contrast to the French, the Portuguese and Papel relations were becoming firmer and became solidified in April 1694 with the conversion of King Bacompol Co to Catholicism (p. 310). This conversion allowed for even closer relations between the Portuguese and Papels with the Portuguese request of a fort being accepted, and the king being willing to keep out other Europeans from his ports in favour of sole Portuguese trade (p. 310). The concession of the Portuguese fort was significant as earlier in 1687 the fort was attempted but overthrown by the King of Bissau's troops (p. 57). Moreover, to signify the importance of his conversion, King Bacompol Co was the first Christian king of the Kingdom of Bissau. To further exemplify the aforementioned relationship in April 1694 King Bacompol Co wrote to King Peter II of Portugal informing him of his conversion, he requested from the Portuguese more weapons, missionaries, footstools, a bed, a sun hat and a gown, and he gave eight of his sons to the Cape Verdean Bishop to be educated, of these eight, the eldest named Batonto was sent to Lisbon for his baptism where the King of Portugal was named his godfather, and he was given the new name of 'Manuel' (p. 310, 311).

In the year 1696 in consequence of the kings decision to allow the construction of the Fort of Bissau, Bissau was elevated to the status of captaincy, as prior the overseer of the trade was lieutenant-captain but even this seemed to be purely nominal with no weight behind it, the title was before given to the influential Afro-Portuguese trader Barnabé Lopez who was related to the ruling house of Bissau but it was just 'honorary' (p. 311). The title of captaincy and Portuguese authority was given to a Jose Pinheiro who at the time was also captain of Cacheu (p. 311).

1696 marked the year of King Bacompol Cos death and with it the good relations between the Portuguese Empire and Kingdom of Bissau (p. 312). The 5th of May, 1696 the kingdom was split between two hostile camps, the throne of Bissau was in dispute between two noblemen, Incinha Te and Toro Co (p. 312). Toro Co being related to Bacompol Co as his maternal brother while Incinha Te through a different maternal line, was by Papel standards of the rightful heir to the throne. The Portuguese refrained from outwardly siding with either camps though it was known that both Jose Pinheiro and bishop of Cape Verde Fr Victoriano Portuense favoured Toro Co as he was already Christian convert (p. 312). Religious reasons for Toro Co being favouring was not the sole reason, the ecclesiastics of Bissau believed Toro Co most likely to uphold the nine-point policies that the King Bacompol Co had previously agreed too (p. 312, 313):

# Fort to be built on the previously chosen site
# Treatment of Christian to be with love and courtesy
# King is to be a Christian and allow conversion freely
# Permission to remove Xina (Animist images) from Christian settlements
# Christians subject to Portuguese not local laws
# Segregation between Christians and non-Christians
# Non-Christians unable to inherit goods of Christians
# No commerce should be done with other Europeans and the King should defend the ports against them
# No Christian should be punished by local law, and only by Portuguese law

In the ascension to the throne a nobleman by the name of Antoma had the rights of crowning the king, he had already crowned Toro Co as king who placed his hand on the kingdoms insignia, and had the crown placed on his head, making at the time Toro Co the rightful King of Bissau (p. 313). However the issue was not solved at all, it seemed that the King of Guinala also had rights to the throne of Bissau, it was custom after two to three years of ruling for the King of Bissau to request a crown from the King of Guinala, however Bacompol Co ruled for nine years without doing so using the crown of his predecessors instead (p. 314). Incinha Te with his troops requested the crown from the King of Guinala who placed it on his head, and he found another noble to perform the coronation for him (p. 314). Marching to Bissau Incinha Te seized the port of Bissau boycotting trade with Toro Co, gaining support also from Barnabé Lopez and large amount of the Afro-Portuguese community, he was able to oust Toro Co as the king and make himself the sole ruler of Bissau (p. 314).

In contrast to Portuguese fears Incinha Te did support the nine-point policy to an extent, evidenced by his conversion to Christianity, and permitting the construction of a fort but issues arose, as seen when Incinha Te complained about the sacrilege of the Xina's by Jose Pinheiro to the King of Portugal (p. 315). The relationship unlike with Bacompol Co and the bishop of Cape Verde was sour between Incinha Te and the bishop, Incinha Te accused the bishop of enslaving his relatives who were sent to Lisbon years prior, and it did not help that the bishop supported Toro Co instead of him (p. 315). Relations were also sour between Jose Pinheiro and the bishop, and this was seen to climax in November 1696, where slaves had escaped from the fort fleeing into Balanta territory under the pursuit of four Portuguese and several indigenous soldiers, two soldiers died by drowning and the rest were captured by the Balanta (p. 315). The bishop went to Balanta territory to ransom these soldiers back and on his return an assassination was attempted, speculated to be authorised by both Jose Pinheiro and Incinha Te, in response the bishop had five Papels seized and sent to Geba with two of the Papels being related to the king (p. 315). In response Incinha Te had a church, priests living quarters, and another house within the fort burnt to the ground, and in this the rift between Pinheiro and Incinha Te grew larger, due to Pinheiro placing all the blame of the assassination attempt onto Incinha Te (p. 316).

In December 1696 the already fragile relations between the Portuguese and Papel came to a boiling point (p. 316). Jose Pinheiro turned away two English ships from the port of Bissau, and when word of this returned to the Incinha Te he dispatched his governor and three nobleman to confront Pinheiro. Pinheiro was asked "whether he thought he was Senhor de Terra (Lord of the Land), that he dared turn away shipping?" and in response he replied that he was doing the duty asked of him by the King of Portugal and Portuguese presence was a benefit to the Papels, the dignitaries left and returned to then repeat the same question in which Pinheiro was said to shout, they (Papels) would trade with the foreigners over his dead body (p. 316). The result of his exclamation was for King Incinha Te to sentence Pinheiro to death. Inside the unfinished fort Pinheiro was besieged by Papel forces, cut off from food and water, leaving Pinheiro and his forces at the mercy of the Papels (p. 316). However, rapid assistance from Cacheu and Geba was forthcoming in the form of Captain Santos de Vidigal Castanho with a force of more than 400 troops (p. 317). No battle was to occur with a peaceful settlement being negotiated between Castanho's and Incinha Te's nobles under the condition that Pinheiro be removed as captain (p. 317). Four days later Pinheiro repeated his earlier actions but this time he fired upon a Dutch ship coming into port, leading Pinheiro to be once again besieged by this time Incinha Te and a troop of 400 Papels, Incinha Te warned Pinheiro if he carried on the walls of the fort would be pulled down and the occupants beheaded, Pinheiro motivated to resist the Papels was convinced otherwise by the priests, but on the 5th of February Pinheiro was captured by Incinha Te, imprisoned, and executed (p. 317).

Rodrigo de Fonseca the successor captain to Pinheiro improved relations with the Papels. He was unable to stop Incinha Te's demand for free trade with the Papels telling the Portuguese that the land was theirs and not the Portuguese's, the Portuguese at this moment not being in any shape to resist relinquished their demands, but Fonseca was able to persuade Incinha Te to make ships anchor out of range of the forts guns (p. 318). As can be seen trade was the centre of Portuguese and Papel differences, the Portuguese wanted a monopoly on the trade while the Papel wanted free trade with all the nations. This point is further exemplified by these words Incinha Te said to the Portuguese King and Captain of Cape Verde in May 1698:

"On the subject of the foreigners whom the captain-majors do not wish to allow to do business in this country, Your Majesty should know that I am a poor king, and that my country requires foreign goods, such as iron, alcohol and swords. Your Majesty's Company which is here does not sell me alcohol or iron, nor does it have sufficient goods for my country.. .nor are the goods of the same quality as those brought by foreigners. Your Majesty should be well aware that the price paid by the foreigners for my slaves suits me better than that of the Company." (p. 318, 319).

Moreover, the Portuguese found more issues regarding trade with the Papels. Fonseca reported in April 1699 that an Afro-Portuguese trader called Maria Soares returned from Sierra Leone to Bissau with a cargo full of Kola, when asked to pay duties to the Portuguese she protested these duties to Incinha Te who intervened for her (p. 320). Again, this type of incident is not a solitary one, once again Fonseca complained that two Dutch ships avoided paying 10% duties to the Portuguese, through the Dutch's recourse with the king who informed everyone that he was Lord of the Land and he could do what he pleased, and anyone would trade without fear (p. 320). These examples go to show that the Portuguese control was not strong nor enforced, a letter to the Portuguese King from his advisor in 1670 from Cacheu summarised the situation:

"Your Majesty carries the title Senhor da Guiné, though having out of all that coast only a small parcel of land; and what is worse, Your Majesty conserves that at the cost of your reputation,... because you pay a tribute or feu-duty to the Negro king." (p. 321).

The construction of forts were seen as a way to counter the issue of sovereignty in the area, and even when permission was granted by the Kings of Bissau it was never made easy. The Papels refused to provide the Portuguese with any labour or raw material to aid in the construction of their forts, and at times even water would be withheld from the Portuguese, an idea is that these forts were seen to be encroaching on Papel land but the granting of them in name allowed commerce to still continue (p. 323). John Barbot an agent of the French Royal African Company commented on the situation between the Portuguese and Papel in 1686:

"for the Blacks in general are not pleased with this grant made to the Portuguese, which excludes all other Europeans from trading with their nation; and it is likely things will not continue so long, those Blacks being great sticklers for liberty" (p. 323).

To the Portuguese the abandoning of the Fort made the most sense in light of all these issues, only further accentuated by the sporadic rebellions to their presence by the Papels, and at this time Mandinka in Farim (p. 47).

1700-1800 AD

In 1701 the Fort of Bissau was abandoned for the Fort of Cacheu (p. 323). At the time the French like previously attempted to negotiate with Incinha Te to allow the construction of a French fort in the area, mirroring the previous response the French were denied (p. 47). The mid 18th century saw the return of the Portuguese to Bissau, in an attempt to carry on with the construction of their former fort, these plans were protested by the Papel who took the Portuguese to war leading to several violent confrontations, in which sources say the Papel suffered around 500 casualties leading to a Portuguese victory (p. 47). A peace treaty was signed between King Palan Co and the Portuguese in 1753, which also included permission for the Portuguese to finish the construction of their fort, reinstating the Portuguese captaincy of Bissau using Cape Verdean soldiers to fortify their position (p. 47, 57). It must be noted, the peace treaty did little in the way of subduing the Papels, skirmishes and revolts would still be common place between the Portuguese and the Kingdom of Bissau for centuries to come (p. 48).

1800-1900 AD

April of 1844 saw the arrival of general governor Francisco de Paula Bastos and several high ranking officials from Cape Verde, it was on their arrival that the situation in Bissau reached another breaking point (p. 47). On the 11th of September the King of Intim, a king from a vassal state to the King of Bissau entered the house of the Dziezaski a high ranking official demanding a glass of brandy, trivial as it may seem, it was customary that he would adhere to this request but Dziezaski ignored him, and instead expelled the king from the trading post, in the altercation a single Papel was killed by Portuguese soldiers (p. 47). The retaliation to this was brutal, inside the fortress the Papels rampaged slicing the throat of a sick European sailor, injuring his nurse, sacking several of the trading houses for their contents, and then going on to attack the house of Joao Marques de Barros who with the aid of machine gun fire forced the Papels to retreat (p. 48.). The retreat did not go far with the Papels setting up ambushes outside the fortress walls, and resuming hostilities with the Portuguese (p. 48). The Portuguese lacking sufficient supplies of ammunition, gunpowder, and soldiers were forced to request foreign assistance from the British in Gambia and French in Goreia (p. 48). French assistance arrived on the 4th of October in the form of a corvette ship stationed on the coast of Bissau, positioned there for 12 days continued a series of successful bombardments of the coastal villages, liberating the Portuguese trading post (p. 48). After the French departure on the 16th of October, British forces arrived playing a smaller part than the French but making their presence known in Bissau, a US ship was also ported at Bissau under the command of a T.W. Freelon (p. 48). In the face of Portuguese, English, and French forces the Papels carried on with their hostilities up until the 19th of December, 1844 when a peace treaty between the Portuguese and Papels were signed, the peace treaty was in essence a ceasefire on the Portuguese part, who during the time of peace reorganised and requested more military units from Cape Verde, who on arrival with the use of a surprise attack reignited the war with the Papels (p. 48). This would be characteristic of Bissau due to the Papels being an aggressive and combative people, but also due to Bissau being an important commercial centre that the Portuguese wanted full control of, this is also seen in the fact that out of all the regions of Guinea Bissau, Bissau held most Portuguese soldiers stationed (p. 48, 49)

The new governor Pedro Ignácio de Gouveia was installed on the 17th of December, 1881 with the main aim of subduing the populations of Guinea Bissau, these aims were called the "Pacification Campaigns" which saw a push to subdue and force the payment of taxes from all the population in 1882 (p. 50). Two years after the start of the campaign in 1884 it reached the areas inhabited by the Papels. On the 5th of May, 1884 the secretary general José Joaquim de Almeida was given the task of subduing the Papels of Biombo and Manjacos of Caió (p. 50). In Biombo this campaign did not start of well with naval battles taking place on the river Geba between the Portuguese and Papels, who were able to effectively use their war canoes to intercept and harass Portuguese schooners (p. 50). Later on the war started to favour the Portuguese, on the 7th of May due to the refusal of one of the Chiefs of Silho a village in Biombo to comply, Silho was machine gunned and bombed by Portuguese forces, defiantly the chief persisted in his refusal resulting in the landing of 30 naval soldiers under four officers, the village was partially destroyed with the Portuguese only receiving three casualties in the assault, and is considered the first Portuguese victory in Biombo in the 19th century (p. 50).

In 1884-1885 the Berlin conference sought to partition the territories of Africa between the European powers of the time. The conference motivated the Portuguese to put more effort into subduing the population of Guinea Bissau, due to the conference requiring a colony to be 'effectively occupied' to be seen as legitimate. At this time even with the pacification campaigns underway the Portuguese were not strong enough to defeat the Papel forces, who out of all the areas of Guinea Bissau seemed to be the most difficult to bring under submission, as seen with the fact from the beginning of the campaigns the Portuguese had still not defeated the Papels nor brought any of the vassal states or Kingdom of Bissau into 'effective occupation' (p. 53).

The Papel territory of Bissau saw itself in a constant state of intense warfare particularly from 1884-1915 because of Portuguese and Papel forces (p. 53) (p. 4). An example of these wars was on the 14th of February, 1891 when the Portuguese called a meeting to adjust the current peace treaty between them, Antula, Intim and for them to submit to Portuguese authority of which only chiefs of Antula agreed too (p. 58). This situation caused war to break out with the other Papel vassal states attacking the Portuguese fortress eight days later, and killing the soldiers guarding the bastions though the Portuguese defended themselves effectively until reinforcements arrived (p. 58). This attack plunged the region into a state of hostilities with the Portuguese declaration of war on the next day, banning the sales of guns and gunpowder to the natives, and increasing gunboat patrols of the local waters (p. 58). On the 24th of February 120 Portuguese troops accompanied by five officers marched into Papel territory, the troops were crushed by the Papels and forced to retreat (p. 58). On the 9th of March that year the Portuguese once again were defeated by the Papels, and in the month of May during the Portuguese attempt under Minister Antonio Eanes to extend the wall of one of their fortresses, the Papels opened fire on them handing the Portuguese another defeat, this lead to Papel warriors replacing their necklaces usually decorated with beads with the teeth of their fallen enemies (p. 59). The relationship between the Papels and Portuguese were so sour that the Papels would watch the fortress continuously, waiting for people to leave, this occurred when a Cape Verdean left the fortress and was set upon by Papels and killed, they were reported to then of gathered at the top of Intim celebrating the killing with war dances and making preparations for war (p. 59). This is what they got, the Portuguese on the 1st of December declared war on the Papels once again for the murder, they bombarded Bissau with artillery pieces and would regularly enter gunfights with the Papels, this attack did not result in a Papel full out attack which confused the Portuguese into a belief of victory (p. 59). The Papel lack of response was due to their mobilisation of other ethnicities into the war such as the Balanta, the Papel had planned a sneak attack on the 7th of December but even though it came as a surprise, the Portuguese were able to escape defeat due to the increased security they prepared around the fortress (p. 59).

1900-2000 AD

The Portuguese suffered major defeats from the Papels during their pacification campaign in the years 1891, 1894, and 1904 (p. 9). After the Republican take over and reformation of Portugal in 1910 changes to the colonial approach in Guinea Bissau were implemented, such changes were necessary due to the situation in the colony which is summarised in the writings of Portuguese military officer Teixeira Pinto:

"… notwithstanding the heroic battles of some Portuguese, after setbacks and cruel massacres to our prestige, our ortuguesecolony of Guiné had returned to being a simple occupation of fortresses, which were threatened by the consequences of a new revolt more complete or more violent." (p. 5).

Teixeira Pinto was the military officer entrusted by the Republican government to finally subdue the Papels in the year of 1915, and on May of 1915 Teixeira ordered the Papel to surrender their weapons and pay their taxes in the form of a letter to King N'Kanande Ka of Bissau, who rejected the demandd, refuting the demand with the claim that "The ground belongs to them and will forever belong to the Papel people" (p. 54). Teixeira was made furious with this response and on the 13th of May declared war on the Kingdom of Bissau. Hostilities began on the 29th of May where observing a shuttle of boats from a river bank Papel forces began unleashing gunfire on to Portuguese troops, in response Portuguese troops set machine gun fire on them (p. 55). Teixeira gave the orders to continuously bombard the territory of Antula (p. 55). 31st of May saw an attack by the Papel on Portuguese troops transporting artillery near a Portuguese town who in turn returned gunfire (p. 55). The day after this attack on the Portuguese forces near their own town, the Portuguese responded with the use of machine gunning on Papel villages (p. 55). The war continued with this back and forth style of warfare, at one point in a show of resistance the Papel forces proactively advanced on Portuguese troops and their auxiliaries, the Papels descended upon them from the heights of Intim by the thousands (p. 55). However with no real success up to this point Teixeira still motivated to subdue the Papels marched onto Bandim and Intim on the 5th of June with a large collection of artillery, and with a force of 1500 soldiers consisting of Fula's and other indigenous conscripts, this was to cover Abdul Injai who was marching on Antula (p. 55). The Papels tried to defend their position through the use of continuous gunfire, but in the face of skilled soldiers armed with machine guns could do little and were defeated at Bandim (p. 55). In these operations against the Papel Teixeira Pinto was injured during the battle of Jaal in Safim on the 12th of June, during an ambush where Papels hiding on higher ground fired on the marching troops, and it was believed that a Papel soldier called N'djilonde Ca was the one who shot Teixeira off of his horse (p. 60). Teixeira was then replaced with Lieutenant Henrique de Sousa Guerra who took command of the operations against the Papels in Quisset and Prabis (p. 55). Antula was conquered due an event in which the majority Papel soldiers of Antula went to a peace talk between their chiefs and the Portuguese governor, here they got drunk and on the way back to Antula they were attacked by the Portuguese and defeated, the Papel response to this was to sack villages and loot the stores the week after (p. 59). Once the objective of subduing the Papels were accompolished in these areas of Bissau the Portuguese marched on to Quinhamel in the area of Biombo, it was in this region on the 20th of July, 1915 that King N'Kanande Ka incorporated a false surrender, firing upon the column of Portuguese forces and signalling the Papel forces to make a final attack (p. 55). The final attack was a failure and N'Kanande was captured by the Portuguese, in a final act of defiance N'Kanande said these words while in his captivity to the Military Officers Teixeira Pinto:

"He would never surrender because he hated the whites, and if he was to die and in another world find whites, he would declare war against them" (p. 55, 56).

In the face of this defiance King N'Kanande Ka was sentenced to death by Teixeira Pinto, he was tied up, eyes were gouged out, and buried alive while his pregnant wife was shot in the stomach (p. 56). The death of King N'Kanande Ka ended the revolts and resistance of the Papels against the Portuguese, and solidified their subsequent submission to Portuguese authority and tax, as a sign of their defeat Teixeira had military posts constructed in the areas of Bor, Safim, Bijimita, and Biombo (p. 56). The wars against the Papel were the some of the most bloodiest wars in the whole campaign, as Abdul Injai an important warlord whose assistance was instrumental in the conquest of Guinea Bissau, and especially the Papels mentioned, that the wars against the Papels were "the bloodiest and cruellest of all the wars he fought in." (p. 9).

Demography

The Papel people live traditionally around the city of Bissau, in the Biombo Region. They are linguistically and culturally close to mankagnes and Manjack or Manjacas. They are traditionally farmers. So, they have one of the most suitable land for rice cultivation. Like the Manjacks, their names are Portuguese because of the Portuguese occupation of the country from the late 15th century until 1973. Surnames characteristic of this ethnic group are: Pereira, Lopes, Vieira, Correia, Monteiro, Ca, etc.

Their language is the Papel, which is one of the Niger–Congo languages. The estimated number of speakers was 136,000 in Guinea Bissau in 2006.

Religion

Most Papel are Christians, usually Catholic, but also Animists. Ancestor worship is an important part of this culture, like in most of the African nations. For example, after a burial ceremony honoring "Toka Chur", held from a few months to several years after the actual funeral, has social prestige.Maria Clara Saraiva: Rituais Funerários entre os Papéis da Guiné-Bissau (Parte II) in: Soronda No.8
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Notable people

* Abel Camará
* Alejandro Balde
* Ahmad Mendes Moreira
* Bruno Martins Indi
* Carlos Mendes Gomes
* Danilo Pereira
* Eder
* Edinho
* Zé Gomes
* Madger Gomes
* Mama Baldé
* Manuel Baldé
* Mamadi Camará
* Henri Saivet
* Joseph Mendes
* Jorge Reixa
* Panutche Camará
* Tito Júnior
* Romario Vieira
* Ronaldo Vieira
* Victor Correia
* Welket Bungué
* Whoopi Goldberg, comedian, actress, talk show host. Results of a DNA test, revealed in the 2006 PBS documentary '' African American Lives'', traced part of her ancestry to the Papel and Jola (Bayote) people of modern-day Guinea-Bissau. Her admixture test indicates that she is of 92 percent sub-Saharan African origin and of 8 percent European origin.
* Marcelino da Mata, Portuguese Army Lieutenant Colonel who served in the Portuguese Colonial War in his native Guinea-Bissau
* Zezinho
* Zé Turbo

References

# "Papel (peuple d'Afrique)". data.bnf.fr. Retrieved 2020-05-15.
# "Les Pepels (ou Papels)". www.guinee-bissau.net (in French). Retrieved October 20, 2012.
# "World Directory of Minorities and Indigenous Peoples - Guinea-Bissau". Minority Rights Group International. 2007. Retrieved 2020-05-15 – via Refworld.
# Maria Clara Saraiva: Rituais Funerários entre os Papéis da Guiné-Bissau (Parte II) in: Soronda No.8
# Lei, Hsien Hsien (February 10, 2007). "Whoopi Goldberg's DNA Hails from W. Africa". Genetics and Health. Archived from the original on May 13, 2008. Retrieved May 17, 2008.
# "Presos 400 militantes do MRPP" 00 MRPP militants arreseted CMJornal.pt (in Portuguese). 22 May 2005. Archived from the original on 2018-01-21. Retrieved 23 March 2021.
# Bowman, J., 1986. Abdul Njai: Ally and Enemy of the Portuguese in Guinea-Bissau, 1895–1919. The Journal of African History, nline27(3), pp.463-479. Available at: ccessed 6 September 2022
# C
# Hawthorne, W. and Lingna Nafafé, J., 2016. The historical roots of multicultural unity along the Upper Guinea Coast and in Guinea-Bissau. Social Dynamics, nline42(1), pp.31-45. Available at: ccessed 6 September 2022
# Nanque, N., 2016. Revoltas e resistências dos Papéis da Guiné-Bissau contra o Colonialismo Português - 1886-1915. nlineRepositorio.unilab.edu.br. Available at: ccessed 6 September 2022
Rodney, A. W. (1966). ''A History of the Upper Guinea Coast. 1545-1800'' octoral thesis, University of London/ref>

Further reading

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Ethnic groups in Guinea-Bissau
Ethnic groups in Guinea
Ethnic groups in Senegal