A ghetto is broadly defined as a city neighborhood in which members of a minority group are ensconced. But the term is also associated with segregation, persecution, and impoverishment. The first semblance of a ghetto appeared in North Africa in the early 1300s. By the following century, ghettos were being established across much of Western Europe, mainly to seal displaced Jewish populations. The Second World War saw the establishment of the most notorious ghettos in history. In the United States, meanwhile, urban enclaves developed rapidly to house immigrants from far-flung lands, but some of these too would later be recognized as ghettos. So how exactly is a ghetto defined, and in which parts of the world did they flourish?
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