Editing Alhambra Decree (section)

===Dispersal===
{{ref improve|section|date=March 2019}}
The [[Sephardi Jews]] migrated to four major areas: North Africa, the Ottoman Empire, Portugal, and Italy.<ref name=":1" /> Some Spanish Jews who emigrated to avoid conversion [[Jewish diaspora|dispersed]] throughout the region of North Africa known as the [[Maghreb]]. The Jewish scholars and physicians among previous Sephardic immigrants to this area had reinvigorated the Jewish communities in North Africa.<ref name=":1" /> However, in the 1490s, parts of the Mediterranean world, including Morocco were experiencing severe famine. As a result, a number of cities in Morocco refused to let the Spanish Jews in. This led to mass starvation among the refugees, and made the [[Jewish refugees]] vulnerable to the predation of slavers, although the regional ruler invalidated many of these sales within a few years.<ref name=":1" /> A good number of the Jews who had fled to North Africa returned to Spain and converted. The Jews who stayed in North Africa often intermingled with the already existing [[Mizrahi Jews|Mizrahi]] Arabic or Berber speaking communities, becoming the ancestors of the Moroccan, Algerian, Tunisian and Libyan Jewish communities.

Many Spanish Jews also fled to the [[Ottoman Empire]], where they were given refuge. Sultan [[Bayezid II]] of the [[Ottoman Empire]], learning about the expulsion of Jews from Spain, dispatched the [[Ottoman Navy]] to bring the Jews safely to Ottoman lands, mainly to the cities of [[Thessaloniki]] (currently in [[Greece]]) and [[İzmir]] (currently in [[Turkey]]).<ref>[https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/vjw/Turkey.html "Turkey"], ''Jewish Virtual Library''</ref> Many of these Jews also settled in other parts of the Balkans ruled by the Ottomans such as the areas that are now Bulgaria, Serbia and Bosnia. Concerning this incident, Bayezid II is alleged to have commented, "those who say that Ferdinand and Isabella are wise are indeed fools; for he gives me, his enemy, his national treasure, the Jews."

A majority of Sephardim migrated to [[Kingdom of Portugal|Portugal]], where they gained [[Expulsion of the Jews from Portugal|only a few years of respite from persecution]]. About 600 Jewish families were allowed to stay in Portugal following an exorbitant bribe until the Portuguese king entered negotiations to marry the daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella. Caught between his desire for an alliance with Spain and his economic reliance on the Jews, [[Manuel I of Portugal|Manuel I]] declared the Jewish community in Portugal (perhaps then some 10% of that country's population)<ref>Kayserling, Meyer. "História dos Judeus em Portugal". Editora Pioneira, São Paulo, 1971</ref> Christians by royal decree unless they left the country. In return, he promised the Inquisition would not come to Portugal for 40 years.<ref name=":1" /> He then seized the Jews who tried to leave and had them forcibly baptized, after separating them from their children.<ref name=":1" /> It was years before the Jews who fled to Portugal were allowed to emigrate. When the ban was lifted, many of them fled to the [[Low Countries]], or the Netherlands.

Throughout history, scholars have given widely differing numbers of Jews expelled from Spain. However, the figure is likely to be below the 100,000 Jews who had not yet converted to Christianity by 1492, possibly as low as 40,000. Such figures exclude the significant number of Jews who returned to Spain due to the hostile reception they received in their countries of refuge, notably [[Fes]] (Morocco). The situation of returnees was legalized with the Ordinance of 10 November 1492 which established that civil and church authorities should be witnesses to baptism and, in the case that they were baptized before arrival, proof and witnesses of baptism were required. Furthermore, all property could be recovered by returnees at the same price at which it was sold. Similarly the Provision of the Royal Council of 24 October 1493 set harsh sanctions for those who slandered these New Christians with insulting terms such as ''tornadizos''.<ref name=":0" /><sup>:115</sup> After all, the Catholic monarchs were concerned with the souls of their subjects, and Catholic doctrine held that the persecution of converts would remove an important incentive for conversion. Returnees are documented as late as 1499.