1634
the first jew
The first Jew to arrive in Curaçao was Samuel Cohen. He served as an interpreter on board the Dutch fleet under the command of Johan van Walbeeck, which conquered the island from the Spanish in 1634. He did not stay long, however.
1651
Congregation founded
It would be almost two decades later, in 1651, that the first dozen Jewish families from the Amsterdam Portuguese community settled on the island. These settlers were Sephardic Jews, originally hailing from Spain and Portugal. Their ancestors had fled persecution during the Inquisition starting some hundred and fifty years before. They found refuge first in tolerant Holland, then in Dutch Northern Brazil and later on right here in Curaçao, where they pioneered a new home and livelihood, and making way for many new Jewish arrivals.
1660
More Arrivals
In fact, from 1660 onwards practically every ship arriving on the island included at least one Jewish family. In subsequent centuries the Curaçao’s Jews would build a large successful regional network of trade, commerce and shipping with family members branching out to live and operate in countries and on islands all over and around the Caribbean Sea.
