The Malê Rebellion in Brazil, also known as The Great Revolt, was a Muslim slave rebellion in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil, in January 1835. The uprising occurred on a Sunday during Ramadan when enslaved African Muslims and freemen rose against the government. Yoruba and Hausa Muslims organized the rebellion, but non-Muslims from various backgrounds also participated. Muslims in Brazil were called Malê in Yoruba which led to the uprising being named the Malê Rebellion.

The rebellion was scheduled to take place on January 25, 1835. Preparation meetings took place in various locations across Salvador. The Muslim leaders in the uprising included Ahuna, Pacifico Licutan, Luis Sanim, Manoel Calafate, and Elesbao do Corma ,Ramirez Pedro ,el Hanandez .

A day before the rebellion was supposed to start; enslaved people began to hear rumors of the upcoming revolution. A former slave, Sabina da Cruz, fought with her husband, Vitorio Sule, and when he left, she went looking for him. She found him at a house meeting with other revolt organizers. They told her about the rebellion and said they would become masters of the land once the uprising started. After leaving the house, she told her friend and freewoman named Guilhermina about the plan rebellion. Guilhermina then told her white neighbor, Andre Pinto da Silveria. Two of Pinto da Silveria’s friends, Antonio de Souza Guimaraes and Francisco Antonio Malheiros, who were present when Guilhermina shared the information, then passed it on to local authorities.

Once the local authorities learned about the rebellion, revolt leaders were ambushed by military forces. When they fired back, the uprising began. The rebels attempted to attack a prison that held Muslim leader Pacifico Licutan to free him, but they failed. An estimated 600 enslaved Yoruba and Hausas then took to the streets of Salvador. They attacked the military barracks that protected the city. However, due to their inferior weapons and their being outnumbered by Brazilian National Guard troops, Salvador Police, and armed white civilians, they were defeated. It was estimated that during the day-long rebellion 80 enslaved people and seven National Guards troops were killed. Approximately 300 rebels were captured. Brazilian authorities sentenced four of the rebels to death, sixteen to prison, eight to forced labour, and forty-five to flogging. Overall, more than 500 Muslim Africans, including most of the surviving rebels, were expelled from Brazil and returned to the African continent Mostly Nigeria and Ghana were they were called Aguda and Tabom respectively as the only word they spoke was "Tabom" which means okay in Portuguese

A ship with Agudas docking in Badagry would be welcomed by crowds of children hailing them as they disembarked from the ship, whereas in the hinterlands strangers were viewed with suspicion.

In some cases, the Oba of Lagos gave them land to build a house and provided men to assist them in their transition to local life.
This notwithstanding, Lagos was different from Bahia. The elder returnees were comfortable, but many of the children were foreign to Lagos. They held on to elements of Bahia culture such as Catholicism and formed a close knit community within Lagos Island. Because of the retention of Catholicism and Western dressing, indigenous Africans called them "black whites" or Agudas

When Agudas arrived from Bahia and Pernambuco, they took up residence on the Eastern parts of Lagos on land provided by Oba Ojulari.
In 1852, this region was demarcated as the Brazilian quarters (what later came to be known as Popo Aguda). During this time, metropolitan Lagos followed the racial and cultural characteristics evident in the city. The Saros lived in Olowogbowo,The Saros who also migrated to Nigeria around the same time were recaptured and freed slaves already resident in Sierra Leone. Many of the returnees chose to return to Nigeria for cultural, missionary and economic reasons. Many, if not the greater majority, of them were originally descended from the Yoruba of western and central Nigeria. Other Nigerian groups forming part of the Sierra Leonean and Gambian Krio population included the Efik, Igbos, Hausa and Nupe.

The returnees mostly resided in the Lagos Colony, with substantial populations in Abeokuta and Ibadan. Some also settled in Calabar, Port Harcourt where they were given land in Kalabari-land and a community called Aguda-ma and other communities . Though many were originally dedicated Anglophiles in Nigeria, they later adopted an indigenous and patriotic attitude on Nigerian affairs due to a rise in discrimination in the 1880s, and were later known as cultural nationalists like Herbert Mcaully,Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti The first woman to drive a car and ride a motorcycle in Africa is a Saro.
It is said they brought pidgin in the Nigerian lingua culture. Femi Pedro, Dj Xclusive, Joke Silva are Agudas or Amaros

Despite the rebellion’s failure, many saw the Malê Rebellion in Brazil as the turning point of slavery in Brazil. Beginning in the 1850s, the slave trade which brought Africans to Brazil was gradually ended. In 1871, the so-called “Free Womb Law” declared all children born to enslaved women would be free. Slavery was officially and finally abolished in Brazil in 1888.

In Nigeria Most were Catholics, but some worshiped African Orishas which they brought from Brazil. Some of the Agudas are also Muslims. Most of them still have Portuguese names. Some common Portuguese family names in Nigeria include Pinheiro, Harnandez , Da Silva, Pedro, and Moreira.
Along with the Saros, they became a rising bourgeoisie. They utilized a western style of dressing, owned race horses and organized waltzes, square dances and musical soirees where Molière was performed. However, with time many began to embrace their heritage and when the children of the returnees were grown, they came to embrace Lagos as their home. The annexation of Lagos that led to the rise of this wealthy class also came with the realisation that the colonists were not leaving soon and any hope of forming a political class was dim. The Brazilians began to cultivate relationships with the traditional authorities in Lagos, while some renewed relationships with Africans in the hinterland by supplying them with weapons. Agudas supplied weapons to the Ijeshas in the war against Ibadan. Beginning in the 1880s, many began to change their names to African ones while the Aurora relief Society was formed to research their culture. Agudas' cuisine in the early 1920s included food considered African in Bahia but considered different from those eaten by indigenes on the Island. They ate pirão de caranguejo during holidays and prepared mungunzá, mingau (porridge) and feijão-de-leite (coconut milk beans) as food staples.[8] In agriculture, the returnees also popularized the use of Cassava as a food crop.

Agudas celebrated Easter with the coming out of Caretas or masked figures, burrinha at Epiphany and Nosso Senhor do Bonfim (Our Lord of the Good End) associated with Obatala was celebrated during yuletide.

Popo Aguda was a close-knit community and residents were known for their thriftiness and a strong work ethic

A majority of the Agudas were Catholics, but the community had a significant number of Muslim families and those who still adhered to the traditional religion. Religious differences were not as important nor divisive as they were to indigenous Africans, and they were comfortable marrying from any of the three religions.
Prior to the construction of a pro-cathedral, mass was performed in a bamboo building on Broad St, the plot of land where St Mary Convent was later built on. The first priest was Padre Anthonio, he was in charge of the Catholic church before the coming of French missionaries. The practice of baptism was important to the local community and it was also a way to enter the Aguda community.

A cathedral, the Holy Cross Pro-Cathedral was completed in 1881, financed by funds from the lay congregation. It was designed to be the most significant structure in Lagos colony when completed.
Originally built with one tower, a few years later another tower was added with the structure forming a cruciform structure with two towers. The Church was built by Agudas, but its construction was supervised by French missionaries. Among the builders were the quartet of Francisco Nobre (built one of the towers), Balthazar dos Reis, João da Costa and Lázaro Borges da Silva (master bricklayer) along with their apprentices. This group also built the old Central Mosque called Jamiu Central Mosque.

Brazilian architecture in Nigeria is a legacy of the thousands of freed slaves who returned to Nigeria in the 19th century. Trained as carpenters, cabinetmakers, masons and bricklayers in Brazil, the ex-slaves were notably technically skilled artisans and were known for their exuberant and individualistic style on doorways, brightly painted facades and chunky concrete columns which are rooted in the baroque styles popular in Brazil in the 18th century.

In early 1800s Lagos, the dominant architectural style was mud houses and houses with stilt using thatched leaves as roofing; these houses were usually divided into compartments to hold the extended family. The residence of the Oba and chiefs were much bigger, they had large courtyards, pillars and arches, a mixture of European and indigenous styles. The European influence took root during the reign of Oba Akinsemoyin who invited Portuguese slavers to Lagos,[6]and the slavers in return renovated his palace using imported bricks from Portugal for the structure and roofing slates. In the 1830s, the migration of emancipated returnees began to change the architectural style. Influenced by the symmetrical plans of the Brazilian colonial house, they introduced a new architectural style to Lagos that was soon embraced by wealthy traders. The Brazilian style of architecture became dominant in Lagos Island by the end of the 19th century. The structures were one storey houses built for middle class residents and others were two or three storeys stuccoed buildings (sobrados) built for wealthier clients. The detached storey buildings conferred prestige on the owners. They were built with shuttered windows, had spaces between the top of the wall and the roof and with a compound. A ground floor usually opens to the street and was sometimes used as a storage, store or housing the domestic help. The houses were built for a nuclear family in contrast to the extended family structure of early Yoruba architecture.

This style was prominent in old Lagos during the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries but as the city grew, many of the houses have been remodeled or demolished to make way for bigger houses.

Notable Brazilian Nigerians
DJ Caise
DJ Xclusive
Adetokunbo Ademola
Adeyemo Alakija
Daniel Pedro
Kojo Annan
Elizabeth Abimbola Awoliyi
Mobolaji Bank Anthony
Bankole Cardoso
Candido Da Rocha
Moses Da Rocha
T.A. Doherty
Bernadine Evaristo
Abimbola Fernandez
Antonio Deinde Fernandez
J.M. Johnson
Jibril Martin
Orlando Martins
Femi Pedro
Ibijoke Sanwo-Olu
Joke Silva

Interesting!

Na him those bastarados remove history from the curriculum.

Thesourcerer edakun. Oshe gan.

Thesourcerer on the beat again.

There were returnees who became slave traders themselves like seriki abass of badagry

Reading... To... Comment

How would you understand your present if you don't know your past? Let the nincompoops who deleted history from the curriculum answer the query.

ednut1:
There were returnees who became slave traders themselves like seriki abass of badagry

some not all , and yes this is true because basically selling slaves was not immoral or illegal for a really long time

As soon as I started reading, the next thing that crossed my mind was; is Sourcerer trying to tell us that this was exactly how GRV came.

Very insightful. It means many Lagosians don't kmow thay they're actually Brazilians... interesting.

Learnt something.

In other words, abokis are in Lagos as Lagosians, accepted and highly regarded because they went to Brazil, blended, and came back. Wonderment.

Emmm.... Okay!

workchopNG:
Very insightful. It means many Lagosians don't kmow thay they're actually Brazilians... interesting.

they know. Their family house still dey lagos island and their surnames tells their origins.

I stopped reading when a rebel leader told his wife then she told her friend and the friend told her white neighbour.

Women were not programmed to keep secret.
The only reason the rebellion failed.

They were not Brazilians, they were black Africans, largely Nigerians, who were returned after the revolution in Brazil. Those that stayed back like Pele’s ancestors, etc are still black Brazilians till today.

okrikaboi:
I stopped reading when a rebel leader told his wife then she told her friend and the friend told her white neighbour.

Exactly my thought,that gender can't keep secret to save their lives.

okrikaboi:
I stopped reading when a rebel leader told his wife then she told her friend and the friend told her white neighbour.

exactly women can't keep secrets. But thank God for everything