“Neither the Djola nor the Balanta took any active part in the slave trade. . . . . In Upper Guinea, the Djola and the Balanta were ‘savage cannibals’ because they did not tolerate Europeans. . . . the Balanta refus[ed]to trade with the Europeans. . . . The Balantas did not allow foreigners in their midst. . . . the Balantas, were so hostile that the belief was widespread among the Europeans on the coast that the Balantas killed all white men that they caught. . . .”
- Walter Rodney
The following are excerpts from Volume 3 of Balanta B’urassa, My Sons: Those Who Resist, Remain.
BALANTA BEFORE THE START OF THE SLAVE TRADE
By the time of the arrival of the Portuguese, the first Europeans to make contact with Balanta people, Balanta culture was firmly based in an the Great Belief which mitigated against social hierarchies, state formation, and the resultant inequality that such systems of organization produce. As historian Walter Rodney pointed out,
“It is only the Balantas who can be cited as lacking the institution of kingship. At any rate there seemed to have been little or no differentiation within Balanta society on the basis of who held property, authority and coercive power. Some sources affirmed that the Balantas had no kings, while an early sixteenth-century statement that the Balanta ‘kings’ were no different from their subjects must be taken as referring simply to the heads of the village and family settlements. . . .as in the case of the Balantas, the family is the sole effective social and political unit. . . .”
This is of crucial significance for understanding the spiritual and cultural reality that existed among the Balanta when the Portuguese first invaded their territory as well as for understanding their response to all the attempts to enslave them, beginning with the Nehken Confederation and the war against the Mesintu around 3100 BC and continuing through the resistance against the Mali Empire and the Kaabu Empire afterwards.
THE PORTUGUESE FIRST ATTACK IN GUINEA
It is stated in the Introduction to The Chronicle of the Discovery and Conquest of Guinea Volume II that,
“Here, by the capture of Ceuta (area north of Fez on the African side of the Straight of Gibraltar south of Spain, in 1415), Prince Henry gained a starting-point for his work; here he is said (probably with truth) to have gained his earliest knowledge of the interior of Africa; here especially he was brought in contact with those Sudan and Saharan caravans which, coming down to the Mediterranean coast, brought news, to those who sought it, of the Senegal and Niger, of the Negro kingdoms beyond the desert, and particularly of the Gold land of ‘Guinea.’ Here also, from a knowledge thus acquired, he was able to form a more correct judgment of the course needed for the rounding or circumnavigation of Africa, of the time, expense, and toil necessary for that task, and of the probable support or hindrance his mariners were to look for on their route. . . . Especially could they describe the kingdom of Guinea, centering around the town of Jenne on the Upper Niger, which was the chief market of their Negro trade in slaves, gold and ivory. This kingdom, then, reached almost to the Atlantic on the lower valley of the Senegal, where in earlier times a place called Ulil had been marked by Edrisis and other Arab geographers, as independent of Ghana but important for traffic. Also, the Moors were acquainted with the country of Tokrur, which may be supposed to occupy the upper valley of the Senegal, becoming perhaps in Prince Henty’s time, merely a province of Guinea.”
In 1433 Romanus pontifex, the first in a series of papal bulls issued during the fifteenth century that regulated Christian expansion, sanctioned the Infante’s [Prince Henry] request and Portugal’s alleged mission in Guinea since ‘we strive for those things that may destroy the errors and wickedness of the infidels’.
The Papal Bull Dum Diversas issued by Pope Nicholas V, June 18, 1452, stated,
“we grant to you full and free power, through the Apostolic authority by this edict, to invade, conquer, fight, subjugate the Saracens and pagans, and other infidels and other enemies of Christ, and wherever established their Kingdoms, Duchies, Royal Palaces, Principalities and other dominions, lands, places, estates, camps and any other possessions, mobile and immobile goods found in all these places and held in whatever name, and held and possessed by the same Saracens, Pagans, infidels, and the enemies of Christ, also realms, duchies, royal palaces, principalities and other dominions, lands, places, estates, camps, possessions of the king or prince or of the kings or princes, and to lead their persons in perpetual servitude, and to apply and appropriate realms, duchies, royal palaces, principalities and other dominions, possessions and goods of this kind to you and your use and your successors the Kings of Portugal.”
Gomes Eannes de Azurara, the royal chronicler of the King Don Affonso the Fifth of Portugal, gives the official purpose of the Portuguese invasion of the west coast of Africa. Among other things, he wrote,
“HERE beginneth the Chronicle in which are set down all the notable deeds that were achieved in the Conquest of Guinea, written by command of the most high and revered Prince and most virtuous Lord the Infant Don Henry, Duke of Viseu and Lord of Covilham, Ruler and Governor of the Chivalry of the Order of Jesus Christ. . . . many kinds of merchandise might be brought to this realm, which would find a ready market, and reasonably so, because no other people of these parts traded with them, nor yet people of any other that were known; and also the products of this realm might be taken there, which traffic would bring great profit to our countrymen. . . . to make increase in the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ and to bring to him all the souls that should be saved . . . . “
Here is Gomes Eannes de Azurara’s account of the Portuguese’s first arrival in the land of Guinea:
“Now these caravels having passed by the land of Sahara, as hath been said, came in sight of the two palm trees that Dinis Diaz had met with before, by which they understood that they were at the beginning of the land of the Negroes. . . . . Now the people of this green land are wholly black, and hence this is called the Land of the Negroes, or Land of Guinea. Wherefore also the men and women thereof are called ‘Guineas,’ as if one were to say ‘Black Men.’ . . . they let down their anchors on the seaward side, and the crew of the caravel of Vicene Diaz launched their boat, and into it jumped as many as eight men, and among them was that Esquire of Lagos called Stevam Affonso, of whom we have already spoken . . . .And as all the eight were going in the boat, one of them, looking out towards the mouth of the river, espied the door of a hut, and said to his companions: ‘I know not how the huts of this land are built, but judging by the fashion of those I have seen before, that should be a hut that I see before me, and I presume it belongs to fishing folk who have come to fish in this stream. And if you think well, it seemeth to me that we ought to go and land beyond that point, in such wise that we may not be discovered from the door of the hut; and let some land, and approach from behind those sandbanks, and if any natives are lying in the hut, it may be that they will take them before they are perceived.’ Now it appeared to the others that this was good advice, and so they began to put it into execution. And as soon as they reached the land, Stevam Affonso leapt out and five others with him, and they proceeded in the manner that the other had suggested. And while they were going thus concealed even until they neared the hut, they saw come out of it a negro boy, stark naked, with a spear in his hand. Him they seized at once, and coming up close to the hut, they lighted upon a girl, his sister, who was about eight years old. This boy the Infant afterwards caused to be taught to read and write, with all other knowledge that a Christian should have; . . . so that some said of this youth that the Infant had bidden train him for a priest with the purpose of sending him back to his native land, there to preach the faith of Jesus Christ. . . . and when they had captured those young prisoners and articles of plunder, they took them forthwith to their boat. ‘Well were it, said Stevam Affonso to the others, ‘if we were to go through this country near here, to see if we can find the father and mother of these children, for judging by their age and disposition, it cannot be that the parents would leave them and go far off.’ . . . .And then they all recognized that they were near what they sought. ‘Now,’ said he, ‘do you come behind and allow to go in front, because, if we all move forward in company, however softly we walk, we shall be discovered without fail, so that ere we come at him, whosoever he be, if alone, he must needs fly and put himself in safety; but if I go softly and crouching down, I shall be able to capture him by a sudden surprise without his perceiving me;
And they agreeing to this, Stevam Affonso began to move forward; and what with the careful guard that he kept in stepping quietly, and the intentness with which the Guinea labored at his work, he never perceived the approach of his enemy till the latter leapt upon him. And I say leapt, since Stevam Affonso was of small frame and slender, while the Guinea was of quite different build; and so he seized him lustily by the hair, so that when the Guinea raised himself erect, Stevam Affonso remained hanging in the air with his feet off the ground. The Guinea was a brave and powerful man, and he thought it a reproach that he should thus be subjected by so small a thing. Also he wondered within himself what this thing could be; but though he struggled very hard, he was never able to free himself, and so strongly had his enemy entwined himself in his hair, that the efforts of those two men could be compared to nothing else than a rash and fearless hound who has fixed on the some mighty bull. . . . But while those two were in their struggle, Affonso’s companions came upon them, and seized the Guinea by his arms and neck in order to bind him. And Stevam Affonso, thinking that he was now taken into custody and in the hands of the other, let go of his hair; whereupon, the Guinea, seeing that his head was free, shook off from his arms, them away on either side, and began to flee. And it was of little avail to the others to pursue him, for his agility gave him a great advantage over his pursuers in running, and in his course he took refuge in a wood full of thick undergrowth and while the others thought they had him, and sought to find him, he was already in his hut, with the intention of saving his children and taking his arms, which he had left with them. But all his former toil was nothing in comparison of the great grief which came upon him at the absence of his children whom he found gone – but as there yet remained for him a ray of hope, and he thought that perchance they were hidden somewhere, he began to look towards every side to see if he could catch any glimpse of them. And at this appeared Vicente Diaz, that trader who was the chief captain of that caravel to which the boat belonged wherein the others had come on land. And it appears that he, thinking that he was only coming out to walk along the shore, as he was wont to do in Lagos town, had not troubled to bring with him any arms you may well imagine, made for him with right good will.
An although Vicente Diaz saw him coming on with such fury, and understood that for his own defense it were well he had somewhat better arms, yet thinking that flight would not profit him, but rather do him harm in many ways, he awaited his enemy without shewing him any sign of fear. And the Guinea rushing boldly upon him, gave him forthwith a wound in the face with his assegai, with the which he cut open the whole of one of his jaws; in return for this the Guinea received another wound, though not so fell a one as that which he had just bestowed. And because their weapons were not sufficient for such a struggle, they threw them aside and wrestled; and so, for a short space they were rolling one over the other, each one striving for victory. And while this was proceeding, Vicente Diaz saw another Guinea one who was passing from youth to manhood; and he came to aid his countryman; and although the first Guinea was so strenuous and brave and inclined to fight with such good will as we have described, he could not have escaped being made prisoner if the second man had not come up; and for fear of him he now had to loose his hold of the first. And at this moment came up the other Portuguese, but the Guinea, being now once again free from his enemy’s hands, began to put himself in safety with his companion, like men accustomed to running, little fearing the enemy who attempted to pursue them. And at last our men turned back to their caravels, with the small booty they had already stored in their boats. . . . after that deed was thus concluded, it was the wish of all the three captains to endeavor to make an honorable booty, adventuring their bodies in whatsoever peril might be necessary; . . . .From there they began to make proof of the Guineas, in search of whom they had come there, but they found them so well prepared, that though they essayed to get on shore many a time, they always encountered such a bold defense that they dared not come to close quarters. . . . Then he returned to the ship and there described to Rodrigueannes and the others all that he had found. ‘We,’ said he, ‘should be acting with small judgment, were we wishful to adventure a conflict like this, for I discovered a village divided into two large parts full of habitations you know that the people of this land are not so easily captured as we desire, for they are very strong men, very wary and very well prepared in their combats. . . . ”
And thus started the war against the people of Guinea and the Balanta.
It should be noted, as Herman L. Bennett does in African Kings and Black Slaves: Sovereignty and Dispossession in the Early Modern Atlantic,
“As the Portuguese shifted their gaze southward under Henrique’s influence, their motive was commerce not conversion. Henrique wanted ‘to know the land’ so that ‘many kinds of merchandise might be brought to this realm, which would find a ready market.’ At this historic moment, however, commerce could not enter posterity as the sole motive behind a noble’s behavior. Thus, in listing five reasons why the Infante manifested an interest in ‘the land beyond,’ Zurara wrote that Henrique’s final reason represented a ‘great desire to make increase in the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ.’”
Christianity was used by the “Ruler and Governor of the Chivalric of the Order of Jesus Christ” as a pretext to justify the invasion and enslavement of the great Balanta people.
DESCRIPTION OF THE BALANTA PEOPLE
1506 Earliest account of the Balantas in written records, Valentim Fernandes, Descripcam, “There was very little stratification in Balanta society. Everyone worked in the fields, with no ruling class or families managing to exclude themselves from daily labor.”
1594 Andre Alvares Almada, Trato breve dos rios de Guine, trans. P.E.H. Hair - “The Creek of the Balantas penetrates inland at the furthest point of the land of the Buramos [Brame]. The Balantas are fairly savage blacks.”
1615, Manuel Alvares commented, “They [Balantas] have no principle king. Whoever has more power is king, and every quarter of a league there are many of this kind.” and “They are all great thieves, and they tunnel their way into pounds to steal the cattle. They excel at making assaults . . . taking everything they can find and capturing as many persons as possible.”
1627 Alonso de Sandoval wrote that “Balanta were ‘a cruel people, [a] race without a king.”
1684 Francisco de Lemos Coelho says that “much of the territory of the Balanta ‘has not been navigated, nor does it have kings of consideration.’”
Late seventeenth century, Capuchins noted that ‘Balanta and the Falup’ cause notable damages and seize every day the vessels that pass by . . . and this even though the vessels are well armed.’”
B’KINDEU & RANSOM: THE BALANTA STRATEGY TO RESIST THE CRIMINAL EUROPEAN SLAVE TRADE
In Upper Guinea and the Significance of the Origins of Africans Enslaved in the New World, Walter Rodney writes,
“Portuguese slave traders regarded the river Cacheu as a slaver's paradise, for within the narrow compass of that river basin, they encountered five peoples - Djola, Papel, Banhun, Casanga, and Balanta each of whom was divided into several political units. Neither the Djola nor the Balanta took any active part in the slave trade, but they were nevertheless to be found among slave cargoes because they were exposed to attacks and man stealing by their neighbors. The Bijago, who resided in the islands off the Cacheu and Geba estuaries, were particularly noted for their piratical activities, and steadily supplied the Portuguese with Djola, Papel, Balanta, Beafada and Nalu captives. Bijago hostilities were at their height at the turn of the seventeenth century, when the raids of their formidable war canoes forced the three Beafada rulers of Ria Grande de Buba to appeal to the king of Portugal and the Pope for protection, offering in turn to embrace Christianity. Long after this peak period, the inhabitants of the tiny Bijago islands were still supplying over 400 captives per year, all taken from the coastal strip between the Cacheu and the Cacine. Of course, the Europeans were goading all of the parties involved. While some crudely plied the Bijago with alcohol, others more subtly guided the Beafada, Papel, Casanga and Kokoli rulers along the road to internecine conflict. The most significant partnership was between the Europeans and the Mandinga, among the latter of whom were the principal agents of the trans-Atlantic slave trade in Upper Guinea. . . . In Upper Guinea, the Djola and the Balanta were ‘savage cannibals’ because they did not tolerate Europeans . . . ."
John Horhn writes in They Had No King: Ella Baker and the Politics of Decentralized Organization Among African Descended Populations,
"However, at no time was the concentration of wealth in the hands of members of the b’alante b’ndang (or any other group) ever so pronounced that it led to the crystallization of an elite class. Furthermore, the Balanta were extremely mistrusting of outsiders not from their own lineage or tabancas. This was true even when applied to members of their own ethnic group and resulted in a culture that held loyalty to the tabancas above all else. Therefore, it was impossible for outside forces to gain influence over Balanta culture without direct conquest and the commitment of military resources.”
In Planting Rice and Harvesting Slaves: Transformations along the Guinea-Bissau Coast, 1400-1900, Walter Hawthorne writes,
"Faced with the proliferation of violence associated with slave raids, Balanta living in dispersed morancas or households, began concentrating into tabancas in secluded areas near coastal rivers where they could better defend themselves. . . . Oral narratives and early written accounts indicate that before they were circumcised, Balanta males snatched cattle from distant communities to prove themselves brave warriors and to augment herd sizes. In a region plagued with violence, demonstrating prowess as a warrior was indeed important. Quemade N’dami explained, ‘There were those who did not steal. They had colleagues who had many cows and therefore sat as inferiors in relation. Balanta insulted them telling them that they were not men but were women. They slept [rather than raided] every night and were cowards.’ Illustrating the importance of cattle raiding historically, some narratives of migration center on conflicts over stolen cattle. The centrality of cattle theft is also evident in rituals carried out to this day. For example, when a Balanta woman gives birth to a male child, a cord is often placed in the doorway of the house, signifying that the child will have the courage to steal many cows. Finally, Portuguese and French officials on the coast left many complaints about Balanta stealing cattle at the same time they were capturing people. ‘They are all great thieves,’ Manuel Alvares noted in the early seventeenth century, ‘and they tunnel their way into pounds to steal the cattle. They excel at making assaults . . . taking everything they can find and capturing as many persons as possible.’
In oral narratives, Balanta refer to ‘raids’ broadly as b’ostemore and to raids aimed specifically at taking captives as b’kindeu, ‘the hunting of people’. These narratives claim that the Balanta organized b’ostemore to quickly overwhelm enemies and seize as many material objects and people as possible. Elder Chefe Lima explained, ‘Ostemore is taking something or someone by force during the day or night. Here, you attack someone or some group and take everything that he has, or they have.’ And N’sar N’Tchala spoke of the ‘hunting of people’:
‘In times long past, there were. . . people who practiced kindeu. When they encountered a person, they could kill him or capture him and carry him back to the tabanca. "
It is evident that as Balanta were drawn into the Atlantic economy, they adapted cattle raiding skills . . . .”
Hawthorne also writes in Strategies of the Decentralized,
"One strategy was to seize captives and to ransom them back to the villages from which they had come. Myriad Balanta communities that were reluctant to have direct trade contacts with Europeans pursued this strategy. Indeed, oral narratives and travelers’ accounts are rife with descriptions of how captives were ransomed. For example, in 1927, Alberto Gomes Pimentel wrote that when the Balanta seized people they were often held until ‘relatives’ paid some price for the freedom of their kin. Cattle, he said, were often demanded as payment, but other items were also requested. Oral narratives also give us a picture of what might have been a typical transaction. Speaking of Balanta raids, one informant said that ‘prisoners were tied to the branch or trunk of a cabecceira tree for some time. Those of strength communicated to the families of the prisoners that they should pay a ransom for the prisoners if they were to be freed.’ Others spoke of the exchange of captives for a ransom. Through ransoming, some Balanta communities avoided entry into the regional trade in slaves but managed to increase the wealth of their communities and to gain valuable items such as iron, that they needed for defense against slave raiders.”
Returning to Planting Rice and Harvesting Slaves: Transformations along the Guinea-Bissau Coast, 1400-1900, Walter Hawthorne writes,
"To obtain the captives necessary for purchasing iron, b’alante b’ndang needed strong young men to stage . . . raids. However, convincing young men to remain in the tabancas of their birth to make war for their fathers presented challenges. An expanding Atlantic market offered employment opportunities outside natal communities, principally in coastal ports or interior trade entrepots. Hence, b’alante b’ndang struggled to limit the ability of young men to establish contacts with ‘outsiders’ – lancado and Luso African merchants. . . .
Further, young male fighters composed the corps who defended communities against attack and raided distant groups for captives who could be traded for valuable imports. If young men could be retrained, their success in agricultural and military pursuits would enrich communities, making them stronger vis-à-vis neighboring communities. Neighbors would then be more likely to attempt to establish ties by offering daughters as marriage partners, further increasing community size and strength. Retaining young men, then, was the key to tabanca success. . . . . A second way to ensure that young men would remain in the tabancas of their birth was denying them contact with outsiders, particularly merchants who needed laborers in area ports and therefore offered youths alternatives to village life. When contact with outsiders was necessary, b’alante b’ndang worked through women. Hence, as was the case in many of the defensive communities of Brame, Floup and Biafada, Balanta relied on women to carry out exchanges with area merchants. Women are today the most important links between Balanta and outsiders, and oral narratives speak of the importance of women as traders [Siphiwe note: Balanta women did not engage in selling people to Europeans so there is no record of Balanta participating in the trans-Atlantic slave trade.] . . . Before the late seventeenth century, then, Balanta typically sold captives ‘to other black neighbors.’ Since such transactions took place in locations that Europeans did not dare visit, little has been recorded about them. Though records do not mention Balanta trading slaves to Biafada, Brame, and Papel, they may have marketed captives to merchants from these groups." i.e as "ransom".
Oral narratives are not the only places we can find evidence . . . Occupying lands next to some of the most important interregional trade routes (the Rio Geba, Rio Cacheu, and Rio Mansoa), Balanta staged frequent attacks on merchant vessels. During such assaults, Balanta seized passengers to sell back to the communities from which they had come, ‘to black neighbors,’ who took them to Bissau or Cacheu . . .
If Balanta staged raids on villages and merchant vessels, what did they do with those they seized? Like people in other parts of Africa, Balanta exercised several options with captives. They sold, ransomed, killed, and retained them, and they did these things for reasons inexorably linked to the logic of Balanta communities.
Balanta typically divided captives into two groups: whites and Africans. Whites were often killed, dismembered, and displayed as trophies by bold young men who returned to their villages with members of their age grades to celebrate a victory. Capuchin observers noted this behavior:
‘The Balanta only hold the blacks to sell them, but as for the whites that they seize, unfailingly, they kill them. Immediately, they cut them to pieces, and they put them as trophies on the points of spears, and they go about making a display of them through the villages as a show of their valor, and he who has murdered some white is greatly esteemed.’
Barbot also left a description of Balanta killing white merchants. The inhabitants of the banks of the Rio Geba, he wrote, ‘are more wild and cruel to strangers than themselves; for they will scarce release a white man upon any conditions whatsoever, but will sooner or later murder, and perhaps devour them.’ La Courbe told a similar story. Balanta, he warned, ‘are great thieves. They pillage whites and blacks indiscriminately whenever they encounter them either on land or at sea. They have large canoes and they will strip you of everything if you do not encounter them well armed. When they capture blacks, they sell them to others, with whites they just kill them.’
There are several reasons Balanta captured people and then ransomed them for cattle. First, in raids it was often easier to grab people than cattle, especially if they were in their fields, far from their villages, and without weapons. Second, seizing people might have been a way of warning outsiders to stay away from Balanta communities – a way of warning outsiders to stay away from Balanta communities – a way of demonstrating strength and discouraging slavers from attacking. Third, the raiding of distant communities for captives and trading of captives for cattle dovetailed with Balanta social and cultural norms. Balanta did not stage raids for reasons growing out of the logic of mercantile capitalism. They staged them because of the logic of their own society. For Balanta, cattle were a key indicator of success. As Nam Nambatcha stated, ‘Cattle were important for Balanta since the cow was the thing most highly valued by Balanta. . . . He who had no cows felt bad.’ In a society that historically had no standardized currency, cattle were the primary store of wealth. Therefore, when iron supplies were adequate, when cattle stocks were low . . . Balanta likely chose to ransom the victims of their raids. Fourth, Balanta captrued people and then ransomed them because it might not have been possible for Luso African and grumete merchants to sell locally born Mandinka and Papel at ports for export. Mandinka and Papel were close partners with Luso Africans in the slave trade. Many had friends and kin in Bissau or Cacheu who would have objected forcefully to their enslavement. Hence, ransoming was sometimes the only option. . . .
Thus, it is clear, that the Balanta actions during the slave trade was to
refuse contact with the Europeans, kill Europeans who came into our territory, and capture and ransom any of the neighboring people who tried to capture Balanta.
Ours was a very wise and skillful response to the criminal European trans Atlantic slave trade which is one of the reasons the number of Balanta dna results in the African Ancestry community is so low. It is because of the Balanta ancestors refusal to participate in the criminal European trans Atlantic slave trade and to develop their own strategy and response to it, that so many Balantas were NOT captured.
THE MILITARY LEGACY OF THE BALANTA
In contrast to the Bijagos, Papel, and Mandinka, who made alliances with Europeans and engaged in their slave trade, the Balanta refused such an arrangement, and instead went on the attack, utilizing second-strike capacity. In defense of their freedom, scholar Walter Hawthorne describes the Balanta military skill,
“In part, the Balanta and other coastal groups resisted enslavement by exploiting the advantages offered by the region in which they lived. Put simply, the coast offered more defenses and opportunities for counterattack against slave-raiding armies and other enemies than did the savanna-woodland interior. In the early twentieth century, Portuguese administrator Alberto Gomes Pimentel explained how the Balanta utilized the natural protection of mangrove-covered areas – terrafe in Guinean creole – when they were confronted with an attack from a well-organized and well-armed enemy seeking captives or booty: ‘Armed with guns and large swords, the Balanta, who did not generally employ any resistance on these occasions. . . . pretended to flee (it was their tactic), suffering a withdrawal and going to hide in the ‘terrafe’ on the margins on the rivers and lagoons, spreading out in the flats some distance so as not to be shot by their enemies. The attackers. . . . then began to return for their lands with all of the spoils of war’. Organizing rapidly and allying themselves with others in the area, the Balanta typically followed their enemies through the densely forested coastal region. At times, the Balanta waited until their attackers had almost reached their homelands before giving ‘a few shots and making considerable noise so as to cause a panic.’ The Balanta then engaged their enemies in combat, ‘many times corpo a corpo’. . . .
Having assembled in what the Capuchins called ‘a great number,’ Balanta warriors struck their stranded victims quickly and with overwhelming force. ‘Upon approaching a boat,’ the Capuchins said, ‘they attack with fury, they kill, rob, capture and make off with everything.’
SUCH ATTACKS HAPPENED WITH A GREAT DEAL OF REGULARITY AND STRUCK FEAR IN THE HEARTS OF MERCHANTS AND MISSIONARIES ALIKE. OTHERS ALSO COMMENTED ON THE FREQUENCY OF BALANTA RAIDS ON RIVER VESSELS.
On March 24, 1694, Bispo Portuense feared that he would fall victim to the Balanta when his boat, guided by grumetes, ran aground on a sandbar, probably on the Canal do Impernal, ‘very close to the territory of those barbarians.’ . . . .
Faced with an impediment to the flow of trade to their ports, the Portuguese tried to bring an end to Balanta raids. But they were outclassed militarily by skilled Balanta age-grade fighters. Portuguese adjutant Amaro Rodrigues and his crew certainly discovered this. In 1696, he and a group of fourteen soldiers from a Portuguese post on Bissau anchored their craft somewhere near a Balanta village close to where Bissau’s Captain Jose Pinheiro had ordered the men to stage an attack. However, the Portuguese strategy was ill conceived. A sizable group of Balanta struck a blow against the crew before they had even left their boat. The Balanta killed Rodrigues and two Portuguese soldiers and took twelve people captive.
Hawthorne’s continues in Strategies of the Decentralized,
“In 1777, Portuguese commander Ignacio Bayao reported from Bissau that he was furious that Balanta had been adversely affecting the regional flow of slaves and other goods carried by boats along Guinea-Bissau’s rivers. It was ‘not possible,’ he wrote, ‘to navigate boats for those [Balanta] parts without some fear of the continuous robbing that they have done, making captive those who navigate in the aforementioned boats.’ In response, Bayao sent infantrymen in two vessels ‘armed for war’ into Balanta territories. After these men had anchored, disembarked, and ventured some distance inland, they ‘destroyed some men, burning nine villages’ and then made a hasty retreat back to the river. Finding their vessels rendered ‘disorderly,’ the infantrymen were quickly surrounded by well-armed Balanta. Bayao lamented that ‘twenty men from two infantry companies’ were taken captive or killed. Having sent out more patrols to subdue the ‘savage Balanta’ and having attempted a ‘war’ against this decentralized people, the Portuguese found that conditions on Guinea- Bissau’s rivers did not improve.’
Viewing the regional slave trade as a threat to their communities, the Balanta continued their raids on merchant vessels transporting captives and other goods. Such raids would tax Portuguese patience throughout the nineteenth and well into the twentieth century . . . . Thus, by garnering weapons and iron in regional markets and from Luso-African merchants, many Balanta communities, like those of other decentralized coastal societies, were not only able to stand up to threats posed by the slaving armies of Kaabu and Casamance, they were also able to withstand assaults by Portuguese who were attempting to profit by insuring the smooth running of the coastal trade routes that moved captives to area ports.”
SO IT IS CLEAR THAT THE NATURAL, HISTORICAL AND CORRECT RESPONSE TO AN ATTACK ON BALANTA PEOPLE IS TO RETREAT FROM THE FIRST STRIKE AND COUNTER-ATTACK WITH A RETALIATORY SECOND-STRIKE.
CONCLUSION
Thus, by engaging in b’kindeu, ransom, and second strike military attacks, the Balanta people resisted the European invaders and successfully refrained from participating in the criminal European trans Atlantic slave trade, leaving behind perhaps the most honorable legacy of an African people during this period.
