of Golkonda and this was seen as beneficial to Fort St. George, so Madras Jews were gradually accepted as honourable citizens of Fort St. George/Madras. Jacques de Paiva (Jaime Paiva), originally from Amsterdam and belonging to Amsterdam Sephardic community, was an early Jewish arrival and the leader of Madras Jewish community. He built the Second Madras Synagogue and Jewish Cemetery Chennai in Peddanaickenpet, which later became the South end of Mint Street, Jacques (Jaime) de Paiva (Pavia) established good relations with those in power and bought several Golconda diamond mines to source Golconda diamonds. Through his efforts, Jews were permitted to live within Fort St. George. Jacques (Jaime) de Paiva (Pavia) died in 1687 after a visit to his Golconda diamond mines and was buried in the Jewish cemetery which he had established in Peddanaickenpet, which later became the north Mint Street, alongside the synagogue which also existed at Mint Street. After Jacques (Jaime) de Paiva (Pavia)'s death in 1687, his wife Hieronima de Paiva fell in love with Elihu Yale, Governor of Madras and went to live with him, causing quite a scandal within Madras’ colonial society. Governor Elihu Yale later achieved fame when he gave a large donation to the University of New Haven in Connecticut, which was then named after him — the Yale University. Elihu Yale and Hieromima de Paiva had a son, who died in South Africa. In 1670, the Portuguese population in Madras numbered around 3000. Before his death he established ‘The Colony of Jewish Traders of Madraspatam’ with Antonio do Porto, Pedro Pereira and Fernando Mendes Henriques. This enabled more Portuguese Jews, from Leghorn, the Caribbean, London and Amsterdam to settle in Madras. Coral Merchant Street was named after the Jews' business. Three Portuguese Jews were nominated to be aldermen of Madras Corporation. Three - Bartolomeo Rodrigues, Domingo do Porto and Alvaro da Fonseca - also founded the largest trading house in Madras. The large tomb of Rodrigues, who died in Madras in 1692, became a landmark in Peddanaickenpet but was later destroyed. Samuel de Castro came to Madras from Curaçao in 1766 and Salomon Franco came from Leghorn. Isaac Sardo Abendana (1662–1709), who came from Holland, died in Madras. He was a close friend of Thomas Pitt and may have been responsible for the fortune that Pitt amassed. Portuguese Jews were used as diplomats by the East India Company to expand English