Dutch Brazil in the context of Natal, Rio Grande do Norte

American Jews (Hebrew: יהודים אמריקאים, romanized: Yehudim Amerikaim; Yiddish: אמעריקאנער אידן, romanized: Amerikaner Idn) or Jewish Americans are American citizens who are Jewish, whether by ethnicity, religion, or culture. According to a 2020 poll conducted by Pew Research, approximately two thirds of American Jews identify as Ashkenazi, 3% identify as Sephardic, and 1% identify as Mizrahi. An additional 6% identify as some combination of the three categories, and 25% do not identify as any particular category.

During the colonial era, Sephardic Jews who arrived via Portugal and via Brazil (Dutch Brazil) – see Congregation Shearith Israel – represented the bulk of America's then small Jewish population. While their descendants are a minority nowadays, they represent the remainder of those original American Jews along with an array of other Jewish communities, including more recent Sephardi Jews, Mizrahi Jews, Beta Israel-Ethiopian Jews, various other Jewish ethnic groups, as well as a smaller number of gerim (converts). The American Jewish community manifests a wide range of Jewish cultural traditions, encompassing the full spectrum of Jewish religious observance.

Pernambuco (/ˌpɜːrnəmˈb(j)uːkoʊ/ PUR-nəm-BEW-koh, -⁠BOO-, Brazilian Portuguese: [peʁnɐ̃ˈbuku] , locally [ˌpɛʁ-]) is a state of Brazil located in the Northeast region of the country. With an estimated population of 9.5 million people as of 2024, it is the seventh-most populous state of Brazil and with around 98,067.877 km, it is the 19th-largest in area among federative units of the country. It is also the sixth-most densely populated with around 92.37 people per km. Its capital and largest city, Recife, is one of the most important economic and urban hubs in the country. Based on 2019 estimates, the Recife Metropolitan Region is seventh-most populous in the country, and the second-largest in northeastern Brazil. In 2015, the state had 4.4% of the national population and produced 2.8% of the national gross domestic product (GDP).

The contemporary state inherits its name from the Captaincy of Pernambuco, established in 1534. The region was originally inhabited by Tupi–Guarani-speaking peoples. European colonization began in the 16th century, under mostly Portuguese rule interrupted by a brief period of Dutch rule, followed by Brazilian independence in 1822. Large numbers of slaves were brought from Africa during the colonial era to cultivate sugarcane, and a significant portion of the state's population has some amount of African ancestry.

Mestiço is a Portuguese term that refers to persons of mixed race, as people from European and Indigenous non-European ancestry.

Jacob Barsimson (Hebrew: יעקב ברסימסון) was one of the earliest Jewish settlers at New Amsterdam (New York City) and the earliest identified Jewish settler within the present limits of the state of New York. He was an Ashkenazi Jew of Central European background.

Barsimson had been sent out by the Jewish leaders of Amsterdam, Dutch Republic, to determine the possibilities of an extensive Jewish immigration to New Amsterdam. With the fall of Dutch Brazil, it was imperative for Jews planning to leave Europe to find other new homes.

The Congregation Shearith Israel (Hebrew: קהילת שארית ישראל, romanized: Kehilat She'arit Yisra'el, lit. 'Congregation Remnant of Israel'), often called The Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue, is an Orthodox Jewish synagogue located at 2 West 70th Street, at Central Park West, on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City, New York, United States.

Established in 1654 in New Amsterdam by Jews who arrived from Dutch Brazil, it is the oldest Jewish congregation in the United States. Until 1825, when Jewish immigrants from Germany established a congregation, it was the only Jewish congregation in New York City.

Frans Janszoon Post (17 November 1612 – 17 February 1680) was a painter during the Dutch Golden Age. He was the first European artist to paint landscapes of the Americas, during and after the period of Dutch Brazil. In 1636 he traveled to Dutch Brazil in northeast of South America at the invitation of the governor Johan Maurits van Nassau-Siegen. His works were widely collected in the Netherlands, Europe, and Brazil, with the works showing an idealized vision of Dutch colonial rule.