The Sephardic Jews of Spain and Portugal

Prior to the late fifteenth century, Jews had flourished on the Iberian Peninsula for hundreds of years. Marked by harmonic and cooperative coexistence alongside Christians and Muslims, this remarkable period was a golden age for Iberian Jews, with significant and culturally diverse advances in sciences, arts and government. That era came to a tragic and often violent end in 1492 when the Spanish monarchs issued a decree that forced all Sephardic Jews to convert or be expelled; Portugal followed suit five years later.This work traces the history of the Sephardic Jews from their golden age to their post - Columbian diaspora. It highlights achievements in science, medicine, philosophy, arts, economy and government, alongside a few less noble accomplishments, in both the land they left behind and in the lands that they settled later. Several significant Sephardic Jews are profiled in detail, and later chapters explore the increasing restrictions on Jews prior to expulsion, the divergent fates of two diaspora communities (in Brazil and the Ottoman Empire), and the enduring legacy of Sephardic history.