SusanÌâå«s exhibition is important and I hope to help take it to Recife, the city on the northeast coast of Brazil where the first Settellers in New Amsterdam originated.
The first jews here came with the initial Portuguese colonisers as New Cristians in the early 16th Century. They lived side by side with the Portuguese in the historic city of Olinda (close to Recife), now a well preserved UNESCO World Heritage City. These jews had the money and the know how to develop Engenhos to refine sugar, so were important to the Portuguese, but as New Christians they had to keep their religious idindity secret until the Dutch invasion, a period of time that saw the building of the street of the Jews and the first synagogue in the Americas.
The synagogue, the sugar mills and many of the houses the jews occupied in Olinda still stand. They will be the focus of tours I am developing for my travel guides. You can read more detailson my site.
SusanÌâå«s exhibition is important and I hope to help take it to Recife, the city on the northeast coast of Brazil where the first Settellers in New Amsterdam originated.
The first jews here came with the initial Portuguese colonisers as New Cristians in the early 16th Century. They lived side by side with the Portuguese in the historic city of Olinda (close to Recife), now a well preserved UNESCO World Heritage City. These jews had the money and the know how to develop Engenhos to refine sugar, so were important to the Portuguese, but as New Christians they had to keep their religious idindity secret until the Dutch invasion, a period of time that saw the building of the street of the Jews and the first synagogue in the Americas.
The synagogue, the sugar mills and many of the houses the jews occupied in Olinda still stand. They will be the focus of tours I am developing for my travel guides. You can read more detailson my site.