Although only slightly more than 107,000 people in Brazil self-identify as Jews, DNA studies indicate that approximately 17 million Brazilians, mostly in the Northeast, are the descendants of Jews forced to convert to Catholicism by the Inquisition. "The Portuguese Jews, persecuted by the inquisition, stript of their fortunes, and banished to Brazil, introduced, by their example, some sort of order and industry among the transported felons and strumpets by whom that colony was originally peopled, and taught them the culture of the sugar-cane. Upon all these different occasions, it was not the wisdom and policy, but the disorder and injustice of the European governments, which peopled and cultivated America." - Adam Smith (1776), Wealth of Nations
Posted on: Thu, 11 Jul 2013 11:02:33 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015