Jewish Communities of the Islamic World: A Historical Map of MENA Jewry

This map shows the distribution of Jewish communities in Islamic countries as they were in the Early Modern period (1500–1750). Jews have lived across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) since ancient times—not only in the land of Israel, but also in Egypt, Babylon (Iraq), and Persia (Iran). After Islam’s rise in the seventh century CE, Muslim empires spread throughout the Mediterranean basin, the Middle East, and Central Asia bringing Arabic and Islamic culture. Christian kingdoms reconquered Iberia in the thirteenth century. In 1492, the rulers of Spain expelled the Jews, and, in 1497, the Portuguese king forcibly converted the Jews of his kingdom. Over the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, Jewish exiles from Spain and fleeing Portuguese Conversos found refuge in the Ottoman Empire and parts of North Africa.