Jews

=== Middle Ages ===
{{further|History of the Jews in Europe|History of European Jews in the Middle Ages|Mizrahi Jews|Sephardi Jews}}
Jewish diaspora communities are generally described to have [[Coalescent theory|coalesced]] into three major [[Jewish ethnic divisions|ethnic subdivisions]] according to where their ancestors settled: the ''[[Ashkenazi Jews|Ashkenazim]]'' (initially in the Rhineland and France), the ''[[Sephardi Jews|Sephardim]]'' (initially in the [[Spanish and Portuguese Jews|Iberian Peninsula]]), and the ''[[Mizrahi Jews|Mizrahim]]'' ([[History of the Jews under Muslim rule|Middle East]] and [[North Africa]]).<ref>{{Cite book |last=Ben-Sasson, Haim Hillel |title=Jewish society through the ages |publisher=Schocken Books |year=1972 |editor=Ettinger, Samuel |oclc=581911264 |orig-year=1969}}</ref> [[Romaniote Jews]], [[Tunisian Jews]], [[Yemenite Jews]], [[Egyptian Jews]], [[Ethiopian Jews]], [[Bukharan Jews]], [[Mountain Jews]], and other groups also predated the arrival of the Sephardic diaspora.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.7312/simo10796 |title=The Jews of the Middle East and North Africa in Modern Times |date=2002 |publisher=Columbia University Press |jstor=10.7312/simo10796 }}</ref>

Despite experiencing repeated waves of persecution, Ashkenazi Jews in Western Europe worked in a variety of fields, making an impact on their communities' economy and societies. In [[Francia]], for example, figures like [[Isaac the Jew|Isaac Judaeus]] and [[Armentarius (moneylender)|Armentarius]] occupied prominent social and economic positions. However, Jews were frequently the subjects of discriminatory laws, [[Jewish ghettos in Europe|segregation]], [[blood libel]]s and [[pogrom]]s, which culminated in events like the [[Rhineland massacres|Rhineland Massacres]] (1066) and the [[expulsion of Jews from England]] (1290). As a result, Ashkenazi Jews were gradually pushed eastwards to [[History of the Jews in Poland|Poland]], [[History of the Jews in Lithuania|Lithuania]] and [[History of the Jews in Russia|Russia]].<ref>Harshav, Benjamin (1999). ''The Meaning of Yiddish''. Stanford: Stanford University Press. p. 6. "From the fourteenth and certainly by the sixteenth century, the center of European Jewry had shifted to Poland, then ... comprising the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (including today's Byelorussia), Crown Poland, Galicia, the Ukraine and stretching, at times, from the Baltic to the Black Sea, from the approaches to Berlin to a short distance from Moscow."</ref>

During the same period, Jewish communities in the Middle East thrived under Islamic rule, especially in cities like [[Baghdad]], [[Cairo]], and [[Damascus]]. In Babylonia, from the 7th to 11th centuries the [[Pumbedita Academy|Pumbedita]] and [[Sura Academy|Sura]] academies led the Arab and to an extant the entire Jewish world. The deans and students of said academies defined the [[Geonim|Geonic period]] in Jewish history.<ref>{{Cite web |title=GAON – JewishEncyclopedia.com |url=http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/6511-gaon |access-date=23 June 2020 |website=www.jewishencyclopedia.com}}</ref> Following this period were the [[Rishonim]] who lived from the 11th to 15th centuries. Like their European counterparts, Jews in the Middle East and North Africa also faced periods of persecution and discriminatory policies, with the [[Almohad Caliphate]] in [[North Africa]] and [[Iberian Peninsula|Iberia]] issuing forced conversion decrees, causing Jews such as [[Maimonides]] to seek safety in other regions.

Initially, under [[Visigothic Kingdom|Visigoth rule]], Jews in the Iberian Peninsula faced persecutions, but their circumstances changed dramatically under [[Al-Andalus|Islamic rule]]. During this period, they thrived in a [[Golden age of Jewish culture in Spain|golden age]], marked by significant intellectual and cultural contributions in fields such as philosophy, medicine, and literature by figures such as [[Samuel ibn Naghrillah]], [[Judah Halevi]] and [[Solomon ibn Gabirol]]. However, in the 12th to 15th centuries, the Iberian Peninsula witnessed a rise in antisemitism, leading to persecutions, anti-Jewish laws, massacres and forced conversions ([[Massacre of 1391|peaking in 1391]]), and the establishment of the [[Spanish Inquisition]] that same year. After the completion of the [[Reconquista]] and the issuance of the [[Alhambra Decree]] by the [[Catholic Monarchs of Spain|Catholic Monarchs]] in 1492, the Jews of Spain were forced to choose: convert to Christianity or be expelled. As a result, around 200,000 Jews were [[Expulsion of Jews from Spain|expelled from Spain]], seeking refuge in places such as the [[History of the Jews in the Ottoman Empire|Ottoman Empire]], [[North African Sephardim|North Africa]], [[History of the Jews in Italy#Early Modern period|Italy]], the [[Sephardic Jews in the Netherlands|Netherlands]] and [[Sephardic Jews in India|India]]. A [[Persecution of Jews and Muslims by Manuel I of Portugal|similar fate]] awaited the Jews of Portugal a few years later. Some Jews chose to remain, and pretended to practice [[Catholic Church|Catholicism]]. These Jews would form the members of [[Crypto-Judaism]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Schloss |first=Chaim |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OV9jKGJzg3QC |title=2000 Years of Jewish History: From the Destruction of the Second Bais Hamikdash Until the Twentieth Century |date=2002 |publisher=Feldheim Publishers |isbn=978-1-58330-214-9 |language=en}}</ref>