Sri Lanka Kaffirs

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Sri Lanka Kaffirs
Total population
Few thousand (2005)
Roman Catholic, Buddhism

The Sri Lankan Kaffirs (cafrinhas in

Baila
.

Etymology

The word

kafir
, "unbeliever".

History

Kaffirs have an oral history maintained by families that are descended from slaves from Africa. While Arabs were the original slave traders in the African Great Lakes slave trade via the Indian Ocean slave trade, Portuguese colonialists later brought Bantu slaves to the Indian subcontinent.[3] However fragmented official documentation may be, the recent public promotion of their music and dance forms allows the broader Sri Lankan society to acknowledge and better understand Kaffir history.[4]

Historical records indicate that Portuguese traders brought Siddis to the Indian subcontinent between 300 and 500 years ago.[3] The Kaffirs were brought to Sri Lanka as a source of labour between the ninth and nineteenth centuries by Arab merchants.[5]

The Portuguese, Dutch, and the British used the Kaffirs as a part of their naval forces and for domestic labor.

Sinhalese–Portuguese War (Mulleriyawa (1562), Randeniwela (1630), Gannoruwa (1638)).[8]

Demography

The descendants of the freed Kaffir slaves are still a distinctive community are mainly found in the former occupied territories of the Portuguese colonists, mainly near Puttalam, in the North Western Province of Sri Lanka but also in areas such as Trincomalee, Batticaloa and Negombo.[9] There was some contact between the Kaffir and the Burghers, communities of partly European ancestry on the East coast of Sri Lanka.[10]

Religion

Sri Lanka Kaffirs originally adhered to traditional faiths. However, they now practice religions from

Catholicism to Buddhism.[11]

Culture

Sri Lanka Kaffir culture is a direct link back to their distant past in the African Great Lakes, which is rapidly disappearing.

Music

Main article: Baila music

Baila is a form of dance music popular in Sri Lanka, originating centuries ago among the Kaffirs or Afro-Sri Lankan communities (mixed communities consisting of Portuguese, Bantu, and native Sri Lankan people). It has its origins in African folk music of the east coast of Africa was later amalgamated with European instruments and eastern and western rhythms, especially rhythms found in Spain and northern European folk music.[12]

Language

They spoke a distinctive creole based on Portuguese. The extinct language was known as 'Sri Lankan Kaffir language'.[13] It differs from Sri Lankan Portuguese creole.

See also

References

  1. ^ "WWW Virtual Library Sri Lanka: Kaffirs in Sri Lanka - Descendants of enslaved Africans". www.lankalibrary.com.
  2. ^ Careem, Tuan M. Zameer .(2017). Persaudaraan (Brotherhood). Malay Life in Sri Lanka (2nd ed). Colombo: S Godage & Brothers. Print
  3. ^
    PMID 21741027
    .
  4. ^ a b "Sunday Observer Magazine | Sundayobserver.lk - Sri Lanka". Archived from the original on 2015-02-18. Retrieved 2015-02-18.
  5. ^ de Silva Jayasuriya, S. (2008). African identity in Asia: Cultural Effects of Forced Migration
  6. ^ de Silva Jayasuriya, S. (1999). Portuguese in Sri Lanka: influence of substratum languages. Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland 9(2): 251-270.
  7. ^ de Silva Jayasuriya, S. (2006). Trading on a thalassic network: African migrations across the Indian Ocean. International Social Science Journal 58 (188), 215-225.
  8. doi:10.1111/j.1468-2451.2006.00613.x
    .
  9. ISBN 978-90-04-16291-4
    . page 164.
  10. ISBN 978-981-4260-83-1
    . page 31.
  11. ^ People of Sri Lanka, Dialogue and Official Languages. Ministry of National Co-existence. 2017. p. 13.
  12. ISBN 978-1-78533-069-8
    . page 52.
  13. ^ "Have you heard about the Kaffirs?". Archived from the original on 2021-03-16. Retrieved 16 January 2021.

External links

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