This map shows Sephardic emigration from the Iberian Peninsula after the expulsion of 1492, with dates of establishment of new communities where known.

The first group of Jewish settlers to reach North America had first made their homes in the more tolerant Dutch colony of Brazil. When Brazil was reconquered by the Portuguese, these Jews had to flee once again. 23 Jewish settlers reached New Amsterdam in 1654, and steadily grew into a tight knit and well-established New York community.