The Jews and the Expansion of Europe is a splendid collection of essays on the role of the Jews in the New World colonies and the impact that the American (chiefly the West Indies and South America) environment had upon them. This study of Europe’s expansion to the West encompasses two-and-a-half centuries, thousands of miles of land, and an international convergence of Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, English, French and future United States Jews and New Christians interacting and influencing each other and influencing and being influenced by their countries of origin. The essays are grouped in seven sections differentiated by chronology and nationality of colony and home country. The opening section is a discussion of the impact of the New World upon European, and especially, European Jewish consciousness. Next is presented the identity crisis and reshaping of Judaism among conversos and marranos in Spanish America. Part 3 focuses on the experience...

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