The Mardijker people refer to an ethnic community in the Dutch East Indies (present-day Indonesia ) made up of descendants of freed slaves. They could be found at all major trading posts in the East Indies . They were mostly Christian, of various ethnicities from conquered Portuguese and Spanish territories, and some with European ancestry. They spoke Mardijker Creole , a Portuguese-based creole , which has influenced the modern Indonesian language .
20-833: Luso-Asian interpreters between British and South Asian merchant marine sailors Not to be confused with Topasses , the Indonesian communities associated with Portuguese colonial rule, particularly in Portuguese Timor . [REDACTED] This article does not cite any sources . Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . Unsourced material may be challenged and removed . Find sources: "Topass" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR ( May 2020 ) ( Learn how and when to remove this message ) Topass ( Topass, Topass Seaman or Topas )
40-549: A group of people led by the two powerful families – Da Costa and Hornay – that resided in Oecussi and Flores . The Da Costa families were descendants of Portuguese Jewish merchants and Hornay were Dutch. The etymology of the name is obscure. It might come from the Tamil term tuppasi , "bilingual" or "interpreter". But it has also been associated with the Hindi word topi (hat) which refers to
60-709: The Dutch East India Company conquered Solor in 1613, the Portuguese community moved to Larantuka on Flores . Despite continuous hostilities with the Dutch, the topasses managed to obtain a steady foothold on Timor after 1641, and part of the population of Larantuka moved over to West Timor in the late 1650s, as a response to the establishment of the VOC in Kupang in 1653. They were able to defeat Dutch military expeditions on Timor with
80-706: The Indos in pre-colonial history , who were often also of Portuguese descent. During the colonial era, the Mardijkers eventually assimilated completely into the Eurasian Indo community and were no longer registered as a separate ethnic group. Between the 18th and 19th centuries, the Mardijkers exchanged their Portuguese-based creole for the Betawi language . A part of Jakarta is called " Kampung Tugu " an area where Mardijker people had been allowed to settle for after their freedom,
100-882: The Philippines and sold in slave markets in Batavia during the height of the Spanish–Moro conflict and the Sulu Sea piracy . In the Spanish Philippines , they were called "Mardica", as recorded in the Murillo Velarde Map . The term Mardijker is a Dutch corruption of the Malay word Merdeka, which originates from the Sanskrit Maharddhika meaning "rich, prosperous, and powerful". In the Malay archipelago, this term had acquired
120-528: The 19th century and only with continuous and heavy military force. The concept of Topass disappeared from the records in the 19th century. Between 1847 and 1913 the Portuguese had to mount more than 60 armed expeditions to subdue the Timorese in the interior of the island; a few of these revolts occurred in the old Topasses part, west of East Timor. Hornay and Da Costa's descendants continued to govern locally as rajas (or liurais) of Oecussi up to modern times. During
140-791: The European crew. Topaze Indo-Portuguese was a term applied in India by the British East India Company in the eighteenth century to describe Luso-Asians —usually from the Portuguese territories in the Indian subcontinent, or formerly Portuguese territories such as Bombay . One of the first references to them is in the British Anti-piracy campaign of 1756 when 300 Topaze Indo-Portuguese on the British ships Kent , Kingfisher , and Tiger captured
160-570: The Portuguese authorities installed a regular governor in Lifau, a move that was violently opposed by the Topass community. The Topasses had become a law unto themselves and drove out the Portuguese governor António Coelho Guerreiro in 1705. After more attacks from the Topasses in Lifau, the colonial base was moved east to Dili in eastern Timor in 1769. For long periods up to 1785, a state of warfare existed between
180-403: The VOC instead. The Topass still managed to hang on in Oecussi , and killed the Dutch commander Hans Albrecht von Plüskow in 1761, when he attempted to expand the Dutch sphere on Timor. Their power nevertheless receded by the late 18th century, due to diminishing economic and political opportunities. Still, neither Portuguese nor Dutch colonial influence could be firmly established on Timor until
200-456: The characteristic hat worn by the men of this community as a marker of their cultural attachment to the European community. Hence, they are also referred to as gente de chapeo in Portuguese accounts or as gens à chapeau in French accounts. It partly overlapped with the Dutch concept mardijker , "free men", who also usually had a Portuguese cultural background, but had no European ancestry. While
220-593: The early 1900s, the enclave of OeCussi was ruled by Dom Hugo Da Costa and Rainha Elena Hornay. Mardijker people The ancestors of the Mardijkers had been slaves of the Portuguese in India, Africa, and the Malay Peninsula, and were brought to Indonesia by the Dutch East India Company (VOC), especially after the 1641 Dutch conquest of Malacca , whereby Portuguese speakers in the city were taken as captive. Some were also Christian slaves captured by Moro raiders from
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#1732852027719240-453: The fortress of Geriah on 14 February 1756. References [ edit ] Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Topass&oldid=1225283570 " Category : Merchant navy Hidden categories: Articles with short description Short description matches Wikidata Articles lacking sources from May 2020 All articles lacking sources Topasses Topasses ( Tupasses, Topas, Topaz ) were
260-571: The help of Timorese allies, in 1653, 1655, 1656, and 1657. The peace treaty between the Kingdom of Portugal and the Dutch Republic in 1663 removed the acute threat from the latter. By this time the Topasses consisted of an ethnic mix of Portuguese, Florenese, Timorese, Indians, Dutch deserters, etc. Through their military skills, they were able to dominate large parts of Timor, with their center in Lifau in
280-482: The mardijkers served under the Dutch colonial authorities, the topasses of Timor were staunchly opposed to the Dutch and used the symbol of the king of Portugal as their ultimate authority. As a political entity in the eastern part of Insular Southeast Asia , they arose with the Portuguese settlement on the small Island of Solor (from the 1560s), using Solor as a stepping-stone to the trade in sandalwood on Timor. When
300-494: The meaning of a freed slave, and now means "independent". The Mardijkers mostly clung to their Catholic faith and continued to attend Batavia's Portuguese church, although many were eventually baptised by the Dutch Reformed Church . They were legally recognized by the VOC as a separate ethnic group and kept themselves apart from the native Javanese . During the VOC era, there was already considerable intermarriage with
320-575: The neighborhood retains its Portuguese distinctiveness. Historically these people also settled in Old Batavia's Roa Malacca district near Kali Besar; however, little historic buildings remain of what had been the historic quarter. Common Mardijker family names are De Fretes, Ferrera, De Mello, Gomes, Gonsalvo, Cordero, De Dias, De Costa, Soares, Rodrigo, De Pinto, Perreira, and De Silva. Some Mardijker families also took Dutch names such as Willems, Michiels, Bastiaans, Pieters, Jansz, Fransz, and Davidts. When
340-577: The power of the Muslim Makassarese who had recently made inroads in Timor. His small army of musketeers settled on Timor, extending Portuguese influence into the interior. After 1664 the Topasses were governed by the Hornay and Costa families, who held the titles captain-major (capitão mor) or lieutenant general (tenente general) in turn. The Portuguese appointed an administrator to Lifau in 1656 and in 1702
360-406: The present-day Oecussi-Ambeno enclave. The Topass community was led by their own appointed captains and had little contact with the viceroy of Portuguese India . They pressed Timorese princes to deliver sandalwood to the coast, which was sold to merchants from the Portuguese colony of Macau or to the Dutch. In 1641, their leader Francisco Fernandes led a Portuguese military expedition to weaken
380-464: The two Portuguese groups. In 1749 a political crisis involving Topass leader Gaspar da Costa resulted in another war with the Dutch. When he marched on Kupang with a considerable force he was routed and killed at the Battle of Penfui , after which the Dutch expanded their control of western Timor. Many Timorese princedoms which had hitherto been subordinated to Topass authority now fell away and allied with
400-556: Was a term used by the British Merchant Navy for the man who acted as an interpreter for a group or gang of Lascars or South Asian seamen on British vessels since at least the mid nineteenth century. Usually the topass came from the Luso-Asian communities, such as those from Goa and Bombay, and could speak English (and often Portuguese) to pass on instructions to a group of sailors and to report back or mediate between Lascars and
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