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When European empires expanded to the New World, their ships carried Jews to North America, Latin America, and the Caribbean. Jews were relegated to a marginalized group in Europe, but the New World opened up opportunities. They owned plantations and participated in extensive trading enterprises in the New World, including sugar cultivation, the triangulated slave trade, trade in precious gems, and the fur-trade. This course will investigate the ways in which Jews participated in colonial environments in the 16th-18th centuries: their business pursuits and their interactions with Europeans, Africans, and Native Americans. It will also explore Jews' improved status in diverse New World environments, and the ways Jews created hybrid communities in environments formerly devoid of Jewish life.