Sephardic Journeys: Travel, Place, and Conceptions of Identity

This essay will discuss two kinds of journeys—one actual and one metaphorical. The journeys made by Sephardic merchants between Europe, West Africa and the Spanish American colonies will be examined, along with the concept of journeying itself within the context of the early modern world. What will also be discussed is the manner in which two specific Sephardic merchant families originally from Portugal—the Fidalgo and the Gramaxo—acted and reacted to the stigmatising factor of Jewish ancestry. One family made a journey towards the open practice of Judaism while the other journeyed away from their Jewish ancestry and toward incorporation into the Catholic Christian elite. The factors that led to these very different responses to issues of cultural and religious identity will be explored.