Filipino diaspora goes back to the 1500s
Did you know that Filipinos have been coming to the Americas since way back in the late 1500s?
Mr. Greg Macabenta, who writes The Global Pinoy for ABS CBN Interactive, found some interesting facts about when the Filipino diaspora really began. Nope, it’s not with the arrival of 15 Filipino farmworkers to Hawaii in 1906, as is widely thought (and celebrated this year for its centennial). According to Macabenta’s Google search, our dispersion to the Americas began in the late 1500s with the mention of an Antonio Miranda Rodriguez, an armorer who helped found Los Angeles, or in those times known as El Pueblo de los Angeles. It seems Rodriguez was described in an archive as an Indio chino, referring to natives of Las Islas Filipinas.
Macabenta also found a book with revealing footnote about several Indios chinos who were hired as artisans and workers in Lima between 1595 and 1610. There’s also mention of 100,000 Asians from Malasia and the Philippines who were brought to Mexico as slaves during the galleon trade.
Wow… we really are a global people, aren’t we? Read the rest of this article here.
Tags: Filipino diaspora, galleon trade, Global Filipino, Mexico City
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[...] Manilamen stomped on the shells of dried shrimps. Ah, the very first OFW. There’s even mention of a Antonio Miranda Rodriguez from El Pueblo de los Angeles in the history books circa [...]