History of the Jews in West Africa

Sahelian Jews historically known as Jews of the Bilad al-Sudan (Judeo-Arabic: אַהַל יַהוּדּ בִּלַדּ אַל סוּדָּן, romanized: ʾahal yahūd bilad al-sūdān) describes West African Jewish communities connected to known Jewish communities who migrated to West Africa as merchants for trading opportunities.

In later years, Jews who were expelled from Spain and from Portugal, as well as Moroccan Jews, migrated to communities off the coast of Senegal and on the islands of Cape Verde. These Jewish communities continued to exist for hundreds of years but eventually disappeared as a result of changing social conditions, persecution, migration, and assimilation. Today only a few thousand retain the identity.

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