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| Notable Filipinos of Spanish ancestry: Paulino Alcántara · Maloy Lozanes · Zobel de Ayala family |
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| Official population are unknown. |
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Filipino people of Spanish ancestry are an ethnic group in the Philippines with ancestry from Spain. The majority of Filipinos of Spanish descent (Hispano Filipino) are of Andalusian origin, while a minority are Catalan or Basque descents.
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History
The Spanish expedition in 1565, prompted the colonization of the Philippines that lasted for about 333 years. The Philippines was a former territory of the Viceroyalty of New Spain until the grant of independence from Mexico in 1821, necessitated the direct government from Spain in that year. Early Spanish settlers were mostly explorers, soldiers, government officials, religious missionaries and among others, who were born in Spain and Mexico called Peninsulares (Spanish migrants living in the colony) or Criollo (Spaniards of pure blood), who settled in the islands with their families to governed the colony and the majority of the indigenous population. Some of these individuals married or inter-bred with the indigenous Filipino (Malay) population while most married only other Spaniards. Their succeeding generation called Insulares (Spaniards or Hispanics born from the islands), became town and village officers and were granted with haciendas (plantation estates) by the Spanish government. In some provinces in the Visayas, Mindanao and Luzon, the Spanish government encouraged foreign merchants to trade with the indigenous population, but they were not given certain privileges such as ownership of land. From this contact, social intercourse between foreign merchants and indigenous people resulted in a new ethnic group. These group were called Mestizo (mixed-race individuals), who were born from Spanish and indigenous Filipino intermarriages. Some of their descendants, emerged later as an influential part of the Philippine society, such as the Principalía (Nobility).
Mexicans of European or mestizo heritage known as Américanos (Americans) also arrived in the Philippines during the Spanish colonial period. Between 1565 and 1815, Hispanics from Mexico and Spain sailed to and from the Philippines as government officials, soldiers, priests, settlers, traders, sailors and adventurers in the Manila-Acapulco Galleon, assisting Spain in its trade between Latin America (Spanish America) and the Philippines.
Amerindian and Africans also settled in the Philippines as crews, prisoners and slaves. Some of these individuals married Filipinos of different ethnic groups and classes and have integrated into Philippine society.
The official percentage of Filipinos with Spanish ancestry is unknown. However only those Filipinos who possess a clear mixed-race appearance are considered by most as mestizos. Some offspring of Spanish men and indigenous Filipino women may have adopted the culture of their fathers and grand parents, however only a few mixed race families in the Philippines still speak Spanish among themselves.[1] Mestizos with more obvious Spanish appearance but having brown complexion may be called by Filipinos as native-blooded Filipinos.
The Philippine Statistics Department does not account for the racial background or ancestry of an individual. The official population of all types of mestizos that reside inside and outside of the Philippines remains unknown.
A minority of Filipinos of Spanish descent have migrated to Spain, Latin America, Australia and the United States, after the Spanish American War and World War II. Spanish Filipinos for the most part are found in both the upper and middle socio-economic classes, with a relatively small percentage found among the lower socio-economic classes. Some are active in politics, commerce, entertainment industry and professional sports.
Language
Filipinos of Spanish ancestry speak their regional languages. They also use English in the public sphere and may also speak Filipino and other Philippine languages. Only a minority of Filipino Spaniards speak Spanish, some mestizos particularly those of older generations and recent immigrants, have preserved Spanish as a spoken language. In addition, Chavacano (a criollo language based largely on Spanish vocabulary) is spoken in the southern Philippines and forms one of the majority languages of Zamboanga Peninsula and Basilan. It is also spoken in some parts of the Philippines.
Background
During the Spanish colonial period, large numbers of Spaniards settled in the Americas, which resulted in widespread miscegenation with Amerindian and African people. The Spanish authorities developed and established a highly complex caste system based on a racial hierarchy of Spanish descent, which later became associated with White people. The racial doctrine was called "limpieza de sangre" or cleanliness of blood, which was applied to the caste system in the Spanish Empire. It described and classified a person based on their purity of Spanish "blood" or heritage. Some of the castes defined were as follows:
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Criollo | 100% Spanish, native-born (in the Americas) |
| Castizo | 75% Spanish and 25% Amerindian |
| Mestizo | 50% Spanish and 50% Amerindian |
| Cholo | 25% Spanish and 75% Amerindian |
| Indio | pure-blooded indigenous person |
Only in the Americas, however, were mixed-race persons of Spanish ancestry with less than one-eighth "Indio" or Amerindian ancestry considered legally classified as "Criollo" or White.
Colonial caste system
The history of racial mixture in the Philippines occurred mostly during the Spanish period from the 16th to 19th century. The same Spanish racial caste system enforced in Latin America existed in the Philippines, with a few major differences. The indigenous people of the Philippines were referred to as Indios and Negritos.
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Indio | person of pure Malay ancestry |
| Negrito | person of pure Aeta ancestry |
| Sangley | person of pure Chinese ancestry |
| Mestizo de Sangley | person of mixed Chinese and Malay ancestry |
| Mestizo de Español | person of mixed Spanish and Malay ancestry |
| Tornatrás | person of mixed Spanish, Malay and Chinese ancestry |
| Filipino | person of pure Spanish descent born in the Philippines, also called Insulares ("from the islands") or Criollos (Creoles) |
| Américano | person of Criollo, Castizo or Mestizo descent born in Spanish America ("from the Americas") |
| Peninsulares | person of pure Spanish descent born in Spain ("from the peninsula") |
See also
References
- ^ "Race Mixing and Westernization in Latin America and the Philippines". Analitica.com Venezuela. http://www.analitica.com/Bitblio/emily_monroy/race_mixing.asp. Retrieved 2002-08-23.
External links
- Examination of ancestry and ethnic affiation using high information
- Color Q World: Asian-Latino Intermarriage in the Americas
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