Both Spain and Portugal have legislation in place to allow Sephardic Jews, meaning descendants of Jewish people with roots in the Iberian Peninsula, to claim nationality. What’s behind these laws? During the 15th and 16th centuries, Catholic monarchs in Spain and Portugal ordered Jews and other groups, such as Muslims and Romani, to convert to Catholicism. Hundreds of thousands of people were forcibly converted. Those who refused were publicly tortured and executed, while thousands more were exiled.
Curious to know more about the Iberian Inquisitions and the laws put in place in response to this harrowing period in history? Click on.