Burgher people

The Burghers are a Euro Asian ethnic group in Sri Lanka, which is (mostly Portuguese, Dutch and English ) emerged from intermarriage of European settlers of the colonial period with local Sinhalese and Tamil women.

Etymology

The term " Burgher " originated from the Dutch word Evry burger, which means " free citizens ".

Demography

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

Definition

The Burghers were first formally defined under the British, although the term originated in the Dutch colonial period and then it was common for Dutch settlers and their descendants. In 1883 the Chairman of the Supreme Court of Ceylon announced that they only had a Burgher, if you have a born in Sri Lanka 's father, paternal with at least one direct European ancestors. The origin of the mother is irrelevant.

Today, all descendants of European colonialists are called Burgher. The Burgher split into two groups: Dutch and Portuguese Burghers. The Dutch Burgher are lighter skin color and can prove the male line European ancestry, so have European surnames. They mostly belong to the Dutch Reformed Church. The Portuguese Burghers often believed to have only European ancestors, but this can not be directly detected. You have a darker skin color and are Catholics.

History

The Portuguese conquered in 1518 the coastal regions of Sri Lanka. In response, the Portuguese conquerors mingled with the native Tamil or Sinhalese women. Once the island fell to the Dutch in 1658, most of the Portuguese to leave the country. Hybrids with Portuguese, Sinhala or Tamil background but were tolerated and Portuguese Jews ( Converso ) who had fled from Portugal before the Inquisition. After the conquest of Sri Lanka, the Dutch began the settlement of the Dutch citizens who were called ' Burgher '. In 1675 there were only 68 free Burgher married 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 on the number of 500 persons, mostly seamen, employees, business people and demobilized soldiers. The Dutch East India Company (VOC ), the settlement attempted efforts to support with all his might, only Burgher had the privilege to open stores, and received generous land grants and the right to free trade. Wherever possible they were preferred to the locals. The right to bake bread to slaughter, and make shoes, got only the Burghers who were employees of the VOC in the majority. The Marriage of burghers with a local woman (often indigenous women - Portuguese descent ) was allowed only if the woman promised to convert to Christianity. The daughters of such relationships had in turn to marry a Dutchman, to keep the mixture of races as low as possible.

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

The Dutch Burghers were lighter skin color, belonged to the Dutch Reformed Church and spoke Dutch. The Portuguese Burghers (later called Mechanicsburg ) had darker skin, were Catholics and spoke Creole Portuguese. Since the Portuguese under their rule forced native workers to the Catholic faith and to accept a Christian name, many Portuguese Burghers were not sure if they actually had European ancestry, or not.

Exclusively Dutch Burgher could be at this time clergy ( Predikants ) of the Dutch Reformed Church. In the last decades of Dutch rule over Sri Lanka, the Burghers formed a vigilante group that defended the fortifications of Colombo during the 4th Dutch -British war. Although there was no population surveys for the Burgher community during the Dutch colonial era, it can be said that the increase was constant. A modest, but regular influx of new arrivals from Europe mingled with the families who lived for several generations on the island. Accordingly, it is thanks to them that the Burgher community could get their open character and the heterogeneous cultural traditions.

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

The Dutch Burgher, now subjects of the British Crown, the Dutch language gradually took off and made English to their own language. About 1860 the use of the Dutch had disappeared under the Burghern. The Creole Portuguese was further refined by the Portuguese Burghers families as their language until the end of the 19th century.

Today, the Burghers are a small, but in proportion to their number still influential minority. Their social status within their community is dependent on the degree of mixing with the Sinhalese or Tamils ​​: the European, the more recognized. Most of them are teachers, lawyers, business people and live mainly in the cities along the west coast. Your situation changed abruptly when in 1956 Sinhala was appointed the state language and this the English-speaking Burghers ripped from their privileged social position. Many left then, and economic reasons, the country. Those left behind are increasingly losing importance and were going to be working in the colorful mixture of the Sri Lankan population. With the rise of Sinhala and Tamil nationalism but also an increasing nationalism among the Burghern and coalescence of the various Burgher communities of Sri Lanka can be observed.

Known Burgher

Michelle Burgher Matara, Sri Lanka
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