Diaspora

Diaspora (Greek, “dispersion”), Jewish communities outside Israel. Traditionally, Jews outside Israel considered themselves in exile (Hebrew galut), but many Jews no longer hold this view. During the 20th century the word diaspora also came to be applied to many groups dispersed outside their homelands. Thus, we now speak of the African diaspora, Armenian diaspora, Indian or South Asian diaspora, and Irish diaspora, among others. Diaspora studies also became an academic discipline.

The Jewish Diaspora began with the exile of Judeans to Babylonia by Nebuchadnezzar in 586 bc. The majority of Judeans remained in Babylonia even after the refounding of Jerusalem. Under Hellenistic rulers, large numbers of Jews settled in Alexandria, Egypt. During the Greco-Roman period, Jews settled throughout Asia Minor and southern Europe. Many Jewish prisoners of war were brought to Rome after the destruction of Jerusalem in ad 70. From Italy, Jews migrated to France and Germany, and from there to England, Scandinavia, and eastern Europe (see Ashkenazim). Under the sway of Islam, Jews from North Africa moved westward into the Iberian Peninsula. Expelled by Christian rulers in the 15th century, these Jews, known as Sephardim, resettled in The Netherlands, the Balkans, Turkey, Palestine, and the Americas. In the 19th and 20th centuries, large numbers of central and east European Jews went to North America and, after World War II, to Israel.