Portuguese Burghers
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| (5,000) | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| Sri Lanka, United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, USA | |
| Languages | |
| Sri Lankan Portuguese Creole, English, Sinhala and Tamil | |
| Religion | |
| Roman Catholic and other Christian denomination | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Burgher people, Portuguese, Dutch Burghers, Sinhalese, Kaffirs, Sri Lankan Tamil |
The Portuguese Burghers are an ethnic group in Sri Lanka, of mixed Portuguese and Sri Lankan descent. They are Roman Catholic and spoke the Sri Lanka Indo-Portuguese language, a creole based on Portuguese. In modern times, English has become the common language while Sinhalese is taught in school as a second language. A large number of Portuguese Burghers living on the east coast of Sri Lanka are of Portuguese descent; this is evident in the Sri Lanka-Indo Portuguese language, which has many affiliations to Sinhalese and Portuguese. They are mixed with other Burgher people, including Dutch Burghers. However, Portuguese Burghers are not Dutch Burghers.
The Portuguese Burghers are largely descendants of the Sri Lanka Mestiços, the people of mixed Portuguese and Sri Lankan descent (commonly of a Portuguese father and a Sri Lankan mother, or more rarely a Sri Lankan mother of Portuguese descent and a Sri Lankan father) who appeared in the 16th century, after the Portuguese explorers found the sea route to the Indian Ocean.
When the Dutch took over Coastal Sri Lanka (formerly Ceylon), the descendants of the Portuguese took refuge in the central hills of Kandyan Kingdom under Sinhalese rule.
In time, the Dutch and Portuguese descendants intermarried. Under Dutch rule Portuguese was banned, but the Portuguese speaking community was so widespread that even the Dutch started to speak Portuguese.
In the 18th century, the Eurasian community (a mixture of Portuguese, Dutch, and Sinhalese as well as Tamil, known as the Burgher) grew, speaking Portuguese or Dutch.
The Portuguese Burghers were more mixed, following Catholicism and speaking a Portuguese creole language. Despite the socio-economic disadvantage, the Burghers maintained their Portuguese cultural identity. In Batticaloa, the Catholic Burgher Union reinforced this. The Portuguese Creole continued to be used amongst the Dutch Burghers families as the informal language until the end of the 19th century.
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Wikipedia