Catherine Yesayan
BY CATHERINE YESAYAN
Chances are you have never heard of Penang. If it were not for the cruise that we were going to take in Southeast Asia, I would not have known much about it, either.
Penang is a port in Malaysia which became a British possession in 1786. The British control over Penang brought immigrants and traders from all over the world, and became a bustling cosmopolitan port, where many types of trade developed, from retail to exporting of spice, textile and gold.
Believe it or not, Armenians were among the first ethnic immigrants and traders to seek opportunities in exotic lands, arriving in Penang by 1786, as confirmed by Dr. Nadia Wright, a researcher on this topic.
Dr. Wright, a retired school teacher who had been born in New Zealand, began her research about Armenians in Southeast Asia in 1985 when her husband was stationed in Singapore. Her mother was Armenian from Egypt and her father from New Zealand (not Armenian). The fervor of her Armenian heritage led her into extensive fact-finding research of Armenians in that part of the world, which culminated in a book called Respected Citizens.
Our own William Saroyan says, “For when two of them [Armenians] meet anywhere in the world, see if they will not create a New Armenia.” This saying came true with the Armenians in Penang.
Dr. Wright tells us, “By 1807, there were enough Armenian traders in Penang to justify the naming of Armenian Lane, which later became Armenian Street. About 15 years later, in 1824, the Church of St. Gregory the Illuminator on Bishop Street was established by an Armenian merchant and philanthropist Catchatour Galastaun.â€
