Filipino mestizo
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
Filipino mestizo is a term used in the Philippines, to designate Filipinos of mixed indigenous Filipino (Austronesian or Malay), and foreign ancestry. The word Mestizo (Portuguese: Mestiço; French: Métis; all from Late Latin Mixticius, meaning "mixed"), is a "Spanish term" that was formerly used in the Spanish Empire to designate people of mixed European (Spaniard) and Amerindian ancestry living in the colonies. In the Philippines, the term "mestizo" originally bore the connotation of mixed Spaniard and indigenous Filipino. Up to the 1980's, the “Diccionario de Filipinismos” of Wenceslao Retana, misleadingly defined the term “mestizo” as individuals who are descendants of Chinese Christians and their indigenous Filipino wives.[1] Some Filipinos are mestizos and most likely have Spanish ancestry. However only those Filipinos who possessed mixed appearances are considered by most as mestizos.[2] There are no credible sources for the percentage of Philippine mestizos residing in the Philippines, at the moment; this is due in part to the lack of government statistical study regarding racial makeup in the Philippines