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Eurasian

Total population
Official population numbers are unknown; United States: 106,782 (2000)[1]
Regions with significant populations
United States •  United Kingdom •  South Korea •  Japan •  Netherlands •  India •  Vietnam •  France •  Peru •  Cambodia •  Macau •  Costa Rica •  Sri Lanka •  Cuba •  Burma •  Malaysia •  Philippines •  Australia •  Indonesia •  Russia •  Thailand

The word Eurasian refers to people of mixed Asian and European ancestry. It was originally coined in 19th-century British India to refer to Anglo-Indians of mixed British and Indian descent.^[2] The term has seen some use in anthropological literature from the 1960s.^[3]

Overview[link]

Origins[link]

Contact and mixture between Indo-European (Europe and South Asia) and Asian peoples (Primarily Central Asia) has a long history dating back at least several thousands of years to the spread of the Indo-Europeans from the Caucasus^{[citation needed]} area into Central and Northern Asia. It has continued with various migrations, heading both east and west.The most noticeable of these were the Huns, Mongols and Turks moving and settling as far west as central-Europe; and the Greeks, Tocharians and Russians^[when?] moving east into Central-Asia,^{[citation needed]} and eventually even Manchuria.

Many Eurasian ethnic groups arose during the Mongol invasion of Europe. The Persian and Muslim invasion of present-day Pakistan and India brought about other developments. Other Eurasian ethnicities developed by the colonial occupation of Asian regions by European states and private corporations, that started with the great wave of European naval expansion and exploration in the 16th century and continues to the present. The main European colonial powers were Spain and Portugal in the 16th century, followed by the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and France from the 17th century onwards. They colonized throughout South Asia, and into Indonesia and the Philippines.

The term 'Eurasian' was first coined in British India in 1844. The term was originally used to refer to those who are now known as Anglo-Indians, people of mixed British and Indian descent. In many regions, tended to marry and socialize mostly among themselves — thus forming a separate social and economic class, which eventually became a distinctive ethnic group. Similarly, descendants of French colonists and Vietnamese were also Eurasian.

Social and economic status[link]

Eurasians usually had close ties to the ruling Europeans and the local populations. They were often given positions such as clerks, administrators and police officers which enabled them to act as intermediaries. In addition, Eurasians gained political influence and prosperity through such roles.^{[citation needed]}

As European colonies gained their independence, different Eurasian groups met with different fortunes. At times they were discriminated against and persecuted, being seen as alien and allies of the former rulers. This was the fate, for example, of the Anglo-Burmese in Burma, and of the Indo people of Indonesia. In other cases, where the Eurasians had citizen status in the colonial power, they chose to emigrate simply for economic reasons. In a few cases, Eurasians were able to retain their status after the transition, or to take over the status of the former colonial rulers. This was the case in the Philippines and Timor, for example, where the Spanish mestizos and other part-European groups have continued to be politically and economically dominant. They are also important in a socio-cultural aspect.

Specific groups[link]

Central Asia[link]

Today Central Asians are a mixed race of various peoples such as Mongols, Turkics, Iranics. The Mongol invasion of Central Asia in 13th century resulted in the massacre of mostly white Iranic population and other Indo-European people as well as large numbers of Intermarriage and assimilation. Modern Genetic shows that Central Asian Turkic people and Hazara are an mixture of Northeast Asians and Indo-European people. Caucasian ancestry is prevalent in almost all central Asian Turkic people. Kazakhs, Hazara, Karakalpaks, Crimean Tatars have more European mtdna than European y-dna, Kyrgyz have mostly European y-dna with substantial European mtdna. Other Turkic people like Uyghurs and Uzbeks, have mostly European y-dna but also an significant high percentages of European mtdna. Turkmen have predominately European y-dna and mtdna.^[4]

Myanmar (Burma)[link]

Through the course of history, Myanmar (Burma) was visited by Portuguese, Dutch and French merchants and then finally became a British colony in stages from 1826-1885 through 1948. Over time, these different groups intermarried or had liaisons with the local populace. The first Eurasian group, of Portuguese and Burmese origins, were known as the Ba-Yin-Gi - the Great Kings - and descended from Felipe DeBritto and his Portuguese band of soldiers. Eventually, as the Dutch, French and British settled, further intermarriage and relationships took place, spawning the official birth of what became known as the Anglo-Burmese/Anglo-Burman community. Skewed heavily to a Burmese or Anglo-Burmese mother and a European father, but with many intermarriages between Anglo-Burmese themselves and also with the Anglo-Indians who had come into the country with the British, the Anglo-Burmese community hovered above the local Burmese people but just below the ruling British.

Over time, the Anglo-Burmese came to heavily dominate colonial society in the realms of the civil service and armed forces, the merchant companies and the educational system, with British schools set up, such as St. Paul's and the Methodist English High School in Rangoon, St. Michael's and St. Mary's in Mandalay and Maymyo, primarily to educate the Anglo-Burmese. During World War II, for those Anglo-Burmese left in the country, the Japanese quickly interned them and for those who fled with the British to India, the prestige of the British Empire was now destroyed. After the war was over, most Anglo-Burmese returned to Burma and at Independence in 1948, the country was still to be dominated in the civil service, police and armed forces by the Anglo-Burmese. This quickly changed in the early 1950s, with pre-requisites for fluency in both spoken and written Burmese adopted for government employment and education. At this time, many Anglo-Burmese opted to leave the country, primarily for the UK and Australia, whereas others threw in their lot with the local population, adopted Burmese names and adapted to the new society. Seen as a vestige of the hated British colonial period, this influential community has effectively disappeared from Burmese society, though it is estimated that many in the country still have some European or Anglo-Burmese blood and through the Joshua Project, it is estimated that around 52,000 Eurasians still reside in Burma, per the 1983 census. Today, most Anglo-Burmese are found in Perth, Australia, where the Anglo-Burmese Society is headquartered.

Hong Kong[link]

Irwin et al. found U2b mtDNA once, other U2 twice, H11 once and J1 once in 377 HKers which suggests European female admixture from migrant women in Hong Kong. A study of Mitochondrial DNA control region variation in a population sample from Hong Kong found that 2 out of 112 samples found to belong to U2, which suggests a 1.78% European female admixture in Hong Kong Cantonese people.^[5] These results do not give any information as to the extent of male European admixture in the Hong Kong population. Ernest John Eitel mentioned in 1889 how an important change had taken place among Eurasian girls, the offspring of illicit connections: instead of becoming concubines, they were commonly brought up respectably and married to Hong Kong Chinese men. Some believed many Hong Kong born Eurasian were assimilated into the Hong Kong society by intermarriage with the Cantonese population. An good example of a Cantonese Eurasian is Nancy Kwan, a Hollywood sex symbol, born in 1939 in Hong Kong to a Cantonese architect father and model mother of British and Scottish descent. The worlds most influential martial artist icon Bruce Lee, was also born to parents of Hong Kong heritage to a Cantonese father and a Eurasian mother.

Ernest John Eitel controversially claimed that most "half caste" people in Hong Kong were descended exclusively from Europeans having relationship with Tanka women. The theory that most of the Eurasian mixed race Hong Kong people are descended only from Tanka women and European men, and not ordinary Cantonese women, has been backed up by other researchers who pointed out that Tanka women freely consorted with foreigners due to the fact that they were not bound by the same Confucian traditions as the Cantonese, and having a relationship with European men was advantageous for Tanka women. However, Lethbridge criticized it as "a 'myth' propagated by xenophobic Cantonese to account for the establishment of the Hong Kong Eurasian community". Carl Smith's study in late 1960s on the protected women seems, to some degree, support Ernest John Eitel theory. Smith says that the Tankas experienced certain restrictions within the traditional Chinese social structure. Being a group marginal to the traditional Chinese society of the Puntis (Cantonese), they did not have the same social pressure in dealing with Europeans. The ordinary Cantonese women did not sleep with European men, the Eurasian population was formed mostly from Tanka and European admixture.^[6][7][8][9]

They invaded Hongkong the moment the settlement was started, living at first on boats in the harbonr with their numerons families, and gradually settling on shore. They have maintained ever since almost a monopoly of the supply of pilots and ships' crews, of the fish trade and the cattle trade, but unfortunately also of the trade in girls and women. Strange to say, when the settlement was first started, it was estimated that some 2,000 of these Tan-ka lieople had flocked to Hongkong, but at the present time they are abont the same number, a tendency having set in among them to settle on shore rather than on the water and to disavow their Tan-ka extraction in order to mix on equal terms with the mass of the Chinese community. The half-caste population in Hongkong were, from the earliest days of the settlement of the Colony and down to the present day, almost exclusively the off-spring of these Tan-ka people. But, like the Tan-ka people themselves, they are happily under the influence of a process of continuons re-absorption in the mass of the Chinese residents of the Colony.^[10][11]

Elizabeth Wheeler Andrew (1845–1917) and Katharine Caroline Bushnell (February 5, 1856 January 26, 1946), who wrote extensively on the position of women in the British Empire, wrote about the Tanka inhabitants of Hong Kong and their position in the prostitution industry, catering towards foreign sailors. The Tanka did not marry with the Chinese, being descendants of the natives, they were restricted to the waterways. They supplied their women as prostitutes to British sailors and assisted the British in their military actions around Hong Kong.^[12] The Tanka in Hong Kong were considered "outcasts" categorized low class.^[13] Tanka women were ostracized from the Cantonese community, and were nicknamed "salt water girls " (ham shui mui) for their services as prostitutes to foreigners in Hong Kong.^[14][15]

Peru[link]

About 100,000 Cantonese coolies (almost all males) in 1849 to 1874 migrated to Peru and intermarried with Peruvian women of mestizo, European, Ameridian, European/mestizo, African and mulatto origin. Many Peruvian Chinese today are of mixed Chinese, Spanish, African, Ameridian. Estimates for Chinese-Peruvian is about 1.3 - 1.6 millions. Asian Peruvians are estimated to be 3% of the population, but one source places the number of citizens with some Chinese ancestry at 4.2 million, which equates to 15% of the country's total population.

Cuba[link]

120000 Cantonese coolies (all males) entered Cuba under contract for 80 years, most did not marry, but Hung Hui (1975:80) cites there was an frequency of sexual activity between black women and Cantonese coolies. According to Osberg (1965:69) the free Chinese practice of buying slave women and freeing them expressly for marriage. In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, Chinese men (Cantonese) engaged in sexual activity with white Cuban women and black Cuban women, and from such relations many children were born. (For a British Caribbean model of Chinese cultural retention through procreation with black women, see Patterson, 322-31).^[16]

In the 1920s an additional 30000 Cantonese and small groups of Japanese also arrived; both immigrations were exclusively male, and there was rapid intermarriage with white, black, and mulato populations.^[17][18] CIA World Factbook. Cuba. 2008. May 15, 2008. claimed 114,240 Chinese-Cuban coolies with only 300 pure Chinese.^[19]

In the study of Genetic origin, admixture, and asymmetry in maternal and paternal human lineages in Cuba. Thirty-five Y-chromosome SNPs were typed in the 132 male individuals of the Cuban sample. The study does not include any people with some Chinese ancestry. All the samples were White Cubans and Black Cubans. 2 out of 132 male sample belong to East Asian Haplogroup O2 which is found in significant frequencies among Cantonese people is found in 1.5% of Cuban population.^[20]

Costa Rica[link]

See also: Chinese people in Costa Rica

The Chinese originated from the Cantonese male migrants. Pure Chinese make up only 1% of the Costa Rican population but according to Jacqueline M. Newman, as close to ten percent of the people in Costa Rica are Chinese, if we count the people who are Chinese, married to a Chinese, or of mixed Chinese descent. Than ten percent of three and a half million is a sizable number.^[21] Most Chinese immigrants since then have been Cantonese, but in the last decades of the 20th century, a number of immigrants have alse come from Taiwan. Many men came alone to work and married Costa Rican women and speak Cantonese. However the majority of the descendants of the first Chinese immigrants no longer speak cantonese and feel themselves to be Costa Ricans.^[22] They married Tican women (Who are a blend of Europeans, Caztizos, Mestizos, Indian, Black).^[23] An Tican is also an White person with small portion of non white blood like Caztizos. The census In 1989 shows about 98% of Costa Ricans were either White, Castizos, Mestizos, with 80% being White or Caztizos.

Philippines[link]

The Philippines has a 3.6% Eurasian population according to a study of 28 Filipino samples.^[24] Most are descendants of Spanish and American settlers, as well as other European ethnicities who intermarried with indigenous women. Significant intermarriage between Filipinos and European Americans has occurred since the United States colonial period up to the present day, as the US has numerous people stationed there at military bases. Aside from the more common Spanish mestizo, there are also Eurasians in the Philippines who have ancestries from various European countries. Because of a growing incidence of intermarriage between Filipinos and people from the Middle East, there is also a growing number of mestizos of mixed Filipino and Arab or Iranian ancestry, and a few of part Jewish descent. Because most Filipinos were given Spanish surnames by the Spanish governors during the colonial period, today's Eurasians of non-Spanish descent with Spanish surnames may be mistaken as Filipinos of Spanish descent, and that is how they are often presented in such circles as the film industry.

The official percentage of Filipinos with European ancestry is unknown & most genetic studies are not large enough to represent the whole country. The Philippine Government does not honor any surveys or studies done by various institutions since most of them are only considered as "guestimates". There are no genetic research conducted to find an estimate of Filipinos with European ancestors, even though one-third of the population claims to have Spanish ancestors.

European racial admixtures occurred during the Spanish colonial era from the 16th to 19th century, followed by the American occupation. From the 1960s to the present day, the influence of American military and business personnel associated with bases also brought marriages and . Before and during these periods, there were numerous between Chinese workers, first brought by merchants and later by the Spanish, and Filipino women.

The Spanish racial caste system in the Philippines during the Spanish colonial era was modeled after that of Latin America's, with a few major differences. The indigenous population of the Philippines were referred to as Indios.

Persons classified as 'blancos' (whites) were the Filipinos (persons born in the Philippines of Spanish descent), peninsulares (persons born in Spain of Spanish descent), español mestizos (persons born in the Philippines of mixed indigenous and Spanish ancestry), and tornatrás,(persons born in the Philippines of mixed indigenous, Chinese, and Spanish ancestry). Manila was racially segregated, with blancos living in the walled city Intramuros, un-Christianized sangleys in Parían, Christianized sangleys, and mestizos de sangley in Binondo, and the rest of the 7,000 islands for the indios. Only mestizos de sangley were allowed to enter Intramuros to work for whites (including mestizos de español) as servants and various occupations needed for the colony.

This legal system of racial classification based on patrilineal descent had no parallel anywhere in the Spanish-ruled colonies in the Americas. In general, a son born of a sangley male and an indio or mestizo de sangley female was classified as mestizo de sangley; all subsequent male descendants are mestizo de sangley regardless of whether they marry indio or mestizo de sangley. A daughter born in such manner, however, acquire the legal classification of her husband, i.e., she becomes an indio if she marries an indio but remains mestizo de sangley if she marries another mestizo de sangley or a sangley. In this way, a chino mestizo male descendant of a paternal sangley ancestor could never lose his legal status as a mestizo de sangley no matter how little percentage of sangley blood he has in his veins or how many generations has passed since his first sangley ancestor; he is thus a mestizo de sangley in perpetuity; as opposed to Latin America's system in which those with some Amerindian ancestry were counted as whites.

The Spanish caste system based on race was abolished after the Philippines' independence from Spain in 1898. The meaning of the word 'Filipino' was expanded to include the entire population of the Philippines regardless of racial ancestry.

United States[link]

According to the United States Census Bureau, concerning multi-racial families in 1990:

In the United States, census data indicate that the number of children in interracial families grew from less than one half million in 1970 to about two million in 1990. In 1990, for interracial families with one white American partner, the other parent...was Asian American for 45 percent...

—^[25]

According to James P. Allen and Eugene Turner from California State University, Northridge, by some calculations, the largest part-European bi-racial population is European/Native American and Alaskan Native, at 7,015,017; followed by European/African at 737,492; then European/Asian at 727,197; and finally European/Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander at 125,628.^[26]

The US Census has categorized Eurasian responses in the "Some other race" section as belonging to the Asian category.^[27] The Eurasian responses the US Census officially recognizes are Indo-European, Amerasian, and Eurasian.^[27] Starting with the 2000 Census, people have been allowed to mark more than one "race" on the US census, and many have identified as both Asian and European.

Accusations of support for miscegenation were commonly made by slavery defenders against Abolitionists before the Civil War. After the War, similar charges were used by white segregationists against advocates of equal rights for African Americans. They were said to be secretly plotting the destruction of the white race through miscegenation. In the 1950s, segregationists alleged a Communist plot funded by the Soviet Union with that goal. In 1957, segregationists cite the anti-semitic hoax A Racial Program for the Twentieth Century as evidence for these claims.

In 19th to 20th mid century, the Chinese that migrated was almost entirely of Cantonese origin. Around Hundreds thousands of Chinese men in U.S, mostly of Cantonese origin from Taishan who migrated to United stateds. Anti-miscegenation laws in many states prohibited Chinese men from marrying white women.^[28] After the Emancipation Proclamation, many interracial marriages in some states were not recorded and historically, Chinese American men married African American women in high proportions to their total marriage numbers due to few Chinese American women being in the United States. After the Emancipation Proclamation, many Chinese Americans immigrated to the Southern states, particularly Arkansas, to work on plantations. For example, the tenth US Census of Louisiana alone counted 57% of interracial marriages between these Chinese Americans to be with African Americans and 43% to be with European American women.^[29] Between 20 and 30 percent of the Chinese who lived in Mississippi married black women before 1940.^[30] In mids 1850's, 70 to 150 Chinese were living in New york city and 11 of them married Irish women. In 1906 the New York Times (August 6) reported that 300 white women(Irish American) were married to Chinese men in New York, with many more cohabited. In 1900, based on Liang research, of the 120,000 men in more than 20 Chinese communities in the United stateds, he estimated that one out of every twenty Chinese men(Cantonese) was married to white women.^[31]

25% of married Asian American women have Caucasian spouses, but 45% of cohabitating Asian American women are with Caucasian American men. Of cohabiting Asian men, slightly over 37% of Asian men have white female partners and over 10% married to White women.^[32] Asian American women and Asian American men live with a white partner, 40 and 27 percent, respectively (Le, 2006b).In 2008, of new marriages including an Asian man, 80% were to an Asian spouse and 14% to a White spouse; of new marriages involving an Asian woman, 61% were to an Asian spouse and 31% to a White spouse.^[33]

Malaysia[link]

Malaysia has a 400-year (1511-1957) history of European occupation, beginning with Portuguese Malacca, Dutch Malacca, followed by the British. The Eurasians of British Malaya and North Borneo (corresponding to modern day Malaysia) were classified as Eurasians by the British colonial administration in the 1920s. Prior to this, the Eurasians were referred to either as Anglo-Indians (for those with British or Irish surnames), Dutch Burghers (for those with Dutch or German surnames), or Portuguese Descendants/ Mestizos (for those with Portuguese and French surnames). During the British colonial era (from 1786 to 1957), the English-speaking Anglo-Indians were at the top of the Eurasian hierarchy, followed by the Dutch Burghers, and the Portuguese Descendants. Numerous Anglo-Indians came with the British East India Company, and later with the British colonial administration, as soldiers and low-level civil servants. The Dutch Burghers were the descendants of European employees of the Dutch East India Company married to Portuguese Mestizos or Asians. The Portuguese Descendants were the result of intermarriage between Portuguese adventurers/colonists and Asians.

In West Malaysia, by the 18th century, the Malays referred to Eurasians as Serani, which originally meant Christians. The Portuguese Mestizos of Malacca refer to their patois or creole as Kristang (Christian tongue). In the 16th and 17th centuries, the Malays called the Portuguese Feringgi, which has a common origin with the Thai word, Farang. Today it is used to refer to European foreigners.

In East Malaysia, the exact number of Eurasians are unknown. Recent DNA studies by Stanford found that 7.8% of samples from Kota Kinabalu have European chromosomes.^[34]

Hawaii[link]

The majority of early Hawaiian Chinese were Cantonese-speaking migrants from Guangdong, with a small number of Hakka-speakers. If all people with Chinese ancestry in Hawaii (including the Sino-Hawaiians) are included, they form about 1/3 of Hawaii's entire population. Many thousands of them married women of Hawaiian, Hawaiian/European and European origin. A large percentage of the Chinese men married Hawaiian and Hawaiian/European women. While an minority married white women in Hawaii were with Portuguese women. The 12592 Asiatic-Hawaiians enumerated in 1930 were the result of Chinese men intermarrying with Hawaiian and part Hawaiian/European. Most Asiatic-Hawaiians men also married Hawaiians and European women (and vice versa). On the census some Chinese with little native blood would be classified as Chinese not an Asiatic-Hawaiians due to dilution of native blood. Intermarriage started to decline in the 1920s.^[35][36][37] Portuguese and other caucasian women married Chinese men.^[38][39] These unions between Chinese men and Portuguese women resulted in children of mixed Chinese Portuguese parentage, called Chinese-Portuguese. For two years to June 30, 1933, 38 of these children were born, they were classified as pure Chinese because their fathers were Chinese.^[40] A large amount of mingling took place between Chinese and Portuguese, Chinese men married Portuguese, Spanish, Hawaiian, Caucasian-Hawaiian, etc.^{[41][42][43][44]} Only one Chinese man was recorded marrying an American woman.^[45][46] Chinese men in Hawaii also married Puerto Rican, Portuguese, Japanese, Greek, and half -white women.^[47][48]

Macau[link]

Due to a few Chinese living in Macau. The early Macanese ethnic group was formed from Portuguese men with Malay, Japanese, Indian women.^[49] The Portuguese encouraged Chinese migration to Macau, and most Macanese in Macau were formed from between Portuguese and Chinese. In 1810, the total population of Macau was about 4,033, of which 1,172 were white men, 1,830 were white women, 425 male slaves, and 606 female slaves. In 1830, the population increased to 4,480 and the breakdown was 1,202 white men, 2,149 white women, 350 male slaves and 779 female slaves. There is reason to speculate that large numbers of white women were involved in some forms of prostitution which would probably explain the abnormality in the ratio between men and women among the white population.^[50] Majority of the early Chinese-Portuguese intermarriages were between Portuguese men and Chinese women of Tanka origin, who were considered the lowest class of Chinese had relations with Portuguese settlers and sailors,^[51][52] while a minority were Cantonese men and Portuguese women. Macanese men and women also married with the Portuguese and Chinese, as a result some Macanese became indistinguishable from the Chinese or Portuguese population. Because the Majority of the population who migrated to Macau was Cantonese, Macau became a culturally Cantonese-speaking society, other ethnic groups became fluent in Cantonese. Most Macanese had paternal Portuguese heritage until 1974.^[51] It was in 1980s that Macanese and Portuguese women began to marry men who defined themselves ethnically as Chinese,^[53] which resulted in many Macanese with Cantonese Paternal ancestry.

After the handover of Macau to China in 1999 many Macaunese migrated to other countries. Of the Portuguese and Macanese women who stayed in Macau married with local Cantonese men, resulting in more Macanese with Cantonese paternal heritage. There is between 25,000 - 46,000 Macanese, only 5000 - 8000 live in Macau, while most live in Latin America (most particularly Brazil), America, Portugal. Unlike the Macanese of Macau who are strictly of Chinese and Portuguese heritage. Many Macanese living abroad are not entirely of Portuguese and Chinese ancestry, many Macanese men and women intermarried with the local population of America and Latin America etc. and have only partial Macanese heritage.

Australia[link]

Most of the early Australian Chinese population consisted of Cantonese-speaking migrants from Guangzhou and Taishan as well as some from Fujian. They migrated to Australia during the gold rush period of the 1850s. Marriage records show that between the 1850s and the turn of the century, there were about 2000 legal marriages between white women and migrant Chinese men in Australia’s eastern colonies, probably with similar numbers involved in de facto relationships of various kinds (ex: Cohabitation, sexual intimacy.)^[54] The rate of intermarriage declined as stories of the viciousness of Chinese men towards white women spread, mixed with increasing opposition to intermarriage. Rallies against Chinese men taking white women as wives became widespread as many white Australian men saw the intermarriage and cohabitation of Chinese men with white women as a threat to the white race. In late 1878, there were 181 marriages between women of European descent and Chinese men as well as 171 such couples cohabiting without matrimony, resulting in the birth of 586 children of Sino-European descent.^[55] Such a rate of intermarriage between Chinese Australians and white Australians were to continue until the 1930s.

Indonesia[link]

Group of Eurasian girls in Indonesia around 1925-1930

The Eurasian community from Indonesia broadly developed along the same historic path as the Filipino one. Over a period of 400 years, it began with a mostly Portuguese-Indonesian ancestry and ended with a dominant Dutch-Indonesian ancestry after the arrival of the Dutch East India Company in Indonesia in 1603 and near continuous Dutch rule until the Japanese occupation of Indonesia in World War II.

Directly after World War II and after Indonesia gaining independence from Dutch colonial rule in 1949, most Eurasians of European and Indonesian descent resettled in The Netherlands. Later groups also left for the United States and elsewhere. Dutch Eurasians were typically Dutch citizens; many Indonesians perceived them as collaborating with the Dutch government. Given the disruption and losses of the war, the postwar years were a time of large-scale Eurasian diaspora from Indonesia. In contrast to the Mestizo in the Philippines, or the Eurasians of Singapore, the Eurasians of Indonesia no longer have a prominent place in contemporary society. Indonesian researchers think that at least 1 million people in Indonesia may have some European ancestry. Although a large group, it is only 0.5% of Indonesia's huge population.

The Netherlands[link]

Dutch Eurasians of part Indonesian descent, also called Indos or Indo-Europeans, have largely assimilated in the Netherlands after arriving in the Netherlands following the end of World War II, up until 1965; their diaspora a result of Indonesia gaining its independence from Dutch colonial rule. Statistics show high inter marriage rates with native Dutch (50 to 80%). With over 500,000 persons, they are the largest ethnic minority in the Netherlands. So-called Indo Rockers such as the Tielman Brothers introduced their blend of rock and roll music to Dutch audiences, whereas others gained fame as singers and TV presenters, such as Rob de Nijs and Sandra Reemer. There are also famous Indo soccer players such as Giovanni van Bronckhorst and Robin van Persie. Well-known politicians, such as Christian democrat Hans van den Broek and right-wing Geert Wilders, are also of Indo Eurasian descent.

United Kingdom[link]

Interracial marriage was fairly common in Britain since the 17th century, when the British East India Company began bringing over thousands of Indian scholars, lascars and workers (mostly Bengali and/or Muslim) to Britain. Most married and cohabited with local white British women and girls, due to the absence of Indian women in Britain at the time. This later became an issue, as a magistrate of the London Tower Hamlets area in 1817 expressed disgust at how the local English women and girls in the area were marrying and cohabiting almost exclusively with foreign South Asian lascars. Nevertheless, there were no legal restrictions against 'mixed' marriages in Britain, unlike the restrictions in India.^[56][57][58] This led to “mixed race” Eurasian (Anglo-Indian) children in Britain, which challenged the British elite efforts to "define them using simple dichotomies of British versus Indian, ruler versus ruled." By the mid-19th century, there were more than 40,000 Indian seamen, diplomats, scholars, soldiers, officials, tourists, businessmen and students arriving in Britain,^[59] and by the time World War I began, there were 51,616 Indian lascar seamen residing in Britain.^[60] In addition, the British officers and soldiers who had Indian wives and Eurasian children in British India often brought them to Britain in the 19th century.^[61]

Following World War I, there were more women than men in Britain,^[62] and there were increasing numbers of seamen arriving from abroad, mostly from the Indian subcontinent, in addition to smaller numbers from Yemen, Malaysia and China. This led to increased intermarriage and cohabitation with local white females. Some residents grew concerned about miscegenation and there were several race riots at the time.^[63] In the 1920s to 1940s, several writers raised concerns about an increasing 'mixed-breed' population, born mainly from Muslim Asian (mostly South Asian in addition to Arab and Malaysian) fathers and local white mothers, occasionally out of wedlock. They denounced white girls who mixed with Muslim Asian men as 'shameless' and called for a ban on the breeding of 'half-caste' children. Such attempts at imposing anti-miscegenation laws were unsuccessful.^[64] As South Asian women began arriving in Britain in large numbers from the 1970s, mostly as family members, intermarriage rates have decreased in the British Asian community, although the size of the community has increased. As of 2006, there are 246,400 'British Mixed-Race' people of European and South Asian descent.

Vietnam[link]

A significant number of Eurasians of mixed French and Vietnamese genetic descent reside in Vietnam. These people are the descendants of French soldiers and settlers who intermarried with local Vietnamese populations during French colonial times. A small percentage of the Vietnamese population is of mixed Vietnamese and French ancestry. However, the Eurasian population in Vietnam has been in steady decline. Many have emigrated from Vietnam since the end of French rule. The majority of those have emigrated to France, the United States, the United Kingdom or Australia. The exact number of those that remain in Vietnam is unknown, but is estimated to be at around 400,000. Including an estimated 40,000 to 100,000 Amerasian, most of them formed from White American soldiers.

Japan[link]

Amerasians Japanese in Okinawa and Japan are mostly the result of European American soldiers and Japanese women. Including, an estimated Japanese 50,000 women who migrated from Japan to the U.S. during 1946-1965, as war brides of most White American soldiers.^[65]

Korea[link]

6,423 Korean women married US military personnel as war brides during and immediately after the Korean War. The average number of Korean women marrying US military personnel each year was about 1,500 per year in the 1960s and 2300, per year in the 1970s.^[66] Since the beginning of the Korean War in 1950, nearly 100,000 Korean women have immigrated to the United States as the wives of American soldiers. Based on extensive oral interviews and archival research, Beyond the Shadow of the Camptowns tells the stories of these women, from their presumed association with U.S. military camptowns and prostitution to their struggles within the intercultural families they create in the United States.^[67]

India[link]

The first use of the term 'Anglo-Indian' was to describe all British people living in India, regardless of whether they had Indian ancestors or not. This usage changed to describe people who were of the very specific lineage descending from the British on the male side and women from the Indian side.^[68] People of mixed British and Indian descent were previously referred to as simply 'Eurasians' but are now more commonly referred to as 'Anglo-Indians'.^[2]

During the British East India Company's rule in India in the late 18th century and early 19th century, it was initially fairly common for British officers and soldiers to take local Indian wives and have Eurasian children. Interracial marriages between European men and Indian women were very common during colonial times.^{[citation needed]} The scholar Michael Fisher estimates that one in three European men in colonial India had Indian wives. The Europeans (mostly Portuguese, Dutch, French and English) were stationed in India in their youth, and looked for relationships with local women.^[59][69] The most famous of such interracial liaisons was between the Hyderabadi noblewoman Khair-un-Nissa and the Scottish resident James Achilles Kirkpatrick. In addition to intermarriage, inter-ethnic prostitution in India existed. Generally, Muslim women did not marry European men unless the men converted to Islam.

By the mid-19th century, there were around 40,000 British soldiers but fewer than 2,000 British officials present in India.^[70] As British women began arriving to British India in large numbers around the early-to-mid-19th century, mostly as family members of British officers and soldiers, intermarriage with Indians became less frequent among the British in India. After the events of the Indian Rebellion of 1857, such intermarriage was considered undesirable by both cultures.^[71] The colonial government passed several anti-miscegenation laws.^[72][73] As a result, Eurasians became more marginal to both the British and Indian populations in India.

Over generations, Anglo-Indians intermarried with other Anglo-Indians to form a community that developed a culture of its own. They created distinctive Anglo-Indian, dress, speech and religion. They established a school system focused on English language and culture, and formed social clubs and associations to run functions, such as regular dances, at holidays such as Christmas and Easter.^[68] Over time, the British colonial government recruited Anglo-Indians into the Customs and Excise, Post and Telegraphs, Forestry Department, the Railways and teaching professions, but they were employed in many other fields as well. A number of factors fostered a strong sense of community among Anglo-Indians. Their English-language school system, their Anglo-centric culture, and their Christian beliefs helped bind them together.^[74] Today, an estimated 125,000 Anglo-Indians live in India.^[75]

Sri Lanka[link]

Due to prolonged colonial contact with Portugal, the Netherlands and Britain, Sri Lanka has had a long history of intermarriage between locals and colonists. Originally these people were known as Mestiços (see Mestizo), literally "Mixed People" in Portuguese; today they are collectively classified as Burghers. The Sri Lankan Civil War has prompted numerous Burghers to flee the Island. Most have settled in Europe, the Americas, Australia and New Zealand.

Portuguese Burghers are usually descended from a Sri Lankan mother and a Portuguese father, or a Sri Lankan mother of Portuguese descent and a Sri Lankan father (the former is more common). This configuration is also the case with the Dutch Burghers. When the Portuguese arrived on the island in 1505, they were accompanied by African slaves. Kaffirs are a mix of African, Portuguese colonist and Sri Lankan. The free mixing between the various groups of people was encouraged by the colonials. Soon the Mestiços or the "Mixed People" began speaking a creole known as the Ceylonese-Portuguese Creole. It was based on Portuguese, Sinhala and Tamil.

The Burgher population numbers 40,000 in Sri Lanka and thousands more worldwide, concentrated mostly in the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Phenotypically Burghers can have skin ranging from light to darker, depending on their ancestors, even within the same family. Burghers with dark to light brown skin usually are of Portuguese Burghers or Kaffir ancestry; they may also have European facial features common to the Mediterranean basin (see Mediterraneans). They have a distinct look compared to native Sri Lankans. Most light-skinned Burghers are of Dutch or British descent. Most Burghers are Roman Catholic in religion.

The long and rich colonial past of Sri Lanka left lasting impressions on the cultures and the languages of the island. Both Sinhalaese and Sri Lankan (Ceylonese) Tamil contain numerous words from Portuguese, Dutch and English.

Cambodia[link]

Approximately 13,000 people of mixed French and Cambodian ancestry reside in Cambodia. These people constitute approximately 0.1% of the total population in Cambodia. They are the descendents of former French soldiers and settlers who intermarried with the local population. A further 3,200 people are of French ancestry, who live in Cambodia as either expatriates or are Cambodian-born but are ethnic French. The Eurasian population in Cambodia has been in steady decline, as many have emigrated from Cambodia since the French withdrawal. The majority of those have emigrated to France, the United States, the United Kingdom or Australia.

Other populations[link]

Additional Eurasian populations exist in Pakistan, Singapore, Bangladesh, Hong Kong, Macau, Australia, New Zealand, and Canada. Russia also has a large number of people who could be classified as Eurasian.The Eurasian population in Pakistan, consisting of either Anglo-Indians who have emigrated to Pakistan or Pakistani born descendents of British people and local populations who intermarried during the British colonial period, numbers approximately 10,000. The Eurasian population in Bangladesh was formed as a similar result to that in Burma, India, and Pakistan.^[76]

Languages[link]

Eurasians usually speak the native language of their home country, and may or may not speak the language(s) of an ancestral or parental ethnicity.

The overwhelming majority of all Eurasians with Filipino ancestry of the younger generations speak English as their first language, and have a basic command of at least one Philippine language, and at least one European language of their own ethnicity. Eurasians and some Filipinos of certain strata in society use a language code-switching, between English, Spanish, and indigenous Philippine languages, called Taglish or Bislish.

The Kristang and Macanese groups have formed their own languages. The Kristang language is a dialect of Portuguese influenced by Malay as well as Petjo, a dialect made up of Dutch words based on a Malay grammatical structure. The Macanese language is a Portuguese creole influenced by Cantonese, but now, most Macanese people speak Portuguese and Cantonese.

Intermixing between locals and colonials gave rise to the Ceylonese Portuguese Creole, the lingua franca on the island for over 400 years. Dutch was also in common use by members of the Burgher community on the island of Sri Lanka. The use of Portuguese was so dominant, that the Dutch also began to speak it. The modern lexicon of Sri Lankan Tamil and Sinhala are infused with words from Portuguese, Dutch and English.

Notes[link]

External links[link]

• AngloIndians.com - Anglo-Indian resources & matrimony
• AsiansOfMixedRace.com
• Malaysian Dutch Descendants Project
• Maleisie.be article on Malaysian Dutch Descendants

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The terms multiracial and mixed-race describe people whose ancestries come from multiple races. Unlike the term biracial, which often is only used to refer to having parents or grandparents of two different races, the term multiracial may encompass biracial people but can also include people with more than two races in their heritage, or also may refer to the origin of more generationally distant genetic admixtures of more than one race in a person's DNA.

The actual incidence of multiracial admixture and heritage is believed to be far higher than is commonly reported, although there is evidence that this is changing as people become more comfortable with revealing personal multiracial heritage. Census records and other studies also show the real number of multiracial individuals to be increasing in the United States along with an increase in marriages across race lines. Other surveys also reflect this trend in many modern nations. The term "multiracial" may also be used to refer to groups or populations where individuals of more than one race are counted as a part of a whole group. In this sense of the word, "multiracial" refers to a racially heterogeneous rather than a homogeneous group or population.

Definitions[link]

While defining race is controversial,^[1] race remains a commonly used term for categorization. Insofar as race is defined differently in different cultures, perceptions of multiraciality will naturally be subjective.

According to U.S. sociologist Troy Duster and ethicist Pilar Ossorio:

Some percentage of people who look white will possess genetic markers indicating that a significant majority of their recent ancestors were African. Some percentage of people who look black will possess genetic markers indicating the majority of their recent ancestors were European.

—^[2]

In the United States:

Many state and local agencies comply with the U.S. Office of Management and Budget (OMB) 1997 revised standards for the collection, tabulation, and presentation of federal data on race and ethnicity. The revised OMB standards identify a minimum of five racial categories: White; Black or African American; American Indian and Alaska Native; Asian; and Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander. Perhaps, the most significant change for Census 2000 was that respondents were given the option to mark one or more races on the questionnaire to indicate their racial identity. Census 2000 race data are shown for people who reported a race either alone or in combination with one or more other races.

—^[3]

Related terms[link]

In the English-speaking world, many terms for people of various multiracial backgrounds exist, some of which are pejorative or are no longer used. Mulato, zambo and mestizo are used in Spanish, mulato, caboclo, cafuzo, ainoko (from Japanese) and mestiço in Portuguese and mulâtre and métis in French for people of multiracial descent. These terms are also in certain contexts used in the English-speaking world. In Canada, the Métis are a recognized ethnic group of mixed white and First Nation descent, who have status in the law similar to that of First Nations.

Terms like mulatto for people of partly African descent and mestizo for people of partly Native American descent are still used by English-speaking people of the western hemisphere^{[citation needed]}, but mostly when referring to the past or to the demography of Latin America and its diasporic population. Half-breed is a historic term that referred to people of partial Native American ancestry; it is now considered pejorative and discouraged from use. Mestee, once widely used, is now used mostly for members of historically mixed-race groups, such as Louisiana Creoles, Melungeons, Redbones, Brass Ankles and Mayles. In South Africa, and much of English-speaking southern Africa, the term Coloured was used to describe a mixed-race person and also Asians not of African descent.^[4] While the term is socially accepted, it is becoming an outdated due to its association with the apartheid era.

In Latin America, where mixtures became tri-racial after the introduction of African slavery, a panoply of terms developed during the colonial period, including terms such as zambo for persons of Amerindian and African descent. Charts and diagrams intended to explain the classifications were common. The well-known Casta paintings in Mexico and, to some extent, Peru, were illustrations of the different classifications.

At one time, Latin American census categories have used such classifications but, in Brazilian censuses since the Imperial times, for example, most persons of multiracial heritage, except the Asian Brazilians of some European descent (or any other to the extent it is not clearly perceptible) and vice-versa, tend to be thrown into the single category of "pardo", although race lines in Brazil do not denote ancestry but phenotype, and as such a westernized Amerindian of copper-colored skin is also a "pardo", a caboclo in this case, despite being not multiracial, but a European-looking person with one or more African and/or Indigenous American ancestor is not a "pardo" but a "branco", or a White Brazilian, the same applies to "negros" or Afro-Brazilians and European and/or Amerindian ancestors. Most Brazilians of all racial groups (except Asian Brazilians and Natives) are to some extent mixed-race according to genetic research.

In English, the terms miscegenation and amalgamation were used for unions between the races. These terms are now often considered offensive and are becoming obsolete. The terms mixed-race, biracial or multiracial are becoming generally accepted. In other languages, translations of miscegenation did not become politically incorrect.

Blanqueamiento racial classification[link]

Mixed-race categories are often used to whiten the racial classification of black individuals, that is to identify or be identified as whiter than how someone is in actuality racially positioned, such as a black person identifying or being identified as mixed race. Mixed-race categories are also used to darken the racial classification of white individuals, that is to identify or be identified as darker than how someone is in actuality racially positioned, such as a white person identifying or being identified as mixed race.

A black person seeking to whiten their race classification may also utilize “whitening” categories. Whitening categories are highly ambiguous and open ended color categories, the ambiguity of such categories can allow a black individual to avoid the stigmitized black category. The ambiguity of racial identity was, for many years, seen as an “escape hatch” allowing non-white mobility (Andrews 1992, 1993), whereas others noted the supremacy of class as “money whitened” (Guillebeau 1999). This ambiguity reflected not equality but a persistent social tendency to escape from blackness.^[5]

Research has found that the growth of the mixed-race population is in part due to large numbers of blacks "whitening" (blanqueamiento) there racial classification by reporting to be mixed race. The growth of the mixed-race population can also be in part credited to white people "darkening" their racial classification. Studies have found a large trend in reclassification (blanqueamiento/whitening) from black to brown in the 1950 to 1980 period, a much smaller one from white to brown (darkening), and a similar but less pronounced pattern between 1980 and 1990. Academics attribute this switch from black to mixed race to high rates of black upward mobility during the 1970s, consistent with a “money whitens” hypothesis, that is blacks will whiten themselves by reporting as brown (mixed race) the more wealthy they become. Differences found in the percentage of blacks between census results demonstrate that many blacks self classify as mixed race. Further research confirmed a tendency for what is called blanqueamiento, that means that blacks tend to self-classify as whiter. In this case, differences found in the share of blacks between two surveys suggest that blacks tend to self-classify as mulattos (mixed race), while the differences found in the shares of blacks and mulattos pooled suggest that very few blacks or mulattos self-classify as whites. Attempting to split people in three groups, namely blacks, mulattos and whites, might get seriously biased results due to an incorrect classification of blacks as mulattos (Florez et al., 2001:30). Reclassifition from white to brown (darkening) also demonstrates that some whites self-classify as mixed race. The darkening of the racial classification of whites appears to be growing. Analyses of changes between censuses, show that people reclassify themselves from white to mixed race more often than from mixed race to white. Academics attribute this switch from white to brown to poverty among white people, consistent with a poverty darkens hypothesis, that is whites will darken themselves by reporting to be mixed race the more poorer they become.^[6]

[edit] Blanqueamiento's version of the one-drop rule

The ideology of Blanqueamiento/whitening has its own version of the one-drop rule. Under blanqueamiento's version of the one-drop rule, one drop of white blood can be sufficient to make blacks and/or native Americans mixed race. Accordingly, one drop of white blood can also be enough to make a person white, or at least no longer black. Blanqueamiento's version of the one-drop rule is mostly applied in Latin/Hispanic countries. For example, in the Dominican Republic, one drop of white blood makes you white, or at least, mixed.^[7][8]

Regions with significant multiracial populations[link]

North America[link]

United States[link]

Multiracial US Americans officially numbered 6.1 million in 2006, or 2.0% of the population.^[9][10] There is considerable evidence that an accurate number would be much higher. Prior to the mid-20th century, many people hid their multiracial heritage. The development of binary thinking about race meant that African Americans, a high proportion of whom have also had European ancestry, were classified as black. Some are now reclaiming additional ancestries. Many Americans today are multi-racial without knowing it.

In 2010, the number of Americans who checked both "black" and "white" on their census forms was 134 percent higher than it had been a decade earlier.^[11]

According to James P. Allen and Eugene Turner from California State University, Northridge, by some calculations in the 2000 Census, the multiracial population that is part white is as follows:

• white/Native American and Alaskan Native: 7,015,017,
• white/black: 737,492,
• white/Asian: 727,197, and
• white/Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander: 125,628.^[12]

The stigma of a mixed-race heritage, associated with racial discrimination among numerous racial groups, has decreased significantly in the United States. The election of President Barack Obama, who had a European-American mother and an African father, was taken by many as a sign of progress. People of mixed-race heritage can identify themselves now in the U.S Census by any combination of races, whereas before Americans were required to select from only one category. For example they may choose more than one race from the following list:

"White" (or "Caucasian"), "Black" (or African American), "Asian", "Native American" or "Alaska Native", "Native Hawaiian", other "Pacific Islander" or "Some other race".

Many mixed-raced Americans use the term biracial. The U.S. has a growing multiracial identity movement, reflective of a desire by people to claim their full identities. Interracial marriage, most notably between whites and blacks, was historically deemed immoral and illegal in most states in the 18th, 19th and first half of the 20th century, due to its long association of blacks with the slave caste. California and the western US had similar laws to prohibit European-Asian marriages, which was associated with discrimination against Chinese and Japanese on the West Coast. Many states eventually repealed such laws, and a 1967 (Loving v. Virginia decision by the US Supreme Court) overturned all remaining anti-miscegenation laws in the US.

The United States is one of the most racially diverse countries in the world. The American people are mostly multi-ethnic descendants of various immigrant nationalities culturally distinct in their former countries. Assimilation and integration took place, unevenly at different periods of history, depending on the American region. The "Americanization" of foreign ethnic groups and the inter-racial diversity of millions of Americans has been a fundamental part of its history, especially on frontiers where different groups of people came together.^[13]

The current^[update] President of the United States, Barack Obama, is a multiracial American, as he is the son of a Luo father from Kenya and a European American mother. While he acknowledges both parents, he identifies as African-American.

Canada[link]

Multiracial Canadians in 2006 officially totaled 1.5% of the population, up from 1.2% in 2001, although, this number may actually be far higher. The official mixed-race population grew by 25% since the previous census. Of these, the most frequent combinations were multiple visible minorities (for example, people of mixed south Asian and European heritage form the majority specifically in Toronto), followed closely by white-black, white-Chinese, white-Arab, and many other smaller mixes.^[14]

During the time of Slavery in the United States a very large but unknown number of American slaves of African descent escaped to Canada, where slavery was illegal, via the underground railroad. Many of these people married in with European-Canadian and Native-Canadian populations, although their precise numbers, and the numbers of their descendants, are not known.

Another 1.2% of Canadians officially are Métis (descendants of a historical population who were partially Aboriginal-- also called "Indian" or "Native American" in other North and South American countries mixed with European, particularly French, English, Scottish, and Irish ethnic groups). Although listed as a single "race" in Canada, the Métis are therefore multi-racial. In particular the Métis population may be far higher than the official numbers state, due to earlier racism causing people to historically hide their mixed heritage. This however is changing although many Canadians may now be unaware of their mixed-race heritage, especially those of Métis descent.

This brings Canada to a total "recognized" mixed population of 2.7%, greater by percentage than that of the United Kingdom and the United States.

Latin America[link]

Jamaican dancehall artist Sean Paul's paternal grandfather was a Sephardic Jew from Portugal,^[15] and his paternal grandmother was Afro-Caribbean; his mother is of English and Chinese Jamaican descent.

Mestizo is the common word used to describe multiracial people in Latin America, especially people with Native American and Spanish or other European ancestry. Mestizos make up a large portion of Latin Americans comprising a majority in most countries.

In Latin America, racial mixture was officially acknowledged from colonial times. There was official nomenclature for every conceivable mixture present in the various countries. Initially, this classification was used as a type of caste system, where rights and privileges were accorded depending on one's official racial classification. Official caste distinctions were abolished in many countries of the Spanish-speaking Americas as they became independent of Spain. Several terms have remained in common usage.

Race and racial mixture have played a significant role in the politics of many Latin American countries. In most countries, for example Mexico, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Honduras, and a majority of the population can be described as biracial or multiracial (depending on the country). In Mexico, over 80% of the population is mestizo in some degree or another.^[16]

The Mexican philosopher and educator José Vasconcelos authored an essay on the subject, La Raza Cósmica, celebrating racial mixture. Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez, who is himself of Spanish, indigenous and African ancestry, has made positive references to the mixed-race ancestry of most Latin Americans from time to time.

Brazil[link]

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According to the 2000 official census, 38.5% of Brazilians identified themselves as pardo skin color.^[17] That option is normally marked by people that consider themselves multiracial (mestiço). The term pardo is formally used in the official census but is not used by the population. In Brazilian society, most people who are multiracial call themselves moreno: light-moreno or dark-moreno. These terms are not considered offensive and focus more on skin color than on ethnicity (it is considered more like other human characteristics such as being short or tall).

The most common multiracial groups are between African and European (mulato), and Amerindian and European (caboclo or mameluco). But there are also African and Amerindian (cafuzo), and East-Asian (mostly Japanese) and European/other (ainoko, or more recently, hafu). All groups are more or less found throughout the whole country. Brazilian multiracials with the following three origins, Amerindian, European and African, make up the majority. It is said today that 89% or even more of the "Pardo" population in Brazil has at least one Amerindian ancestor (most of brancos or White Brazilian population have some Amerindian and/or African ancestry too despite nearly half of the country's population self-labeling as "Caucasian" in the censuses. In Brazil, it is very common for Mulattoes to claim that they don't have any Amerindian ancestry, though studies have found that if a Brazilian multiracial can trace their ancestry to nearly 8 to 9 generations back, they will have at least one Amerindian ancestor from their maternal side of the family, which will explain many of their physical features and characteristics.^{[citation needed]}

Since multiracial relations in Brazilian society have occurred for many generations, some people find it difficult to trace their own ethnic ancestry. Today a majority of mixed-race Brazilians do not really know their ethnic ancestry. Due to their unique features that makes them Brazilian-looking like skin color, lips and nose shape or hair texture, they are only aware that their ancestors were definitely Portuguese, African and/or Amerindian. There is also a high percentage of Brazilians of Jewish descent (10,000,000-30,000,000), mostly found in the northeast of the country who cannot be sure of their ancestry as they descend from the so-called "Crypto-Jews" (Jews who practiced Judaism in secret while outwardly pretending to be Catholics, also called Marranos or New-Christians, often considered Portuguese); according to some sources, 1 out of every 3 families to arrive there from Portugal during the colonization was of Jewish origin. There is a high level of integration between all groups. However, there exists a great social and economic difference between European descendants (found more among the upper and middle classes) and African, Amerindian and multiracial descendants (found more among the lower classes), what is called Brazilian apartheid.

United Kingdom[link]

In 2000, The Sunday Times reported that "Britain has the highest rate of interracial relationships in the world" and certainly the UK has the highest rate in the European Union.^[18] The 2001 census showed the population of England to be 1.4% mixed-race, compared with 2.7% in Canada and 1.4% in the U.S. estimates of 1.4% in 2002, although this U.S. figure did not include mixed-race people who had a black parent. Both the US and UK have fewer people identifying as mixed race, however, than Canada. By 2020 the mixed-race population is expected to become Britain's largest ethnic minority group with the highest growth rate.^[19]

In Britain, many multi-racial people have Caribbean, African or Asian heritage. For example supermodel Naomi Campbell, who has African, Jamaican, and Asian roots. Some, like Formula One driver, Lewis Hamilton, are referred to or describe themselves as 'mixed'.

The 2001 UK Census included a section entitled 'Mixed' to which 1.4% (1.6% by 2005 estimates) of people responded, which was split further into White and Black Caribbean, White and Asian, White and Black African and Other Mixed. Despite this, 2005 birth records for the country state at least 3.5% of newborn babies as mixed race.^[20]

Cities / regions with notable multiracial / mixed-race populations (England and Wales)

North Africa[link]

In North Africa, some multiracial communities can also be found. Among these are the Haratin oasis-dwellers of Saharan southern Morocco and Mauritania. They are believed to be a mixture of Black Africans and Berbers, and constitute a socially and ethnically distinct group.^[21] Also the case of Tunisia in which you can find many mixed races from the mediterranean sea.

Madagascar[link]

Almost the entire population of Madagascar is an about equal admixture of South East Asian and Bantu-speaking settlers primarily from Borneo and Mozambique, respectively.^[22] Years of intermarriages created the Malagasy people, who primarily speak Malagasy, an Austronesian language with Bantu influences.^[22]

South Africa[link]

In South Africa, the Prohibition of Mixed Marriages Act prohibited marriage between whites and non-whites (which were classified as Black, Asian and Coloured). Multiracial South Africans are commonly referred to as coloureds. According to the 2001 South African Census, they are the second largest minority (8.9%) after white South Africans (9.2%).

South Asia[link]

India[link]

Anglo-Indians are the mixed race, which originated in India during the British Raj, or the Colonial period in India. The estimated population of Anglo-Indians is 600,000 worldwide with the majority living in India and the UK.

Burma[link]

As with India, Burma was ruled by the British, from 1826 until 1948. Many European groups vied for control of the country prior to the arrival of the British. Intermarriage and mixed-relationships between these settlers and merchants with the local Burmese population, and subsequently between British colonists and the Burmese created a local Eurasian population, known as the Anglo-Burmese. This group dominated colonial society and through the early years of independence. Most Anglo-Burmese now reside primarily in Australia, New Zealand and the UK since Burma received her independence in 1948 with an estimated 52,000 left behind in Burma.

Sri Lanka[link]

Due to its strategic location in the Indian Ocean, the island of Sri Lanka has been a confluence for settlers from various parts of the world, which has resulted in the formation of several mixed-race ethnicities in the Island. The most notable mixed-race group are the Sri Lankan Moors, who trace their ancestry from Arab traders who settled on the island and intermarried with local women. Today, The Sri Lankan Moors live primarily in urban communities, preserving their Arab-Islamic cultural heritage while adopting many Southern Asian customs.

The Burghers are a Eurasian ethnic group, consisting for the most part of male-line descendants of European colonists from the 16th to 20th centuries (mostly Portuguese, Dutch, German and British) and local women, with some minorities of Swedish, Norwegian, French and Irish.

The Kaffirs are an ethnic group who are partially descended from 16th century Portuguese traders and the African slaves who were brought by them.The Kaffirs spoke a distinctive creole based on Portuguese, the Sri Lanka Kaffir language, now extinct. Their cultural heritage includes the dance styles Kaffringna and Manja, as well as the Portuguese Sinhalese, Creole, Afro-Sinhalese varieties.

Southeast Asia[link]

Singapore and Malaysia[link]

According to government statistics, the population of Singapore as of September 2007 was 4.68 million, of whom multiracial people, including Chindians and Eurasians, formed 2.4%.

In Singapore and Malaysia, the majority of inter-ethnic marriages are between Chinese and Indians. The offspring of such marriages are informally known as "Chindian", though the Malaysian government only classifies them by their father's ethnicity. As the majority of these intermarriages usually involve an Indian groom and Chinese bride, the majority of Chindians in Malaysia are usually classified as "Indian" by the Malaysian government. As for the Malays, who are predominantly Muslim, legal restrictions in Malaysia make it uncommon for them to intermarry with either the Indians, who are predominantly Hindu, or the Chinese, who are predominantly Buddhist and Taoist.^[23] It is, however, common for Muslims and Arabs in Singapore and Malaysia to take local Malay wives, due to a common Islamic faith.^[24]

The Chitty people, in Singapore and the Malacca state of Malaysia, are a Tamil people with considerable Malay descent. This was due to the first Tamil settlers taking local wives, since they did not bring along any of their own women with them.

In the East Malaysian states of Sabah and Sarawak, there have been many incidents of intermarriage between Chinese and native tribes such as the Murut and Dusun in Sabah, and the Iban and Bisaya in Sarawak. This phenomenon has resulted in a potpourri of cultures in both states where many people claiming to be of native descent have some Chinese blood in them, and many Chinese have native blood in them. The offspring of these mixed marriages are called "Sino-(name of tribe)", e.g. Sino-Dusun. Normally, if the father is Chinese, the offspring will adopt Chinese culture and if the father is native then native culture will be adopted, but this is not always the case. These Sino-natives are usually fluent in Malay and English. A smaller number are able to speak Chinese dialects and Mandarin, especially those who have received education in vernacular Chinese schools.

Philippines[link]

Philippines was a Spanish colony for about 300 years, and then by the Americans when the Spanish was defeated. This is the cause of many mixed-race Filipinos of Filipino-Spanish and Filipino-American descent.

After the defeat of Spain during the Spanish-American War in 1898, the Philippines and other remaining Spanish colonies were ceded to the United States in the Treaty of Paris. The Philippines was under U.S. sovereignty until 1946, though occupied by Japan during World War II. In 1946, in the Treaty of Manila, the U.S. Recognized the Republic of the Philippines as an independent nation. Even after 1946, the U.S. maintained a heavy military presence in the Philippines, with as many as 21 U.S. military bases and 100,000 U.S. military personnel stationed there. The bases closed in 1992, leaving behind thousands of Amerasian children.^[25] Pearl S. Buck International foundation estimates there are 52,000 Amerasians scattered throughout the Philippines with 5,000 in the Clark area of Angeles.^[26]

A genetic study by Stanford University indicates that at least 3.6% of the population are European or of part European descent from both Spanish and American colonization.^[27]

In the United States, intermarriage among Filipinos with other races is common. They have the largest number of interracial marriages among Asian immigrant groups, as documented in California.^[28] It is also noted that 21.8% of Filipino Americans are of mixed lineage, second among Asian Americans after the Japanese, and is the fastest growing.^[29]

Vietnam[link]

Under terms of the Geneva Accords of 1954, departing French troops took thousands of Vietnamese wives and children with them after the First Indochina War. Some 100,000 Eurasians stayed in Vietnam, though after independence from French rule.^[30]

New Zealand[link]

Large scale European colonisation and settlement of New Zealand since the 1840s has led to a large racial mixing of them and the local Maori and Pacific populations. There are also smaller populations of mixed European and Pacific Island people, as well as mixing between white and Asian populations. All of New Zealand's half million Maori can claim some Pakeha parentage.^[31] Especially common mixtures are Irish Maori, Scottish Maori and Anglo Maori. Less common are Jewish Maori (Nathan and Benjamin are common Maori surnames) and Dutch Maori (Both mostly since 1950s). Because ones' race and culture in New Zealand is often a form of self identification, actual numbers are hard to gauge. (Statistics New Zealand, Census of Population and Dwellings 2006). In the last census (2006) many New Zealanders refused to state their ethnicity, or claimed multiple ethnicities and 19% chose New Zealander (Source New Zealand Herald 2006). Examples of these people include Dame Kiri Te Kanawa (opera singer) actress Rena Owen and ex Governor General Sir Paul Reeves.

Fiji[link]

Fiji has long been a multi-ethnic country, with a vast majority of people having multi-racial heritages even if they do not self-identify in that manner. The indigenous Fijians themselves are actually a mixture of Melanesian and Polynesian ancestry resulting from years of migration of islanders from various places mixing with each other during and after the various waves of migration. Fiji Islanders from the Lau group especially physically look and are more prone to verbalise mixed-race ethnicity, after much intermarriage with Tongans and other Polynesians over the years. The overwhelming majority of the rest of the indigenous Fijians, though, can be genetically traced to having mixed Polynesian/Melanesian ancestry, as evidenced in physical and body characteristics of both groups.

The Indo-Fijian population is also a hodge-podge of South Asian immigrants (called Girmits in Fiji), who came as indentured labourers beginning in 1879. While a few of these labourers managed to bring wives, many of them either took or were given wives once they arrived in Fiji. The Girmits, who are classified as simply "Indians" to this day, came from many parts of the Indian subcontinent of present day India, Pakistan, and to a lesser degree Bangladesh and Myanmar. It is easy to recognize the Indian mixtures present in Fiji and see obvious traces of Southern and Northern Indians and other groups who have been categorised together. To some degree, even more of this phenomenon would have likely happened if the religious groups represented (primarily Hindu, Muslim and Sikh) had not resisted to some degree marriage between religious groups, which tended to be from more similar parts of the Indian subcontinent.

Over the years, particularly in the sugar cane growing regions of Western Viti Levu and parts of Vanua Levu, Indo-Fijians and Indigenous Fijians have mixed. It is also not uncommon to find people of Chinese/Fijian ancestry, Indo-Fijian/Samoan or Rotuman ancestry, and European/Fijian ancestry (often called "part-Fijians"). The latter are often descendents of beachcombers (particularly shipwrecked sailors) and settlers that came over during Fiji's colonial rule. Further settling and subsequent mixing of islanders from a dozen or more different Pacific countries (Tuvalu, Solomon Islands, Vanautu, Samoa, and Wallis and Futuna being the most prevalent) have added to the melting pot that is Fiji. Without a doubt, it is the most racially mixed nation in the Pacific, its only rival being the US State of Hawaii.

Ethnic groups[link]

The following is a list of ethnic divisions that are a mixture of two or more racial groups.

Within Native American Tribal Nations

Many Native American tribes have significant minority populations, or in some cases even majority populations, of people with multi-racial origin. However many of these individuals will identify simply as tribal members of that nation. Official standards for what degree of blood heritage constitutes a tribal member varies dramatically between different nations. Some tribal nations have strict blood standards and some use standards of cultural identification with a less strict blood standard.

See also[link]

Notes[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

• The Multiracial Activist, an online activist publication registered with the Library of Congress, focused on multiracial individuals and interracial families since 1997
• Multiethnic Education Program, resources and strategies to support mixed race children in educational settings
• ProjectRACE, an organization leading the movement for a multiracial classification

Advocacy groups

• Association of MultiEthnic Americans, Inc., US
• Blended People of America, US-based nonprofit organization representing the interests of the mixed-race community
• Brazilian Multiracial Movement, Brazilian mixed-race organization
• The Hafu Project, a study of half-Japanese people, London-, Munich-, Tokyo-based nonprofit organisation
• MAVIN Foundation, an organization advocating for mixed heritage people and families
• Mixed Race UK, UK-based nonprofit organization representing the interests of the mixed-race community
• Mosiac UK, a UK-based organisation for mixed race families
• People in Harmony UK
• Swirl, US-based mixed community

Look up mixed in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Mixed is the past tense of mix. It may also refer to:

• Mixed breed, an animal whose parents are from different breeds or species
• Mixed anomaly, in theoretical physics, an example of an anomaly
• Mixed data sampling, an econometric model developed by Ghysels
• Mixed Doubles (play), a play that was first performed
• Mixed drink, see cocktail
• Mixed feelings, ambivalence
• Mixed forest, see Temperate broadleaf and mixed forests
• Mixed gauge, see Dual gauge
• Mixed government, a form of government that integrated facets of democracy, oligarchy, and monarchy
• Mixed inhibition, a combination of two different types of reversible enzyme inhibition
• Mixed language, a language that arises when two languages are in contact
• Mixed Martial Arts, a combat sport in which two competitors use different martial arts for fighting
• Mixed media, in visual art, refers to an artwork in the making of which more than one medium has been employed.
• Mixed metaphor, see Metaphor (language)
• Mixed oxide fuel, see Nuclear reprocessing
• Mixed reality, the merging of real world and virtual worlds
• Mixed spices, a common sweet blend of spices
• Mixed strategy, used in game theory economics
• Mixtape, a home-made compilation of songs
• Multiracial, a person who is of multiple races.

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This article is about the concept of ancestry. For the website of the same name, see Ancestry.com. For the Scott Sigler novel by the same name, see Ancestor.

An ancestor or forebear is a parent or (recursively) the parent of an ancestor (i.e., a grandparent, great-grandparent, great-great-grandparent, and so forth).

Two individuals have a genetic relationship if one is the ancestor of the other, or if they share a common ancestor. In evolutionary theory, species which share an evolutionary ancestor are said to be of common descent. However, this concept of ancestry does not apply to some bacteria and other organisms capable of horizontal gene transfer.

Assuming that all of an individual's ancestors are otherwise unrelated to each other, that individual has 2ⁿ ancestors in the nth generation before him and a total of about 2^g+1 ancestors in the g generations before him. In practice, however, it is clear that the vast majority of ancestors of humans (and indeed any other species) are multiply related (see Pedigree collapse). Consider n = 40: the human species is more than 40 generations old, yet the number 2⁴⁰, approximately 10¹² or one trillion, dwarfs the number of humans that have ever lived.

Ignoring the possibility of other inter-relationships (even distant ones) among ancestors, an individual has a total of 2046 ancestors up to the 10th generation, 1024 of which are 10th generation ancestors. With the same assumption, any given person has over a billion 30th generation ancestors (who lived roughly 1000 years ago) and this theoretical number increases past the estimated total population of the world in around AD 1000. (All of these ancestors will have contributed to one's autosomal DNA is concerned: this excludes Y-chromosomal DNA and mitochondrial DNA.)

Some cultures confer reverence to ancestors, both living and dead; in contrast, some more youth-oriented cultural contexts display less veneration of elders. In other cultural contexts, some people seek providence from their deceased ancestors; this practice is sometimes known as ancestor worship or, more accurately, ancestor veneration.

See also[link]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Ancestors

• Cousin
• Ethnicity
• Family
• Family relationship
• Genealogy
• Kinship
• Most recent common ancestor

External links[link]

Look up ancestor in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

• Ancestry.com corporate site