American settlement in the Philippines began during the Spanish period, when Americans came to the islands primarily to conduct business. They owned many businesses in trade and in the sugar industry. Although not harassed by Spanish laws, the American inflow to the Philippines was minimal until the Philippine-American War.
Following the colonization of the islands by the United States of America, thousands of Americans have settled, either temporarily or permanently. Most were either members of the U.S. military, or missionaries sent by North American mission groups.
After independence in 1946, many Americans chose to remain in the Philippines while maintaining relations with relatives in the United States. During the post-independence period, most Americans who settled in the Philippines were largely professionals, although missionaries still continue to settle in the country.
Today, the Philippines has the largest American population in Asia, and is the seventh-largest American community in the world.[1]
In 2007, the U.S. State Department estimated that there were over 250,000 U.S. citizens living in the Philippines.[2] Many of the American citizens in the Philippines were born in the Philippines, immigrated to the U.S. to work, and returned upon retirement.
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American colonial rule in the Philippines saw an increase in immigration to the Philippines. Retiring soldiers and other military-men were among the first Americans to become long-term Philippine residents and settlers. The Education Act of 1901 authorized the colonial government to recruit American teachers to help establish the new educational system, and 80 former soldiers became teachers. They were soon joined by 48 teachers recruited in America who arrived in June 1901 on the ship Sheridan, and by 523 others who arrived on August 1, 1901 on the Thomas. Collectively, these teachers became known as the Thomasites.[3] Besides English, the Thomasites taught agriculture, reading, grammar, geography, mathematics, general courses, trade courses, housekeeping and household arts (sewing, crocheting and cooking), manual trading, mechanical drawing, freehand drawing and athletics (baseball, track and field, tennis, indoor baseball and basketball). Many of these people settled in the Philippines and had Philippine spouses. By 1930, there were already thriving American and American mestizo communities.
The 1940s was a period of large-scale American immigration to the Philippines. However, this ended was abruptly by the World War II. Many Americans, as well as American mestizos in the Philippines, were interred and killed by the Japanese. After the Philippines gained independence from the United States in 1946, many Americans chose to permanently settle in the Philippines. The Americans, until the mid-1990s, had a heavy presence in the cities of Angeles and Olongapo, northeast of Manila, due to the presence of large US military bases there. During the American colonial period (1898–1946), a recorded number of more than 800,000 Americans were born in the Philippines. Large concentrations of Filipinos with American ancestry aside from Metro Manila are located in the areas of the former US bases such as the Subic Bay area in Zambales and Clark Field in Angeles.
Currently, American citizens living in the Philippine can be broken up into four groups:
As the Philippines lies in Southeast Asia, the offspring of a Filipino and an American is termed an Amerasian.
The physical appearance of American Filipino mestizos are like those of Spanish mestizos, with more Nordic features. There can be European American mestizos having mixed Spanish and Euro-American descent. In addition, there are a number of Euro-American mestizos with Spanish birth surnames born to Filipino fathers and Euro-American mothers or out of wedlock to Euro-American fathers and Filipino mothers or with at least 1 Euro-American grandparent, and these may be mistaken as Spanish mestizos. These Euro-American mestizos may have blond, red, auburn, or chestnut hair, and blue, green, or gray eyes.
Aside from Spanish and Mexican Filipino mestizos who are direct descendants of Spanish settlers (from Spain and Mexicans), there are also many Spanish and Mexican Filipino mestizos who are descendants of Hispanic Americans. There may even Spanish mestizos who have Spanish blood from Puerto Rican, Cuban American, and other Hispanic parentage.
The number of American mestizos is thought to be between 20,000 and 30,000. Most speak Tagalog and English. The majority are to be found in Angeles City, which has the largest proportion of Amerasians in the Philippines.[4]
The majority of black people in the Philippines who are sometimes classified as African-Filipinos or Afro-Filipino as an umbrella term are of part-African American descent, mostly descending from United States army servicemen. (Unlike in the United States, there are no official race classifications in the Philippines.)
The Philippine Children's Fund of America, based in Angeles City, was created by the US and Philippine governments in 1991 to assist impoverished Filipino children of American ancestry, also known as Amerasians, by providing educational scholarships, employment and working visas to the United States. Around 56,000 children under the age of 16 benefit from the fund today.
Today, the Philippines has a large population of Americans and people with American roots, as well as a burgeoning Amerasian population.[4]
The total number of US citizens living in the Philippines is more than 250,000.[2], although rough estimates state that at least 1% of the entire Philippine population are of American descent.
For a list of prominent or noteworthy descendants of American settlers, see Category:Filipino people of American descent.
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