Burgher

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The Burgher are a Euro-Asian ethnic group in Sri Lanka that emerged from mixed marriages of European colonial settlers (mainly Portuguese, Dutch and English) with native Sinhalese and Tamil women.

etymology

The term "Burgher" originated from the Dutch word Vry Burger , which means "free citizen".

Demographics

According to the 2012 census, there are 37,000 Burgher in Sri Lanka. Most of them live in the capital Colombo . After Sri Lanka's independence from the British Empire in 1948, there were several waves of emigration, mainly to England, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the USA. The number of Burghers worldwide is estimated at more than 100,000 today.

definition

The Burgher were first officially defined under the British, although the term originated in the Dutch colonial era and was then common for the Dutch settlers and their descendants. In 1883, the chairman of the Ceylon Supreme Court announced that you can only be a Burgher if you have a Sri Lankan-born father with at least one direct European ancestor on your paternal side. The mother's origin does not matter.

Today all descendants of the European colonialists are called Burgher. The Burgher split into two groups: Dutch and Portuguese Burgher. The Dutch Burgher are lighter skin color and can prove European ancestors via the male line, so they have European surnames. Most of them belong to the Dutch Reformed Church. The Portuguese Burgher believed that they only had European ancestors, but could not prove this directly. You are darker skin tone and are Catholic.

history

The Portuguese conquered the coastal regions of Sri Lanka in 1518. As a result, the Portuguese conquerors mingled with the native Tamil or Sinhalese women. After the island fell to the Dutch in 1658, most of the Portuguese had to leave the country. Mixed race with a Portuguese, Sinhala or Tamil background, however, were tolerated, as well as Portuguese Jews ( Converso ) who had fled Portugal before the Inquisition. After the conquest of Sri Lanka, the Dutch began settling Dutch citizens who were called 'Burgher'. In 1675 there were only 68 married free Burgher on the island. This development documented a failure in the settlement policy of the Dutch, because only a few Dutch families decided to settle in Sri Lanka. In the first 30 years of Dutch rule over Sri Lanka, the Burgher community never grew beyond 500 people, mostly seamen, clerks, landlords and discharged soldiers. The Dutch East India Company (VOC) tried to support the settlement efforts with all its might: only Burgher had the privilege of opening shops and were given generous land and the right to free trade. Wherever possible they were preferred to the locals. The right to bake bread, slaughter and make shoes was given exclusively to the Burgher, the majority of whom were employees of the VOC. The marriage of a burgher to a local woman (often women of native Portuguese descent) was only allowed if the woman vowed to convert to Christianity. The daughters from such relationships then had to marry a Dutchman in order to keep the mixture of races as small as possible.

A rapidly growing European community developed in the 18th century (a mix of Portuguese, Dutch, Sinhalese and Tamils). They dressed European, spoke Dutch or Portuguese.

The Dutch Burgher were lighter skin color, belonged to the Dutch Reformed Church and spoke Dutch. The Portuguese Burghers (later called Mechanics ) were darker skinned, Catholics, and spoke Creole Portuguese. Since the Portuguese under their rule forced local employees to be Catholic and to adopt a Christian name, many Portuguese burghers were unsure whether they actually had European ancestry or not.

Only Dutch Burgher could become clergymen ( Predikants ) of the Dutch Reformed Church at this time . In the last decades of Dutch rule over Sri Lanka, the Burgher formed a vigilante who defended the fortifications of Colombo during the 4th Dutch-British War. Although there were no demographic surveys for the Burgher parish during the Dutch colonial period, it can be said that the increase was constant. A modest but regular influx of newcomers from Europe mingled with the families who had lived on the island for several generations. It is thanks to this that the Burgher community was able to maintain its open character and heterogeneous cultural traditions.

At the time of the British conquest in 1796 there were 900 families of Dutch Burgher in Ceylon, concentrated in Colombo , Galle , Matara and Jaffna . During the British rule, the Burgher were included in the colonial administration as employees, lawyers, soldiers and doctors. They became a privileged class on the island.

The Dutch Burgher, now subjects of the British Crown, gradually abandoned the Dutch language and made English their own language. By 1860 the use of Dutch had disappeared among the Burghers. Creole Portuguese was used as a colloquial language by the Portuguese Burgher families until the end of the 19th century.

Today the Burgher are a small, but still influential minority in relation to their number. Their social status within their community depends on the degree of their intermingling with Sinhalese or Tamils: the more European, the more recognized. Most of them are teachers, lawyers, business people and live mainly in the cities along the west coast. Their situation changed abruptly when Sinhalese was made the state language in 1956 and this tore the English-speaking Burgher out of their privileged social position. Many then left the country, also for economic reasons. Those who stayed behind are losing importance and were about to merge with the colorful mix of the Sri Lankan population. With the strengthening of Sinhala and Tamil nationalism, however, an increasing nationalism among the Burgher and a growing together of the various Burgher communities in Sri Lanka can be observed.

Well-known Burgher

See also

literature

  • Dennis B. McGilvgray: "Dutch Burghers and Portuguese Mechanics: Eurasian Ethnicity in Sri Lanka". In: Comparative Studies in Society and History 24.1 (1982), pp. 235-263.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Department of Census and Statistics Sri Lanka: Population by ethnic group according to districts, 2012 .
  2. ↑ Burgher , First Lanka Sri Lanka Info Website