History of the Jews in Latin America

The history of the Jews in Latin America began with conversos who joined the Spanish and Portuguese expeditions to the continents. The Spanish permitted only Christians to take part in New World expeditions after its Crown expelled the Jews in 1492.

After the expulsion, many Sephardic Jews migrated to the Netherlands, France and eventually Italy, from where they joined other expeditions to the Americas. Others migrated to England or France and accompanied their colonists as traders and merchants. By the late 16th century, fully functioning Jewish communities were founded in the Portuguese colony of Brazil, the Dutch Suriname and Curaçao; Spanish Santo Domingo, and the English colonies of Jamaica and Barbados. In addition, there were unorganized communities of Jews in Spanish and Portuguese territories where the Inquisition was active, including Colombia, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Mexico and Peru. Many in such communities were crypto-Jews, who had generally concealed their identity from the authorities.

By the mid-17th century, the largest Jewish communities in the Western Hemisphere were located in Suriname and Brazil. Several Jewish communities in the Caribbean, Central and South America flourished, particularly in those areas under Dutch and English control, which were more tolerant. More immigrants went to this region as part of the massive emigration of Jews from eastern Europe in the late 19th century. During and after World War II, many Ashkenazi Jews emigrated to South America for refuge. In the 21st century, less than 300,000 Jews live in Latin America.They are concentrated in Argentina, Brazil and Mexico, with the first considered the center of the Jewish population in Latin America.

Jews fleeing the Inquisition settled in Argentina, where they intermarried with native women. Portuguese traders and smugglers in the Virreinato del Río de la Plata were considered by many to be crypto-Jewish, but no community emerged after Argentina achieved independence. After 1810 (and about mid-nineteenth century), more Jews, especially from France, began to settle in Argentina. By the end of the century in Argentina, as in America, many Jewish immigrants were coming from Eastern Europe (mainly Russia and Poland) fleeing Tsarist persecution. Upon arrival they were generally called "Russians" in reference to their region of origin.

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