Luso-Asians () are Eurasian people whose ethnicity is partially or wholly Portuguese and ancestrally are based in or hail primarily from Portugal, South Asia, Southeast Asia, and East Asia. They historically came under the cultural and multi-ethnic sway of the Portuguese Empire in the East and retain certain aspects of the Portuguese language, Roman Catholic faith, and Latin cultural practices, including internal and external architecture, art, and cuisine that reflect this contact. The term Luso comes from the Roman Empire's province of Lusitania, which roughly corresponds to modern Portugal.
Luso-Asian Art is also known as Indo-Portuguese Art (from India), Luso-Ceylonese Art (from Sri Lanka), Luso-Siamese Art (from Thailand), Luso-Malay (from Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore), Sino-Portuguese Art (from China), or Nipo-Portuguese Art (from Japan). Examples of this art, especially of furniture and religious art are found throughout Europe and in the islands of Macaronesia.Luso-Asian influences in Macaronesia. By Cliff Pereira. In Proceedings on the Asia-Pacific Regional Conference on Underwater Cultural Heritage. Edited by Mark Staniforth, Jennifer Craig, Sheldon Clyde Jago-on, Bobby Orillaneda and Ligaya Lacsina. 2011. Manila, Philippines.
Luso-Asians traded and influenced each other within Asia as well as with Portugal and other parts of Catholic Europe, especially Spain and Italy. This exchange produced distinctive elements in domestic, civic and religious Luso-Asian architecture, as well as Luso-Asian cuisine.
History The European continent exploration of the Asian continent after the arrival of D. Vasco Da Gama during the Age of Discovery in the Indian Ocean around 1498, was followed by the establishments of coastal trading bases called feitorias (factories) and forts. Portuguese traders, Catholic missionaries, who were Franciscans, Dominicans, Augustinians and Jesuits, such as Saint Francis XavierDiscoveries, Missionary Expansion and Asian Cultures. Edited by Teotonio R. de Souza. New Delhi. India 1994. and administrators poured into the vast region. These men often married local residents with the official encouragement of D. Alfonso de Albuquerque by the royals granted approval in the form called Politicos dos casamentos. A resultant mixed race Mestizo population that was Catholic and Lusophone (Portuguese-speaking) developed. The evangelical work of missionaries produced Catholic Asian communities speaking specific, Portuguese, Asian languages and often a Portuguese-based Creoles who produced religious artifacts, often in ivory, ebony, teak, silver, and gold. Asian women produced distinctive embroideries on velvet, silk, and cotton that were prized in Europe. The movement of Asian wives, Asian and European servants, and African slaves across the Portuguese Empire distributed Luso-Asian recipes throughout Asia and beyond. The people who hail from Portuguese and varied Asian ancestors are termed Luso-Asian.
Dispersal
Since the first voyages of the Portuguese into the Indian Ocean at the end of the fifteenth century, the Portuguese suffered a labour shortage as their European crew suffered from scurvy, malaria, and tropical diseases. Additionally the Portuguese relied on local mariners of the Indian Ocean World to guide them through the winds, currents and localized reefs. These men came from the maritime peoples of the region and included Swahili from Eastern Africa, Arabs, Indians from the coastal communities of Gujarat, Goa, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Bengal in India, Malays, and Chinese. As Portuguese trade increased in the sixteenth century, more Portuguese vessels arrived in Asia but an increasing number of European crew were leaving the ships to engage in local or "country trade". Some Portuguese even joined forces with local pirates.Pg.82. The Portuguese in the East: A Cultural History of a Maritime Trading Empire. By Shihan De Silva Jayasuriya. 2008. .
The Portuguese coined the term Lascarim from the Arab-Persian Lashkari to describe any crew from East of the Cape of Good Hope. Coming from areas of Portuguese influence, these men often spoke their own languages and broken Portuguese, which in time evolved into a creole Portuguese. The Lascarim became invaluable to further Portuguese exploration, defense and trade.Pp. 981–990. Luso-Asian influences in Macronesia. By Cliff Pereira. In Asia-Pacific regional Conference on Underwater Cultural Heritage Proceedings. Edited by Mark Staniforth, Jennifer Craig, Sheldon Clyde Jago-on, Bobby Orillaneda and Ligaya Lacsina. 2011. Manila, Philippines. The English East India Company employed Luso-Asians who they called Lascars in their very first voyages from London at the beginning of the seventeenth century, and by the eighteenth century, Lascars were common on British East India Company ships in the Atlantic. Luso-Asians arrived at ports in Europe, North America, BrazilEast in the West: Investigating the Asian presence and legacy in Brazil from the sixteenth to the eighteenth century. By Clifford J Pereira in Proceedings of the 2nd Asia-Pacific Conference on Underwater Heritage. University of Hawai'i, Manoa, Ohau. 2014. Edited by Hans van Tilburg, Veronica Walker, Brian Fahy and Jun Kimura. and the Atlantic coasts of Africa.
The dispersal of Luso-Asians occurred very early after the contact between Portugal and the late medieval nations of Asia. Indians, Siamese, Malays, Chinese and Japanese travelled to Portugal as sailors, clerics, servants, slaves and ambassadors. Many male Luso-Asians entered trade within the Portuguese maritime empire and many Luso-Asian women joined their Portuguese husbands or masters in official or unofficial capacities within the Portuguese sphere of influence. This genetic and cultural mixing especially between Portugal, Cochin, Goa, Ayutthaya, Malacca, Macau and Nagasaki in the sixteenth and early seventeenth century marks the first dispersal.
A second dispersal occurred in the seventeenth century as former Portuguese strongholds fell under the English or Dutch East India Companies, and with the loss of Portuguese privileges in Japan. Luso-Asians were dispersed as prisoners and refugees in this movement. Many Dutchmen in Ceylon, Malacca, Batavia and Timor married Luso-Asian women and this resulted in distinct Eurasian or Burgher communities. In Bengal, Kerala, around Madras and Bombay a similar process led to the creation of the Anglo-Indian communities. There was also some contribution of Ludo-Asians to French colonies in India. Luso-Asians from Malacca and Solor Island fled the Dutch and moved to Larantuka on Flores Island, where they mixed with the local Flores islanders, Papuans, Timorese and European men (both Portuguese and Dutch deserters) to form a unique Larantuqueiro culture.Pg. 134. The Luso-Asian and Other Eurasians. By John Byrne. In The Making of the Luso-Asian World: Intricacies of Engagement. Edited by Laura Jarnagin. 2011. Singapore.
The third dispersal came in the nineteenth century with the rise of British imperial power. The rise of British rule in Asia, corresponded with population increase in Goa and Macau and a general feeling that the Portuguese had all but forgotten their Asian colonies. Three events in particular provided the movement of Luso-Asians to areas under British influence; the signing of the Treaty of Nanjing in 1842 opened-up Hong Kong and Shanghai to the Macanese,Pp.151–169. Diáspora Macanese: Territóios, Itinerários e Processos de Integração (1936–1995) By Alfredo Gomes Dias. 2016. Macau. and increased migration of Malacca Portuguese to Singapore. The opening of the Suez Canal in 1869 brought opportunities for Goans in Aden. Finally the creation of the British Protectorate of Zanzibar in 1890 and development of the Uganda Railway brought further opportunities for Goans in East Africa.
A final dispersion occurred in the later half of the twentieth century. This last phase of dispersal was connected to European de-colonisation in Asia and Africa and increased nationalism and indigenisation in the new post-colonial nation states. In Asia the partition and creation of India and Pakistan, followed by the annexation of Goa were prime motivation for Luso-Asian migration within the Indian sub-continent. The rise of opportunities in the Persian Gulf absorbed much Luso-Asian migration. Similarly, there was Luso-Asian migration from independent Malaysia to Singapore. However, in the late 1960s Africanisation in East Africa brought about Luso-Asian migration from Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda to the United Kingdom and after 1971 to Australia and Canada. The mass expulsion of the Ugandan Asians in 1972 and that of Goans from Malawi added to the flow. The 1975 independence of Angola, Mozambique and to a lesser extent Cape Verde provided further refugee migration of Luso-Asians to Portugal and Brazil. In the last quarter of the twentieth century the departure of the Portuguese from Macau and the British from Hong Kong led to the migration of Luso-Asians (mainly Macanese) to Australia, Canada and the USA.Pp.175–250. Diáspora Macanese: Territóios, Itinerários e Processos de Integração (1936–1995) Arabisation in the Persian Gulf and increased persecution in Pakistan added to Luso-Asian migration to the same countries.
Ethnic legacy
Luso-Asian communities still exist in Asia and includes several diverse communities in parts of:
Republic of India (Goa, Daman, Diu, Dadra, Nagar Haveli, Korlai, Salsette, Kerala) China (Macau) Pakistan (Karachi) Malaysia (Malacca) Sri Lanka Timor Leste
who are collectively known as Luso-Asians. However, many Anglo-Indians and Eurasians can also be categorized as luso-asians because they have Luso-Indian ancestors especially on their female side. There is also a distinct Konkani-speaking Catholic community who call themselves East Indians and reside in Mumbai and who were under Portuguese rule prior to Bombay being handed to the British in 1661.
Luso-South Asians
Luso-Indians (Indo-Portuguese, Luso-Goans or Portu-Goeses) See main article Luso-Indians, Sephardic Jews in India
Indians and Luso-Goans are people who have mixed varied Asian, Indian subcontinental and Portuguese ancestry and are either citizens of India, Pakistan or Bangladesh today. They may also be people of Portuguese descent born or living in the Republic of India and resident in other parts of the world. Most Luso-Indians and Luso-Goans live in former Portuguese overseas territories of the Estado da India that are currently part of the Republic of India.
Indian subcontinent
Luso-Asians are primarily from the Indian states of Goa, Daman and Diu, Korlai, parts of Tamil Nadu, and parts of Kerala. In the Coromandel Coast, Luso-Indians were generally known as Topasses. They are majority Catholic and may have spoken or presently speak Portuguese Creole.
India, Daman
There are currently about 2000 people who speak Portuguese Creole in Daman.
India, Diu
In Diu, the Portuguese Creole language is nearly extinct. However, the Catholic community is very much alive.
Indian subcontinent, Goa: Luso-Goesas, Portu-Goesas, and Luso-Goans
Goa was the capital of a large Portuguese eastern empire. The Luso-Goan ethnicity is considered as being of Portuguese patrilineal descent mixed with Persian, Goud Saraswat Brahmin, Kunbi, Kharvi and other Konkani origins. Some also have African maternal ancestry due to Goa's contacts with the African territories of Portugal and the British African colonies. The mixed-race Luso-Goans are called Mestiços in the Portuguese language. Luso-Goans, or Porto-Goesas as they are also known in Portuguese, speak Konkani and some speak Portuguese though today most speak English as well. Their Konkani dialect is written in the Roman script and has a larger infusion of words of Portuguese origin as compared to the Konkani spoken by other communities.