milliner. Ons|)ar. who was of niuch assistance in the iliseovery of Brazil and wlio is favorahljiiienlioncil by Amerigo Vespucci (Kayscrlinir. I.e.
Jewish
Brazil was tlie part of America earliest inby larire numbers of Jews. Portugal sent annually two shiploads of Jews, and criminals, and also deported persons who had been eondcmued by the Imiuisilion. The Maranos are said to have quickly thrown olf their mask Early Portug'uese and to have jirofesscd Judaism. As p. 117).
lial)ile<l
early as 'AX (according to some. l.^Jl) Portuguese Jews, it is asserted, transjilanted the sugar-cane from .Madeira to Brazil; but whether this be true or false, it is indisputable that nearly all the large sugar plantations <d' Brazil dur ingllietirst half of the seventeenth century belonged
Colonies,
Jews. So extensive had the emigration to Portuguese colonies become in l.>iTthat on June 30 of that year an edict was issued forbidding .Maranos to leave Portugal. A stringent law was passed prohibiting the settlement of Jews in the Spainsh colonics as well, yet some of position and wealth were among the early settlers. This is indicated by the fact that the prohibition was removed in X'ul upon the payment by the Jews in the colonies of the enormous to
sum
of I, TIM 1. 1)111) <-ruzados. eipiivalent to about >>714.In Kill lucnlion is made of wealthy Maranos making the leturn trip from Bahia to Portugal. That Jews had settled in Brazil, prior to the Dutch occupation, in snilieient mnnbers to make them a military factor, is shown by the argument advanced in favor of an attack by the Dutch West India Company on the Portuguese in Brazil, "that the Jews there wmdd be ready to aid the Dutch in any attempt." This attack was successfully luadi' in lt)'24. at which time all the Jews in the country united in the formation of a congregation. Jews had invested largely in the Dutch West India Company and to this fact Under the favorable attitude of the Holland Rule. authorities is traci-able. Those who
000.
Dutch
had come over imder Portuguese and Dutch nde were reenfori-eil in Ull'.' by a parly of (iUO from -Vmsterdam. bringing with them llakam I.saac Aboab. who setiliMl at Uecifi' Pernambuco). and was (
rabbi in Brazil. Among these settlers was also Kphraim Sueiro. a step-brother of Manasseh ben Isra<l. Manasseh himself intended to emigrate to Brazil, as is Ic^arned from a letter of Vossius to firotius; but he was dis.suaded by the leading men of his eominunity. There were also settlements at Paiahiba. Bahia. and Hio de Janeiro. Il iseslimated that at Hecife alone there were mole than ."i.DDO Ji-ws in 1«."4. The Brazilian Jews enjoyed the same rights as other Dutch subjects; anil they rendered valuable services both as soldiers and in civil life. TIk' lirst Spanish and PortUirueseselllersin America. otliiT than baiMsliid criminals, were adventurers seeking lanil for the irown or gold for themselves. This was not true of the Jews. K.pelled tiist from Spain, ne.xl from Portugal, they desired only a place in which they miirht have the op|)ortunity to live and to ihrowolT tiie mask of Christianity which they had bicMi fori-ed to wear. Though they engaged largely in commerce in which liny hail especial ad vantages, having correspondents in Venice, in Tur key. and in other countries to which their corelig-
probably the
lirst
—
iiinists
Amen
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
493
had eniiirniled
— they
counted among their
number
several scholars, and durinir the Dutch occupalion maintained friendly relations with learned
men in .Vmsterdam. The first truce of Jewish
literature in
America
is
America
found in lli:jG. when some Brazilian Jews, in dispute about liturgical questions, sought coun.sel of Kabbi Hayyim Shabbetliai of Salouica. In the middle of the seventeenth century there were living in Brazil, in addition to Rabbi Istuic Aboab mentioned above, a well-known Talmudist. Jacob LaFirst garto. and the poet Ei.ivahu M.American ciiokko. Apparently the lirst Jewish Jewish scholar born on .merican soil was Scholar. Acon m: Vf.i.usino. born in Pernam.1
buco in l(i.j7. a philosopher, phj'sician, and polemical writer of ability. In 104(5 war broke out between the Dutch and the Portuguese; and in this struggle, which lasted nine
Jews aided
the Dutcli until the end. The contained a rather ominous clause wherein the Portuguese promised to the Jews "an amnesty in all wherein they could jn'omise it." The sufferings of the Jews in this war are related in a poem by Isaac Aboab. which is probably theearli est product e.xtant of Jewish authorship on Ameriyears, the
Dutch capitulation
can
(1G.')4)
soil.
Although it does not appear that the Inquisition was formally established in Bnizil. there is evidence to the effect thai the Holy (JItiee seized suspected persons and sent them to Portugal for trial. At all events, the Portuguese con(|Uest was followed by the dispersion of the Jewish colony. Many rettinied to Amsterdam, some went to the French settlements (iuadeloui>e. JIartini(|ue. and Cayenne some to Cura(,ao. and others to New Amsterdam. AVe have travelers' statements to the etfecl that as late as 18.')0 a few remained in Brazil as Maranos; and in very recent times small congregations have been formeil. Mexico: Me.vico. which contained the most highly civilized aborigines on the .merican continent, was invaded by Cortez in l.")li); the capital was captured in 1.V2I. and the country made a Spanish colony under the name of Xueva Espana (New Spain). The most authentic information concerning the .lewsof Mexico is unhappily contained in the records of the Inquisition, from which accurate, if not det;iilcd. accounts are derived. The lirst aulo da fe celebrated in New Spain was held in the year 1-530; and the tii"st Jew, or rather "Judaizer" (./ii(liiiniiiit), as he was called, mentioned in these records is a certain Franci.sco Jlillan, who was "reconciled " in the year l."):i!l. His ea.se seems, however, to have been a solitary one; since formany years after all of those tried by the Inquisition were Luthei-ans or i>cisons otherwise suspected of heresy. In l.")71 the Inquisition was formally established in Mexico, for the purpose "of freeing the land,
—
—
which had been contaminated by Jews
Jews and and
heretics, especially of the Portiigue.se nation." quisition. It is not until 1578 that the names of Jews three in tiiat year are again met with; and from tiiat time on. until the close of the Inquisition records of Mexico in ls();t(the Holy Ollice was not formally disestablished in Jlexico
the In-
—
—
until IH'iO), a large proportion, possibly as many as Sinceallof the.se one-half, of thosetried were Jews. were >Iaranos, and a great number of the secret Jews must have escaped the eye of Ihe Inquisition, a fair conception may thus be obtained of the very considerable number who .settled and lived in Mexico durPanimus. tin- historian, writing in ing this piiiod. l.-i'.IJt. stales that in spite of all obstacles the Jews publicly celebniled llii-ir Passover; but the statement is open to question. Some idea of the niimbiT of Jews in Mexico in the middle of the si-venteeuth century may be gained
