Mobilities and Communities between North Africa and Portugal: Muslims and Jews in the Medieval and Early Modern Ages

This article reflects on the connections between geographical mobility and the constitution of a community in Portugal in the cases of Jews and Muslims in the Middle and Early Modern Ages. Data for the Middle Ages reveal greater mobility of Muslims between the two shores of the Mediterranean, whereas Jewish mobility seems to have been more prevalent within the Iberian kingdoms. This difference persisted in the Early Modern Age: many Muslims were captives, but as men and women alike were taken prisoner, they were able to constitute a community. In the case of Jews, however, most of whom were men going to Portugal voluntarily and who left families behind in North Africa, this gender difference and the social ostracisation that they, too, faced prevented a community from becoming established. This article is part of the special theme section on Mobility and Displacement in and around the Mediterranean: A Historical Approach, guest-edited by Catia Antunes and Giedrė Blažytė.