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In Mindanao , there are several ethnic groups of similar ancestry, but whose religion is Islam , and whose culture is not as “ Westernized ” on the surface as that of the Christian Filipinos . They are collectively called Moros . There are also various Tribal Groups throughout the Philippine archipelago who are generally neither Muslim nor Christian, and are least influenced by Islamic or western cultures. There also exist groups whose members are not concentrated in one specific region but who are spread throughout the country, particularly in major cities as well as in areas having considerable agricultural importance during the colonial period; these groups include the Chinese and the Spanish , the majority of whom are Mestizos . The Philippines is one of the most diverse countries in terms of ethnicity.The Philippines ranks 8th among 240 countries in terms of diversity. YEOH Kok Kheng, ''Towards an Index of Ethnic Fractionalization'', Table 1. ETHNIC IDENTITY See Also: Philippine nationality law Ethnic identity in the Philippines, like many other places, is fluid, informal and depends greatly on context. The most common identifier is language. For instance, a Kapampangan may identify himself as such by the fact that his mother tongue is the Kapampangan Language . Many also identify themselves based on Ancestry . For example, a woman who has Bicolano ancestry but has spent most of her life in Manila may identify herself as Bicolano, even if she doesn’t speak any of the Bikol Languages . Others are lumped together to a certain grouping based on some shared characteristics. Tribal groups are commonly grouped together in spite of having very different customs and languages, and having had very little interaction with each other. Moros are similarly diverse and independent from each other, and they are many times grouped together due to a shared history, culture and religion. Similarly, lowland Christian Filipinos are many times lumped together due to their similar culture, despite having different languages or different ancestries. Given that ethnolinguistic boundaries are gradually blurring due to migration and intermarriage, Regional Identity (i.e. the place where one was brought up and whose language one speaks) serves as another very common identifier. One may identify oneself, for example, as a Davaoeño , Negrense , Ilongo , Zamboangueño , Metromanileño , etc. Unlike China or the United States , there are no official ethnicities or “nations” in the Philippines, and migration and intermarriages between people of different ethnicities have been common throughout the past centuries. This has made ethnic identities of Filipinos greatly dependent on context, aside from being fluid. For instance, a person who has Ilocano ancestry but who has spent his whole life in Davao may be identified as an Ilocano when he is in Davao and a Davaoeño when he is in Manila. And a Cebuano of Chinese ancestry may identify himself either as Chinese Filipino due to his ancestry; or as a Visayan because his primary language is Cebuano , a Visayan Language ; or Cebuano, based on his mother tongue (Cebuano) and the land of his birth (Cebu). People who identify themselves with multiple ethnicities and/or regional affiliations is not uncommon, particularly in major cities and in areas where a lot of migration has taken place, like Metro Manila , Metro Cebu , and many parts of Mindanao . The term Mestizo (of mixed-ancestry) is used most commonly to those with part- Caucasian ancestry, and occasionally to those with part-Chinese ancestry. There are also a number of Filipinos who consider themselves of an ethnocultural origin distinct from that of the Philippines, and who tend to affiliate with either or both. Their “hyphenated” identities, as in the case of Chinese-Filipinos , apart from indicating ancestry, may connote a sense that they as individuals straddle two worlds—one experience is specific to their unique Ethnic Identity , while the other is that of broader Philippine Society . These “hyphenated” Filipinos, many of whom have profound and immediate connections to their homelands, have often been accused and criticized of holding loyalties to other countries. However, they claim that critics miss important points. There are many “hyphenated” Filipinos who, while being unable to sacrifice half of who they are, do not define or desire to define themselves as such, but rather are defined as such by other people with different treatment. The result is that even if these Filipinos are, in the words of the '' Panatang Makabayan '', “a true Filipino in thought, in word, {Link without Title} in deed,” they still may end up having a different experience, and for that reason may develop shared understandings with others of their type, whether they want that or not. This in itself becomes, ironically, a reason for them to be interested in their “hyphenated” identity, as they learn how to cope with the unique experiences dealt them. POPULATION HISTORY groups of the Philippines.]] The first humans in the Philippines are the Tabon Man , who was postulated to have lived at 30,500-11,000 BCE, and the Cagayan Man , who is in turn thought to live at about 250,000-500,000 BCE. The archaeological evidences indicate similarities of the two aforementioned fossils to fossils found in China and Indonesia. The next group that arrived are the nomadic Negrito s, whose ancestors were similar to the ancestors of the Andamanese and occupied several scattered areas throughout the islands. Unlike the following groups, they arrived before the Last Ice Age ended and were able to use Land Bridge s. Current archaeological evidences subscribe to the “Mainland Theory” of Peter Bellwood , that the ancestors of the present-day Filipinos, as well as that of the Malays, Indonesians, and the Pacific Islanders first crossed the Taiwan Strait 4,000 years ago, during the Iron Age . These early voyagers are thought to be the Austronesians . They used Balangays (boats) to cross the Bashi Channel to the Philippines. This is attested by the fact that in Taiwan and the Philippines, the peoples are subdivided into several small tribes, whereas in Malaysia and Indonesia , most peoples are homogenous or are divided into large tribes, indicating that Taiwan, then the Philippines, was the starting point for Austronesian migration, and that the present-day Malays and Indonesians, as well as the Pacific Islander s instead came from the Philippines, and not from Malaya or Sumatra. By the 14th century, the ethnic landscape in the country was already relatively fixed. The Austronesians from Taiwan gradually supplanted the Negritos then occupied the plains, deltas, and the coastal areas. Together with the later migrant Southern Chinese, they formed the primary ancestral lineage of the present-day Filipinos. Frequent trades with China and Japan in the north, and with the Malays , India ns, Persians , and Arabs from the west and south also contributed to the ethnic and cultural make-up of the coastal areas. These included th adoption of Baybayin , Islam , as well as the Concept Of Karma . With the Spanish colonization of the Philippines, two new groups of people were introduced to the country. These are the Spaniards and the American Indians. The Spaniards settled in the plains around Manila and Cavite, and some of them intermarried with the natives and the Southern Chinese. These gave rise to the Mestizos for peoples of mixed Austronesian and Spanish descent, and the ‘’ Tornatras ’’ for peoples of mixed Austronesian and Southern Chinese descent. Over time, Mestizo and Tornatra communities have also sprung up in various parts of the archipelago, particularly in Cebu, Iloilo, and Bacolod. The American Indians that were brought here, according to author Austin Craig , nearly numbered similar to the native population. Most of them are of Nahuatl (Aztec) or Yaqui descent, or are Mexican Mestizo s themselves. Many of them intermarried with the indigenous population, particularly in Luzon. By the opening of the Suez Canal in 1867, the Philippines was opened for foreign trade, and there are many Europeans, particularly Britons, Germans, and French, who have settled in the islands. By the end of the Spanish domination, the loosely-bound ethnic groups of the islands, including those of half-foreign descent, began calling themselves Filipinos, a term that is originally reserved for a person of pure Spanish descent born in the Philippines. American colonization in 1898 brought in a new ethnic group, the Anglo-Americans , and the Philippines was held by most American authors as the westernmost outpost of American ethnic and territorial expansion. A plan formulated by the American government was to transfer all the African Americans in the Mainland United States to the Philippines, but this never materialized, due to the Philippine-American War . From 1898 until the present-day, a continuous trickle of American immigration to the Philippines, mostly White Americans , has resulted to the country’s having the largest American and Amerasian population outside of North America. Presently, the Philippines has over 160 distinct indigenous ethnic groups, over half of which are unique linguistic groups, but aside from this, there has been a great deal of intermarriage between the indigenous population and the foreign colonizers and immigrants that it is nearly impossible to set the proportion constants between the various groups. Prehistoric movements of people throughout the region have resulted to the country’s having a large minority comprised of Southern Chinese, Indians, and Arabs, while contemporary migrations have also led to a sizeable Spanish and American populations. More modern immigrations to the country have seen large numbers of Americans , Koreans , Japanese , and Indonesians settle in the islands, particularly during the 21st century. As of now, about 10% of all Filipinos have Southern Chinese ancestry, while 4% of the population is at least partly descended from the European and American colonizers and immigrants. Current increasing trends in immigration and interracial marriage with Caucasians, particularly Americans, as well as with East Asians, particularly Chinese and Japanese, are expected to result to a significant rise in the number of Filipino Mestizo s by the end of the first half of this century. RANKINGS |
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