# Why are Wikipedia pages about Jews in a country called "History of the Jews in..." ? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 22, 2015, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-wikipedia-pages-about-jews-in-a-country-called-history-of-the-jews-in/715656 "2015-03-22T03:18:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Haberdash](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Haberdash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Haberdash)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2015, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-wikipedia-pages-about-jews-in-a-country-called-history-of-the-jews-in/715656/1 "2015-03-22T03:18:28Z")
> **[Christianity in Cuba](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christianity_in_Cuba)** > > Christianity has played an important role in Cuba's history. Cuba was discovered by Christopher Columbus a few days after he arrived to the New World in 1492. In 1511, colonization began when the Conquistador Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar established the Catholic Church in Cuba with the early priest Fray Bartolomé de las Casas known commonly as "the Protector of the Indians". Along with Catholicism, Protestantism came during the same time. > Catholicism was established early while Protestantism came ... > **[Islam in Cuba](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islam_in_Cuba)** > > Cuba is a majority Christian nation, with Islam being one of the smallest minority faiths in the country. According to a 2011 Pew Research Center report, there were then 10,000 Muslims in Cuba who constitute less than 0.1% of the population. As of 2012, most of the 10,000 Cuban Muslims were converts to the religion. > At a certain point there were many Muslim students entering the nation of Cuba interested in studying at Cuba's prestigious schools. The number of students was approximately 1500–200... but never “Judaism in Cuba”, always [History of the Jews in Cuba - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Jews_in_Cuba) Essentially every country has the same. What point is being made by this? Who successfully lobbied for this titling scheme and when? ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2015, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-wikipedia-pages-about-jews-in-a-country-called-history-of-the-jews-in/715656/2 "2015-03-22T03:21:03Z")
Because not all Jews practice Judaism? Judaism is the religion of the Jews, an ethnic group, but you don’t have to give up your ethnicity just because you don’t practice its religion. ---
**Author:** ![handsomeharry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9c0ed/32.png) [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2015, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-wikipedia-pages-about-jews-in-a-country-called-history-of-the-jews-in/715656/3 "2015-03-22T03:30:08Z")
nm ---
**Author:** ![cckerberos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f0a364/32.png) [@cckerberos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cckerberos)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2015, 9:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-wikipedia-pages-about-jews-in-a-country-called-history-of-the-jews-in/715656/4 "2015-03-22T09:03:20Z")
Why are you asking here instead of on Wikipedia? ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2015, 9:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-wikipedia-pages-about-jews-in-a-country-called-history-of-the-jews-in/715656/5 "2015-03-22T09:43:20Z")
> [@Haberdash](#): > > Why are Wikipedia pages about Jews in a country called “History of the Jews in…” ? […] > but never “Judaism in Cuba”, always [History of the Jews in Cuba - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Jews_in_Cuba) Really? [ul] [li][Judaism in Mexico](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judaism_in_Mexico)[/li][li][Judaism in Nepal](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judaism_in_Nepal)[/li][li][Judaism in Australia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judaism_in_Australia)[/li][/ul] ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2015, 10:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-wikipedia-pages-about-jews-in-a-country-called-history-of-the-jews-in/715656/6 "2015-03-22T10:09:16Z")
Most countries have Christian communities because of converts, whereas most countries have Jewish communities because of immigration. Hence, the history of the first is the history of the religion, whereas the history of the second is the history of the people. ---
**Author:** ![Weeping\_Wyvern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/858c86/32.png) [@Weeping\_Wyvern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Weeping_Wyvern)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2015, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-wikipedia-pages-about-jews-in-a-country-called-history-of-the-jews-in/715656/7 "2015-03-22T14:49:06Z")
I’m glad I’m not the only one who finds this naming convention strange. If you want to focus on the people instead of the religion, then why not title the article “History of Jews in X”? The “the” seems totally unnecessary to me. ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2015, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-wikipedia-pages-about-jews-in-a-country-called-history-of-the-jews-in/715656/8 "2015-03-22T15:05:39Z")
> [@Haberdash](#): > > Essentially every country has the same. What point is being made by this? Who successfully lobbied for this titling scheme and when? I don’t see that there’s any “point” being made. My guess would be that the titling scheme was established by the first person who was sufficiently interested in and dedicated to the histories of the Jews across various countries, to write several of the articles. ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2015, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-wikipedia-pages-about-jews-in-a-country-called-history-of-the-jews-in/715656/9 "2015-03-22T16:02:56Z")
> [@Weeping\_Wyvern](#): > > I’m glad I’m not the only one who finds this naming convention strange. > > If you want to focus on the people instead of the religion, then why not title the article “History of Jews in X”? The “the” seems totally unnecessary to me. Some ethnicities get a definite article, some don’t (the French, the Turks, the English, the Jews, the Maltese etc.). Some can go either way (“the Greeks” and “Greeks” both sound OK) some sound weird if you add the definite article (“the Hispanics, the Arabs”). I’m not really sure what the pattern is, but it seems to be pretty standardized, so not really strange that Wikipedia adheres to it. ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2015, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-wikipedia-pages-about-jews-in-a-country-called-history-of-the-jews-in/715656/10 "2015-03-23T14:29:42Z")
> [@Dr.Drake](#): > > Because not all Jews practice Judaism? Judaism is the religion of the Jews, an ethnic group, but you don’t have to give up your ethnicity just because you don’t practice its religion. You will also find this happening sometimes with respect to “the Amish”. Yes, Amish is a religion (a form of fundamentalist Christianity), but they are also a major ethnic group that formed when followers of the Amish faith emigrated _en masse_ to North America and formed their own communities, many of which still speak German. The Amish ethnicity and the Amish faith still largely overlap as they receive very few converts and apostates can easily become accepted as part of the larger German-American population. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_T](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Gary\_T](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_T)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2015, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-wikipedia-pages-about-jews-in-a-country-called-history-of-the-jews-in/715656/11 "2015-03-23T15:08:24Z")
When I hear of conflicts that involve Christians and/or Muslims, it seems it’s usually in terms of the religion, i.e. it’s because they practice/adhere to/believe in Christianity/Islam. When I hear of conflicts that involve Jews, it seems it’s always because they ARE Jews, not because they practice/adhere to/believe in Judaism. Stereotypes and attitudes about Jews have transcended the actual religion for centuries, and have made being Jewish (or labeled so) a prominent issue. Judaism, and the practice or non-practice thereof, is a minor aspect of it.