Portuguese A Famosa fort in Malaka, Malaysia

In Thailand there is still a very small Portuguese community in Bangkok that descended down from the Ayuthaya period. Most of them changed their surnames but some still use names like ‘Na Silawan’ (da Silva) or ‘Yesu’ (de Jesus). BY CONSTANTINO HERMANNS XAVIER

By now we have sailed to all eight member-countries of the Community of Portuguese Speaking countries (CPLP). The Portuguese heritage and impact on Goa, Daman and Diu is known to most of the readers and has been presented in previous columns. So, have we come to an end of our lusophone tour? No. The global lusophone reality is far more than the institutional setup created with the CPLP, as we have agreed upon when we sailed off some weeks ago. Lusophonia is far more than Portugal and Portuguese language. It is a common global heritage. There is a larger dimension of small, semi-diluted and forgotten lusophone realities scattered around the world. These communities have the right to be an active part of Lusophonia.

Today we thus move around five continents to rediscover all these small elements that compose this lusophone dimension. Anywhere on the coasts of Asia, America and Africa you can find a fort, a church, a geographical name or a family name, that come from Portugal. The Dutch Governor Antonio Van Diemen said in 1642: “Most of the Portuguese in Asia look upon this region as their fatherland, and think no more about Portugal”. This symbolizes an essential particularity of Portuguese colonization, because within a negative framework of a many times violent colonization it also permitted a positive emergence of hybrid identities.

Let us start in Africa. In Senegal there is the city of Ziguinchor where Portuguese Creole language and names are still present. It is located within the region of Casamanse and its separatist tendencies are many times justified with the fact that it is a lusophone society contrasting with francophone Senegal. On the Slave Coast, next to Nigeria, is the Portuguese Fort of Sao Joao Baptista de Ajuda (today Ouidah), built in 1680. Many see its annexation by the Kingdom of Dahomey (now Benin) in 1961 as the beginning of the end of Portuguese colonial period.

Further South is the tiny nation of Equatorial Guinea, which has been seeking to be part of the CPLP and where Portuguese surnames and Portuguese Creole language subsist. We could cross the Atlantic Ocean for lusophone South America (and, to a certain extent, North America), but we have visited Brazil before. Let us instead move to the West African coast and visit Kenya. Here there is a Portuguese discoverers landmark in Malindi (Padrao, from 1498) and in Mombasa stands the large Forte de Jesus, which was recently renovated by the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation. In neighbouring Tanzania there is the Portuguese fort of Gereza (1505), on the historical Kilwa Kisiwani island, which is on the World Heritage list. The contact between the Portuguese and Africans also influenced the local Swahili language, which has more than 120 words of Portuguese origin.

Moving North to the Middle East we have the monumental Portuguese fort of Hormuz with its impressive underground water cisterns (in present Southern Iran; first conquered by Afonso de Albuquerque in 1507). There are many more beautiful 16th century forts in this region, like in Saudi Arabia (Tarut fort), Oman, Yemen, Bahrain, or even on the Island of Sokotra (now to Great Britain).

Let us cross the Indian Ocean to Burma and meet the people of Portuguese descent called “Bayingys”. They are Catholics and still live scattered in 13 villages in Sagaing Division in Upper Burma. In Bangladesh, there is the Rosary Church in Dhaka, recently renovated along with its historical Catholic cemetery. Just across the border, in today’s East Bengal, the Kolkata census of 1911 counted 254 Portuguese-speaking people, 10 Portuguese and 644 Goans.

Southwards, we have historical Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) whit a strong Portuguese presence that lasted over a century. A Eurasian community (Portuguese Burghers), Portuguese surnames (Perera, Silva), personal names (Pransisku=Francisco) and titles (Sinno, Dona), are proofs of this influence. Many of the forts like in Batticaloa (1628), Trincomale(1624) and Jaffna (1560) were damaged or demolished during the civil war. 250 families in Batticaloa spoke Portuguese Creole as late as 1984 but its almost extinct today.

In Thailand there is still a very small Portuguese community in Bangkok that descended down from the Ayuthaya period. Most of them changed their surnames but some still use names like ‘Na Silawan’ (da Silva) or ‘Yesu’ (de Jesus). In Malaysia there is the village of Malacca with a small Eurasian Community (mostly fishermen) which speaks a local Eurasian Creole language named Papia Kristang (around 1000 people speak it, 95% of its vocabulary is derived from Portuguese). In the Dutch-style St. Peter’s church (1710) there is a bell dated 1608 manufactured in Goa.

We have been to the former Indonesian province of Timor, but there are many other lusophone communities and heritage in the largest Muslim country of the world. In Bandaneira (Banda) one of the few Portuguese reminders is the metal ceremonial hat (shaped like the Iberian soldier’s helmet of the 16th century) worn during the kora kora war canoe races. In Sikka (Flores) there is a dance named Taja Bobu performed by Portuguese settlers in the area 400 years and still performed today. On Saturdays the women of Larantuka say the rosary in a corrupt form of Portuguese.

Let us now move back to India. Along the Indian shores, there were about 44 communities where Portuguese was spoken. But, besides the better known Baçaim (Vasai), Daman, Diu, Calicut, Cannanore (Kannur) and Cochin (Kochi), there is Tarapur, with a Portuguese fort, and a Coat of Arms and inscription dated 1593. If many know that Mumbai was once Portuguese, not many will know that in busy rail hub Thane there is a Portuguese St John Baptist church with a bell (72 feet high), which is believed to be the largest amongst the remaining Portuguese churches in India. In this metropolis, in 1906, there were still 5.000 people speaking Portuguese Creole. There is also a lusophone heritage in Chaul (Revdanda) and in Korlai, where besides the fortress and a Portuguese church, there is a small community (900) that has Portuguese Creole form of as their mother tongue.

There are many other places and communities like these on the Indian coastal regions. Like most of the other small lusophone communities scattered around the world, they are stuck in-between the shadow of a distant past Empire and the basic necessities to survive and keep their traditions alive. While trying to promote this global heritage, we should avoid transforming them into mere museum pieces or destroy their historical habitat with mass-tourism.

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