Latest Updates http://www.mixedindifferentshades.net/ Fri, 18 May 2012 20:25:41 GMT FeedCreator 1.8.0-dev (info@mypapit.net) Cuba http://www.mixedindifferentshades.net/west-indies/cuba.html Map of CubaThe most populous island nation in the Caribbean, Cuba is home to over 11 million people, most of who, according to the 2002 census, consider themselves of be white. The 2002 census was the first one that allowed self-identification when prior to that over 60% were considered Mulatto, that is, of mixed European and African descent. Cuba has a large diaspora, the bulk of who reside in Miami in the United States. Most of these immigrants consider themselves as white Latin Americans.

Several genetic studies have revealed a much larger percentage of the population having some African ancestry than the nearly 3 million (23%) self-identified mulattos and the 1.7 million (10%) self-identified blacks in the country. This is consistent with the history of this island since it was claimed as a Spanish colony in 1492 by Christopher Columbus. Cuba was to remain a Spanish colony until the Spanish–American War which ended in 1898 when it became a USA colony.

The genetic studies do reveal the small contribution – about 4% - of the indigenous people that the Spanish found on the island to the modern Cuban’s genetic makeup. The island was inhabited by Guanajatabey, also known as the Ciboney, early settlers in the Caribbean who were displaced somewhat by the expanding warlike Taíno, sometimes also known as the Arawak, people. Within a century after European contact, the Guanajatabey were extinct throughout the Caribbean. It is sometimes stated that a Mestizo population of mixed Taíno and European descent, existed well into the 19th century in Cuba but today, both Amerindian and Mestizo ancestry appear nonexistent. Without a doubt, the old world infectious diseases contributed to the decline of the native numbers with a measles outbreak in 1529 killing over two thirds of those who had survived an earlier smallpox outbreak.

A private market stand in Matanzas, Cuba.Between the 18th and 20th century, Spanish immigration to Cuba soared. A large number of the Spanish immigrants came from the Canary Islands. The numbers were large enough to affect the dialect of Spanish spoken in Cuba, which is very similar to that spoken in the Canaries and to contribute North African – namely Berber – DNA to the Cuban genetic mix. Other Spanish immigrants hailed from Catalonia, Andalusia, Galicia, and Asturias.

The Spanish were the first Europeans to introduce African slaves in the Americas with the first Africans arrived in Hispaniola in 1501. Cuba received its first four slaves in 1513 but restrictive Spanish trade laws geared to protecting trade routes restricted greater participation in the Atlantic slave trade. Large influxes of slaves occurred when the British conquered Havana in 1762 during the Seven Years' War (1756 and 1763) and when French refugees of the Haitian Revolution (1791 to 1804) in nearby Saint-Domingue, now Haiti, brought their slaves. In 1817, more than half the population of Cuba were free-black or black African slaves. Between 1842 and 1873 some 221,000 slaves were landed on the island. Slavery was finally abolished in Cuba by a royal decree on 7th October 7 1886.

Cuba's Fulgencio Batista in 1938 Cuba gained formal independence from the U.S. in 1902 though the USA had enshrined in its constitution, its right to intervene in Cuban affairs. Since then Cuba has had only one socially defined non-white person as leader. In 1940, Fulgencio Batista who was of mixed European, African, Chinese and Amerindian descent and socially considered a Mulatto was democratically elected President in the elections of 1940 and served for four years. During his first term, Batista introduced many reforms but on his return to leadership in 1952, it appears that his sole interest was acceptance by the white Cuban elite which prompted his accumulation of personal riches. Batista’s corrupt rule was brought to a crashing end by the USA’s refusal to support him which allowed the Cuban revolutionaries, with Che Guevera and Fidel and Raúl Castro, to roll victoriously into Havana on 8th January 1959.

Casa de la Trova, a local musical house at Santiago de Cuba.The revolutionaries rule led to Fidel Castro becoming the leader of Cuba and resulted in the emigration of hundreds of thousands of Cubans to the USA. Cuban Americans number just fewer than 2 million people and are the third largest Hispanic group in the USA.

Fulgencio Batista’s dilemma in seeking acceptance by the higher social group is a symptom of an underlying issue with race which Cuban officialdom seeks to discount. However, like the rest of the Hispanic Caribbean and parts of Central and South America, Cuban non-white society is becoming more vocal about the injustices such as racism, colourism and classism that are sometimes used to disguise racism.

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]]> Thu, 22 Jul 2010 12:34:07 GMT http://www.mixedindifferentshades.net/west-indies/cuba.html Chile http://www.mixedindifferentshades.net/south-a-central-america/chile.html Map Of ChileDespite the varying results of ethnic surveys of some of Chile’s 15 million people, there is no doubt there is a substantial mixed population. The majority of Chileans consider themselves white though genetic studies suggest that some 65% of them are Mestizos, that is mixed European and Amerindian, with majority European ancestry. Even amongst those who self-identify as Mestizos, there is significant European ancestry in their genes.

The small Amerindian contribution to modern Chilean genes is not surprising considering that Amerindians make up only 4% of the population with most of those from a group known as Mapuche but also as Araucanians, Araucans or Moluches, a fiercely protective tribe who had even managed to thwart the Incas who only managed to extend their empire to the North of what is present day Chile.

Mapuche Family 1860The Spanish first arrived in 1535 in the form of a band of Spanish conquistadors from Peru seeking gold. These fortune hunters came up against the Mapuche people, Whilst the Spanish did not find gold or silver, Chile’s agricultural potential led to the formal colonisation of the country which started in 1540 formalised by the founding of Santiago as the capital on 12th February, 1541. As normal, contact with the Europeans meant the introduction of Old world diseases which decimated some populations. Despite that, the Mapuche did not take colonisation lying down and there were several insurrections in 1553, 1598 and 1655. The Spanish crown recognised that enslavement of these people did not lead to peaceful co-existence and abolished slavery in 1683. As with many colonies in the early days, miscegenation occurred quite extensively and the beginnings of the mestizo population became evident.

The vast majority of un-colonised Mapuche peoples formed a south border barrier which became known to the Spanish as Araucanía or Araucana. With the Atacama Desert to the North, the Andes Mountains to the East and the Pacific Ocean to the west, Chile was a little isolated from the rest of South America. Still it was a prized procession constantly under threat from the southern Mapuche and Spain’s colonial rivals, the British and the Dutch, that it eventually had one of the Americas largest army. Undoubtedly, the predominantly male soldiers contributed to the growing mestizo population.

However, a continuous stream of Spanish immigrants throughout the 16th century meant that the general census of 1777 and subsequent regional ones in 1784 band 1812 reported a majority white population. Mixed groups made up between 7% and 10% of the numbers and this included Mulattos, mixed European and Black African persons. The lack of mineral wealth and the relatively European style agricultural activity, Chile did not require a large labour pool like the other colonies of the Americas which had resulted in the slave trade. Chile’s participation in that trade is considered to be virtually nil and yet interestingly enough, some 10% of the 1777 census population were in fact black. Today, Mulattos and Blacks make up a very small number of Chileans.

Atacama Desert, ChileOn 12th February, 1818, after some intermittent warfare, Chile was proclaimed an independent republic and some years later when the politicking had settled down, began in 1861, the Occupation of Araucanía or "The Pacification of Araucanía". This process to incorporate the Mapuche land and people into the Chilean fold continued until 1883 though even then there was continued resistance after that date. The Mapuche were assimilated into Chilean society contributing to the mestizo community and reducing their population numbers greatly. Independent Chile abolished slavery – African slavery – soon after independence in 1818. European immigration from a large number of European countries to Chile continued throughout the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries with significant populations arriving from Spain, Germany and Croatia. Asian immigrants hail from Palestine and other parts of the Middle East including Israelis.

Santiago de Chile SkylineChile’s other indigenous group are the Aymara in the North who the country inherited when Chile extended her territory in the Treaty of Peace and Friendship of 1904 with neighbouring country Bolivia on 20th October, 1904 – some 20 years after the War of the Pacific which ran from 1879 to 1883. The Aymaras main population lies in Bolivia and they make up, as in the 1992 census, only half a percentage of Chile’s population. The other native group are the Rapa Nui, Polynesian people indigenous to the Easter Islands and the Pacific. They make up less than a quarter of a percentage of the population. The social definition of who is native is dependent on visual cues and more importantly on cultural ones. Only if the individual has an indigenous name, speaks an indigenous language and maybe even lives in an indigenous community are they socially considered native.

Today, Chile is one of South America’s richest and most stable countries and since 1990 has had a declining birth rate, most probably due to the rising standard of living and growing middle class. Whilst race as such does not play a role in Chilean society, class does and higher socioeconomic status does correlate with lighter skin, a kind of Colourism.

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]]> Thu, 22 Jul 2010 12:40:03 GMT http://www.mixedindifferentshades.net/south-a-central-america/chile.html South Africa http://www.mixedindifferentshades.net/africa/south-africa.html Map Of South AfricaProving the ‘rainbow nation’ status that it is, South Africa has eleven official languages; nine of these are spoken by the some 80% Bantu African population, Afrikaans – a Dutch like dialect and English and has the largest communities of European, Asian, and racially mixed ancestry in Africa.

South Africa - Race MapSouth Africa’s large mixed population are called Coloureds. Unlike other parts of the world, this term is not regarded as derogatory and is proudly born all over Southern Africa. The Coloureds make up nearly 8.8% of the current population and they are the predominant population group found in the Western Cape Province at about 4 million strong. The predominance of this group in this part of South Africa is historical. This is where the first European settlers came into contact with the indigenous people of the region, the pastoral Khoikhoi. The Khoikhoi and their closest relatives, the San people, and are collectively referred to as Khoisan. Both peoples had names that are now considered inappropriate, the Khoikhoi being labelled Hottentots, now considered a derogatory term, and Bushmen being used for the San. Archaeological evidence suggests that modern humans have lived in Southern Africa for at least 170,000.

The Portuguese explorer Bartolomeu Dias and his crew are regarded as the first Europeans to have sighted the Cape in 1488 which he named Cabo das Tormentas (Cape of Storms). This was later changed to Cabo da Boa Esperança or Cape of Good Hope by the Portuguese King John II. After this, it is probable that many European excursions to the East Indies stopped at the Cape for refreshments. These Europeans came into contact with the pastoral Khoikhoi, despite Afrikaner historian claims to the contrary, and in many cases the encounters were violent.

It was over 150 years later that Jan van Riebeeck on behalf of the Dutch East India Company established a settlement at the Cape of Good Hope which became Cape Town. The Europeans brought with them the curse of the Old World, smallpox, to which these indigenous people had no immunity and despite the continuing conflict with the Khoikhoi, the beginning of what was to become the coloured community happened around this time. As usual, the early settlers were mostly men and they took up with Khoikhoi women who bore them mixed children. Like in most colonies, particularly Dutch ones, these mixed children were elevated a step up from natives and obtained certain ‘privileges’. However they did not obtain the social or legal statuses of their fathers. These early mixed children came to be known as Basters or Baasters (bastards) and the colonialists were not averse to conscripting these offspring into commandos to fight against their mother’s people.

The constant demand for fresh produce by the passing ships mean that the settlers had to expand into Khoikhoi territory and it is believed that some of the Dutch East India Company’s employees were released from their contracts in exchange for land for farming. These new farmers were successful and many took on local wives. Additionally, the Dutch were importing slaves from Indonesia, Madagascar and India for the new colonialists. Slaves were interbred and the women bore children both to the Europeans and other slaves fuelling the growth of the Cape Coloured community.

At the time of European contact, the Khoikhoi were being pushed south and westwards by the migrating Bantu peoples who were not only pastoral but also an advanced Iron Age culture giving them a large advantage in the competition for resources particularly land and food. Eventually the expanding European colony met the advancing Bantu peoples, the ancestors of today's Nguni peoples (the Zulu, Xhosa, Swazi, and Ndebele) in the region of the Fish River in what is now the Eastern Cape. This resulted in a series of nine wars from 1779 to 1879 known as the Xhosa Wars or Cape Frontier Wars resulting in the losses of land for the Xhosa people.

Whilst this expansion was in progress, in Europe the French had invaded the Dutch Republic and Britain fearing the loss of a refuelling station took over the Cape colony in 1795 but returned the colony to the Dutch East India Company in 1803. The company finally declared bankruptcy and the British annexed the colony in 1806 and continued the frontier wars with the Xhosa.

Sketch of A Zulu WarriorBritain’s continuing policy of banning slaves and their continuing rule saw a group of disgruntled South African Dutch people, the Boers, migrating North during the 1830s and 1840s. These Boers numbering some 12,000 and later known as the Voortrekkers, founded the two Boer States; the South African Republic and the Orange Free State in the vacuum left by Shaka Zulu’s Mfecane (“crushing”) of the other tribes in the interior.

Whether due to the continuing wars, British rule or continuing inequality, a group of the Basters left the Cape in 1868 to trek northwards near the Orange River, just west of the Orange Free State, and on the southern skirts of the Transvaal. It is not very clear whether this original ‘mixed race’ group included any of the newer mixed race offspring stemming from the slave communities but it is certainly likely. The original immigrants were followed by a steady stream of more disgruntled, Dutch-speaking, trained Baster soldiers and farmers. Some Basters came to call themselves Oorlam, sometimes known as "Orlamse Hottentots" and they and some other Baster groups continued their northward trek and settled in Rehoboth in central Namibia were they are mainly known as Rehobothers or Rehoboth Basters. The Oorlams assimilated to Nama culture after their migration to Namaqualand and Damaraland in Namibia. The Nama are the largest and only surviving distinct group of the Khoikhoi people.

The Basters that remained in the Orange river area were eventually persuaded by London Missionary Society (LMS) to call themselves Griqua because the English found the Baster name offensive. This term was related to a the word Chariguriqua (Grigriqua)which had been used before to have been used as early as 1730 for a mixed race group living in the north-eastern section of the Cape Colony who apparently had a common ancestor named Griqua. They founded Griqualand West, now Griekwastad but also known as Griquatown; and controlled it until the influx of Europeans accompanying the discovery of diamonds in 1867. Determined to maintain a Griqua nation, Adam Kok III led over 2,000 Griquas east to establish Griqualand East but after a few months it was annexed by the Cape Colony in 1874.

Central Cape Town, South AfricaOutside of the Cape region and throughout the rest of Southern Africa, the Coloured mix tended to be white European and Bantu African and most speak a European language which made the Cape Coloureds fairly distinct. Cape Coloureds like to claim, and it is backed up by genetic studies, that they the most racially mixed group in the world. However, those genetic studies have shown that the maternal, the mother’s side (determined by mitochondrial DNA), the greatest contribution has come from the Khoisan.

The Indian contribution to the Coloured community may have been much higher in the earlier decades but inter-racial mixing with the indentured Indian labour brought to work in the sugar plantations in Natal in the late 19th and early 20th century would have been very limited. These Indians came from different parts of the Indian subcontinent, adhered to different religions and spoke different languages.

The ‘Coloured’ classification was formalised under apartheid and it is not clear, depending on the source, whether the Griqua were considered coloured under the law. Many Griqua did self-identify as Coloured as there were certain advantages to be so classified such as the not having to always carry a dompas, an identity document. The Apartheid Population Registration Act 1950 classified Coloureds into various subgroups which including Cape Coloureds as well as Cape Malays and ‘other coloureds’. Under apartheid, the rights that were once a given for Coloureds were slowly eroded, for example, voting rights were lost in 1970. The Group Areas Act, 1950 allowed the Government to remove many in the Coloured community out of the central and western areas of Cape Town which cumulated, by 1982, in the forced removal of some 60,000 people from District 6 to the dismal Cape Flats housing project.

Coloured support and membership of the African National Congress started before, grew during and continues after apartheid. Despite this, many feel disheartened by the new South African particularly in opposition to affirmative action programmes which many felt failed to protect non-Black interests. In the first universal (post-apartheid) elections in 1994, which the ANC won by an overwhelming majority, many Coloured voted for the white National Party, which had formerly oppressed them. Many did not understand the ramification of such actions and apathy in following elections particularly in 2004 was high in historically coloured constituencies. Since then, Coloured identity politics has continued to be important in the Western Cape.

In March, 2011 there was a large outcry in the press where it had been reported that a chief South African government spokesman, Jimmy Manyi, had insisted there was an “oversupply” of Coloureds in the Western Cape and suggested they “spread in the rest of the country”. It led to the accusation that the government signed off on a Bill that would have had the effect of forcing employers to dump an estimated one million Coloureds in the Western Cape, on the basis that they were not, in fact, Black. No doubt, race is still important in Africa and this will probably not be the last we hear about issues like this.

Trying to understand the politics of the Coloured question is difficult for anyone who does not come from that part of the world. Watching the documentary “I'm Not Black, I'm Coloured”, Identity Crisis at the Cape of Good Hope” by Mondé World Films may be the first step.

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]]> Thu, 22 Jul 2010 12:48:15 GMT http://www.mixedindifferentshades.net/africa/south-africa.html Zimbabwe http://www.mixedindifferentshades.net/africa/zimbabwe.html Zimbabwe MapThe mixed race or as they are known the 'Coloured' population in Zimbabwe is very small - making up only half of a percent of the population, the majority located in the main urban centres.  Many Coloureds have emigrated over the past decade or so and especially as the economy in Zimbabwe collapsed, with sizeable immigrant populations in the UK, Canada and Australia.  Apart from the UK, the fact that many of them were experienced tradesmen, due to the limited employment opportunities in the past, assisted in making immigration a little easier than it was for the many of the indigenous African Zimbabwean.  The UK's 'one drop' mentality and reduced need for tradesmen made the immigration experiences for all non-white Zimbabweans very similar despite the fact that the vast majority of coloured people are descendants of British citizens.  Amongst the Zimbabweans there is a belief that white Zimbabweans, especially after independence and after the farm invasions, were granted legal immigrant status in the UK quite easily.

A distinct coloured community arose after the unilateral declaration of independence (UDI) from the United Kingdom.  The European minority in what was the settler colony of Rhodesia at the time had been worried by the trend of black majority rule independence that was sweeping across Africa.  By declaring UDI in November, 1965, the Europeans hoped to maintain political and economic control of the country and its rich natural resources.  This control was totally lost after an attempt of indigenous appeasement, with multiracial elections in 1979, on Independence Day in April 1980.

The white minority government maintained a sort of apartheid system of segregating the races with the Coloured and Indians being granted a sort of 2nd class citizenship slightly above the indigenous African.  People involved in inter-racial relationships with mixed race children had to live in designated areas and the children expected to attend schools designated for them.  Whilst this was too much of an issue in the large urban areas of Harare (Salisbury) and Bulawayo, this did cause problems for coloureds in smaller and rural areas that did not have access to coloured schools unless they boarded in big city schools.  Many could not afford that luxury.  Employment wise, certain trades were available to the educated Coloured that were restricted to ingenious Africans but positions of authority remained the privilege of Europeans.  It is these trades of motor mechanics, fitters, turners, electricians and boiler-making for males and teaching, nursing and junior secretarial roles in the civil service and banks for the females that made it easier for the community to immigrate to places like Australia and Canada.

It is debateable that the separate identity that grew out of this segregation was helped by the 'Cape Coloured' immigrants who mainly came to teach in Coloured schools.  According to some sources, there was a bit of a power struggle in the community with the Cape Coloureds and the Afro-European sections vying for favour from the European masters.  It is more likely that the presence of the Cape Coloured politicised the Coloured as a community with increasing demands from the community for more school places, new and better residential areas and other demands.  The growth of apartheid in South Africa made many of the South African Coloureds eventually cut ties with the Cape.  The growth of the community was generally increased by marriage within the community as opposed to inter-racial coupling that found no favour in post UDI Rhodesia.

WildlifeBantu black ethnic groups make up 98% of the population of Zimbabwe with the Shona making some 80% and the Ndebele at around 15% and various minority groups such as Venda, Tonga and Kalanga making up the rest.  The Ndebele are descended from Zulu migrations in the 19th century and like the Zulus, assimilated many other minor tribes, not being averse to raiding and assimilating their numerous Shona neighbours when required.  The European population pre-independence comprised of many nationalities with British descendants making up a sizeable proportion and Afrikaner, Greek, Portuguese and Dutch adding to the mix.  Only a small European population remains.  A smaller business orientated Asian community of Indians - mainly of Tamil descent - and Chinese also existed but they rarely married outside their community and many have also left the country.  The Chinese population is now growing with increased investment form China fuelling the growth.

Obviously the vast majority of the mixed heritage population are the results of the admixture of European/Shona or European/Ndebele.  Note, how all Europeans are considered one group while the tribal ones are emphasised a little.  There is a friendly, but not always, rivalry between the Harare (Shona) and the Bulawayo (Ndebele) coloureds.  Into this mix are a number of other groups such as the Asian-African, Portuguese Indian namely Goan from neighbouring Mozambique and even some people who do not have recognisable racial admixture such as the Mozambican 'assimilados' - various Africans who had received formal education and adopted Portuguese customs.

The 'Goffals', the slang name used by Zimbabwean coloureds for themselves and help differentiate them for the other Southern African mixed heritage populations, developed their own cultural and social identity.  Even in the countries where they have immigrated to in significant numbers, they tend to maintain some of that community spirit.  However, as they move into second and third generations, people are moving further apart and are being further assimilated into the societies into which they immigrated.  The use of virtual communities such as web forums and Facebook has kept the original immigrants in touch; it is likely that their children, as in many immigrant populations, will stop seeing Zimbabwe as home.

The immigrants are not the only ones being absorbed into the general population.  Lawful segregation no longer plays a role in keeping the community together in Zimbabwe.  Those who are doing well economically have moved from the traditional residential areas, children within these areas and those outside are attending school and colleges away from the community and are mixing with other groups within society.  There are many poor coloureds and during the period of economic turmoil over the past 10-12 years, many coloured children did not attend school regularly and so have limited economic options.  This, coupled with the greater social mixing, will lead to many marrying outside the coloured community and moving away.

It would also be quite interesting to study how the 'new mixed race' people - i.e. those who are a result of racial admixture post-independence in and outside Zimbabwe fit into the community, if at all.  In the past, there has been some mixed acceptance of those from outside the community such as the 'lost coloured'.  The 'lost coloured' was a term used for a mixed race individual who was brought up in the rural countryside by his indigenous African relatives and usually had very little exposure to both European or Coloured urban cultures, very much, like the mixed race people of Australia that was the subject of the book and film 'The Rabbit Proof Fence'.  I hope to explore this area as part of this project.

The Zimbabwean experience is worth studying over some time.  It will be interesting to see whether the society will survive multiculturalism at home and abroad or will assimilation assure the extinction of this community like what has happened to some older admixture groups in the Far East?  It will also be a good reference point when we get to comparing the various South African coloured communities such as the Griqua.

To Do
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Further Reading.
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]]> Thu, 22 Jul 2010 11:27:54 GMT http://www.mixedindifferentshades.net/africa/zimbabwe.html Sri Lanka http://www.mixedindifferentshades.net/asia/sri-lanka.html Location map for Sri Lanka.Only half a percent of Sri Lanka’s 20 million people are of recognised mixed ethnicity. These 100,000 or so people belong to three distinct groups mirroring Sri Lanka’s history.

The island appears to have been inhabited for thousands of years, remains of Homo Erastus have been found on the islands. The island’s indigenous people, the Wanniyala-Aetto or Veddas or Veddahs are believed to be the direct descendants of people who existed at the time of Balangoda Man who lived some 34,000 years ago. Today they only number about 2,500 individuals living mainly in the central, Uva and north-eastern parts of the island.

The Sinhalese are the largest ethnic group of Sri Lanka, making up 74% of the Sri Lankan population. According to folklore, they arrived in Sri Lanka in 543 BCE on the arrival of the exiled Prince Vijaya. They live mainly in the Central, Southern and Western parts of Sri Lanka and most are Buddhists and speak Sinhala, an Indo-Aryan language.

The Sri Lankan Tamil people (Ceylon Tamils or Eelam Tamils) are the second largest ethnic group (est. 12.6% -1981 census) and are said to have existed on the islands from around the 2nd century BCE. Many claim ancestral links to the old Jaffna kingdom, a former kingdom in the north of the island where today they constitute a majority and chieftaincies from the east where they live in significant numbers. Due to politics and their willingness to emigrate for work, they also have a very large diaspora spread across the globe.

Cinnamon, a native plant of Sri Lanka’s has been found archaeological finds in Egypt suggesting early trade between the Arab world and the island's inhabitants as early as 1500 BC. This long standing trade with the Arab world led to some traders settling on the islands between the 8th and 15th centuries. The Sri Lankan Moors (commonly referred to as Muslims) trace their ancestry to these Arab settlers and they form the third largest ethnic group at over 7% of the population. They are concentrated in the central highlands and the eastern coast where they sought refuge during the colonising Portuguese persecution.

Buddha statue on a high hill overlooking Kandy, Sri LankaThe first Europeans to arrive were the Portuguese in 1505 who found that the island divided into several warring kingdoms to busy to fend them off. The Portuguese founded a fort at the port city of Colombo in 1517 and gradually extended their control over the coastal areas. They brought in traders and African slaves to work as labourers and soldiers to fight against the Sri Lankans. The Sri Lankan Kaffirs are a distinct ethnic group who are partially descendants of this early colonial period. They are very similar to the Sheedis in Pakistan and the Siddis in India. Once, the Kaffirs spoke a distinctive creole based on Portuguese but it is now extinct. The term Kaffir is derived from an Arabic/Islamic word which means 'disbeliever' and is considered a very derogatory racist word in Southern Africa but not by these people. The Portuguese colonisation displaced a large part the Muslim (the Moors) population and was very unpopular with the other kingdoms on the island.

Over a hundred years later in 1638, one of the Sri Lanka kings made a deal with the Dutch to remove the Portuguese. In return, the King of Kandy, Rajasinghe II, would grant the Dutch a monopoly over trade on the entire island. As is common during the colonial era, the agreement was not adhered to and by 1660 the Dutch controlled everything, including Colombo that fell in 1656, save for the kingdom of Kandy. It was then the turn of the Catholic Portuguese settlers and their descendants to be persecuted by the Protestant Dutch who left the other religions alone. Many of the Portuguese and their mixed race descendants left for other parts of the Portuguese empire during this time. Also, there was a wave of settlement by the Malays of Sri Lanka as Indonesia was also a Dutch colony.

Britain occupied coastal areas of the island they called Ceylon in 1796 fearing that the French would control the island as they did the Netherlands. In 1802, the Treaty of Amiens ceded the Dutch part of the island to Britain and it became a crown colony of the British Empire. The British went on to fight the Kingdom of Kandy eventually overcoming it in 1815 bringing the whole island under British control. The 1818 Uva Rebellion attempted to wrest some of this control but failed.

Tea plantation in Sri LankaThe British brought large numbers of Tamil workers as indentured labourers from Tamil Nadu in southern India to work the tea and rubber estates. These workers were not treated kindly and had to work in slave-like conditions. The Indian Tamils or sometimes called the Hill Country Tamils were left in a difficult "stateless" position after Independence resulting in the Governments of India and Sri Lanka agreeing to grant citizenship between them to some 450,000 people in 1988. The estimated 75,000 Tamils granted Indian citizenship but who wished to remain in Sri Lanka were allowed to stay though technically are not citizens. Today, Indian Tamils form a distinct ethnic group, separate from the Sri Lanka Tamils and comprise some 5% of the population. The second wave of immigration of the Sri Lankan Malays came from the Malay Peninsula during this time as Malay was now also part of the British Empire.

A hundred years after another armed uprising against the British, the 1848 Matale Rebellion, independence was finally granted but the island remained a dominion of the British Empire. In 1972, the Dominion of Ceylon became a republic within the Commonwealth, and its name was changed to Sri Lanka.

The Burghers are the Eurasian ethnic group, the result of the European colonisation of Sri Lanka. They are the male-line descendants of colonists who had married local Sinhalese or Tamil women. The community now mainly speak English though they have in the past spoken a Portuguese type creole. The name may have been first used around the time of the Dutch colonisation. In 1981, the Burgher population was about 0.2% of the total population and has been declining for many years as a result of migration to Australia, Canada and the United States.

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]]> Fri, 11 Nov 2011 14:10:47 GMT http://www.mixedindifferentshades.net/asia/sri-lanka.html Seychelles http://www.mixedindifferentshades.net/africa/seychelles.html Map Of SeychellesSome people would swear that the Seychelles archipelago with its 115 islands spread over 451 square kilometres (174 sq mi) of the Indian Ocean is paradise on earth. Certainly, its people, a potpourri of peoples from all corners of the globe, greatly assisted by its relatively central position in this ocean, contribute that the sense of paradise.

Nearly 1,500 kilometres east of Africa, Seychelles’ central position in such an important oceanic trade route attracted sea faring people for centuries and so it is bit of a surprise that none of the islands were inhabited earlier. Evidence of Austronesian and later Maldivian and Arab visits have been found with one of the earliest being remains from the 12th century on Silhouette Island. In 1502, Vasco da Gama, sighted the Amirantes and named them after himself (islands of the Admiral). However evidence of earlier knowledge is available in the shape of an Arabian manuscript dated AD 851 and the fact that Arabs were trading the highly valued ‘Coco de Mer’ (Sea Coconuts) nuts, found only in Seychelles which have been known to be washed ashore as far away as Indonesia.

Coco De MerIt is possible that they may have been a short lived period of settlement as the Austronesian peoples migrated across the Indian Ocean towards Madagascar to the south west of the islands.

Semi –permanent settlements of pirates may also have existed after the pirates moved from the Caribbean to set up bases in Madagascar for the richer pickings in and around the Red Sea and Persian Gulf. The French finally claimed some of the islands in 1756 when Captain Nicholas Morphey laid a Stone of Possession.

Having no indigenous population, the French imported slaves with the resultant inter-mixing that occurred in the early days of many of the colonies. Inter-racial mixing was frowned upon by the French at the time but it continued for some time. It is believed that the French based Creole language spoken in the Seychelles started to develop.

During the French Revolution (1789–1799), the settlers decided to govern themselves in 1790 but they continued to act as a safe place for French corsairs (pirates with official authority to attack enemy shipping). This did not go un-noticed and finally the British arrived with an ultimatum. The settlers surrendered, but not before negotiating themselves a ‘good deal’. The result was that the British made no effort to control the islands which retained its French characteristics. The ‘good deal’ was reinforced some seven times whenever British ships visited.

The result of the British indifference allowed a French European elite, the Gran'bla ("big whites"), to flourish on the Islands, dominating both commerce and politics. They remain a distinct and the second largest ethnic group on the islands thought there are probably many mixed race descendants of illegitimate offspring

The British took full control of the Islands in 1810 after the surrender of Mauritius. One of the grievances of the French settlers in the following years was the British’s intention to banish slavery. In 1835, it was banned and since many of the plantations’ soils were now exhausted, some settlers left with their slaves. The slaves that remained behind were joined in serving their apprenticeship by the flow of slaves freed from slave ships of all flags captured by the British Navy in the Southern Indian Ocean. Over 15 years, some 2,500 ‘freed’ slaves joined those on the islands. After apprenticeships, many of the slaves squatted on the properties they had worked as slaves.

Victoria - Capital Of SeychellesIndentured labour from India was the British answer to the abolishment of slavery. All over the Indian Ocean, thousands of Indians, mainly Hindus from North India and Tamil and Telugus from South India, came to work and the Seychelles was no exception. The levels in the Seychelles however did not come close to those in its southern neighbouring islands of Mauritius and Reunion. Like their counterparts elsewhere in the region, many of the descendants of these immigrants ended up in the commercial sector. Inter-racial marriage with the descendants of slaves was limited and so they also do form a small (6%), distinct community in the islands.

Chinese immigrants started arriving from Mauritius in 1886, many of whom had originated from the Chinese mainland and had been apprenticed in Mauritius. Their numbers have always been small, numbering around 1,000 individuals in 1999, and a few ended up marrying local women of mixed or African descent.

In 1903 became a separate British Crown Colony from Mauritius but the French language and culture remained dominant. The landowners continued to dominate politics and commerce to the point when after the 2nd World War, the right to vote was only granted to literate property owners; just 2,000 in a population of 36,000. It was no surprise that the 1948 Legislative Council came from that same group. Independence was granted in 1976 as a republic within the Commonwealth which was followed in 1977 by a socialist coup d'état.

Seychellois FishermanIt was estimated that the population of the Seychelles was about 89,000 in July 2011, the smallest population in Africa. Most of these people live on the 3 main islands of Mahé, Praslin and La Digue and over 70% are mixed – mainly mixed African descendants of slaves. However, the Seychellois use the word Creole (Kreol ) to refer to those native to the country of whichever ancestry. Through language and culture, the distinct communities are fused into a single Seychellois identity.

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]]> Thu, 22 Jul 2010 12:56:10 GMT http://www.mixedindifferentshades.net/africa/seychelles.html Zanzibar, Tanzania http://www.mixedindifferentshades.net/africa/zanzibar-tanzania.html Map Of ZanzibarThe whole of the East African coast from the horn to as far south as Mozambique and the East African islands were once all known as Zanzibar. The word itself is believed to be of Persian or Arabic origin which is hints at the history of this region. It is believed that the Persians would have derived the name from “Zangh Bar” (the Negro Coast) whilst if the name is indeed Arabic , it would come from the term “Zayn Z'al Barr”(Fair is this land). Today, the term Zanzibar relates just to the islands off the coast of and now an autonomous part of the East African country of Tanzania.

Evidence shows that traders from the Arab world were trading all along the East African coast since at least the 1st century AD. These traders hailed mainly from the Eastern part of the Arab world namely Yemen and the Shiraz region of Iran. Western Indian traders are also believed to have been trading in this area at the same time as well. This region was most likely the most southern end of the infamous Silk Road or Silk Route, a network of trade routes that connected vast areas of Asia, the Mediterranean and Europe and many parts of North and East Africa and which existed for over 3,000 years from about 206 BC.

Whilst the archipelago now known as Zanzibar was not particularly rich in the resources the traders sought, it was an ideal base from which to trade with the mainland because of its sheltered harbour. The importance of this trade meant that traders began to settle in larger numbers in the late 11th or 12th century and began inter-marrying with the indigenous locals. They established garrisons on the islands and built the first mosque in the Southern hemisphere. Indeed, the Wahadimu (Hadimu), the Watumbatu (Tumbatu) and the Wapemba (Pemba) peoples collectively known as the Washirazi, claim they are descended from settled merchant princes from Shiraz in Iran. The Washirazi are Bantus and certainly when the traders settled in greater numbers, those that inter-married would have done so with the ancestors of these people.

The Silk RouteHowever, there is no certainty as to when Bantu people reached the East African coast and it is generally believed that a different people, more likely Somali or Ethiopian, were assimilated or replaced by them in the 1st century AD. The Arabs certainly had knowledge of East African before that and maybe as far back as 800BC. The unknown, possibly Greek, author of ‘The Periplus Of The Erythrean Sea’ generally accepted to be from about the middle of the first century AD wrote that Coast and its islands were settled by Arabs who recognized the King of Yemen as ruler. The works did not mention any black peoples and they were only mentioned in an assumed later works, Ptolemy's Geography, a compilation of what was known about the world's geography in the 2nd century AD, as living in the southern end of modern Mozambique.

Whilst some scholars are sceptical of the Washirazi’s claim to Persian ancestry, the people of Zanzibar as many of the Swahili peoples on the East African coast are generally accepted as being a predominantly mix of Bantu and Arab peoples. Some people will go so far and accept that Zanzibar is the birthplace of the Swahili language and it is there that its purest form is spoken.

The Arab influence remained in place until in August 1505, after Vasco da Gama's visit in 1499, it became part of the Portuguese Empire when a fleet captured the archipelago. The Portuguese tenure was ended after their expulsion from Oman by rebellious tribes and after a 2 year siege of Fort Jesus in Mombasa, Kenya by the Omanis in 1698.

Unlike their other colonies, the Portuguese appear not to have a left a distinct mixed race population in Zanzibar or even on other parts of the East African coast and if they did, it is likely that their descendants would have fled to other parts of the empire after the events in 1698. Zanzibar became part of the overseas holdings of Oman and a lucrative trade in slaves and ivory followed and an expanding plantation economy centring on cloves leading the islands to be known as the Spice Islands, not to be confused with the Dutch Maluku Islands in Indonesia that referred to in the same way.

In 1840, during the reign of Sultan Sayyid Said bin Sultan al-Busaid, the Omani empire’s capital moved from Muscat in Oman to Stone Town on Zanzibar. The sultan not only controlled the islands but also controlled vast parts of the East African coast and inland trading routes. A ruling Arab elite emerged and the sultan’s encouragement of Indian settlement meant that Zanzibar's commerce fell increasingly into Indian hands. Other people of Indian descent known as the Wadebule, who were Islamic people from Dabhol, a port on the west coast of India about a hundred miles to the south of Bombay had settled on the islands between the 1400s and the 1600s. About this time there was a considerable population of Africans from East Africa, locally known as “Siddis”, in that part of India.

Stone Town - capital of Zanzibar The British involvement may have started earlier but they were responsible for ending the rivalry of the sultan’s sons after his death. One of the sons became the sultan of Oman and the other the sultan of Zanzibar in 1861. Britain influenced the abolishment of slavery in 1873 following a crusade spearheaded by the famous David Livingstone after reporting a massacre in 1871 in the Eastern Congo. Britain’s colonial interests on the African mainland along with other colonial powers such as the Germans and the Italians meant that the Omani’s influence on the coast diminished and eventually British control of Zanzibar via the ruling Arab elite was established when Zanzibar became a British protectorate in 1890.

The later European colonisers left very little genetic evidence of inter-racial mixing in East Africa apart from a small number in Britain’s settlement colony of Kenya. Zanzibar is no exception and it would appear very little changed until the islands were granted independence in December 1963 as a constitutional monarchy under a sultan. However, even after parliamentary elections, power remained within the hands of the Arab ruling elite despite the mainly African Afro-Shirazi Party (ASP) winning 54% of the vote in the July 1963 election. This resulted in a revolutionary backlash in January 1964 that resulting in the overthrow of the sultan and the government and reprisals against the Arab ruling elite and the affluent Indians. Exact numbers of deaths are unknown but said to be up to 20,000 and many more were expelled or simply fled the country.

The new government of the Republic of Zanzibar and Pemba embraced socialism and in April that year was subsumed into Tanzania. Russian, Chinese and East German communist advisers flocked to the archipelago after the revolution prompting some western critics to refer to Zanzibar as “The Cuba of East Africa.” These advisors were not know for inter-marring into local populations and they appear not have contributed a mixed race population.

Today, the people of Zanzibar are of different origins, mostly Swahili peoples of Bantu origins but there is also minority population of Asians and Arabs and some Europeans. There are bound to be some mixed race individuals but the population is likely to be small and insignificant despite the long history of inter-racial trade and habitation.

 

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]]> Sun, 06 Nov 2011 06:27:06 GMT http://www.mixedindifferentshades.net/africa/zanzibar-tanzania.html New Zealand http://www.mixedindifferentshades.net/oceania/new-zealand.html New Zealand MapMost of New Zealand’s 4.4 million population, informally called ‘Kiwis’, are of European, mainly British and Irish, descent and making up to 69% of the population. Nearly 15% of New Zealand’s population is made up by the Maori who are considered the indigenous Polynesian population of the islands. Asians make up nearly 10% of the population and other Polynesian peoples make up just over 5% of the population.

Though generally accepted as Polynesians, there are those who do not believe that the Maori are a mixed race people. Dr. J. H. Scott concluded that ‘We know the Maori to be a mixed race, the result of a mingling of a Polynesian and a Melanesian strain. The crania already examined leave no room for doubt on this point’ when presenting the results of an examination of 83 Maori skulls. Even if this conclusion is not accepted, nowadays it is generally accepted that many Maori have some Pakeha (foreign/European) ancestry.

It is believed that the islands were previously occupied prior to the arrival of the war-like and cannibal Maori who then dominated and eventually eradicated the previous occupants. They are believed to have arrived in waves from all over the Pacific and Asian lands before 1300 CE which was well before the arrival of the Europeans. Those who believe that the Maori are a mixed race believe that much of that mixing happened during the emigration towards Aotearoa, the Maori name for New Zealand and often translated as "land of the long white cloud". Over centuries of isolation, the Maori developed their own culture and traditions, some of which still have influence from both Polynesian and Melanesian roots.

The Maori were divided into iwi (tribes) and hapu (subtribes) which would cooperate, compete and sometimes fight with each other. One group of Maori migrated to the Chatham Islands and developed their own distinct culture known as Moriori which was unwarlike and resulted in their decimation by 1862 by European diseases and invasion and enslavement by other Maori tribes.

The first European to have reached the islands is generally accepted as the Dutch explorer Abel Tasman in the service of the VOC (United East India Company), yes the very same involved in the colonisation of Indonesia. His expedition is also the first European one to reach Tasmania and to have seen the Fiji islands. However their New Zealand landing experience ended with four crew members killed and it was not until the British explorer James Cook did Europeans visit the islands again. After Cook, many ships landed and traded with the ingenious peoples which led to the introduction of potato, which became a stable food for the natives, and muskets.

The warlike nature of the peoples coupled with the guns resulted in a large number, some say, as many as 600 inter-tribal battles known as the Musket Wars that reduced the Maori population by between 30,000 and 40,000. During the 19th century, European diseases contributed to a further 40% decline of the population at the same time as missionaries began to settle and convert the people.

Early Drawing of the MaoriIn 1835 under the treat of the French, a number of Northern island tribes asked the King William IV of the United Kingdom for protection which eventually led to the Treaty of Waitangi (Maori: Tiriti o Waitangi). The treaty was drafted in English and Maori by William Hobson and it was signed on the 6 February 1840 by representatives of the British Crown and various Maori chiefs from the northern North Island. After that signing event, copies of the treaty were circulated to other tribes and over the following months a further 500 chiefs’ signatories, including surprisingly at least 13 female ones, were added to the Treaty. During its circulation, William Hobson declared British sovereignty over all of New Zealand on 21 May 1840 which paved the way for large scale immigration from the British Isles. The two language version of the treaty which was supposed to recognise Maori ownership of their lands and other properties and give the Maori the rights of British subjects did not correspond exactly and there has been a number of issues leading to the setting up of a Waitangi Tribunal in 1975 for mediation purposes after a Maori protest movement had developed.

Prior to 1974, there appeared to be a large drop in the Maori population numbers and this was mainly due to the fact that a person had to have proven bloodline or genealogy. A Maori was defined as someone who was ‘half-caste’ or more. The Maori Affairs Amendment Act 1974 which also did away with the term ‘native’, allowed for self–identification and redefined a Maori as "a person of the Maori race of New Zealand; and includes any descendant of such a Maori". This increased the population especially since many new Governmental initiatives were also being introduced to help the indigenous population.

All Blacks doing the HakaIf you have had the pleasure of watching an international rugby match involving the ‘All Blacks’, you will have seen them performing the pre-match haka (Maori challenge) which they have been doing since a tour of New South Wales, Australia in 1884. The impression of this tradition may give a sense of a nation of racial peace and tolerance but New Zealand does have its fair share of racial tensions. In fact, a special haka,the Kapa o Pango, has been composed and ‘...designed to reflect the multi-cultural make-up of contemporary New Zealand – in particular the influence of Polynesian cultures’ for use at special and important matches.

In the 2006 census, many New Zealanders, including celebrities such as Dame Kiri Te Kanawa (opera singer), did not state their ethnicity, many of these claiming multiple roots and nearly 20% choosing to be recognised as New Zealander.

Examples of racial tension or issues have occasionally made it to the international press. Cases of such as that of Maori MP Hone Harawira who told the New Zealand Herald in July 2010 that he "wouldn't feel comfortable" if one of his children came home with a Pakeha partner and the resignations of one TV presenter Paul Henry and one radio presenter, Michael Laws over comments made about the Indian Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit. Recently a businessman, Geoff Portman, was so incensed and sent a racially charged email complaint about "the so-called Maori flags"(Tino Rangatiratanga) flags flying at his children’s school.

It is debateable whether the growing anti-immigration sentiment expressed by the leader of the political party `New Zealand First`, Winston Peters who said in 2004 that "We (New Zealand) are being dragged into the status of an Asian colony and it is time that New Zealanders were placed first in their own country", is racially motivated against mainly Asian immigration. In 2005 he brought the Maori into the debate claiming that in the next 17 years they would be out-numbered by the Asians.

Milford Sound - New ZealandNew Zealand’s mainly European population was boosted by a ‘Eurocentric’ immigration policy since WWII when the country accepted 5,000 refugees and displaced persons from Europe and then a further 1,100 Hungarians between 1956 and 1959. Further ‘nationality based’ immigration from Greece, Italy, Poland and the former Yugoslavia and after a bilateral agreement, a large number of Dutch immigrants came to New Zealand when it became clear that not enough skilled migrants would come from the British Isles. Like Australia, the Government introduced free and assisted passages in 1947 which was further expanded in 1950 to encourage immigration. A new Immigration Act in 1987 which became effective 1991 replaced the ‘nationality’ test with a point system similar to Canada’s that aimed to classify migrants on their skills, personal qualities, and potential contribution to New Zealand economy and society. This coupled with the need in the 1950s and 1960s for cheap labour that led to ‘encouragement of migration from the Pacific Isles has led to an increase of non-European immigrants including Asians.

The point system’s annual quota tends to be breeched but there is an overall decline in population as more people tend to leave than arrive. In the 2004-2005 year, the net effect was a population decline of 0.25%. New Zealand does have a large and growing diaspora with the vast majority of the nearly half a million non-residents making their home in neighbouring Australia. Despite this, in 2005, some 20% of New Zealanders were born overseas, one of the highest percentages of any country in the world. The 1987 Act has now been replaced by the 2009 which aimed to improve the Immigration system. The current anti-immigration rhetoric is bound to lead to another review of the Immigration policies in the next few years as is happening in places like the UK.

In the 2006 census, about 10 percent of New Zealanders identified as ‘half-caste’ and that included the non-Maori mixes of European/Other Polynesian and European/Asian. It will be interesting to see how this figure changes as the 2nd and 3rd generation of both European and Asian immigrants assimilate into the society. I suspect this section of the community to grow as it is in other ‘Western’ countries.

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]]> Thu, 22 Jul 2010 11:25:33 GMT http://www.mixedindifferentshades.net/oceania/new-zealand.html Philippines http://www.mixedindifferentshades.net/asia/philippines.html Map Of The Philippines The aboriginal peoples of many parts of Southeast Asia are known as the Negritos, simply meaning "little black person" in Spanish, and so named due to their similarity to the African Pygmies in skin colour and small stature. There are some 30 such groups of people in the Philippines alone. The Negritos were slowly displaced by Taiwanese aboriginal people thousands of years ago and over the years, the first of the several ethnic Asian ethnic groups that were to finally inhabit the islands of the archipelago. Today some 10 different ethnic groups form the native peoples of the Philippines. Historically, the indigenous population of the Philippines were referred to as Indios.

Typical group of Negritos Trade with other Asian countries brought Hinduism, Buddhism, and Islam which by 1565 had reached all over the islands. The Filipino language – Tagalog – spoken by a third of Filipinos is said to contain about 25% of words from the Indian language Sanskrit. Some 5% of the population can claim some Indian ancestry and there is also genetic evidence of Arab ancestry in the population.

Eventually, in 1521, Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan claimed the islands for Spain and it was colonised when Spanish explorer Miguel López de Legazpi arrived from Mexico in 1565 and formed the first European settlements in Cebu. The Spanish had to fight off colonial competition from both the Dutch and the British to hold onto this colony.

The Spanish followed the usual pattern and mixed with the local peoples resulting in a new elite of criollos, Spanish people born in the islands and mestizos, mixed Filipinos, who with the increased trade become quite wealthy and infiltrated the civil service to the detriment of the European Spanish. This new power resulted in higher education levels and the birth of revolutionary ideas. The Spanish also encouraged other immigrant populations to inter-marry with the locals. In particular, the Chinese immigrants, who were predominately male, were encouraged to convert to Catholicism and take up local wives resulting in a Chinese mestizo community. Later on as the population grew, people of Chinese descent including mestizos tended to intermarry resulting in a mestizo community that now accounts for some 20% of the Philippine population which means that they are the larger representation of the mestizo elite in the commercial and political spheres of the country.

In 1898, Emilio Aguinaldo, a Filipino mestizo, declared Philippine independence and the 1st Philippine Republic was established the following year but the islands had been ceded by Spain to the United States for US$20 million dollars following the Spanish-American War. The republic was short lived when the Americans established their control after the Philippine-American War in 1902.

The 2nd Philippine republic was set up after the Japanese invaded the Philippines in 1942 during the Second World War. This puppet government endured until 1945 when Japan surrendered. It is said that the Japanese were not kind rulers and one of their legacies was the pressing of young Filipino women into brothel services. It is not very clear how many children were born as a result of this policy.

Sinulog After WWII, independence followed on July 4, 1946. However, the American influence continued right up to 1992 when the last of some 21 US military bases closed down. Up to this time, it is estimated that 100,000 military personnel have been stationed in the Philippines. The result of this influence is a sub-group of mestizos commonly known as American Asian or Amerasians. After WWII, the US government passed a number of laws, namely the ‘War Brides Act’ of 1945 and the ‘Alien Fiancées and Fiancés Act’ of 1946 that allowed servicemen to bring back fiancées, wives, and children resulting in some 16,000 Filipinas entered the United States as war brides. These immigrants are more commonly known in the US as Filipino Americans. However it is estimated that there is over 52,000 Amerasian children abandoned by their fathers still in the Philippines. Pre-dominantly speaking English and spread throughout the Philippines but concentrated in the Clark area of Angeles City, these children are said to be discriminated against in the general population and more so if their mix is African American sometimes known as African-Filipinos or Afro-Filipinos. Many Amerasians are often born out of wedlock and are poor having been raised by single mothers, relatives or in institutions. The cycle of poverty continues with many prostitutes coming from this community as was reported in 1993.

Much smaller that the mestizos of Chinese descent, the European/American mestizos make up just over 3% of the population though genetic studies suggest a higher level of European/American ancestry than is recognised by statistics suggesting some assimilation back into indigenous populations has occurred. Other inter-racial mixes do occur and the generic term mestizo is used in these cases.

Including the Filipino Americans, there are some 11 million Filipinos living outside the Philippines whose population numbers 94 million making it one of the most populous countries in the world. The expatriate Filipinos are stretched all over the world with a fair proportion, mainly women, working in the Middle East as domestic helpers and personal service workers. Whilst the Middle Eastern diaspora are less likely to inter-marry, it is unclear how many in other parts of the world are inter-marrying with the relevant local population.

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]]> Thu, 22 Jul 2010 11:15:48 GMT http://www.mixedindifferentshades.net/asia/philippines.html Tahiti, French Polynesia http://www.mixedindifferentshades.net/oceania/tahiti.html French Polynesia – TahitiNot quite in the middle of the huge but relatively calm Pacific Ocean lays a group of islands known as French Polynesia. The 130 or so islands stretch over 2.5 million square kilometres of ocean. The islands which were officially united in 1889 are now an overseas collectivity of France and so its citizens enjoy French and EU citizenship. The capital of the islands is Papeete which is situated on the largest island, Tahiti.

Tahiti is believed to have originally been settled between 300 and 600 AD by Polynesians from Fiji, Samoa or Tonga but European settlement started first with the missionaries with Spanish priests spending a year in 1774 and the London Missionary Society bringing Protestantism around 1797. This eventually led to a religious conflict that resulted in Tahiti becoming a French protectorate to allow Catholic missionaries to carry out their work. Prior to the missionaries there had been numerous ship landings in these parts including ones by James Cook and by the father of evolution, Charles Darwin.

At the time of first contact, it was estimated that Tahiti itself sustained some 40,000 people with another 20,000 or so on the surrounding islands. Mirroring the pattern found elsewhere, the European ships brought with them diseases such as small pox, scarlet fever, typhoid fever and tuberculosis to which the local Polynesians had no immunity. This led to a reduction in the population to the point that the 1880 census counted fewer than 6,000 native Tahitians.

Native Tahitians call themselves 'true Tahitians' (Ta'ata Tahiti Mau) to distinguish from part-Europeans (Ta'ata 'afa Popa'a) or more commonly known by the French term ‘Demi’ which literally means half. The use of the French word ‘Demi’ in this context is a little confusing since the usual terms in the French language for mixed race people are ‘Creole’ or the even more popular ‘Métis’ – this term also being used by a mixed heritage aboriginal community in the Canada and the USA.

A beach in Tahiti iti. Picture taken by Serenade in October 2003However, it is not that simple. The use of the terms ‘native’ and ‘demi’ is not strictly racial. The pre-Christianity laxity to marriage and sexual intercourse in Tahitian culture means that most Tahitians have some European ancestry. The defining feature of the ‘Demis’ is their assimilation into European, mainly French, culture what some French administrator s saw as ‘evolved Tahitians’. The Portuguese colonies had a similar class of people known as ‘assimilados’. Those of mixed heritage who continue to follow traditional Tahitian ways are not generally regarded as ‘Demis’. This brings to mind the Dutch East Indies, now Indonesia, where the to be recognised as an Indo-European, the offspring had to be acknowledged by the European parent otherwise, despite the racial mix, the child was regarded and treated as ethnic Indonesian. Another similarity with the Indonesian experience and mirroring the Goan and other colonial situations, this recognised mix-race community dominates in the middle class occupations such teaching, nursing, middle civil service and they dominate the political arena whilst the Europeans dominate in the executive government and in the multi-national business areas.

The small to big local based business field is dominated by the Chinese, who originally were imported as indentured labour in the 1860s. Their descendants and later immigration particularly in the 1920s now make up about 12% of the population. Their relatively rare inter-racial mixing with European or native Tahitians gives rise to those labelled as ‘Demi-Chinoise’.

Tahiti, vue d'avion de Papeete, été 2005At the 1988 French Polynesian census, which was the last one to question ethnicity, about 9% of the population regarded themselves as ‘Demis’, another 7% classified themselves just as mixed and about 5% were of Asian, mainly Chinese descent. Europeans made up some 12% of the population. These sections of the population are concentrated on Tahiti and particularly around the capital.

Whilst the Tahitians, similarly to the Brazilians, like to claim that there is no racism in their society, there have been a few cases, mainly xenophobic ranting by politicians, of negative racial feelings especially against the Europeans by pro-Independence politicians and against the Chinese particularly as regards their relevant dominance of the business sector. So far, this has been mainly spoken and has not resulted in any major racial tensions.

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]]> Thu, 22 Jul 2010 11:26:19 GMT http://www.mixedindifferentshades.net/oceania/tahiti.html