Overview

Vasco da Gama's voyage to India in the late 15th Century opened up new economic and cultural horizons for the Portuguese. At the height of Portugal's maritime influence, it had created an oceanic state ranging from the Cape of Good Hope to China. While Portugal's direct political influence in Asia was comparatively short-lived, its linguistic influence remains. Here Shihan de Silva Jayasuriya charts the influences of the Portuguese in more than fifty Asian tongues, illustrating the extent of Lusitanian links. Luso-Asian influence became engrained in eastern cultures in more subtle ways than other European empires which followed, such as the Portuguese oral traditions in folk literature, now embedded in postcolonial Asian music and song. These Portuguese cultural legacies are a lasting reminder of an unexpected outcome of seaborne commerce.

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9781845115852

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'By reading through the in-depth linguistic analysis of the Luso-Asian language which Shihan's book provides one can conclude that Portuguese influenced the Asian culture in many more ways than just introducing the commodities like chilli, pineapple and cashew.' - Dr Rashmi, Journal of Intercultural Studies

Author Information

Shihan de Silva Jayasuriya is a Research Associate in the department of Portuguese and Brazilian Studies at King's College, University of London and a Fellow of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain & Ireland. She completed her PhD at the University of Westminster. She is the author of three books: Tagus to Taprobane, An Anthology of Indo-Portuguese Verse and Indo-Portuguese of Ceylon. She co-edited (with Richard Pankhurst) The African Diaspora in the Indian Ocean.

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