The course from Brazil to New Amsterdam, The Saint Charles , Vol. I, No. 1, January 1935. Drawn by William N. Denton, Jr., 1934.

The First Jews Travel to America

In the last days of August 1654 or the first week of September, twenty-three refugees set out from Brazil after it was retaken by the Portuguese. There is no evidence that the goal of these twenty-three was the North American Dutch town of New Amsterdam. Their ship was taken by Spanish privateers, and the Spanish-Portuguese conversos on board were removed and shipped back to Spain to face the Inquisition. The unconverted Jews were released and took passage on another vessel which took them to New Amsterdam. They arrived on the island of Manhattan a despoiled, impoverished, sorry lot. Three hundred years later, American Jewry, five million strong, was the largest, the most cultured, and the most affluent community in all Jewish history.