Editing Chitty (section)

==History==
[[File:Chitty Museum.JPG|thumb|[[Chitty Museum]] in Melaka.]]

Historical records stated that the Tamil traders from Panai in [[Tamil Nadu]] settled down in [[Melaka]] during the sovereignty of the [[Sultanate of Malacca]]. Like the [[Peranakan]]s, they later settled down and freely intermingled with the local Malays and Chinese of Malay and Tamil ancestry settlers. However, with the fall of the [[Sultanate of Malacca|Malacca Sultanate]] after 1511, the Chitty eventually lost touch with their native land.

Under the administration of the [[Portuguese Malacca|Portuguese]], [[Dutch Malacca|Dutch]] and [[Straits Settlements|British colonizers]], the Chitty eventually began simplifying their culture and customs by adopting local customs. This can be evidenced in the architecture of the [[Sri Poyatha Moorthi Temple]], which was built by Thaivanayagam Pillay, the leader of the Chitty people, in 1781 after the Dutch colonial government gave him a plot of land. At that period, a Chitty neighbourhood was probably set up around that temple, in the street known as Goldsmith Street.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=De Witt |first=Dennis |title=History of the Dutch in Malaysia |publisher=Nutmeg Publishing |year=2011 |isbn=9789834351939 |edition=2nd |page=153 |oclc=973774027}}</ref>

During the [[Second World War]], the threat of Japanese soldiers rape against Chitty girls led Chitty families to let Eurasians, Chinese and full blooded Indians to marry Chitty girls and stop practicing endogamy.<ref>{{cite book |last=Pillai |first=Patrick |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Uh1qDwAAQBAJ&dq="Chitty+girls+being+hastily"&pg=PP66 |title=Yearning to Belong |date=2016 |publisher=Flipside Digital Content Company Inc. |isbn=978-9814762007 |page=47}}</ref>

The traditional Chitty settlement is located at Kampung Tujuh along Jalan Gajah Berang, which is also inhabited by a small number of Chinese of Tamilian ancestry and Malays as well. Many of the Chitty have since found jobs in [[Singapore]] and other parts of [[Malaysia]].

The ethnic identity of the Chitty is nearly lost. As many of them are assimilating into the mainstream [[Indian diaspora|Indian]], [[Overseas Chinese|Chinese]] and [[Malays (ethnic group)|Malay]] ethnic communities culturally, this small but distinct group of people that has survived for centuries is now on the brink of extinction.

Exhibition of Peranakan Chitty history, antiques and culture can be seen at the [[Chitty Museum]] in Chitty Village, [[Melaka]], [[Malaysia]]. Recently in 2013, there were controversies of development at the expense of demolishing part of Kampung Chitty, a historical and cultural village.<ref name="Peranakan Chitty">{{cite web|url=http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/now-development-threatens-historical-site-in-malacca |title=Now, development threatens historical site in Malacca |publisher=The Malaysian Insider |access-date=14 February 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140221113723/http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/now-development-threatens-historical-site-in-malacca |archive-date=21 February 2014 |df=dmy }}</ref> A proposal to construct a condominium, a hotel and a road cutting through the village are seen as a threat affecting the residents and a temple built in 1827.<ref name="Kampung Chitty">{{cite web |url=http://my.news.yahoo.com/39-road-kg-chitty-could-destroy-homes-39-043200736.html |title=Road through Kg Chitty could destroy homes |publisher=Yahoo! News |access-date=14 February 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140302014551/http://my.news.yahoo.com/39-road-kg-chitty-could-destroy-homes-39-043200736.html |archive-date=2 March 2014 |url-status=dead }}</ref>