Around seventy pages, covering the Sephardi communities of the world.
If you know the country, use the A–Z. If you know only that your family moved — from somewhere to somewhere — use the migration routes, which is where most people actually find what they need. And if you are not sure where to start, start with Getting Started in Sephardic Genealogy.
On this page
- By migration route — the most useful section, and the one no other resource has
- By region
- A–Z
- By city
- Not sure where to start?
By migration route
Sephardi families did not sit still. A family that appears in Suriname in 1680 was in Recife in 1650 and Lisbon in 1600. A family in Buenos Aires in 1910 was in Tetouan in 1880.
If you have hit a wall in one country, the answer is usually in the country the family came from — and these are the routes they took.
The Iberian core
Spain and Portugal → Netherlands · England · Germany (Hamburg) · France (Bordeaux, Bayonne) · Italy (Livorno, Venice)
The Western Sephardi world. New Christians who left Iberia over two centuries and returned to open Judaism in the tolerant ports of northern Europe and Italy. The best records in the field.
The 1654 Brazilian dispersal
Portugal → Brazil (Recife) → Amsterdam · Curaçao · New York · French Guiana · Guyana · Suriname · Jamaica · Barbados
When Dutch Brazil fell in 1654, its Jews scattered in every direction at once. Six of this site’s pages describe the same event from different ends, and a family in any of those places may have been in Recife.
The Guianas
Brazil → French Guiana (Cayenne, 1659–64) → Suriname
Brazil → Guyana (the Pomeroon, 1657–66) → Suriname · Barbados
Three colonies, one set of families. The Suriname community was founded by people who had already failed twice.
The ABC islands and the Spanish Main
Curaçao → Aruba · Bonaire · Panama · Colombia · Venezuela
Curaçao is the mother community of the southern Caribbean. If your family is in any of the others, the records are almost certainly Curaçaoan.
The French Caribbean and the Code Noir
Martinique · Guadeloupe · French Guiana · Haiti · New Orleans
All five governed by one legal instrument — the Code Noir of 1685, with a Louisiana edition in 1724 — whose first article expelled the Jews. Enforced in some colonies and quietly not in others, which is why some have continuity and some do not.
The Saint-Domingue dispersal, 1791–1809
Haiti → Cuba → New Orleans, and → Jamaica · Charleston · Philadelphia · France
The Haitian Revolution scattered the colony’s free population; Spain then expelled them from Cuba in 1809, sending some ten thousand to Louisiana. If you have a New Orleans family appearing around 1809, this is the route.
The Portuguese Atlantic and West Africa
Portugal → Cape Verde → Senegal · Guinea-Bissau · The Gambia
Portugal → São Tomé · Angola → Brazil
The lançados, the Guinea trade, and the New Christian merchants of the Portuguese Atlantic. Cape Verde was the base for all of it, and whether a man could live openly as a Jew depended entirely on whose ground he was standing on.
The Moroccan chain
Morocco (Tangier, Tetouan, Mogador) → Gibraltar · Cape Verde · Brazil (the Amazon) · Argentina · Venezuela · Canada · France · Israel
Moroccan Jews went further and in more directions than any other Sephardi group. Gibraltar is often the intermediate step and is frequently overlooked.
The Ottoman world and its successors
Turkey → Greece · Bulgaria · Serbia · Bosnia · North Macedonia · Albania · Romania · Kosovo · Israel · Lebanon · Syria · Egypt · Libya · Tunisia
Every one of these was Ottoman, and the records of all of them run partly through Istanbul. Our Turkey page is written to serve all fourteen, and includes the guide to Ottoman archives.
The Aleppo chain
Syria (Aleppo, Damascus) → Lebanon · Egypt · England (Manchester) · Argentina · Mexico · Brazil · United States (Brooklyn)
Driven by the collapse of the caravan trade after the Suez Canal opened in 1869. The classic sequence is Aleppo, then Egypt, then Manchester, then Latin America.
The Rhodesli chain
Turkey (Rhodes) → Congo · Zimbabwe · South Africa, and → Cuba · United States
Judeo-Spanish speakers from a single Aegean island, who went into central and southern Africa as traders and then moved south. After the deportation of the island’s remaining Jews in 1944, this diaspora is much of what survives of them.
The Portuguese route to Asia
Portugal → India (Goa, Madras) · Macau · Iran (Hormuz), and, by way of Mexico, the Philippines
The New Christian merchants of the carreira da Índia, the coral and diamond trade, and the Goa Inquisition. The records are in Lisbon, not Asia.
The Ashkenazi frontier
Austria · Poland · Germany · Netherlands · Italy
Where the Sephardi and Ashkenazi worlds met and, sometimes, mixed. See also Ashkenazim with Sephardic Ancestry.
By region
Europe
Albania · Austria · Belgium · Bosnia and Herzegovina · Bulgaria · Croatia · Denmark · England · France · Germany · Gibraltar · Greece · Ireland · Italy · Kosovo · Livorno · Malta · Netherlands · North Macedonia · Poland · Portugal · Romania · Russia · Serbia · Spain · Venice
Also: The Dönmeh
The Americas
Argentina · Aruba · Barbados · Bonaire · Brazil · Canada · Cuba · Curaçao · Dominican Republic · French Guiana · Guyana · Haiti and Guadeloupe · Jamaica · Martinique · Mexico · Panama and Colombia · Peru · St Eustatius · St Kitts and Nevis · St Thomas · Suriname · United States · Venezuela
United States city pages: Charleston · New Orleans · New York · Newport · Philadelphia · Savannah
Asia and Africa
Algeria · Angola · Cape Verde · Congo · Egypt · The Gambia · Guinea-Bissau · India · Iran · Israel · Lebanon · Libya · Macau · Morocco · Philippines · São Tomé and Príncipe · Senegal · South Africa · Syria · Tunisia · Turkey · Zimbabwe
A–Z
Albania · Algeria · Angola · Argentina · Aruba · Austria · Barbados · Belgium · Bonaire · Bosnia and Herzegovina · Brazil · Bulgaria · Canada · Cape Verde · Charleston · Colombia (see Panama and Colombia) · Congo · Croatia · Cuba · Curaçao · Denmark · Dominican Republic · Egypt · England · France · French Guiana · Gambia, The · Germany · Gibraltar · Greece · Guadeloupe (see Haiti and Guadeloupe) · Guinea-Bissau · Guyana · Haiti · India · Iran · Ireland · Israel · Italy · Jamaica · Kosovo · Lebanon · Libya · Livorno · Macau · Malta · Martinique · Mexico · Morocco · Netherlands · New Orleans · New York · Newport · North Macedonia · Panama · Peru · Philadelphia · Philippines · Poland · Portugal · Romania · Russia · St Eustatius · St Kitts and Nevis · St Thomas · São Tomé and Príncipe · Savannah · Senegal · Serbia · South Africa · Spain · Suriname · Syria · Tunisia · Turkey · United States · Venezuela · Venice · Zimbabwe
By city
Most people search for a city, not a country. Here is where to find the principal communities.
| City | Page |
|---|---|
| Alexandria, Cairo | Egypt |
| Aleppo, Damascus | Syria |
| Amsterdam | Netherlands |
| Beirut, Sidon | Lebanon |
| Belmonte, Lisbon, Porto | Portugal |
| Benghazi, Tripoli | Libya |
| Bordeaux, Bayonne | France |
| Bridgetown | Barbados |
| Buenos Aires | Argentina |
| Cochin, Madras | India |
| Constantinople, İzmir, Edirne, Rhodes | Turkey |
| Élisabethville / Lubumbashi | Congo |
| Essaouira (Mogador), Fez, Marrakech, Rabat, Tangier, Tetouan | Morocco |
| Hamburg, Altona, Glückstadt | Germany (and Denmark) |
| Havana, Santiago de Cuba | Cuba |
| Hormuz | Iran |
| Jerusalem, Hebron, Safed, Tiberias | Israel |
| Jodensavanne, Paramaribo | Suriname |
| Kingston, Port Royal, Spanish Town | Jamaica |
| Livorno, Pisa | Livorno |
| London | England |
| Manila | Philippines |
| Mexico City, Monterrey | Mexico |
| Recife, Belém, Manaus | Brazil |
| Salisbury / Harare, Bulawayo | Zimbabwe |
| Salonica (Thessaloniki), Monastir | Greece and North Macedonia |
| Sarajevo | Bosnia and Herzegovina |
| Toledo, Seville, Córdoba, Majorca | Spain |
| Tunis, Djerba | Tunisia |
| Valletta | Malta |
| Venice, Rome, Ancona, Trieste | Venice and Italy |
| Vienna | Austria |
| Willemstad | Curaçao |
Not sure where to start?
Read Getting Started in Sephardic Genealogy first. It sets out the six ways this differs from ordinary family history, and the order to work in.
If the terminology is unfamiliar, see What We Mean by Sephardic and the Glossary.
If all you have is a surname, please read Sephardic Surnames before drawing any conclusion from it.
And if your family is Ashkenazi with a tradition of Sephardi descent, start with Ashkenazim with Sephardic Ancestry.