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The islands of the Philippines are inhabited by a number of different ethnolinguistic groups, the majority of whose own languages are Austronesian languages in origin. Many of these groups converted to Christianity, particularly the lowland-coastal groups, and adopted many foreign elements of culture. Ethnolinguistic groups include the Ivatan, Ilocano, Pangasinan, Kapampangan, Tagalog, Bicolano, Visayans (Masbateño, Hiligaynon/Ilonggo, Cebuano, Boholano/Bol-anon, Waray and Surigaonon) Maranao, Subanon and Zamboangueños.
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In western Mindanao and the Sulu Archipelago, there are indigenous groups who practice Islam. The Spanish called them Moros after the Moors (despite no resemblance or cultural ties to them apart from their religion). In the Agusan Marsh and the highlands of Mindanao, there are native ethnic groups collectively known as the Lumad. Unlike the Moros, these people do not practice Islam, and maintain their animistic beliefs and traditions though some of them have converted to Christianity as well.
The Negrito are a pre-Austronesian people who migrated from mainland Asia and were one of the earliest human beings to settle the Philippines, around 90,000 years ago. The first known were the people of the Callao Man remains. The Negrito population was estimated in 2004 at around 31,000. Their tribal groups include the Ati, and the Aeta. Their ways of life remain mostly free from Western and Islamic influences. Scholars study them to try to understand pre-Hispanic culture.
Most Filipinos are Malayo-Polynesian, a major group within the Austronesian language family. Other ethnic groups form a minority in the Philippine population. These include those of Japanese, Han Chinese, Indians, Americans, Spanish, Europeans, and other ethnic groups from other countries. Mixed-race individuals are known as Filipino mestizo.
Identity
A 2008 genetic study showed no evidence of a large-scale Taiwanese migration into the Philippines. The Leeds University study, published in Molecular Biology and Evolution, showed that mitochondrial DNA lineages have been evolving within Island Southeast Asia (ISEA) since modern humans arrived approximately 50,000 years ago.
There is no genetic evidence for large-scale population replacement, displacement, or absorption to suggest replacement of preexisting hunting and gathering populations by farming-voyaging immigrants from Taiwan. Population dispersals occurred at the same time as sea levels rose, which resulted in migrations from the Philippines to as far north as Taiwan within the last 10,000 years.
Examination of mitochondrial DNA lineages showed that the neolithic culture (Austronesian) had been evolving within Island Southeast Asia (ISEA) for a longer period than previously believed. Per co-author Dr Oppenheimer, from the Oxford University School of Anthropology, population migrations were most likely to have been driven by climate change—the effects of the drowning of a huge ancient peninsula called Sundaland, that extended the Asian landmass as far as Borneo and Java.
This happened during the period 15,000 to 7,000 years ago following the last Ice Age. Rising sea levels in three massive pulses caused flooding and the submergence of the Sunda Peninsula, creating the Java and South China Seas and the thousands of islands that make up Indonesia and the Philippines today.
According to a recent study by Mark Donohue of the Australian National University and Tim Denham of Monash University, there is no linguistic evidence for an orderly north-to-south dispersal of the Austronesian languages from Taiwan through the Philippines and into Island Southeast Asia (ISEA).
The Philippine Statistics Department does not account for the racial background or ancestry of an individual. The official population of all types of mestizos (Asian, American, Hispanic, etc.) that reside inside and outside of the Philippines remains unknown. Although a study provided by Stanford University found that 3.6% European introgression into the Philippines was evident due to the period of colonization, it only genotyped 28 individuals from the Philippines. Results from such a small sample cannot be used with high confidence to characterize a population of 92 million persons. Old Spanish censuses state that as much as 33.5% or one third of the population of the main island of Luzon had full or partial Hispanic or Latino descent.
History
Prehistoric Tabon Man, found in Palawan in 1962 was, until 2007, the oldest human remains discovered by anthropologists in the Philippines. Archaeological evidence indicates similarities with two early human fossils found in Indonesia and China, called the Java Man and Peking Man. In 2007, a single metatarsal from an earlier fossil was discovered in Callao Cave, Peñablanca, Cagayan. That earlier fossil was named as Callao Man.
The Negritos, several ethnic groups of the Australoid race, arrived about 30,000 years ago and occupied several scattered areas throughout the islands. Recent archaeological evidence described by Peter Bellwood claimed that the ancestors of Filipinos, Malaysians, and Indonesians first crossed the Taiwan Strait during the Prehistoric period. These early mariners are thought to be the Austronesian people (Malayo-Polynesian). They used boats to cross the oceans, and settled into many regions of Southeast Asia, the Polynesian Islands, and Madagascar.
By the 14th century, the Malayo-Polynesian ethnic group had dominated and displaced the Negrito population in most areas. Traders from southern China, Japan, India, Malaysia, and Indonesia, also contributed to the ethnic, and cultural development of the islands.
By the 16th century, Spanish colonization brought new groups of people to the Philippines. Many settled in the Philippines, and some intermarried with the indigenous population, although intermarriage was slight. This gave rise to the Filipino mestizo or individuals of mixed Austronesian and Spanish descent.
Far more numerous were Chinese immigrant workers, known as sangley, as many Chinese historically had been traders. They intermarried with Filipinos, and their children and descendants were called mestizo de sangley. The mestizo de sangleys were far more numerous than mestizos of Spanish descent. By the 19th century, the more successful among them had risen to become wealthy major landowners. They could afford to have their children educated in elite institutions in the Philippines and Europe.
By the opening of the Suez Canal in the 1800s, the Spanish opened the Philippines for foreign trade. Europeans such as the British, Germans, and French settled in the islands to do business. By the end of the Spanish colonial period, the native ethnic groups of the Philippines began calling themselves Filipinos, a term that had begun as self-identification for persons of Spanish descent born in the Philippines.
Following its victory in the Spanish–American War, the United States created a colonial authority in the Philippines in 1898. Military troops and businessmen made their way to the country, bringing in new ethnic groups, culture and language. In the late 19th century, some Americans proposed resettling African Americans in the Philippines, because of discrimination against them in the South, particularly. Post–American Civil War violence against the freedmen had gone on as southern whites struggled for political and economic dominance. The resettlement idea did not get implemented.
The Philippines has over 180 indigenous ethnic groups, over half of which represent unique linguistic groups.
Highland groups
There are more than 100 highland, lowland, and coastland tribal groups in the Philippines. These include:
Immigrants
The Philippines consists of a minority of foreigners that form part of the national population. They immigrated or descend from various countries, most notably China and the United States.