The Dutch Burghers of Sri Lanka. The Portuguese Burghers are an ethnic group in Sri Lanka, of mixed Portuguese and Sri Lankan descent. In modern times, English has become the common language while Sinhalese is taught in school as a second language. Dutch rule in Sri Lanka, Dutch colonial remains, Dutch colonial history, Dutch empire .At the 1981 Census, the Burghers (Dutch and Portuguese) were almost 40,000 (0,3% of the population of Sri Lanka). The Dutch Burghers and Portuguese Burghers contracted intermarriages. The Portuguese Burghers are largely descendant from the Sri Lanka Mestiços, the people of mixed Portuguese and Sri Lankan descent (either a Portuguese father and a Sri Lankan mother, or a Sri Lankan mother of Portuguese descent and a Sri Lankan father) who appeared in the 16th century, after the Portuguese explorers found the sea route to the Indian Ocean. A short documentary produced by the Sri Lanka Portuguese Burgher Foundation and the Burgher Union of Batticaloa about Portuguese creole and its users. Dutch Burghers and Portuguese Mechanics: Eurasian Ethnicity in Sri Lanka DENNIS B. McGILVRAY University of Colorado, Boulder I. PROLOGUE Historians and anthropologists in Sri Lanka have tended to migrate in opposite As the Sri Lanka Portuguese Creole is now only used at home and many are unable to speak the Creole very well, it is endangered. The Portuguese Burghers are largely descendant from the Sri Lanka Mestiços, the people of mixed Portuguese and Sri Lankan descent (either a Portuguese father and a Sri Lankan mother, or a Sri Lankan mother of Portuguese descent and a Sri Lankan father) who appeared in the 16th century, after the Portuguese explorers found the sea route to the Indian Ocean. Origins. The Portuguese Burghers are largely descendant from the Sri Lanka Mestiços, the people of mixed Portuguese and Sri Lankan descent (either a Portuguese father and a Sri Lankan mother, or a Sri Lankan mother of Portuguese descent and a Sri Lankan father) who appeared in the 16th century, after the Portuguese explorers found the sea route to the Indian Ocean. Before the tsunami they preferred to remain in their own enclaves - hardly making any contacts with their brethren in others parts of Sri Lanka and abroad. The World Bank classifies Sri Lanka as a low income country. Sri Lanka Portuguese (also known as Sri Lanka Creole Portuguese, Burgher Portuguese, or, in the past, Ceylon Portuguese) is a Portuguese-lexified creole language spoken by the Portuguese Burgher community of Eastern Sri Lanka and historically also by the Afro-Sri Lankan (locally known as Kaffir) and the Dutch Burgher communities. Sri Lanka - Burghers. Burgher people, also known simply as Burghers, are a small Eurasian ethnic group in Sri Lanka descended from Portuguese, Dutch, British [2] [3] and other European men who settled in Sri Lanka [4] [5] and developed relationships with native Sri Lankan women.