In the extract of her sentencing she is described as a Moorish slave girl (sic. Moorse slavinne).
The Moors were the Muslim inhabitants of the Maghreb, the Iberian Peninsula, Sicily, and Malta during the Middle Ages. The Moors initially were the indigenous Maghrebine Berbers.
Extract:
Groote Catrijn’s Death Sentence & Pardon – Extracts from Sentence Book at Batavia
CAPE ARCHIVES (CA): COURT OF JUSTICE (CJ) 281, no. 44 (16 November 1656)
Alsoo Catharina geboortich van Paliacatte out na aensien omtrent 25 jaeren en Moorse slavinne van
Maria Magdalena vrije vrou ende jinwoorten desen stede ...
p.139 Cape Mothers by M. Upham
A resource on the Muslims (Moors) of the Coromandel Coast.
THE MUSLIMS OF COROMANDEL (Chapter IV)
"A chain of Muslim trading settlements grew up along the east coast from Pulicat to Colochal in Kanniyakumari. Many of these richest settlements were located in the coastal towns of Thanjavur. Ramanathapuram, and Thirunelveli districts. They had links with wider trading world of Arabian peninsula and the lndian ocean. The port towns of Coromandel coast came to be identified as centres of formal lslam in South India by 12-13th centuries. The localities such as Pulicat, Nagapattanam, Kilakkarai and Kayalpattanam contained significant number of Tamil speaking Muslims who could be classed as permanently professing lslam and were actually recognised as such within the wider society."
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=ht...
Note: Pulicat = Paliacatta
Fascinating. Have you put it on her profile? Please also add/ edit the Coromandel entry on the Slave Trade DNA project: https://www.geni.com/projects/DNA-Mapping-of-the-Slave-Routes-to-So...
There are interesting Yemeni links to the earliest Muslim traders on the Coramandel Coast, discussed by Mansell, which I had integrated here: https://www.geni.com/projects/DNA-Mapping-of-the-Slave-Routes-to-So...