by hadassah | Apr 7, 2008 | Early Modern Period
Northward Expansion From the mid-sixteenth century, the Sephardic diaspora began to change shape dramatically, as the steady stream of refugees from the Peninsula was largely diverted from its earlier Mediterranean destinations. This shift was primarily a...
by hadassah | Apr 7, 2008 | Ottoman Empire
Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire was approaching its apogee at the time of the Expulsion. By the 1560s its territories included most of North Africa and the Middle East, as well as the Balkans and Asia Minor. In the commercial centers of this empire –...
by hadassah | Apr 7, 2008 | Early Modern Period, Italy
Italy A large number of exiles arrived in Italy, either in transit or with the aim of settling there permanently. In this period, Italy was a mosaic of kingdoms and dukedoms, and policies towards the exiles varied greatly from place to place. On the one hand,...
by hadassah | Apr 7, 2008 | Early Modern Period
North Africa North Africa at the time of the Expulsion was less than an ideal region for Jewish settlement. Political and military struggles between the Berbers, Turks, Portuguese and Spanish made it an area of great unrest and disorder. Nevertheless, North...
by hadassah | Apr 7, 2008 | Early Modern Period
Portugal For many of the exiles, the best immediate option was to cross the border overland to Portugal. The Jews who did so were accepted by the Portuguese king João II for pragmatic reasons. For a sum of 100 cruzados, he offered a wealthy family the right to...
by hadassah | Apr 7, 2008 | Early Modern Period
Sephardic Diaspora-Regional Trends Spanish Jews migrated from the Iberian Peninsula well before the expulsion of Spain’s Jews in 1492. But it was the massive migration at the time of the expulsion that created the foundations of the commercial, kinship, and...
