[3] During the 18th and 19th centuries, Paradesi Jews were Sephardi immigrants to the Indian subcontinent from Arab and Muslim countries[4][5][clarification needed] fleeing forcible conversion, persecution, and antisemitism.

They had very good relations with the rulers of Golkonda because they maintained trade connections to some foreign countries (e.g. Ottoman empire, Europe), and their language skills were useful.

In contrast, most of the Paradesi Jews preferred to migrate to Australia and other Commonwealth countries, similar to the choices made by Anglo-Indians.

[7] The East India Company (EIC) wanted to break the monopoly of Portugal in trading with Golconda diamonds and precious stones from the mines of Golkonda.

The EIC entered India around 1600 and had built the Fort St. George (White Town) fortress by 1644[8][full citation needed] at the coastal city of Madras, now known as Chennai.

He built the Second Madras Synagogue and Jewish Cemetery Chennai in Peddanaickenpet, which later became the South end of Mint Street.

[12][13] de Paiva died in 1687 after a visit to his Golconda diamond mines and was buried in the Jewish cemetery which he had established,[13] alongside the synagogue which also existed at Mint Street.

[citation needed] Before his death, de Paiva established 'The Colony of Jewish Traders of Madraspatam' with Antonio do Porto, Pedro Pereira, and Fernando Mendes Henriques.

[17] Three - Bartolomeo Rodrigues, Domingo do Porto, and Alvaro da Fonseca - also founded the largest trading house in Madras.

[20] In 1688, the famous Sephardi poet Daniel Levy de Barrios wrote a poem in Amsterdam, with historical and geographical meaning.

His information was usually most precise and drawing upon him we may receive a panorama of Sephardi life in the seventeenth century.