Iberian refugees arriving in Morocco encountered long-established Jewish communities rather than an empty landscape. Sources often distinguish the newcomers, known as megorashim, from local residents, or toshavim. Differences could involve language, marriage contracts, ritual usage, legal authority, and relations with rulers. These categories were historically important but never completely fixed; communities traded, debated, intermarried, and gradually reshaped one another. The resulting Moroccan Sephardic tradition emerged from encounter and negotiation, not simple replacement. Recognizing both populations prevents the history of Moroccan Jewry from being reduced to an extension of post-1492 Iberian exile.
