Are Filipinos REALLY Asians??? SERIOUSLY!!!?

Question

I thought Filipinos are like Europeans in the past, like they are the Spanish counterparts of Australians, Right???

y'know since Australia was a colony of UK and Brits came to Australia, like how Spanish people went to the Philippines, making them Eurasians, or Hispanics

well my Filipino friends always say they are Asians, but their last names are like Ayala, De Leon, De La Cruz

Answer 1

WE ARE ASIANS!!! Ethnographically, racially and geographically! Look, Australia was colonized by Britain, yes and a penal colony was established and eventually the prisoners matriculated and fornicated and soon we had an entire colony of British Expats, but remember the people who ORIGINALLY lived in Australia, the aborigines...well here's the Philippine case, Spain colonized us, yes and they did leave a substantial part of their population but unlike Australia, the Philippines was already littered with Austronesian stock people, Malays, Indons and Aetas...so Spain didn't start a penal colony THEY COLONIZED THE PEOPLE like they did in South America or how Britain did with India (w/c would be a more correct analogy). The culture however is an odd mix of hispanic culture, native culture and American culture (kinda like South American countries + American influence) So we are the largest Roman Catholic nation in Asia (we used to be the only one until East Timor became a country), one of the largest English-speaking countries in Asia (second to India) and we have a substantial mestizo (Eurasian) population...

So here it is in summary:
Britain: Australia as Spain is not to the Philippines
Britain:India as Spain: Philippines...

Answer 2

We had no choice. Spaniards REQUIRED all Filipinos and even migrant Filipino-Chinese to register in Spanish names. Jose Rizal had a Chinese ancestry but they could not use their Chinese name. During Spanish times, Chinese were discriminated. There are also Spaniards who migrated in the Philippines and off course they brought their names with them. Luckily a few Filipinos were able to retain their original names. Obviously the family name Pacquiao is very Filipino. Everyone knows what the word Pacquiao or Pakyaw means in the local dialect. Macau used to be a Portuguese colony. Some people there use Portuguese names. If Filipinos did use their name it would have been Muhammad and other Middle Eastern sounding name which is obviously not very Asian. Remember when the Spaniards arrived in the Philippines, Islam had already gotten hold most of the Malay archipelago (Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines). A few of the remaining tribal minorities (non-Muslims) in Mindanao still use their tribal names (Bai Makatao, Datu Kalinao, etc..).

If Filipinos are not really Asians, would it mean Malaysians and Indonesians are not also Asians? Filipinos came from the Malay race. In fact there is a new anthropological study which states that the first migrants of the Philippines came from Taiwan. Indigenous tribes in Taiwan has similarities with the people in Batanes and Ifugao. Then from the Philippines, they spread to the Pacific Islands.

Answer 3

Racially and geographically speaking, Filipinos are Asians... although, there is a significant minority of Filipinos that has either full or partial European ancestries, as well as with Latin American ancestries...

however, most/many Filipinos have Spanish surnames (or other European surnames, particularly American, or French), due to the long colonization of Spain (and/or due to American occupation, or European immigrations) to the Philippines...

Culturally speaking, Philippine culture is sometimes considered western, the reason for that is because of colonization (particularly Spain, and USA), and European immigration...

Spanish colonization of the Philippines, governed from Mexico, lasted for more than three centuries, thus there is a significant amount of Spanish-Mexican influence in many facets of the Filipino custom and tradition. Hispanic influence are most visible in literature, folk music, folk dance, language, food, art and religion...

Facts:

The Philippines has the world's largest Eurasian population.
The Philippines has the largest population of American citizens in all of Asia.

Answer 4

K, first of all, I hope you don't think Asians come from Australia...

Second of all, Filipinos are from the Philippines, which are indeed in Southeast Asia, and yes, they were originally a Spanish colony in the 16th Century.

So I guess, the answer to your question is yes... but you should really work on your asking abilities, 'cause that came off all kinds of strange... your references with Europeans and Australians just sounds odd, and I'm not sure most people will get it. They let you type like up tp 200 words or something when you want to add details to your questions... FYI. Also, Wikipiedia is your friend ;-)

Hope this helped.

Answer 5

Seriously, please take a look at the map of the world and please try to analyze where the Philippines is located. It's in Asia isn't it?

Yes we were colonized by the Spaniards before but we were also trading with China and Malaysia and were also cross-bred with those and other races long before the Spaniards came over.

I think that the thought that we are the Spanish counterparts of Australians stems from the racist remark that i hear from time to time that the Filipinos are the "Mexicans" of Asia.

Answer 6

Well,you answered your own question wiht four more questions. It's probably becasue of the very mixed European/Asian heritage. But Filipinos are by definition Asian because the Phillipines are on the map as being in Asia.

Answer 7

Man look at a map..... The philippines is located in the area that is asia..... So we are Asian.....!!!! What is with this question so many people think that we are pacific islanders but where in the world do you see a place called pacific islanders.....? There is no such place..... So once and for all Filipinos are Asians and not eurasians or pacific islanders......

Answer 8

Most of us in LOS ANGELES, DO NOT like to be considered ASIANS. We appreciate just being called Filipinos or ISLANDERS. There will be a different outlook on things from different parts of the world (well, for the most part, NOT ALL). For example, I know most filipinos in the the philippines like to be considered asian cause to them, the closer to Chinese or whatever, they feel more wealthier. Hence, the lightening of the skin, and the want of a more Chinkier look, etc. However in Los Angeles we appreciate our culture in its own and our skin color (people pay a lot of money to be my skin color) and therefore like to be considered Islanders and/or filipinos. We paved our own way, and fought our own battles, so I believe we should be our own category. My grandfather is portugese (full bloodied), so I am mixed. However, no offense, but ASIAN? NEVER, Filipino/ISLANDER ALWAYS!

Answer 9

Are Australians Europeans? Asked an Aborigine.

Answer 10

Filipinos were truly asians, thru geographical and ancestral. Geographically speaking Philippines is in Asia. And thru anscestral, eventhough Filipinos has American or European (Spanish) features, main bloodline was Malay.