In the period 1645-65, the Dutch Sephardic Jewry (of Amsterdam, Middelburg, and Rotterdam) so ref 123 p399 tells us, was the main engine behind the Sephardic Atlantic colonisation movement. But this push needed to be veiled especially in the case of the Resettlement of Jews in England and elsewhere in the English maritime empire given the hostility between the Dutch and the English and also between the Dutch and the Portuguese, with whom England became allied as marked by the marriage of Charles 2 and Catherine of Braganza in 1662. Within the Dutch maritime empire Curacao and the Guyanas were of most interest. Several colonizing voyages occurred which included Livorno Jews, but refs 123, 21 and 119 contain inconsistent accounts as shown below.

David Nassy (an experienced Jewish refugee from Dutch Brazil - who must have left before the final fall of Dutch Brazil in 1654) was interested in establishing a community on Curacao. However it was poor for agriculture and he seems not to have been attract enough settlers and he made little progress despite an agreement with WIC on 22 Feb 1652. The leaders of Middelburg, Vlissingen and Vere had agreed on 24 Dec 1657 with WIC to form a colony on the ''Wild Coast'' between the Orinoco and the Essequibo Rivers in the region of the current Republic of Guyana (formerly British Guiana) under the experienced Aert Adriensen van Groenvegel with his deputy Cornelius Goliath to govern the eastern (Pomeroon) region. David Nassy was asked to transport Jews from the Netherlands for this venture, which he did but later some of the Pomeroon Jews thought Nassy took better care of the Jews of Cayenne where he settled (see below)! The project was promoted in Livorno and in this the favourable terms under which Jews could establish themselves were noted by the English and later used in their own efforts to attract and retain Jewish settlers to Surinam. We derived from ref 21 much of the material here and in the following paragraph.

Use of Spanish-speaking Jews from Livorno appeared integral to the settlement plan (to facilitate trade with the Spanish colonies) but it is not known whether the Livorno Jews were collected on the way or were first shipped to the Dutch ports. A number of ships containing Jews left the Netherlands - the Joannes from Vlissengen on 2 Feb 1658 and the d'Eendract (known as Concordia) left Middelburg for Pomeroon on 12 May 1658. The Jewish leaders on the Concordia were David Vaz and Eliezer Abbas. On or about 5 Sep 1658 the Prins Willem left Vlissengen. Ref 21 p72 suggests Jews from Sale in Morocco - anxious to escape the religious fervour stirred up in 1658 by Sabbatai Zevi - came to Pomeroon on this ship and also some Jews from Hamburg (Emanuel de Campos, David d'Oliveira, David Nunes and Jacob Senior). In order to send supplies to the colony Middelburg, Vlissengen and Vere agreed on 10 Jun 1660 to use the Argyn - a ship of Philipe de Fuentes (another Jew from Brazil who was organising a private colonising venture with a party of Jews). It arrived by 20 Nov 1660 when de Fuentes wrote of good progress at Pomeroon. There were some difficulties - tropical disease - and on one occasion in late 1660 some Jews destined for Pomeroon were detoured to Tobago. The project flourished - becoming the most important ''Wild Coast'' settlement until sacked by the English in late 1665 or early 1666 and some of the Jews were transported to English Surinam. The Dutch reacted to this assault - Admiral Abraham Crijnssen captured Surinam on 6 Mar 1667 (ref 21 p88).

 In 1659, David Nassy negotiated a contract with the West India Company (WIC) to settle Cayenne. This project was promoted to the Jews of Livorno and other Italian Jewish communities. Most of the Jewish colonists seem to have come from Livorno, albeit shipped out from Amsterdam. In 1660 152 Jewish emigrants were reported as having reached Cayenne from Livorno (ref 123 p402 provided the reference for this) but - see next paragraph - the 152 seemed to have gone on to Tobago. Probably the names of these families exist in West India Company records but they have not been published. With or without these 152 Jews, the colony thrived until 1664 when the French took the island and moved many of the Jews and Dutchmen to La Rochelle, a small port on the border with Surinam. From here most no doubt proceeded on to Fort Zeelandia and to Jodensavanne, to be followed by those remaining Cayenne Jews moved by the English to Surinam after the English took Cayenne in 1667.

To Tobago, following a history of Dutch, Latvian and French tussles for control, in addition to opposition from local Indians, a representative of Livorno Jews (Paolo Jacomo Pinto, perhaps an unscrupulous operator) negotiated to bring two transports of Livorno Jews, the second comprising 120 people according to references given in ref 21 p63 and was to pass first through Zeeland. Ref 21 p63 also noted that in 1660 a vessel called Monte de Cisne brought 152 Livorno Jews though they had been intended for Cayenne. This vessel is probably the one referred to above (the chronicler was in both cases Daniel Levi de Barrios whose wife died in Tobago). Some of the Livorno Jews arriving in Tobago were exiles from Spanish Algiers and not particularly skilled, so for this and other reasons Tobago was never successful as a colony. Perhaps some of the 152 got to Cayenne from Tobago. In any case some Tobago Jews reached Surinam where they stayed but others ended up in Amsterdam poverty-struck.

Rens in ref 119 estimates that there were thus (up to) 200 Jews in Surinam in 1667. This includes some 100 Cayenne Jews and Rens believes that some of these originated in the group of 152 Jews from Livorno. Adding the Pomeroon and Tobago colonists makes up his upper estimate of 200. We know from ref 21 that apart from Surinam, some of the dislodged Livorno Jews ended up in other places like Curacao, Tucacas (in Venezuela) and Newport (Rhode Island).