Papel people
Papels, also known as Moium, Oium, Papei, Pepel or Pelels,[1] are an ethnic group primarily located in Guinea-Bissau, though are also found in Casamance (Senegal) and Guinea.
According to oral history, a man named Mecau, the son of a king from the Kingdom of Quinara on the south of the river Geba, arrived at Bissau on one of his hunting trips.
From Quinara he brought his pregnant sister Punguenhum and his six wives: Intende, Djokom, Mala, Intsoma, Kliker and Intchipolo.
The presence of U5b1b in the Papel population represented a possible genetic link to the Saami of Scandinavia and North African Berbers, suggested to be due to post-glacial expansion.
André Álvares de Almada singled out Bissau as a safe haven for the Portuguese and routinely used it as a refuge for ships under attack from other Europeans.
[4]: 57 Soon after, Bacompol Co wrote to King Peter II of Portugal informing him of his conversion and requesting from the Portuguese more weapons, missionaries, footstools, a bed, a sun hat and a gown.
[4]: 311 The year 1696 was marked by King Bacompol Co's death, and with it the good relations between the Portuguese Empire and Kingdom of Bissau.
The Portuguese refrained from outwardly siding with either camp, though both Jose Pinheiro and bishop of Cape Verde Fr Victoriano Portuense favoured Toro Co since he had converted to Christianity.
[4]: 314 Incinha Te with his troops requested the crown from the king of Guinala, who acquiesced, and he found another noble to perform the coronation for him.
[4]: 315 Relations were also sour between Jose Pinheiro and the bishop, which culminated in November 1696, when escaped slaves from the fort fled into Balanta territory under the pursuit of four Portuguese and several indigenous soldiers.
[4]: 315 The bishop went to Balanta territory to ransom the soldiers, and on his return an assassination was attempted, speculated to be authorised by both Pinheiro and Incinha Te.
[4]: 316 In December 1696 the already fragile relations between the Portuguese and Papel came to a boiling point when Pinheiro turned away two English ships from the port of Bissau.
[4]: 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.
[4]: 318 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.
[4]: 320 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.
[4]: 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.
[2]: 47, 57 The peace treaty did little in the way of subduing the Papels, and skirmishes and revolts would still be common place between the Portuguese and the Kingdom of Bissau for centuries to come.
[2]: 48 April 1844 saw the arrival of general governor Francisco de Paula Bastos and several high-ranking officials from Cape Verde.
[2]: 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.
It was positioned there for 12 days, where it continued a series of successful bombardments of the coastal villages and liberated the Portuguese trading post.
[2]: 48 A new governor, Pedro Ignácio de Gouveia, was installed on 17 December 1881, with the main aim of subduing the populations of Guinea-Bissau.
On 5 May 1884, the secretary general José Joaquim de Almeida was given the task of subduing the Papels of Biombo and Manjacos of Caió.
The Portuguese were not strong enough to defeat the Papel forces, nor able to bring any of the vassal states or Kingdom of Bissau into "effective occupation".
[2]: 58 The 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.
[2]: 55 However, with no real success up to this point, Pinto marched on Bandim and Intim on 5 June with a large collection of artillery, and with a force of 1500 soldiers consisting of Fula's and other indigenous conscripts.
[2]: 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 they could do little and were defeated at Bandim.
[2]: 55 Pinto was injured during the battle of Jaal in Safim on 12 June, during an ambush when Papels hiding on higher ground fired on the marching troops.
[2]: 60 Teixeira was replaced with Lieutenant Henrique de Sousa Guerra, who took command of the operations against the Papels in Quisset and Prabis.
As a sign of their defeat Teixeira had military posts constructed in the areas of Bor, Safim, Bijimita, and Biombo.
For example, after a burial ceremony honouring "Toka Chur", held from a few months to several years after the actual funeral, has social prestige.
