When the Portuguese conquered Malacca, a numerous number of its soldiers married the local women and made Malacca their new home. They live along the coast as fishermen. Until recently, their homes had the shore right behind them, but recent reclamation project in Malacca extended the shore, creating new land, and as a result, their homes no longer enjoy a sea front view of the Straits of Malacca.
A house in the Portuguese village in Malacca.
The descendents of the Portuguese still live in settlements such as Praya Lane and Bandar Hilir. They number only about a thousand or so, and the older generation is still able to converse in Creole Portuguese, called Papia Kristang. The homes of the Portuguese settlement could pass for any kampung home of the Malay or Chinese communities at a quick glance. A keen observation however will reveal the Catholic motifs in their deco.
Portuguese Settlement Photo Gallery
The house of Nicholas Loboo, restored by the Melaka Museum Corporation, showcases traditional Portuguese house in Malacca.
Thank you, thank you, thank you, for the opportunity to explore the world, to document, to photograph, and to share the information with you. My name is Tim, I'm the writer of this website, and I want to tell you how grateful I am for your visit. This is one of over a dozen websites that I write - you can click my thumbnail photo above to randomly visit any one of them. All my photos are available for commercial printing - find out the photo usage rights here. If you wish to share you photos on this website, upload them to www.panoramio.com and send the URL to me for consideration. And, if you'd like to correspond with me, send your mails to my address as shown below:
About the Author: AsiaExplorers is researched and written by Timothy Tye. We take reasonable care to check and verify the accuracy of the content. However, we disclaim any responsibility for any inconvenience, mishap, injury or death resulting from following the advice provided directly or indirectly by AsiaExplorers and the comments on its pages. All the photographs in AsiaExplorers are available for publication. Please contact AsiaExplorers at the following email address for your enquiries:
