India Company (VOC) ('Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie' or United East India Company) had a governor installed and conquered more and more forts from the Portuguese, until, in 1658, the last Portuguese were expelled. However, they permitted a few stateless persons of Portuguese-Jewish (Marrano) descent, and of mixed Portuguese-Sinhalese ancestry to stay. Many people having a Portuguese name were a result of forced conversions of local/native people to work for the Portuguese. As a result, Burghers with Portuguese names are most likely to be of Sinhalese ancestry, with a very small portion being Portuguese or mixed Portuguese-Sinhalese ancestry. Those of a Portuguese-Jewish background can be traced in various forms or surmised from their surname. Most Burghers of Eurasian descent with Portuguese surnames are of Sinhalese and Dutch, British, German and/or other European descent. During the Dutch period, all Dutch colonial operations were overseen by the VOC. Virtually all Burghers from this period were employees of the VOC. The VOC employed not only Dutch nationals but also enlisted men from the Southern Netherlands, the German states, Denmark and Austria. It is therefore not unusual to find ancestors from these countries in many Dutch Burgher family trees. The term 'Burgher' comes from the Dutch word burger, meaning "citizen" or "town dweller", and is cognate with the French "bourgeois" and the English word "burgess". At this time in Europe, there had emerged a middle class, consisting of people who were neither aristocrats nor serfs. These were the traders and businessmen, who lived in towns and were considered free citizens. In Europe, they were called burghers, and they were encouraged to migrate to the colonies to expand business horizons. Dutch Ceylon had two classes of people of European descent: those who were paid by the VOC and were referred to as Company servants (i.e. employees), and those who had migrated of their own free will. The latter were not referred to as burghers in Ceylon, but rather by their rank, position or standing. During the period of British rule, they were referred to by the British as 'Dutch Burghers' and formed the majority of the European-descended populace residing in Ceylon. The 'Dutch Burgher' community took pride in its achievements and prized their European ancestry. Several Dutch Burgher Union journals have been created over some time, to record family histories. They were not only of Dutch origin as other European origins were apparent (German, Hungarian, Italian, French,