Egyptian Jews constitute both one of the oldest and youngest
Jewish communities in the world. The historic core of the indigenous community consisted mainly of Arabic-speaking
Rabbanites and
Karaites. After their expulsion from Spain, more
Sephardi and Karaite Jews began to emigrate to Egypt and their numbers increased significantly with the growth of trading prospects after the opening of the
Suez Canal in 1869. As a result, Jews from all over the territories of the
Ottoman Empire as well as
Italy and
Greece started to settle in the main cities of Egypt, where they thrived. The
Ashkenazi community, mainly confined to
Cairo's Darb al-Barabira quarter, began to arrive in the aftermath of the waves of
pogroms that hit Europe in the latter part of the 19th century.