History of The Jews in Sri Lanka

History Of The Jews In Sri Lanka

Jews in Sri Lanka have had a presence on the island nation since at least the 9th century. In the 10th century, Abu Zeid al Hasan, an Arab Muslim traveller from Siraf, Persia, stated that there were ‘a great number of Jews’ in Serendib, as Sri Lanka was known to the Arabs.

In the 12th century, Benjamin of Tudela, a Sephardi Jew (Jews of Spanish and Portuguese descent) who was a medieval adventurer from Navarre, Spain, reported that there were 3,000 Jews in Sri Lanka, although Tudela's figures are not always reliable.

These early Jews in Sri Lanka either assimilated into the local population over the centuries, or, upon the arrival of the Portuguese in the early 16th century, were forced to abandon their faith and identity (leading to an assimilation in more recent centuries) or slaughtered in an extension of the Portuguese Inquisition.

Neither practising Jews, nor people who preserved a knowledge of being descendants of Jews, appear to have survived from that early period, although Jewish lineages may be present. Holders of the "de Fonseka" surname in Sri Lanka may be the mixed descendants of "de Fonseca" surnamed people, which is commonly associated with Sephardi Jewish origins. The other famous know Jewish origin descendents would be the "Alkegama's". Their history could also be traced back all the way down to the Colonial times in Ceylon.

They possessed the skills and technology to build large engineering feats such as huge pagodas, palaces, buildings and reservoirs still can be found in the Rajarata (Valley of Kings) in Sri Lanka from their ancient engineering experience in building Pyramids during their internment in Egypt.