Tikvah
Editors’ Pick

November 14, 2018

Preserving the Remnants of Jewish Life off the Coast of West Africa

The Jewish graveyards of Cape Verde.

The island nation of Cape Verde, an archipelago some 300 miles off the coast of Senegal, was first settled by Portuguese colonists in the 15th century, and only gained independence in 1975. In the 19th century, Sephardi Jews whose ancestors had fled persecution in Spain and Portugal four centuries earlier began to migrate there. Now all that remains of the Jewish community are graves, which a group of American Jews and Cape Verdeans is trying to preserve. Rosanne Skirble writes:

SaveGift