"Following the #1492 expulsion of #Jews from the #IberianPeninsula, a new #Sephardic #diaspora came into being, predominantly settling in the lands of the vast #OttomanEmpire, which stretched to the #Balkans. Many settled in the #Mediterranean port city of #Thessaloniki (also known as #Salonica or #Saloniki). By the 1519 #Ottoman census, #Jews accounted for 54% of the city’s total population, making it the largest Jewish community in the world, and the only major European city with a majority Jewish population. It soon came to be known as the “Jerusalem of the Balkans” and for centuries was a predominantly Jewish city."


