Prior to the English occupation of Jamaica, when it was still under Spanish control, Jews generally self-reported as Portuguese. Following the English takeover, the inquisition lost its hold on Jamaica and practice no longer needed to be concealed. The image below may depict Shangare Yosher, a synagogue built in Kingston in 1787. Much of the Jewish community in Jamaica moged to Kingston following a severe fire that destroyed much of Port Royal, the community’s former center, in 1815.. Kingston quickly became the new center of the Jewish population, and other synagogues soon followed it. In 1831, Kingston jews successfully petitioned the English government for political rights- an argument which was referenced for the successful petition by London Jews in 1832 for the same. The image below was published in Kingston’s “The Jamaica Times” in 1941.