Sri Lanka Kaffir people

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The Kaffirs (English) or cafrinhas (Portuguese) are an ethnic group in Sri Lanka who are partially descended from 16th century Portuguese traders and the African slaves who were brought by them, as well as local Tamil and Sinhalese people.

The Kaffirs spoke a distinctive creole based on Portuguese, the Sri Lanka Kaffir language, now extinct. Their cultural heritage includes the dance styles Kaffringna and Manja.

1 Etymology
2 Demography
3 History
4 See also
5 External links

[edit] Etymology

The name "Kaffir" is an obsolete English term once used to designate African natives in general, especially from the western and southern coasts. (It is now used in South Africa as a pejorative term for black people). "Kaffir" derives in turn from the Arabic kafir, "infidel", which was used by the Arab slave traders to refer to those natives.

It is not clear whether the Portuguese name cafrinha was derived from English "Kaffir" after the English took over Sri Lanka, or came directly from the Arabic kafir in the 16th century, when the Portuguese were buying slaves from the Arab traders

[edit] Demography

Kaffir communities are still found mainly in the northwest province of Puttalam. There was some contact between the Kaffir and the Burghers, communities of partly European ancestry in the east coast of Sri Lanka.

[edit] History

Following the expulsion of the Moors from the Iberian peninsula, the Portuguese started a vigorous program of sea exploration. By 1444 they had reached the west coast of Africa and became involved in the African slave trade. They imported slaves to the maritime provinces of Sri Lanka, then called Ceylon.

The descendants of the freed African slaves are still a distinctive community near Puttalam in the Northwestern province of Sri Lanka. They interacted with the Burgher communities, descendants of Europeans and native Sri Lankans, at Trincomalee and Batticaloa on the east coast of the island.