Zamboangueño
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This article refers to the people of Zamboanga City. For the Creole language of which Zamboangueño is a variety, see Chavacano.
The Zamboangueños are a collective group of people who are natives and residents of Zamboanga City, the Philippines. Anybody born in the city is called a Zamboangueño. It also refers to those from other ethnic groups who migrated and settled in the city to become residents and those Spanish mestizos from the inter-marriages of Spaniards and locals during the Spanish period.
The natives are the indigenous tribes of the Lutaos of the plains, the highlander Subanons, the boat-dwellers and sea-gypsies - the Bajaus and Samals, the Yakans from Basilan, and the muslim warrior tribe from Sulu - the Tausugs. These were the people who had occupied most of the city and the whole of Zamboanga Peninsula before the Spaniards came. In fact, the early Spaniards called the city, El pueblo de Lutao - the place of Lutaos.
People from other ethnic groups came to Zamboanga City when the construction of the present-day Fort Pilar begun. The colonial Spanish government ordered the construction of a military fort to guard off the city from pirates and slave raiders of Sulu. Laborers from Cebu, Cavite, Bohol, Panay and other islands were brought to the city to help build the fort. Eventually, these people settled in the city to live with the natives. Because these people from different islands spoke different languages, a pidgin begun and eventually, the Chavacano language developed into a creole to become the lingua franca of the city.
During the Spanish period, some Spaniards married local Zamboangueños, and their descendants are called mestizos. At present, many prominent Zamboangueño families are Spanish mestizos.
Today, people from all over Luzon, Visayas, and parts of Mindanao come to Zamboanga City, make it their home and eventually call themselves "Zamboangueños".
[edit] See also
Zamboanga City's Online News
