The earliest Jewish settlements were in the Spanish and Portuguese colonies, where Jews often had to worship in secret and were subject to the Inquisition.
The second stage of Jewish settlements were primarily in the Dutch and British colonies. Here Jews could worship openly, though their rights varied. Most communities had one synagogue which tended to follow Sephardic liturgy and customs.
Between the 1640s and 1820s the largest Jewish communities were in the Caribbean.
Early American Jews often had religious, cultural, and economic ties with Jews in other American ports.
