Of Portuguese descent Before the arrival of the Dutch, English and French in Asia, the first Europeans to land and seize territory in Asia were the
Portuguese. Portuguese spice-traders first sailed to
Malacca in 1509, having already established settlements in Goa and other parts of India. Portuguese explorers and conquerors were accompanied by the first
Jesuit priests to Southeast Asia via Goa in
Portuguese India.
Afonso de Albuquerque, the viceroy of India,
conquered Malacca (today just a few hours' drive from Singapore) in 1511, while Jesuit
Francis Xavier, (a
Basque Spaniard serving the Portuguese Crown) arrived in
Malacca in 1545. The creole/indigenous descendants of mixed marriages between Portuguese colonisers and local Malay residents are today called the
Jenti Kristang, with their own distinctive language, the
Kristang language. Many are descended from individuals who lived in Malacca or other parts of Malaya. Others have ancestors who lived in
Java or other parts of
Indonesia as a result of being expelled from Malacca after the Portuguese were forcibly ejected from Malacca by the Johore-Dutch alliance in 1641. A few
Macanese people of Cantonese-Portuguese ancestry from
Macau are also living in Singapore.
Kristang Kristang Eurasians have their own separate
creole culture, identity and
language from other Eurasians, and are especially distinct from those who are the offspring of more recent immigrants and expatriates of European and Asian origin (who are also commonly called "Eurasians" in Singapore). The same or similar distinction exists between those first- or second-generation Eurasians who typically would share the ethnic identity of one parent more closely, that parent typically not being of Kristang or Portuguese-origin; and the multi-generation (i.e. typically third-generation, fourth-generation and fifth-generation, etc) Eurasians who typically might have at least some distant Kristang-speaking or Iberian-origin ancestry, and many of whom would associate with some Kristang or Portuguese-origin cultural practices (e.g. Kristang songs and Portuguese-origin dances like
Jinkli Nona) and dine on Kristang Eurasian dishes like
devil's curry or
curry debal in Kristang. As a general rule, first or second-generation Eurasians typically do not have any Kristang-speaking ancestry, do not speak Kristang, generally do not adopt Kristang or Portuguese-origin cultural practices and cues and are less familiar with Kristang Eurasian cuisine, language and history. Simply put, first-generation Eurasians are people whose parents are not Eurasians. Multi-generation (typically third-generation, fourth-generation and fifth-generation, etc) Eurasians are people whose parents or forefathers are themselves Eurasians. Before the twenty-first century, the Kristang were generally disdained and demeaned by other Eurasian groups, being often seen as illiterate, coarse, primitive, backward, unrefined and hypersexual.
Of Dutch descent In 1602, the
Dutch East India Company, or VOC, was created to conduct trade in the area east of the
Cape of Good Hope and west of the
Straits of Magellan. In establishing their numerous trade stations spanning across
Asia, the Dutch created independent settler societies in each of their colonies, where
Batavia (now
Jakarta,
Indonesia) became the administrative centre and rendezvous point for the company's Asian shipping traffic. Between 1602 and 1795, the VOC fitted out some 4,700 ships which carried more than a million Europeans to Singapore. More than 70 percent of the one million passengers never actually returned to Europe, making Asia their new home. These early seafarers were not only made up of Dutch, but also included
English,
Germans,
French Huguenots,
Italians,
Scandinavians and other
Europeans who were employed by the VOC. In time, many were
assimilated into
Dutch colonies situated throughout Asia (though primarily in modern Indonesia) where they were stationed and became part of the respective communities.
Intermarriages between VOC employees and locals were encouraged, which led to the creation of communities of Dutch descendants.
Of British and Irish descent The British were the most important Europeans in colonial Singapore, as they were the colonial rulers of the island. A number of British settlers arrived after its colonial status changed in 1867. Interracial marriage was very common in colonial days. Even men who had European wives sometimes had local paramours. European women who moved to Southeast Asia tended to die young. British men took Asian partners and their offspring would be Eurasian. Some who had
British nationality preferred to settle in Britain or other parts of the
Commonwealth, especially Australia. Many British and other European men of retirement age, instead of going back to cold Europe, would settle in Australia with Asian women, with fewer staying on in Singapore. Apart from being warmer than Europe, Australia was less judgemental than Europe or colonial Singapore to mixed marriages and mixed offspring. Independent Singapore's second
President,
Benjamin Sheares, was a Eurasian of English lineage.
E. W. Barker, the former Law Minister, was of mixed- Portuguese, Irish, Japanese, Scottish, Malay and German descent. Author
Rex Shelley was of mixed English, Portuguese, Malay and Buginese ancestry. National swimmer
Joseph Schooling is a third-generation Singaporean, and is of Eurasian ethnicity. His parents are Colin and May Schooling. May is a Chinese Malaysian and a Singapore permanent resident; while Colin, a businessman, was born in Singapore. Colin's grandfather was a British military officer who married a local Portuguese-Eurasian in Singapore. The last name Schooling is believed to be an anglicised surname that originated in Germany.
Of other European descent Other Eurasians in Singapore have parents or are descended from individuals who originated from various parts of Western Europe and its former colonies such as in the Americas, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa or elsewhere. There are also some Filipino people of partial Spanish descent. Former Nominated Member of Parliament Eunice Olsen's father is of Swedish and Portuguese descent. His grandfather married a
Chinese woman in
Shanghai and brought her to Singapore. Geraldene Lowe's mother’s family was called Luth and came from
Schleswig-Holstein, then part of
Denmark. During
Bismarck’s unification of
Germany, they headed to Asia and Australia and married people from various nationalities. ==Asian ancestry==