page_title: Sangley
section_title: Background
hierarchical_section_title: Sangley / Background
context_page_description: Sangley is an archaic term used in the Philippines beginning in when it was Spain to describe and classify a person of mixed Chinese and Filipino ancestry.
  Intsik is the native term used to refer to the Chinese in general.
  Tsinoy is a term currently used by some to refer to a person of Chinese descent born in the Philippines.
  The Chinese had entered the Philippines as traders prior to Spanish colonisation. That development increased some work and business opportunities. Many emigrated to the Philippines, establishing concentrated communities first in Manila, then in other cities.
context_section_description: Mestizo de sangley is a term that arose during Spanish colonization of the Philippines, where circumstances were different from colonial settlement of the Americas.  During the Spanish colonization of the Americas of the 16th and 17th centuries, numerous male Spaniards (conquistadors, explorers, missionaries, and soldiers) settled there. For decades most Spanish men made liaisons and intermarried with indigenous women; their children were considered mixed race and were called mestizo.
  Male Chinese traders and workers came during the colonial period, most of whom intermarried with native women. The Spanish government classified the anyone who had ancestry from China as Sangley regardless of their ethnic makeup. Their mixed-race descendants with native women were classified as Mestizo de sangley; they were also known as chino mestizos.
  As an example, in the late 19th century, the author and activist José Rizal was classified as mestizo de sangley due to his partial Chinese ancestry. But he also had indigenous, Japanese, and Spanish ancestors, and he asked to be classified as Indio.
caption: José Rizal, the Philippine National Hero, was a mestizo de sangley but also had other ancestry.
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