The product of many years of painstaking research by two late scholars, Richard D. Barnett and Philip Wright, this volume presents the texts or summaries of 1456 tombstone inscriptions of Jews who lived in Jamaica between 1663, when the British ousted the Spanish and 1880 when systematic registration of deaths was introduced.

Jewish families who had fled the Inquisition in Spain and Portugal settled in Jamaica in increasing numbers during that time. Ashkenazic Jews also settled there in the eighteenth century. The Jews played a significant part in developing the island's natural resources and its international trade.

Featuring detailed indexes by name, date and language The Jews of Jamaica is a valuable tool for the study of immigration to the Americas, the surnames, given names and genealogy of Sephardi Jews. The texts of the inscriptions, many of them in three languages (Hebrew, English and Portuguese or Spanish), are of cultural interest and in sometimes refer to dramatic events in the lives of the Jewish residents of Jamaica during a turbulent period.

Richard D. Barnett (1909-1986) was Keeper of Western Asiatic Antiquities at the British Museum and wrote about the Anglo-Jewish history and the Spanish-Portuguese Diaspora after the Expulsion.

Philip Wright (1910-1975) published a number of books on the history of Jamaica and the West Indies.

The Jews of Jamaica is a monument both to the little known Jewish community of a distant island and to the work of these two scholars.

ISBN 965-235-068-0

Hardbound, large format (8.5 x 11 ins.); 230 pages including plates.

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