Petit Côte

The Petite Côte runs south from the Cape Verd peninsula towards the Saloum delta. Its towns, including Rufisque, Portudal and Joal, were places of exchange between coastal societies, inland suppliers and ships from overseas. Portuguese merchants and their descendants settled along this shore, forming ties with local rulers and other European traders. By the early seventeenth century Jewish merchants of Portuguese origin had established communities at Joal and Portudal, part of a trading world that extended to the Cape Verde islands.