The VOC heritage in Asia: The Burghers of Ceylon, exhibition is a history project which draws on material from the archives and libraries.

To enable a better understanding of settlement life in 18th century Ceylon, our project researched into primary sources thus finding authentic documentation of Dutch settlement life in Asia. The historical section of the exhibition, highlights the social life of the 17th-18th century of the Dutch Maritime occupation in Ceylon. The Company rules and regulations, moulded the social interaction of the Dutch (European) community with the indigenous population. The Dutch period also brought forward its own mestizo population.

The lives of the enslaved population in the Dutch settlements is documented in the wills and historical fragments regarding their lives and destinies.

The Ceylon Burghers are an ethnic group of mixed raced descendants of ancestors who were in service or otherwise linked to the Verenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie (VOC). With the Dutch capitulation in 1796, and in the years that followed, the Dutch community and the Portuguese mestizos accepted British sovereignty and were referred to by the new regime by the 1830’s as a mixed-race community who were to be known as the ‘Ceylon Burghers’.

To understand the making of the Ceylon Burghers, we made a comprehensive study of the families from the Company period. The exhibition features selected Dutch VOC personnel and the accompanying book includes the Company personnel and mainstream family names in Ceylon. The featured families are researched in the Company period, with additional 19th century data.