Argentine Jews

Argentine Jews

The history of the Jews of Argentina goes back to the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries, following the Jewish expulsion from Spain. Sephardi Jews fleeing persecution immigrated with explorers and colonists to settle in what is now Argentina. In addition, many of the Portuguese traders in the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata were Jewish. An organized Jewish community did not develop until 1810, however, after Argentina gained independence from Spain. By mid-century, Jews from France and other parts of Western Europe, fleeing the social and economic disruptions of revolutions, began to settle in Argentina.

Reflecting the composition of the later immigration waves, the current Jewish population is 80% Ashkenazi; Sephardi or Mizrahi are a minority. Argentina has the largest Jewish population of any country in Latin America, although numerous Jews left during the 1970s and 1980s to escape the repression of the military junta; some emigrated to Spain, other European nations, or North America.