The term “ signare ” was the name of the young women Métis its, resulting from the marriage of Portuguese with women Sérères of the Small-Coast of the Senegal, in the counters of Rufisque ( Rufisco ) at the 17th century, then of Gorée and finally of Saint-Louis until the middle of the 19th century.

History

The first signares were Portuguese-speaking. They resulted from the union of women sérères of the Small-Coast (Senegal) and of Portuguese at the beginning of the 17th century. These marriages were generally durable, because much of these Portuguese their lives in the counters finished which they had created with Sérères and the king of the Sine-Saloum near.

It is in these counters that the mongrel children resulting from these unions thrived, in particular the Signaras , word meaning the " Dames" in French. These counters, Joal, Saly-Portudal and Rufisco ( Rio fresco , fresh river) were controlled by Signaras (Signares in French) and by Alquier (representing the king of the Sine). The economic system of the signares of the small coast rested on the trade of leathers, the cotton fabrics, the Indigo, gold and spices known as " pauvres".

The arrival of France and England, by transforming Senegal into zone of war, destroyed this first female microphone-civilization of the small coast and the peaceful economic system, which they had known to develop with their Portuguese sérères families and their fathers (often of Jew confession). Signares emigrated of the small coast of Senegal towards the islands of Gorée and Saint Louis at the beginning of the 13th century to take cover from wars started by the Westerners between the kings of Senegal to obtain slaves in exchange of firearms, of powder, ammunition, small glasswares and parts of India (imported pieces of fabric of India then manufactured with Rennes in the case of France).

In Gorée, Signares invented the " marriage the made-to-order of the pays" , i.e. a marriage at limited time recognized like valid by the king of France and the Catholic church. These " marriages the made-to-order of the pays" , for political character and economic, were reserved for the rare unions with Westerners; they did not represent more than 15% of the total of the unions. The signares were strongly attached to the endogamic unions (80% of the unions), only able to perennialize their culture and to preserve the accumulated capital of mother as a girl on several generations. The marriages with Westerners were élitistes and had the aim of building in France and England of powerful networks of family businesses and to make profit their community from permanent protection their Western relationships against the possible rough ones sent to Gorée by the administrations of these nations. Signares thus married never with simple sailors, but with middle-class executives or French and English aristocrats. The signares do not result from the marriage of African women slaves with free Westerners but well of unions between women Lébous or Sérères and from the Westerners. The knight Stanislas de Boufflers, governor of Senegal in 1785, took for partner famous the Anne Pépin, meets probably envisaged before even as it is not named at this station. It is Anna Colas Pip, his/her niece, who had current the Maison of the Slaves (who contained slaves of draft forever).

The signares succeeded in during various periods resisting to the coldly unloaded governors and officers who disputed their capacity and their privileges. Thanks to their family networks, they managed without sorrow to reach the authorities of the monarchical capacity in France as in England in order to thwarting any decision destabilizing their lifestyle. These crafty ones mulattos (mongrel), called commonly Signares (qualifier of row and not of color), were famous for their beauty envoûtante and their richnesses, which they made bear fruit skilfully. Between daily coquettery, Sunday festivals and maintenance of continuations grouillantes small richly avoided prisoners (saved slaves of the Treats négrière and integrated into the houses of Signares), they carried out lives of femmes fatale, cultivating to the extreme the sensuality.

Posterity

They developed a sumptuous art of living whose echo is able still to be made hear nowadays through many books of stories, the poems of Senghor and organized annual spectacles in Gorée and Saint-Louis of Senegal.

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