The Luso-Asian Community of Malacca

I always find myself drawn to the context and origins of Luso-Asian communities as a way of understanding the actions of individuals and family groups that so many readers have shared with me over the years. My own perspective is that sometimes the current focus on ancestry and cultural identities tends to obscure the larger picture, what some have called “the sweep of history” or the historical context. It is a reality that this history provides specific answers to the questions of why and where our ancestors settled over the last five hundred years.

That is, there are identifiable reasons why Luso-Asians, in particular, migrated from Goa, traveled across India and Southern Asia, settled in Macau, migrated to Hong Kong, and eventually left the Far East for Europe, Australia, the United States, and Latin America. So, while it might be relevant that your DNA contains 20% Portuguese, 30% South Asian, and portions of other ethnic groups, the explanation of how these particular sets of genes were assembled in the first place can only be found in the actual places of origin, and in the historical reasons why large communities of Luso-Asians came to settle in these locations.  

In any case, that’s my theory and I hope you will see its validity in the next few articles. As always, please send me any comments or observations you might have.

Introduction

By the late 19^th century Hong Kong not only grew into a major center of Western trade with China, but was a stepping stone for Portuguese migration. Much of the dispersion can be attributed to Macau’s slow decline since the 18th century due to a deteriorating economy, and the growing trade focused along the southern coast of China. Well before the British victory in the Opium Wars, Macau’s relations with China had been conflicted by the pressures imposed by the European powers on the Imperial Court, which Portugal supported. The attraction of economic opportunities offered by the new trade, which mainly by-passed Macau, eventually proved too much of an attraction and convinced many Macanese to leave. For those who had already emigrated to Hong Kong, disenchantment with colonial restrictions may have been another factor. This was especially true of second generation Macanese. We will recall from a previous study (p.4-5) of disproportionate wages structures for non-Europeans, discrimination in housing, membership restrictions in organizations, and general attitudes used to justify segregation along racial and class lines. Despite the relative security of most workers in Hong Kong, the perceived and actual limits placed on many Macanese soon became intolerable.^[1]

Within this context, our focus in the next three articles will be on migrations before and after the community settled in Hong Kong in the 19th century. The later migration in many ways extended connections among families, which grew more intense as generational links to businesses and other institutions developed. For while there was a movement of Macanese from Macau to Hong Kong beginning in 1841 at the end of the first Opium War, archival records in other settlements, especially in Shanghai after 1860, indicate that substantial numbers made the decision to migrate as the global China trade matured. Once this migration began, there are indications that many Macanese traveled frequently between Macau, Hong Kong, Thailand, Japan, Shanghai, and other “treaty” cities, conducting business and renewing relations, as the regional economy ebbed and flowed throughout the period.

The first question we must ask is: When did the migrations of Luso-Asians actually begin ? For many living outside Macau, the passage of immigrant families through Southeast Asian ports suggests a degree of autonomy that was enjoyed by many involved in trade. But this was not the case in the early 16th century among Portuguese who settled on the Malaccan Peninsula following the military’s first appearance there in 1509. A short review of the region’s history will illustrate how this migration developed from that point through the end of the 20th century.

Malacca (Malaysia)

News of Malacca’s commercial wealth, which was identified as the source of goods that filtered through the Silk Road into Venice, was initially reported around 1511 by Tome Pires, one of Alfonso Albuquerque’s chief agents and Portugal’s first ambassador to China. Upon witnessing Malacca’s vitality first hand, Pires marveled at the diversity of nations involved and advised the Portuguese general not to disrupt commercial relations first established by Imperial China over a century earlier. Pires also warned that Malacca’s Muslim ruler, Sultan Mahmud, who was a vassal to the King of Siam, had become an indolent despot. As the Sultan became more powerful, he stopped sending tribute to the Siamese monarch, while entrusting the government to one of his uncles, described by the Portuguese chronicler Castenheda as “a great tyrant and an enemy to all”.

Upon receiving Pires’ report, and a smuggled letter from a captive named Rui de Araújo informing him of the situation, Albuquerque dispatched envoys to Siamese King Rama Tibodi II declaring that he would not leave Malacca without defeating the Sultan and all who were helping him. Albuquerque added he would inform the King as soon as he was victorious, so that he could send his people to populate the town. Employing both military prowess and statecraft, the Portuguese general was intent on keeping the Siamese king in a state of war with the Malaccan tyrant, whose overthrow would benefit both Portugal and Siam, and solidify future relations in the region.[2] Albuquerque also sent envoys to neighboring kingdoms to sign peace treaties. Following the Portuguese victory, a small community of Europeans and Luso-Asians began arriving in Malacca in 1512, and settled for over 130 years.

After the Dutch expelled the Portuguese in 1641, however, most ship traffic between China and Macau was cut off from Malacca, which had become an important trading center. Hoping to make up its losses, Macau’s senate redirected traders to Manila, a Spanish colony controlled by Phillip II, who had unified Spain and Portugal in 1588. Relations between Portugal and Spain eventually deteriorated by 1640 leading to the Portuguese War of Restoration, which culminated in the crowning of Joao IV in 1668. Dutch blockades led to the seizure and destruction of numerous Portuguese ships through 1667. As a result, many traders returned to Macau and Portugal, leaving other ports in Southeast Asia open.

Up to then, the wealthiest Macau merchants authorized by the Estado do India in Goa had neglected these markets in deference to Malacca. It was not until the early 17th century, after Japanese and Chinese merchants began trading in Tonkin (Vietnam), Manila, Cambodia, Laos, and Siam (Thailand), that Luso-Asian “country” traders without charters from the Estado filled the void. Their efforts, according to the historian Brian Souza, “established or augmented existing … Portuguese populations and increased the frequency of trade visits to those states.” Many made a concerted effort to open diplomatic and commercial ties to “reinvigorate” trade and improve relations with political authorities, as well as finding shelter for Christian refugees expelled from Nagasaki in 1639.

The presence of these new traders effectively revitalized commerce in the region. Many were former slaves and servants who were familiar with the region’s customs and waterways. Most were the descendants of women who were abandoned when the Europeans returned to Macau.[3] They first congregated in Macassar, a city port in the Celebes to the southeast, where their ability to barter with the local population led to a small community of thirty or forty families. As in other Luso-Asian communities, the common language among the migrants was a Portuguese Creole, known as “Kristang”, which is closely related to Macau’s patois “Maquista”, no doubt fed by the influence of Luso-Asians who traded frequently there by the end of the 17th century.

After Malacca’s closure, Souza writes that “Portuguese country traders were attracted by Macassar’s convenience (to the rest of the Indonesian archipelago) and as a market where they could purchase all the major trading commodities…”. These included prized spices native to the region, which were exchanged for rice, silk, cotton cloth, pepper, tin, sandalwood, and silver used to purchase Chinese goods. The frequency of trade was relatively brisk for the period. Even at the height of the blockades from 1644 and 1667, forty-five (45) Macau trading vessels reached Macassar, while forty-one (41) made the return trip.

In 1647, however, the Portuguese Crown ruled that negotiations with local Indonesian sultanates would henceforth be conducted by Francisco Vieira de Figueiredo, a wealthy ship owner and a major supporter of the Jesuits. But by1665 Figueiredo and his household were forced by the Dutch to retreat to Larantuka on the island of Flores. That settlement also did not last long. Several Jesuits began the exodus by moving to more receptive, and ultimately more profitable, destinations such as Cambodia and Siam.

Due to the presence of the Dutch, and the isolation of Malacca from Macau, the Luso-Asian populations of these outer regions tended to remain static throughout much of the 18th century. By the 20th century the Portuguese communities of Malacca, Larantuka and Macassar were hardly noticed by the rest of the world. In 1979 the historian Ian Hancock placed the population of “Malaccan Creoles” (Jenti Kristang) at less than 4,000. John Byrne, a demographer of the region, cites a 2000 census that lists only 2,150 Portuguese and Creole speakers in Malaysia. Other Luso-Asian communities were similarly scattered across Southeast Asia, including present day Sri Lanka, Timor, Cambodia, and Vietnam, all of which retain vestiges of their culture in language, religion, architecture, literature, and local foods.

Portuguese migrations to Siam (Thailand) and other ports in Southeast Asia endured for a longer period. Those will be the subject of the next post through this link.

Notes

[1] The tensions created by a “modern” life of commerce in Hong Kong as opposed to a “cultural” life in Macau were articulated by the Macau journalist Manuel da Silva Mendes in 1919: “Whoever puts as the main purpose of your living (is to) earn money, you will feel that you live better in Hong Kong than Macau. … Anyone who does well in the midst of the great movement, hustle and noise, will like the life of Hong Kong more. …, but in this case the point is misunderstood. … Cities like men, are not measured by spans, like donkeys because they have big ears. … the superiority of Hong Kong over Macau, taking away its trade and relative parts, consists of mainly of having larger ears. Macau is an old city, but despite this, or even for that reason, it is … far superior to Hong Kong.”  Manuel da Silva Mendes, “Macau and Hong Kong”, O Macaense newspaper, December 7, 1919.

[2] Simão de Miranda, Albuquerque’s envoy, arrived in a fleet of ships with great ceremony and bearing many rich gifts, including a sword and armor embellished in gold. The King of Siam was so pleased that he provided good lodgings and food, offering to show the entourage many towns and the monarch’s herd of white elephants, which represented his title as the Lord of the White Elephants. Miranda returned to Malacca with the King’s reply that he would be pleased to conclude a peace treaty, and sent Albuquerque a gift of twenty bells and performers that could play tunes on them. He also loaded the envoy’s junks with rich merchandise, and offered personnel and supplies for the Portuguese in Malacca. Gaspar CORREIA: Lendas da India, Ch. XXX, translation by PINTADO: 275.

[3] Ronald Daus, Portuguese Eurasian Communities in Southeast Asia, Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore, 1989, pgs. 6-7, 45.