Interesting info, Chirimoya.
For converso Jews and Moors, 1492 was a good time to get out of Dodge. The inquisition was in full gear. It is widely believed that the first European to set foot in the New World from the Santa Maria was Jewish.
Just think, the girl that AZB was with last night might have some Jewish blood!
Unfortunately for the conversos, the inquisition followed them to Santo Domingo, Peru and Mexico.
I read an article about Jewish cultural traits found among some northern Mexicans (e.g. lighting candles on Friday night). I wonder if there are any here in the DR?
I remember explaining to friends that their surname, Perez, is well known to be of Jewish origin. They gasped and immediately crossed themselves. I suspect that the inquisition lives much more strongly in people than any Jewish traits.
Knowing Dominican history, I question how much Dominican lineage can be traced to the conquistadors anyway. Remember that anybody who had any means at all fled the island during the 18th and early 19th century, and that the North coast was abandoned by the Spanish altogether (with the Spaniards ordered to move to Monte Plata - named after a contraction of Monte Cristi and Puerto Plata - in the interior) and essentially ceded to pirates. I suspect, as Chirimoya points out, that the European aspect of the Dominican ethnicity is (unlike Northern Mexico) more traceable to later Spanish (Canary Island and Galician) immigration, as well as to Dutch/Portuguese/French/British pirates and traders.