Kristang people

The Kristang (otherwise known as "Portuguese-Eurasians" or "Malacca Portuguese") are a creole ethnic group of people of primarily Portuguese and Malay descent, with substantial Dutch, British, Jewish, Chinese, and Indian ancestry. They are based mostly in Malaysia, Singapore, and Australia, the last being due to significant emigration in the second half of the twentieth century. People of this ethnicity also have, besides Malay and Portuguese, Dutch ancestry due to intermarriages, which is common among the Kristang. In addition, due to persecution by the Portuguese Inquisition in the region, a lot of the Jews of Malacca assimilated into the Kristang community. The creole group arose in Malacca (part of present-day Malaysia) between the 16th and 17th centuries, when the city was a port and base of the Portuguese Empire. Today the Malaysian government classifies them as Portuguese-Eurasians; in Singapore, they are primarily known as Kristang. Today, elements of Kristang culture and identity, especially the Kristang language, which is classified as critically endangered by the UNESCO Red Book of Endangered Languages, are currently undergoing cultural and language revitalisation in both Malaysia and Singapore. The current 13th Kabesa or singular non-hereditary leader of the community worldwide and in Singapore is the Kristang Singaporean science fiction writer and linguist Kevin Martens Wong, while the current Regedor or Headman of the Portuguese Settlement of Malacca, the original, geographical, cultural and spiritual centre of the Malacca Portuguese identity, is Oliver Lopez.

Scholars believe the Kristang community originated in part from liaisons and marriages between Portuguese men (sailors, soldiers, traders, etc.) and local native women. The men came to Malacca during the age of Portuguese explorations, and in the early colonial years, Portuguese women did not settle in the colony. Nowadays intermarriage occurs more frequently between Kristang and people of Chinese and Indian ethnicity rather than Malay because of endogamous religious laws. These require non-Muslims intending to marry Malay-Muslims first to convert to Islam. Eurasians are not always willing to alter their religious and cultural identity in this way. In earlier centuries, Portuguese and local Malays were able to marry without such conversions, because religious laws were not enforced. Today, the Malay language, or Bahasa Melayu, has changed to incorporate many Kristang words. For example, garfu (Portuguese: garfo) is Kristang for "fork" and almari (Portuguese: armário) is Kristang for "wardrobe"; the Malay language incorporated these Kristang words whole.

The name "Kristang" is sometimes incorrectly used for other people of mixed European and Asian descent presently living in Malaysia and Singapore. This includes people of Portuguese descent who were not part of the historical Kristang community, and people with other European ancestry, such as Dutch or British.

The name comes from the Portuguese creole Kristang (Christian), derived from the Portuguese Cristão. A derogatory term for the Malacca Portuguese community was Grago or Gragok (slang term for Portuguese camarão (shrimp), referring to the fact that the Portuguese Malaccans were traditionally shrimp fishermen). In the native tongue, they also call themselves Gente Kristang (Christian people).

Malacca was a major destination in the great wave of sea expeditions launched by Portugal around the turn of the 16th century. It eventually was controlled as part of the Portuguese Empire. The first Portuguese expedition to reach Malacca landed in 1507. The Sejarah Melayu (Malay Annals) noted that the Malays first called them Bengali Puteh (White Bengalis), as the Portuguese brought to mind traders from Bengal (due to their appearance and possibly the sound of their language, which was in fact distantly related) but were more pale skinned. In the early years, the Malays called the Portuguese Serani (a Malay contraction of the Arabic Nasrani, meaning followers of Jesus the Nazarene). A story was recorded that the Portuguese landing party inadvertently insulted the Malaccan sultan by placing a garland of flowers on his head, and he had them detained. In 1511, a Portuguese fleet came from India to free the landing party and conquer Malacca.

At that time, Portuguese women were barred from travelling overseas due to superstition about women on ships, as well as the substantial danger of the sea route around Cape of Good Hope. Following the Portuguese colonization of Malacca (Malaysia) in 1511, the Portuguese government encouraged their explorers to marry local indigenous women, under a policy set by Afonso de Albuquerque, then Viceroy of India. To promote settlement, the King of Portugal granted freeman status and exemption from Crown taxes to Portuguese men (known as casados, or "married men") who ventured overseas and married local women. With Albuquerque's encouragement, mixed marriages flourished and some 200 were recorded by 1604. By creating families, the Portuguese men would make more settled communities, with families whose children would be Catholic and loyal to the Crown.

A powerful sea power, the rising Dutch nation took Malacca from the Portuguese in 1641. This coincided with the Portuguese Restoration War in Portugal that ended the 60-year Iberian Union (1580–1640), when the crown of Portugal was joined with the crown of Spain by personal union. Almost all political contact between Portugal and Malacca ended, and a large number of people of Portuguese descent in the city were evacuated to Batavia (now Jakarta), the Dutch East India Company headquarters, as war captives, where they settled in an area called Kampung Tugu. Portuguese trade relations with the former colonial outpost of Macau (China) have continued to this day.

Even after Portugal lost Malacca in 1641, the Kristang community largely preserved its traditions, practicing Catholicism and using the Portuguese language within the community. Some Dutch (crypto-)Catholics were also absorbed into the community during this time.