The Portuguese Jewish Community of Tunis

In 1593, Grand Duke of Tuscany Ferdinand I invited Jews to settle in Pisa and Livorno (Leghorn). Many New Christians and Jews of Spanish or Portuguese origin responded to this invitation, settling in the port of Livorno. From there they engaged in trade throughout the Mediterranean; some subsequently established themselves as agents in Tunis. By the early seventeenth century, a substantial community of Jews originating from Leghorn was working in Tunis as traders, bankers, and artisans. The local Jews referred to them as “Grana,” drawing on the Arab for Leghorn: Gorna. The native Tunisian Jews (“Touansa”) viewed the Grana, who retained their own language and European dress, with suspicion. In 1710, the Grana established a separate community with its own rabbi and administration, ratified in 1741.