Afi-ica
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Agai, Adolf Bamaritans sec the
ilala of
Heidenlieim in the " Vier-
tiljahrsschrift fUr I)iuls( he uiid EiiL'lisolic Thcologische Forschuiif; unil Krilik." iii. 354-3r)0 (lS(i7). iiud N. IJrUll iu " Jiihrl)(i(hir." vii. 4;S-4.j (1885). CazJs treats of Jewish uiitiquities in Tripoli in the " Kev. fet. Juives." 189(1. xx. 78-87. Thelist of town names in Jlorocco and Al.ijeria. given for halakic pnrpiisi's (•• Rev. importance.
i,t.
Juives," v. 249),
is
of geogniphical
In the Jliildle Ages only the northern part of Africa is of importance, fur general as well as for Jewish history; but the ailventnrer Kldad lia-Dani at-
tracted general attention in the
niiilli
century
l)y liis
romantic talis and thereliy aroused interest in the of Africa. Fleeing from the inassjicres in Spain in 1301 and seeking refuge
Jews of unknown regions in Africa, the
tion of the
Jews
ad(le<l
Barbary
materially to the pojiulaThe cities of Algiers,
slates.
Bougie, Constantine, Miliana, Oraii, Tenez. Tlemcen and others were settled by exiled Jews The and -Alaranos, and they became comBarbary munitiesof importance by virtneof the States. intelligenee peculiar to the Spaidsh Jews. Algiers sheltered such rabbinical authorities as Isaac ben Sheshet and Simeon ben Zemah Duran. A century later, at the time of the greatexpulsionof the Jewsfroni Si>aiuand Portugal. the same process was repeated, but on a greater scale and under much sadder condition.s. It was on the northern coast of Africa that the heartrending incidents took place which are described with such horrible vividness in "Shebet Yehudah" and other chronicles. Ilun.irer, pestilence, and the sword carried off the uidiappy refugees by huiulreds; those who escajied (h'atli were sold into slaveiy or were forced to renounce their faith. Since that time the descendants of these refugees have lived in the Barbary states, especially in Morocco, in cnntiiuial misery. Only in Egypt did the Jews retain a position of .some importance. In 1,517 Egypt came luider Turkish rule; and, as in the rest of Turkey, Jewish names came to the fore, mainly of Spanish scholars
and diplomats. Under the viceroy Ahmed Shaitan the Jews were greatly o]ipresse<l. but were saved in an almost miraculous nuuuier. In the sixteenth century David Keubeni told a wonderful tale of a Jewi.sh kingdom, by which he probably meant tliat of the Falashas. The Jews in the .Alaghreb were as eager to listen to fantastic IMessianie antheir brethren in other lands: they also loved to dwell in Jerusjilem. In 1.'521 an anonymous Italian pilgrim reported that all classesof Jews were to be fount! in Jerusalem, there being among them Jlostarbino. or Jloriscos, and Maghrebim from the Barbary states "Shibhe Yerushalaim." p. 21). Jews took a prominent part in the Portuguese conqtiests and discoveries in and around Africa. The Jews of Saffee and Arzilla also distinguished them.just
nouncements as
selves by their bravery (Kayserling."Theilnahnieder Juden au den Portugiesischen Entdeckungen " in "Jahrb. fi'ir die Gescii. drr Juden." iii.; also Kayserliug."Geschichte der Juden in Portugal," x. 157Ififi).
The number of Jews in Egypt greatly decreased modern times, but recent events have again attracted them to the lanil which first saw them emerge as a nation. The census of 1897 enuin
The
merated 25, 200, of whom fully one half were foreigners; the Favum only conPeriod, tained nine. There have been indeed remarkable fluctuations in the Jewish population of f^gypt. Jleshullam Volterra, about 14i)0.foun(l in Alexandria only sixty Jewish families (Luncz," Jerusalem Jahrbuch," 1881, i. 176). vet the
Modem
228
Jews
there rememliered the time when 4.1100 families had dwelt within the city. jMeshidlam found neither Samaritans uiir Karaites there. Jacob Safir("Eben Sappir," Lyck, IStiti) found no Jews in Upper Egypt or the Fayum. but ;}(),()(H) were reported to he in Syene (As.souan). South of Egypt, in Abyssinia, live the Falashas with a population variously estimated between 80.0110 and 200.000 souls. The Jewish population of ,Moro(<() is estimat(Ml at about IdO.OOO, according to Xossig ( iMaterialien zur Stutistik des Jlldischcn Stamnies," ]). 105.Viinna. 18S7).who bases his ti.srures ujion the statistical reports of the Alliance Israelite Universelh' in Paris and the data of Gerhard
Hohlfs. Benjamin (Jordon, however, ,i;i vest heir number as 2(»0,(Mio. The Jewish tax furnishes a protitalde source of revenue for the government. Here the Jews are subject to the most degrading laws, to opl>ression and insult by both government and people, and they have even been nuirdered with im|)unity. The Alliance in Paris and the An.irlo-Jewish As.sociatioii in London do their titmost to protect them, but. unfortunately, with little success. These institutions also maintain excellent .schools in all north Africa, as well as throughout the Orient. The Jews of Morocco and Algeria are of the true OrientalJewish type. Fairliairand blueeyesare never found among them. In Algeria, which has been under French rule since 18:io, there were, in IKiH. about .")0. 000 .Tews. Both in Algeria and Morocco the Jews alTect a ]ieculiar pronunciation of the Hebrew (.1. J. L. Barges. "Tleni(;en." Paris, 18.-)9). All travelers, both of earlier and later time, remark upon their peculiar ritual (see Zunz, " Hilus"). Tunis, which is a French imitectorate, contains about 45.000 Jews. Here the Italian and Sjiaiiisli Jews, though much fewer than the natives, jiossess great inlluence. even greater than those in Egypt or ^Morocco. In the vicinity of Zaghwan. in Testur and Beni Zit. the .lews live in the mountains as nomads. In Tripoli (including Fez/an and Barka). which is under Turki.sh rule, they niimberaboutti. 000. of whom li.OOO live in Tripoli proper. In the Sahara there are about 8.000 Jews, whose settlements reach as far as Timbuctoo. Mordecai Abu Sereiir, who traveled through Morocco, mentions a warlike tribe in the Sahara, the Daggatonus, who claim to be of .Tewisli origin (see his book, "Les Daggatouns, Tribu d'Origine .Juive Denieurant dans le Desert de Sahara." translated from Hebri'W into French by I. Loeb. Paris, 1881. English translation by Henry S. Moniis. Philadelphia,
According to t'lie "Yiil.iasin," 21*(, the of Ouargia were Karaites. Jews live also among the Kabyh'S (Benjamin Gordon. I.e. pp. 117, 119, 120). In South Africa Jews live in Cape Colony, Natal, and in the former Boer republics. They enjoy great prosperity, and liave formed congregations after the English model. Their number is probably about 20.000. In 1879 a report was circulited that French explorers had discovered Satikinga, an island near the coast of Africa, exclusively " 1881).
Jews
populated by Jews.
S.
K.
Loeb. in the article "Juifs " in "Dictionnaire Universel de Geogra)iliie" of Vivien Saint-Martin, p. 28 of the reprint, Palis, 18s4, givesthe following numbers for Jews in Africa; Eirvpt. 8,0(10; Abys.sinia (Falashas). 200.000; Tripoli, (i'o. 000; Tunis, .^5.000; Alseriaaiid Sahara. 43.500; Morocco, 100.000; Vayie Colony. 1,.500; total. 408.000. Of these, the estimate for the Falashas is probably double the reality, while the numbers at the Cape have been larselvincreasi'd
—probably
to 25.000.
'
"
AFRICANtrS, SEXTUS JULITJS. i.irs,
Sextis, Akkic.vnis.
J.
See Jf-
