A Timeline of Black Israelites and Black Jews Throughout History

This timeline is an ongoing project that is open to the public for contributions. Our goal is to trace the history and migration of black Israelites, black Jewish converts, and references to Jews in Africa throughout history. Through this timeline, we hope to inspire researchers to make new observations, new connections, and ultimately develop new perspectives of thought when it comes to the history of black Jews. You can contribute sources to this project by leaving a comment below with a 1 – 5 sentence summary of what the source says, the date the source is referencing, the source information, and a link to the source if available. Only comments seeking to contribute to the timeline will be approved. For a complete list of contributors, please see the comments section.

Credit: Major contributions to this timeline were made using the The Omnidex on Black History In The Bible.

Notes: The date is followed by the source number. Each date corresponds to a single source. The main points of the source are summarized in bullet points, sometimes using direct quotes. If a source covers multiple dates, it is listed once with the relevant dates indicated. (example: see entry for 721 BCE).

Total Sources: 33 | Updated: 10-14-23

721 BCE¹

• The Jews first arrived in Khaybar.
• They were conquered by the Muslims in 628 CE (7 AH).
• “Omar exiled a considerable part of the Jews to Taima and Jeriho” in 641 CE.
• (see entry for 1502 – 1508 CE)

587 – 538 BCE²

• Nebuchadnezzar planted the first colony of black Jews in Malabar, India, but the white Jews (Jerusalem Jews) did not arrive until after the destruction of the temple by Titus in 70 CE.
• Nebuchadnezzar also sent the tribes of Judah, Benjamin, Simeon, and Levi to the south of Spain.
• The “sun-blacked” Tribe of Manasseh lived among the Chozars (Khazars), and were referred to as Chozar Jews.

69 – 96 CE³

• Jews are rumored to be descendants of Crete settled in North Africa, the surplus population of Egypt, or descendants of Ethiopians.

70 CE

• (see entry for 587 – 538 BCE)
• (see entry for 1670 CE)

300s CE⁴

• “A learned Jew, of the name of Marcus, has given an extract from Philosturgius, a Greek of the fourth century, who says, that the inhabitants of the East shore of Africa, as far as Cape Guardafui, were called (untranslated Greek word), and were tout-a-fait basanes par la chaleur du soleil, or nearly blacks.”

640 – 641 CE⁵

• When the Muslims entered Egypt the land was divided into two sects and those were divided by race and religion.
• 300,000 Greek Melkites made up one group and the rest of Egypt (Copts, Nubians, Abyssinians, and Israelites).
• “One could not distinguish Copt from Abyssinian, Nubian or Israelite; and they were all Jacobites.”
• Marriage between the Melkites and the rest of the people of Egypt was not allowed because mutual hatred of each other.

726 – 727 CE⁶

• Judaism was the religion of ancient Africans until Christianity replaced it.
• Christianity was then replaced by Islam in the 108th Hijri.

c. 851 – c. 900 CE⁷

• Eldad ha-Dani, a dark-skinned Jew, reported that the tribes of Dan, Naphtali, Gad, and Asher were living in Ethiopia (Cush).
• He also mentions that the Tribe of Manasseh and half of the tribe of Simeon are living among the Khazars.

1300s CE⁸

• Jews arrived in Mali in the 14th century, fleeing persecution in Spain.
• They migrated south to the Timbuktu area.
• Among them was the Kehath (Ka’ti) family, descended from Ismael Jan Kot Al-yahudi of Scheida, Morocco. Sons of this prominent family founded three villages that still exist near Timbuktu—Kirshamba, Haybomo, and Kongougara
• In 1492, Askia Muhammed came to power in the previously tolerant region of Timbuktu and decreed that Jews must convert to Islam or leave; Judaism became illegal in Mali, as it did in Spain that same year.
• Other prominent Jews from Mali include the Cohens, descended from the Moroccan Islamicized Jewish trader El-Hadj Abd-al-Salam al Kuhin, who arrived in the Timbuktu area in the 18th century, and the Abana family, who came even later, in the first half of the 19th century.
• (see entry for 1492 CE)
• (see entry for 1700s CE)
• (see entry for 1800s CE)

1342 CE

• (see entry for 1670 CE)

1350 CE

• (see entry for 1670 CE)

1422 CE

• (see entry for 1670 CE)

1462 CE

• (see entry for 1670 CE)

1484 – 1499 CE⁹

• During the reign of John II of Portugal, 700 Jews were deported to Sao Tome (West Africa). They escaped the island between 1484 – 1499 CE and emigrated to the coast of Angola.
• In 1776 black Jews lived on the coast of Luongo.
• In 1847 David Livingston discovered “The Jews of Angola” living 200 miles from the coast of Luondo. Livingston believed these black Jews were descendants of the Jews deported from Portugal in the 15th century.
• In 1864 Winwood Reade wrote of blacks in Guinea claiming to be Portuguese.

1492 CE¹⁰

• “The discovery of the Gold Coast served, indeed, yet more to enlarge the sphere of the navigation of the Portuguese, than their slave trade; but it forced them also to extend themselves on the coasts; and to settle colonies in Congo, Angola, and other places, which they had till then neglected. Prince Henry’s colonies were enlarged by his successors. King John II. In 1492, expelled all the Jews to the island of St. Thomas, which had been discovered in 1471, and to other Portuguese settlements on the continent of Africa; and from these banished Jews, the black Portuguese, as they are called, and the Jews in Loango, who are despised by the very Negroes, are descended.”
• Note: The text seems to say the Negroes are descended from the black Portuguese Jews, but the way the sentence is worded lacks full clarity. An alternative explanation may be that the author is saying the black Portuguese Jews are descended from Negroes.
• (see entry for 1300s CE)

1492 CE¹¹

• Black Jews in Algeria (North Africa) were massacred by Sheikh Abd el Krim el Meghili, and he ordered the destruction of their synagogues.
• In 1493, el Meghili, Askyia Muhammad the Great issued an edict of eviction for the Jews in Songhai (West Africa), Jews along the Niger River were forced to convert to Islam or die.

1493 CE

• (see entry for 1492 CE)

1502 – 1508 CE¹²

• 5,000 Jews lived in Khaibar / Khaybar (Saudi Arabia).
• They went around naked, were five or six spans in height, and more black than any other color.
• They lived entirely on sheep’s flesh.
• (see entry for 721 BCE)

1634 CE¹³

• Mathias de Sousa became the first black Marylander.
• Some speculate that he may have been partly of Jewish descent because his last name is common among Spanish and Portuguese Jews.

1668 CE¹⁴

• A black or possibly Mulatto Jew was arrested in Boston.
• Jews at that time were thought of as tawny or dark skinned.
• The term Mulatto was occasionally applied to Spanish-Portuguese Jews.

1670 CE¹⁵

• Judaism spread across Africa and many natives living on both sides of the Niger River (West Africa) claim to be descendants of Abraham.
• Some arrived from Jerusalem in 70 AD, Italy in 1342 AD, the low countries in 1350 AD, France in 1403 AD, England in 1422 AD, and Spain in 1462 AD.

1700s CE

• (see entry for 1300s CE)

1747 CE¹⁶

• The Kingdom of Juda / Whidah / Whydah in West Africa is marked as the “Slave Coast”, and is located in the same general area where Spanish and Portuguese Jews were taken during their expulsion from Portugal.

1749 CE¹⁷

• Negroes from Whydah (Juda) were the most valuable for hard labor and growing sugar cane.

1772 CE¹⁸

• French map shows Juda (Whydah) located on the West Coast of Africa.

1774 CE¹⁹

• The Sr. Danville map, which is a collaboration with Solomon Bolten and Emanuel Bowen (creator of the 1747 map), shows Lamlem (West Central Africa) as “peopled by Jews.”
• To the west of Abessinia (Ethiopia) on the map, it appears to say “falasjam Jews exiled”. Falasjam may be an older spelling of Falasha.

1776 CE

• (see entry for 1484 – 1499 CE)

1780 CE²⁰

• Billy Simmons, known as “Uncle Billy” living in Antebellum (Charleston, South Carolina), claimed to be a Rechabite, and was referred to as a “Negro Jew”.

1800s CE

• (see entry for 1300s CE)

1812 CE

• It is only necessary to look at the black Jews to tell that their ancestors arrived in India many ages before the white Jews (Jerusalem Jews).
• In Malabar (India) it was not always possible to distinguish a black Jew from a Hindu.
• The white Jews look at black Jews as an inferior race of impure stock.²¹

1818 CE²²

• The Spanish and Portuguese Jews claim their descent from the tribe of Judah; and found these pretensions on a supposition that prevails among them, that many of their ancestors removed, or were sent into Spain at the time of the Babylonian captivity.
• It appears that the Jews have no accurate deduction of their descent or genealogy, they suppose that they are in general of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin, with some among them of the tribe of Levi.

1820 CE²³

• “Yahoodie, a place of great trade.” This place is reported to be inhabited by one of the lost tribes of Israel, possibly an immigration from the tribe of Judah. Yahooda, in African Arabic, signifies Judah. Yahoodee signifies Jew. it is not impossible, that many of the lost tribes of Israel may be found dispersed in the interior regions of Africa, when we shall become better acquainted with the Continent; its is certain, that some of the nations that possessed the country eastward of Palestine when the Israelites were a favoured nation have emigrated to Africa.”

1840s

• (see entry for 2011 CE)

1841 CE²⁴

• The Portuguese settled on the coast of Africa have descendants blacker than the Africans.
• Descendants of a colony of Jews, originally from Judea, settled on the coast of Africa are black.

1847 CE

• (see entry for 1484 – 1499 CE)

1848 CE²⁵

• Loango (West Central Africa) contains many Jews settled in it.
• They remain separate from the African population, but they are black, resemble Negroes in every aspect of appearance, and they are originally from Judea.
• The Portuguese on the coast of Africa have descendants blacker than many Africans.

1851 CE²⁶

• The Spanish Jew is always dark-complexioned.

1864 CE²⁷

• “Some of the kidnapping tales that still linger on this coast, show the straits into which, at times, men were driven for a cargo. At Annobom, where the people are Negro Portuguese, they are ever looking forward to hearing mass from the mouth of a priest. A Spaniard learning this, dressed up a pair of ecclesiastics, landed them, and whilst the function was proceeding, seized the whole congregation, and carried them triumphantly to market.” (p 23)
• (see entry for 1484 – 1499 CE)

1884 CE²⁸

• “The old writers” referred to Whydah (West Africa) as Juda because its inhabitants were said to be Jews.
• During the Transatlantic Slave Trade, 16,000 – 18,000 were transported annually from Juda.

1890 CE²⁹

• Whydah was referred to as Juda, and its inhabitants were believed to be a remnant of the scattered tribes of Israel.

1893 CE³⁰

• There were 115 towns of the tribe of Judah in Dahomey.

1969 CE ³¹

• Henry Kissenger, National Security Advisor, referred to the Igbo of Nigeria (West Africa), as “the wandering Jews of West Africa.”

2011 CE³²

• It is impossible to understand why the Igbo of Nigeria are not recognized as Jews, but Beta Israel are.
• British rabbis were aware in the 1840s there might be descendants of the ten tribes of Israel in the Niger Delta.

2013 CE³³

• There is a widespread belief among the Igbo, the third largest ethnic group in Nigeria, that they are descendants of the tribes of Israel.

2022 CE³⁴

• The Obadyah Alliance, a Sephardic Jewish organization, formed a Beit Din (Jewish Rabbinical court) and declared the Igbo of Nigeria (West Africa) to be descendants of the ancient Israelites.
• “Moreover, the historiographical data written during the time of the Songhai Empire, reveals that Portuguese and Moroccan Jews traded in the region of Igboland. Records also evidence the union between Portuguese Jews and West Africans in the region, whereby local women underwent halakhic conversions to the Jewish People. Such was the case in Senegal, Gambia, Nigeria, Togo, Benin, and Angola. In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, some Portuguese Jews took their African wives with them to the port cities of Antwerp and Amsterdam, where they were integrated into the respective communities.
• “The presence of Israelites along the Niger River had been known by Jewish authorities in the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Lithuania, and Suriname. Rabbinic letters addressed to the Igbos by Chief rabbis: Dr. Solomon Hershel Lewin, David Meldola, and the Gaon of Vilna (Eli-jan Zalman), support the idea that there was contact between European Jewish communities and Igbo Israelites. All of the correspondence from the aforementioned rabbinic authorities address the Igbos as “brethren of the Children of Israel.” Accordingly, there is no doubt of their origins, nor of their halakhic status as Israelites.”

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