Although descendants of the "anusim" or crypto from the Iberian Peninsula, have lived in Panama since the early sixteenth century, there was there a Jewish community that has openly practiced their religion until it took centuries. Jews, both Sephardic (mostly Spanish and Portuguese Jews from nearby islands such as Curaçao, St. Thomas and Jamaica) and Ashkenazi, began arriving in Panama in large quantities until the mid-nineteenth century, attracted by economic incentives such as bi-oceanic railway construction and the California gold rush.