Eastern Sephardim
Eastern Sephardim are a distinctive sub-group of Sephardi Jews, mostly descended from families expelled and exiled from Iberia as Jews in the 15th century following the Alhambra Decree of 1492 in Spain and the decree of 1497 in Portugal. This branch of descendants of the Jews of Iberia settled in the Eastern Mediterranean.

Eastern Sephardim settled mostly in various parts of the Ottoman Empire, which included areas in West Asia (Middle East, Anatolia, etc.), the Balkans in Southern Europe, plus Egypt. For centuries, these Jews made up the majority of the population of Salonica (now Thessaloniki, Greece) and were present in large numbers in Constantinople (now Istanbul, Turkey) and Sarajevo (in what is now Bosnia and Herzegovina), all of which were located in the Ottoman-ruled parts of Europe.

Some migrated farther east to territories of the Ottoman Empire, settling among the long-established Arabic-speaking Jewish communities in Baghdad in Iraq, Damascus in Syria and Alexandria in Egypt. A few of the Eastern Sephardim followed the spice trade routes as far as the Malabar coast of southern India, where they settled among the established Cochin Jewish community, again imparting their culture and customs to the local Jews. The presence of Sephardim and New Christians along the Malabar coast eventually aroused the ire of the Catholic Church, which then obtained permission from the Portuguese crown to establish the Goan Inquisition against the Sephardic Jews of India.

In recent times, principally after 1948, most Eastern Sephardim have since relocated to Israel, and others to the United States, France and Latin America.
Q102251
Sephardi Jews
Concept
Q12837
Iberia
LOC
Q7325
Jews
Concept
Q1061030
Alhambra Decree
MEDIA
Q45
Portugal
LOC
Q2368712
in various parts of the Ottoman Empire
UNK
Q27293
West Asia
LOC
Q7204
Middle East
LOC
Q51614
Anatolia
LOC
Q23522
Balkans
LOC
Q27449
Southern Europe
LOC
Q79
Egypt
LOC
Q2632945
Jews made up the majority of the population of Salonica
UNK
Q17151
Thessaloniki
LOC
Q41
Greece
LOC
Q16869
Constantinople
LOC
Q406
Istanbul
LOC
Q43
Turkey
LOC
Q11194
Sarajevo
LOC
Q225
Bosnia and Herzegovina
LOC
Q184002
Ottoman-ruled parts of Europe
MEDIA
Q1530
Baghdad
LOC
Q4120206
Damascus
UNK
Q2600128
Alexandria
PER
Q473181
Malabar coast
LOC
Q8046801
Cochin Jewish
ORG
Q1094510
New Christians
PER
Q9592
Catholic Church
Concept
Q2903110
Goan Inquisition
ORG
Q7451870
Sephardic Jews of India
UNK
Q12585
Latin America
LOC
Q24906316
Eastern Sephardim
UNK
Q24906316
Eastern Sephardim
UNK
Q24906316
Eastern Sephardim
UNK
Q24906316
Eastern Sephardim
UNK
1492-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
1492
DATE
1497-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
1497
DATE
1948-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
1948
DATE
+15^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#decimal
15
NUMBER
subclass of
country
inception
part of
part of
country
follows
country
twinned administrative body
country
diplomatic relation