The Men’s Revolt was one of several slave rebellions that occurred in Brazil between 1807 and 1835. It was probably the most significant slave revolt in Brazilian history. The Malê Revolt involved black slaves, mainly Hausa, Kanuri and Yoruba from what is now Nigeria, and freedmen, who attempted to seize power from the white authorities in the Brazilian province of Bahia and one of freedmen and the to establish an Islam-dominated colony. The name of the revolt, Malê, was a parody of the word “imale,” which means religious Muslims in Yoruba. According to reliable data, Brazil is the only non-African country where the black population exceeds 100 million.In fact, blacks make up half of Brazil’s population, estimated at 200 million or more. In the early years of the Brazilian slave trade, thousands of slaves were imported from Africa, particularly from the Gulf of Benin.
The slaves brought from the Bay of Benin were mainly Hausa, Nupe, Tiv and Yoruba from what is now Nigeria. This resulted in a large concentration of Hausa, Yoruba and other Nigerian ethnic groups, the so-called Nagô, arriving in Bahia in a short period of time. In Bahia, the slave system was, as in practice at the time, the Brazilian communal system, which gave slaves the freedom to move freely on the streets and even engage in small businesses after working for their masters.They work as ganhadors (wage slaves) selling their labor on Salvador Street in Bahia, Brazil. Some Hausa and Yoruba slaves transported goods for traders, sold tobacco, and also worked as tailors and carpenters. This made it easier for them to plan attacks without the knowledge of Brazilian authorities. They met before and after prayer in the mosque, at home and briefly in the market square.
Manoel do Nascimento Santos Silva, also known as Gibirilu, the last known survivor of the Malê revolt in Bahia.
The documents show that slave traders and freed women were also involved in the conspiracy. The Muslim cleric Dandará, who sold tobacco at a local market in Bahia, was one of several holy men involved in this movement. The Male Uprising conspirators planned to carry out the attack on the last Sunday of the Muslim month of Ramadan, which was also the day set aside for the feast of Our Lady of Bonfim, a Catholic festival celebrated in a church. eight miles from downtown. The Malê expected that the authorities would be in Bonifi to maintain order and that this would be the ideal time for a strike. Implementation of the Men’s Revolt According to Thomson Gale, “The Men’s Revolt began at 5 a.m. on January 25, 1835, at the time when the Africans were fetching water from public wells.” However, their plans were betrayed.Two African freedmen, Guilhermina Rosa de Souza and Sabina da Cruz, the Nagô leader’s wife, collected the details of the conspiracy. One evening in January, Guilhermina told her white neighbor about the rebels’ plans. After learning of the conspiracy, provincial president Francisco de Souza Martins ordered the police to search the homes of Africans, whom Sabina da Cruz believed to be key to the conspiracy.
In less than two hours, troops led by police chief Francisco Gonçalves Martins began fighting the African rebels in the streets of the upper city, among government buildings, theaters and churches frequented by the white slave elite. However, the Malê rebels were defeated by the Bahian authorities after more than seventy men and nine white and mixed-race Brazilians died. Several people were injured. Slaves found guilty were sentenced to hard labor and flogging, numbering from fifty to a thousand; none of them were imprisoned so as not to expose the slave owners to losses. , freedmen convicted of participating in the Malê revolt were sentenced to prison, death and deportation to the African coast. Brazilians have been living in fear for several months. It was reported that some white families even left their homes to sleep in canoes at sea, fearing further rebellions by slaves and their cohorts. The Bahians won, but the Hausa and Yoruba slaves had a notable influence on the lives of slaves in Brazil. Fifteen years after the men’s revolt, the slave trade was finally abolished.
