The lançados (literally, those who were thrown out) were settlers and colonizers of Portuguese origin in Senegambia, Cabo Verde, Guinea, Sierra Leone, and other areas on the coast of West Africa. Many were Jews—often New Christians—escaping persecution from the Portuguese Inquisition.
Lançados often took African wives from local ruling families, thereby securing protection and trading ties that worked to the advantage of both sides. They established clandestine trading networks in weaponry, spices, and slaves. This black market angered the Portuguese Crown by disrupting its ability to collect taxes.
Although never large in numbers, the mixed-race children born to the lançados and their African wives and concubines served as crucial intermediaries between Europeans and native Africans. They were often bilingual and grew up in both cultures, sometimes working as interpreters with traders. These mixed-race people wielded significant power in the early development of port economies in Bissau, Cacheu, and surrounding areas.
In 1479 Portugal and Castile signed the Treaty of Alcáçovas ending the War of the Castilian Succession. During the war Castile had contested the Portuguese slave trade monopoly by threatening Portuguese outposts and unsuccessfully attacking their fleet in the Gulf of Guinea.
However, the majority of lançados were legally or voluntarily exiled to Africa, including Jews and New Christians escaping the Portuguese Inquisition, and persons called degredados serving out legally imposed exiles.
The lançados were primarily active on the Senegal, Gambia, Casamance, and Guinea valleys; the Cacheu and Geba River regions in current-day Guinea-Bissau; and in the Port Loko region in current-day Sierra Leone. They lived as far southwest as Elmina.