The Kristang are a creole ethnic group of people of predominantly mixed Portuguese and Malaccan descent, with substantial Dutch, British, Jewish, Malay, Chinese and Indian heritage. They are based in Malaysia and to some extent in Singapore. People of this ethnicity have, besides Portuguese, a strong Dutch heritage due to intermarriages, which is common among the Kristang. In addition, due to persecution by the Portuguese Inquisition in the region, a lot of the Jews of Malacca assimilated into the Kristang community. The creole group arose in Malacca between the 16th and 17th centuries, when the city was a port and base of the Portuguese Empire. Some descendants speak a distinctive Kristang language or Malacca Portuguese, a creole based on Portuguese. Today the government classifies them as Portuguese Eurasians.
A group of Kristang people performing a traditional dance in Malacca, Malaysia.
Creole peoples may refer to different ethnic groups around the world. The term has been used with various meanings, often conflicting or varying from region to region.
Trilingual signs on Cafe Kreol in Cape Verde.
An Aleutian man with an Alaskan Creole woman in the Aleutian Islands.
A Creole of New Orleans
Bourgeois Louisiana Creole girls in fashionable dress
