500 years of Portuguese-Siamese relations

[~Alaung_Hpaya~]

My family have a distinctive non Burmese nose and many are afflicted by European body hair . Although no one knows for sure , it is frequently joked that we must have Portugese ancestors .


Two of my great grandparents come from the Mu area ( which is considered one of the Bama heartlands ) and it is from them that the dominant nose is inherited . I am also informed that a great great great grandfather from that line and his brother served in the king's army . One in the cavalry and the other as a gunner . Portugese descendants have been part of the Royal Gunners since the 17th century .

The Burmese king Mindon (1853-1876) moved the capital of his kingdom to Mandalay in June 1857. A painting from that period shows dark red, three-pointed flags with a black cross in the middle. It is not known if these flags were Mindon's standards, army or national flags. The cross might be associated with Christianity since missionaries were already present in the area in the 1850's. The British troops entered in Mandalay on 28 November 1885 and Burma was attached to the British Empire on 1 January 1886. The new colony of Upper-Burma was later attached to Indian Empire on 26 February 1886.
Source: H. Calvarin, Franciae Vexilla #20/66, December 2000.
Ivan Sache, 19 December 2000

Flags of Burma : Historical

This author correctly speculates that the cross represents christianity but is not aware that this is the standard of King Mindon's household artillery who were predominantly made up of Christian Portugese descendants.

There are probably thousands of Portugese descendants in Burma .