As you could hear in the clip, the life of Jews who took refuge in Portugal changed drastically within a few years. King Emmanuel, the ruler of Portugal, initially guaranteed their protection, but a couple of years later (1496), when he married Infanta Isabella of Aragon, he forced them to convert to Christianity. They were called the “New Christians” or “conversos”. Some of those new Christians who remained in Portugal,continued to, practise Jewish religion and traditions in secret.They were called the “crypto-Jews”. Those who had not been converted were expelled from Portugal at the turn of the 15th and 16th century. Many of them left for the Netherlands, France, Denmark, even North Africa or the American continent. One of the most famous diasporas lived in Amsterdam ( like Mathilde Sugarman’s ancestors), where Rembrandt depicted them in his paintings.
The official discrimination and persecution carried out by the Inquisition only ended in the 19th century, and the rebirth of the Jewish community started with the foundation of Israeli Jewish community of Lisbon. The bases of the new community were Sephardic Jews from North Africa.