| Total population | |
|---|---|
| Few thousand (2005)[1] ~1,000 (2009) | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
 Sri Lanka | ~1,000 |
| Languages | |
| Sri Lankan Portuguese Creole,Sinhala,Tamil | |
| Religion | |
| Originallyfolk religion Roman Catholic,Buddhism | |
TheSri Lankan Kaffirs (cafrinhas inPortuguese, කාපිරිkāpiriyō inSinhala, and காப்பிலிkāppili inTamil) are an ethnic group inSri Lanka who are partially descended from 16th-centuryPortuguese traders andBantu slaves who were brought by them to work as labourers and soldiers[2] to fight against theSinhala kings.[3][4] They are very similar to theZanj-descended populations inIraq andKuwait, and are known in Pakistan as Sheedis and in India asSiddis.[3] The Kaffirs spoke a distinctivecreole based onPortuguese, and the "Sri Lankan Kaffir language" (now extinct). Their cultural heritage includes thedance styles Kaffringna and Manja and their popular form of dance musicBaila.
The wordKaffir is an obsoleteEnglish term once used to designate natives from theAfrican Great Lakes andSouthern Africa coasts. In South Africa, it became a slur. "Kaffir" derives in turn from theArabickafir, "unbeliever".
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Kaffirs have anoral history maintained by families that are descended from slaves from Africa. WhileArabs were the original slave traders in theAfrican Great Lakes slave trade via theIndian Ocean slave trade, Portuguese colonialists later broughtBantu 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.[6] When Dutch colonialists arrived around 1600, the Kaffirs worked on cinnamon plantations along the southern coast and some had settled in theKandyan kingdom.[7] Some research suggests that Kaffir slaves were employed as soldiers to fight againstSri Lankan kings, most likely in theSinhalese–Portuguese War (Mulleriyawa (1562),Randeniwela (1630),Gannoruwa (1638)).[8]
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 nearPuttalam, in theNorth Western Province of Sri Lanka but also in areas such asTrincomalee,Batticaloa andNegombo.[9] There was some contact between the Kaffir and theBurghers, communities of partly European ancestry on the East coast of Sri Lanka.[10]
Sri Lanka Kaffirs originally adhered to traditional faiths. However, they now practice religions fromCatholicism toBuddhism.[11]
Sri Lanka Kaffir culture is a direct link back to their distant past in the African Great Lakes, which is rapidly disappearing.
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]
They spoke a distinctive creole based on Portuguese. The extinct language was known as 'Sri Lankan Kaffir language'.[13] It differs fromSri Lankan Portuguese creole.
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| Secondary Afro-American diaspora |
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