WI Spanish expulsion of Jews happened 2 generations after Columbus?

raharris1973

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In 1492 Castille-Aragon performed a trifecta, conquering Granada, expelling the Jews and backing Columbus.

What if they only did two parts of the trifecta, conquering Granada and backing Columbus, in the 1490s--and if expulsion if the Jews was postponed another 2 generations, about 60years, circa 1550?

Thus by the time the Spaniards do the expulsion, the foundations for Spanish America have been laid. Let's further assume Spain had no rule excluding Jews, at least Castilian ones, from the Americas.

How would the participation of Jews in early Spanish colonization have changed things? And, with expulsion being applied to Jews in Spain but also to Jews throughout the Spanish Empire, how do global migrations of Jews change?

Finally, a basic plausibility question- was the expulsion of 1492 the kind of thing that had to happen when it did, or not happen at all? Or is a scenario involving the same outcome decades later plausible?
 
If you have Jews in the New World for 2 generations after 1492, the odds are good that when it hits the fan in Spain a lot of the Jews in the New World will pick up and leave Spanish controlled territory. Possibilities become quite interesting.
 

Brunaburh

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If you have Jews in the New World for 2 generations after 1492, the odds are good that when it hits the fan in Spain a lot of the Jews in the New World will pick up and leave Spanish controlled territory. Possibilities become quite interesting.

OTL there were strict rules against Jews and Muslims going to the New World. There were plenty of Muslims in Spain in 1492, and thye don't seem to have gone there when their forced conversion occurred 20 or 30 years later. Not even conversos were allowed, so you need a different P.O.D to get Spanish Jews in America early, though there seem to have been Jewish influenced groups and perhaps crypto-Jews in 17th century Mexico OTL.
 
Don't expect much change for the americas. Might hamper the Ottoman Golden Age, though, which profited a lot from competent Sultans welcoming the sephardim.
 
In 1492 Castille-Aragon performed a trifecta, conquering Granada, expelling the Jews and backing Columbus.

What if they only did two parts of the trifecta, conquering Granada and backing Columbus, in the 1490s--and if expulsion if the Jews was postponed another 2 generations, about 60years, circa 1550?

Thus by the time the Spaniards do the expulsion, the foundations for Spanish America have been laid. Let's further assume Spain had no rule excluding Jews, at least Castilian ones, from the Americas.

How would the participation of Jews in early Spanish colonization have changed things? And, with expulsion being applied to Jews in Spain but also to Jews throughout the Spanish Empire, how do global migrations of Jews change?

Finally, a basic plausibility question- was the expulsion of 1492 the kind of thing that had to happen when it did, or not happen at all? Or is a scenario involving the same outcome decades later plausible?

The conquering of Granada sort of sealed the fate of the Spanish Jewry. Since once he was through supporting Isabel in that, Fernando wanted to focus on Aragonese interests (which meant empire building in Italy and the Levant). And to do the empire building, he needed money. Who had the money? Jews. So, the first laws were sumptuary laws, saying that Jews weren't allowed to dress above their station - i.e. had to wear the same clothes as their Christian counterparts did - and then they found themselves confined to the ghettos. Then came the law about them being obliged to convert - no Jew was allowed to even don clean clothes on the Sabbath, since this was considered a relapse. And finally, came the infamous edict banishing the Jews from Spain. It was in part driven by Isabel's mysticism (and Torquemada's zeal) of an idea of a "Catholic" Spain with no non-Christians, and in part by Fernando's greed.

Unfortunately, Granada falling was what freed up money for Columbus (the Spanish monarchs had kept him waiting at their pleasure since the early-mid 1480s IIRC). But, if for some reason, Torquemada/Ximenes (both of whom Fernando disliked - Torquemada for his zeal and influence over the Queen, Ximenes because he got the archbishopric-primacy of Toledo that Fernando had wanted for his bastard son) were to have their hand stayed until Columbus returned, with the wealth of the Indies, it might spare the Jews their expulsion, if not save them from the more crushing edicts regarding their wealth (for instance, OTL, they were allowed to sell their property in Spain, but they were not allowed to take the money out of Spain) or future (they were, like the Muslim undesireables, not allowed to go to North Africa, and they were limited to where they could go once leaving Spain). Many went to Portugal, but Fernando and Isabel got them out there, too, by insisting that Manuel I expel all Jews and institute a "Spanish" style inquisition before he could marry their daughter.
 
Oh, and it's unlikely that Isabel would allow Jewish settlers in America, Castile guarded those rights pretty jealously - IIRC they didn't even allow the Aragonese a look-in (can't remember if this was later relaxed or not). And I could see Isabel being determined that she will have no trace of heresy in her realms over the seas.
 
Just want to note something, Jews weren't allowed in the New World by the Spaniards. Theoretically, neither were recent converts. However during the early conquest period this rule was loosely enforced at best and many of the colonists and conquistadors were descendents of converts, and quite a few were Anusim. Of course, due to being secret, all we know is the Inquistion's records and a few individuals who lived more or less openly.
 

raharris1973

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Enforcing no greater religious purity on the overseas Spanish territories than on Spain itself is part of the PoD. When Spain decides to overtax and ultimately expel Jews from metropolitan Spain, then they Spanish colonial authorities can do the same, but not before.

Ximenes because he got the archbishopric-primacy of Toledo that Fernando had wanted for his bastard son) were to have their hand stayed until Columbus returned, with the wealth of the Indies, it might spare the Jews their expulsion, if not save them from the more crushing edicts regarding their wealth

I think they would have to be a little more patient than Columbus's return in 1493 would encourage. The America's were not a huge moneymaker in the 1490s.

(they were, like the Muslim undesireables, not allowed to go to North Africa, and they were limited to where they could go once leaving Spain)

Where were they allowed to go once leaving Spain?

.....and I think tons of Muslims and Jews violated any stricture against going to North Africa, given how many ended up in Morocco. Did they all take a short spell in a third country before moving there?


What's "Anusim", sounds like an Egyptian god or something.

IIRC they didn't even allow the Aragonese a look-in

That's fine - they can exclude Jews from the lands of Aragon. But Castilian Jews (and Granada was directly annexed to Castille, correct?) could go, as long as they were "legal" in the metropolis.

-----To me it seems this scenario complicates the expulsion. Jews in Spanish America are much further from non-Spanish territories than their relatives living in Spain. But, I see it boosting up Jewish population among neighbors and trading partners of Spain around the world (Jews from Spanish America for instance moving to Brazil, at least until kicked out again, and then moving to the non-Spanish European colonies of the Caribbean and Americas, and even some independent settlements.-----
 
Well why not let the Portuguese do it like in my TL "the City of water"? The Portuguese Empire was run on a shoestring budget of manpower and wealth; simply have the Jewry expelled to Portugal as IOTL where the Jewry were established and wealthy & for some reason take an citizens' interest in colonization but not trade. That way the Jewish settlers serve royal interests by settling and garrisoning provision points along the route to India while they are kept out of the lucrative and closely guarded Indian trade. This could be done for reasons of fear or simply the prospect of relative freedom far from Christian Europe.
 
No expulsion of jews might mean that Portugal doesn't have the funding for the Gama expedition. That means less of a pull to China after, no Manilla gallion.
Most importantly, if Spain doesn't feel as much like they got a bad bargain, they might not push for inland colonisation
 
If they somehow don't forbid people of "impure" blood right away, they will very soon. The Spanish Church saw the New World with its native inhabitants (who were unexposed to the heresy and corruption of the Old World) as sort of an Edenic land, ripe for establishing a more perfect Christian society. Part of that meant keeping infidel and heretical ideas away from the New World before they could corrupt the inhabitants (who were seen as childlike and thus both perfect targets for conversion and extremely vulnerable to being corrupted by exposure to foreign ideas). OTL they lobbied strongly to block both people of impure blood and books with dangerous ideas out of the New World. That's ideologically separate from the motivations behind the expulsion of Jews from Spain proper.
 
Enforcing no greater religious purity on the overseas Spanish territories than on Spain itself is part of the PoD. When Spain decides to overtax and ultimately expel Jews from metropolitan Spain, then they Spanish colonial authorities can do the same, but not before.

I think they would have to be a little more patient than Columbus's return in 1493 would encourage. The America's were not a huge moneymaker in the 1490s.

Where were they allowed to go once leaving Spain?

.....and I think tons of Muslims and Jews violated any stricture against going to North Africa, given how many ended up in Morocco. Did they all take a short spell in a third country before moving there?

What's "Anusim", sounds like an Egyptian god or something.

AFAIK, a lot f the Jews either went to Portugal or Italy. And from there - when Manuel was forced to expel them in '96/'97, for instance - to Africa. Basically the Catholic Monarchs were of the thing, convert or die, hence the name 'anusim - it means 'forced/coerced' in Hebrew. And then once they converted to Catholicism, there was a whole new round of laws. But, it was terribly easy to say that a Jew had "relapsed", and many Jews were accused of this OTL, because then the Inquisition seized them and the Crown seized their property.
 
OTL it appears there were conversos who were crypto Jews who went to the New World. In New Mexico there are some Hispanic families that have a history of having maintained a few Jewish traditions of the crypto Jews for some time and these practices are recalled even if no longer practiced. If Jews are permitted to go to the New World due to a more "liberal" treatment as outlined by the POD there are really two possibilities for them. One, like the Jews in Spain is to convert, the other is to leave. Depending on where they are in the Spanish holdings, leaving may not be much of an option. Some might be able to take ship and go to an English or Dutch colony where they might be allowed to land. Some might go overland beyond the limits of the Spanish controlled areas where they might be able to settle or even end up becoming accepted in a Native American community. As far as those who do convert, the Inquisition was active in the New World as well as the old, and "Judaizers" were always a prime target for inquisitors. I expect over time those conversos who were truly anusim would find a way to leave Spanish controlled areas and resume their faith.
 
What about setting up a new world pale of settlement? Spain has plenty of colonies and more than a couple (in their eyes) godforsaken backwaters that they could dump their Jewish population on, Florida or Patagonia could be used as a Jewish state.
 
The Pale of settlement was a Russian thing, they had a large Jewish population and were not pushing conversion like the Spanish were. Given the history of the Reconquista, which was only completed in 1492, I doubt the Spanish would be willing to have a Jewish majority area anywhere within their sphere. Furthermore the Catholic Church, especially the branch in Spain, wanted no part of any elements within the sphere that were not Catholic. After the Jews they went after any Muslims, and Protestants were not allowed in Spain either or in the Spanish colonies.
 

raharris1973

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Most importantly, if Spain doesn't feel as much like they got a bad bargain, they might not push for inland colonisation
Please explain what you mean here. Are you attributing conquistador aggressiveness on the American mainland to a desperate desire to "catch up" with Portuguese successes?

Some might be able to take ship and go to an English or Dutch colony where they might be allowed to land.

Hmm- a sephardic majority New Amsterdam?

Some might go overland beyond the limits of the Spanish controlled areas where they might be able to settle

Hmm - California, New Mexico, Texas, parts of Argentina, Brazil?

Some might go overland beyond the limits of the Spanish controlled areas where they might .... end up becoming accepted in a Native American community.

Jewish renegades living among the revolting Pueblo?
 
Please explain what you mean here. Are you attributing conquistador aggressiveness on the American mainland to a desperate desire to "catch up" with Portuguese successes?
There was definitely a feeling of humiliation by the crown. It was all useless, that road was blocked and the Portuguese got here first.

From there, we can theorise that sending conquistadors was a possible cheap way to get their money back, a bet, like they did with Colombus after Bartolomeu Dias passed the Cape of Good Hope.
If there had been more interest, maybe the crown would have gone in a more controlled way with less blind rampaging and more diplomacy
 
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