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

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