Reply To: Are sfardim from the 10 shvatim

the”sfardim” are really descendants of those who did not return from Bavel and spread across asia and north africa along the trade routes to the far east their religious authority was the yeshivot of Bavel the Ashkenazim left Eretz Yisrael to southern Europe due to Roman persecution and later troubles and spread northward into europe along the trade routes into germany and france