A notable Portuguese American community has existed on the outskirts of Jacksonville since the nineteenth century. The origins of this community can be traced to 1838, when a Scottish reverend named Robert Reid Kalley visited the Portuguese island of Madeira and converted a number of the locals to Protestantism. These Madeiran Protestants faced discrimination and alienation due to being Protestant in a largely Catholic community, causing the converts to relocate from Madeira to the Caribbean island of Trinidad before coming to the United States in 1849 and settling near Jacksonville.