Mixed race people are people of more than one
race
Race, RACE or "The Race" may refer to:
* Race (biology), an informal taxonomic classification within a species, generally within a sub-species
* Race (human categorization), classification of humans into groups based on physical traits, and/or s ...
or ethnicity. A variety of terms have been used both historically and presently for mixed race people in a variety of contexts, including ''multiethnic'', ''polyethnic'', occasionally ''bi-ethnic'', ''
Métis'', ''
Muwallad'', ''
Colored
''Colored'' (or ''coloured'') is a racial descriptor historically used in the United States during the Jim Crow Era to refer to an African American. In many places, it may be considered a slur, though it has taken on a special meaning in Sout ...
'', ''
Dougla'', ''
half-caste'', ''
ʻafakasi'', ''
mestizo'', ''
Melungeon
Melungeons ( ) are an ethnicity from the Southeastern United States who descend from Europeans, Native American, and sub-Saharan Africans brought to America as indentured servants and later as slaves. Historically, the Melungeons were associated ...
'', ''
quadroon'', ''octoroon'', ''
sambo/zambo'', ''
Eurasian'', ''
hapa
Hapa is a Hawaiian word for someone of multiracial ancestry. In Hawaii, the word refers to any person of mixed ethnic heritage, regardless of the specific mixture.: "Thus, for locals in Hawai’i, both hapa or hapa haole are used to depict p ...
'', ''
hāfu
is a Japanese language term used to refer to a person ethnically half Japanese and half non-Japanese. A loanword from English, the term literally means "half," a reference to the individual's non-Japanese heritage. The word can also be used to ...
'', ''
Garifuna'', ''
pardo'' and ''
Guran
Guran is a character from ''The Phantom'' comic strip. Guran is the best friend of the main character, Phantom.
Character synopsis
According to Lee Falk's novel '' The Story of the Phantom: The Ghost Who Walks'', Guran is ten years older tha ...
''. A number of these terms are now considered offensive, in addition to those that were initially coined for pejorative use.
Individuals of mixed-race backgrounds make up a significant portion of the population in many parts of the world. In
North America, studies have found that the mixed race population is continuing to grow. In many countries of
Latin America
Latin America or
* french: Amérique Latine, link=no
* ht, Amerik Latin, link=no
* pt, América Latina, link=no, name=a, sometimes referred to as LatAm is a large cultural region in the Americas where Romance languages — languages derived f ...
,
mestizos make up the majority of the population and in some others also
mulattoes. In the Caribbean, mixed race people officially make up the majority of the population in the Dominican Republic (73%), Aruba (68%), and Cuba (51%).
Definitions
While defining race is controversial, ''race'' remains a commonly used term for classification, often related to visible physical characteristics or known community. In so far as race is defined differently in different cultures, perceptions of mixed race are subjective.
According to U.S. sociologist
Troy Duster and ethicist Pilar Ossorio:
In the United States:
Related terms
In the
English-speaking world
Speakers of English are also known as Anglophones, and the countries where English is natively spoken by the majority of the population are termed the '' Anglosphere''. Over two billion people speak English , making English the largest langua ...
, many terms for mixed race people exist, some of which are pejorative or are no longer used. ''
Mulato
(, ) is a racial classification to refer to people of mixed African and European ancestry. Its use is considered outdated and offensive in several languages, including English and Dutch, whereas in languages such as Spanish and Portuguese ...
'', ''
zambo'' and ''
mestizo'' are used in
Spanish
Spanish might refer to:
* Items from or related to Spain:
**Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain
**Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries
**Spanish cuisine
Other places
* Spanish, Ontario, Can ...
, ''
mulato
(, ) is a racial classification to refer to people of mixed African and European ancestry. Its use is considered outdated and offensive in several languages, including English and Dutch, whereas in languages such as Spanish and Portuguese ...
'', ''
caboclo
A caboclo () is a person of mixed Indigenous Brazilian and European ancestry, or, less commonly, a culturally assimilated or detribalized person of full Amerindian descent. In Brazil, a ''caboclo'' generally refers to this specific type of '' ...
'', ''cafuzo'', ''ainoko'' (from
Japanese
Japanese may refer to:
* Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia
* Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan
* Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture
** Japanese diaspor ...
) and ''
mestiço
Mestiço is a Portuguese term that referred to persons born from a couple in which one was an aboriginal person and the other a European.
Mestiço community in Brazil
in Colonial Brazil, it was initially used to refer to , persons born from ...
'' in Portuguese, and ''mulâtre'' and ''
métis'' in
French. These terms are also in certain contexts used in the English-speaking world. In
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
, the
Métis are a recognized ethnic group of mixed European and
Indigenous American descent, who have status in the law similar to that of
First Nations
First Nations or first peoples may refer to:
* Indigenous peoples, for ethnic groups who are the earliest known inhabitants of an area.
Indigenous groups
*First Nations is commonly used to describe some Indigenous groups including:
**First Natio ...
.
Terms such as ''mulatto'' for people of partially African descent and ''mestizo'' for people of partially Native American descent are still used by English-speaking people of the Western Hemisphere but mostly to refer to the past or to the demography of
Latin America
Latin America or
* french: Amérique Latine, link=no
* ht, Amerik Latin, link=no
* pt, América Latina, link=no, name=a, sometimes referred to as LatAm is a large cultural region in the Americas where Romance languages — languages derived f ...
and its diasporic population. ''
Half-breed
Half-breed is a term, now considered offensive, used to describe anyone who is of mixed race; although, in the United States, it usually refers to people who are half Native American and half European/white.
Use by governments United States
I ...
'' 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,
Melungeon
Melungeons ( ) are an ethnicity from the Southeastern United States who descend from Europeans, Native American, and sub-Saharan Africans brought to America as indentured servants and later as slaves. Historically, the Melungeons were associated ...
s,
Redbones,
Brass Ankles and
Mayles.
In South Africa and much of English-speaking southern Africa, the term ''Coloured'' was used to describe both mixed-race persons of African and European descent, and those Asians not of African descent. While the term is socially accepted, it is becoming outdated because of its association with the
apartheid
Apartheid (, especially South African English: , ; , "aparthood") was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid was ...
era.
In Latin America, populations became triracial after the introduction of African slavery. A panoply of terms developed during the Spanish and Portuguese colonial periods, 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. In Brazilian censuses since the
Imperial times, for example, most persons of mixed heritage, except
Asian Brazilian
Asian Brazilians ( pt, brasileiros asiáticos) refers to Brazilian citizens or residents of Asian ancestry. The vast majority trace their origins to Western Asia, particularly Lebanon, or East Asia, namely Japan. The Brazilian census does not use ...
s with 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". But
racial boundaries in Brazil are related less to ancestry than to phenotype. A westernized Amerindian with
copper-colored skin may also be classified as a "pardo", a ''caboclo'' in this case, despite not being mixed race. A European-looking person, even with one or more African or Indigenous ancestors, is not classified as "pardo" but as "branco", a
white Brazilian. The same applies to "negros",
Afro-Brazilian
Afro-Brazilians ( pt, afro-brasileiros; ) are Brazilians who have predominantly African ancestry (see " preto"). Most members of another group of people, multiracial Brazilians or ''pardos'', may also have a range of degree of African ancestry. ...
s whose European or Amerindian ancestors are not visible in their appearance. According to genetic research, most Brazilians of all racial groups (except Asian-Brazilians and natives) are, to some extent, mixed-race.
In English, the terms ''
miscegenation
Miscegenation ( ) is the interbreeding of people who are considered to be members of different races. The word, now usually considered pejorative, is derived from a combination of the Latin terms ''miscere'' ("to mix") and ''genus'' ("race") ...
'' and ''amalgamation'' were used for unions between whites, blacks, and other ethnic groups. Those terms are now often considered offensive and are becoming obsolete. The terms ''mixed-race'', ''biracial'' or ''multiracial'' are becoming generally accepted. In other languages, terms for miscegenation are not necessarily considered offensive.
Regions with significant mixed race populations
Africa
In
East Africa, specifically
Uganda
}), is a landlocked country in East Africa. The country is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the south by Tanzania. The sou ...
,
Kenya
)
, national_anthem = " Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"()
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, image_map2 =
, capital = Nairobi
, coordinates =
, largest_city = Nairobi
...
and
Tanzania
Tanzania (; ), officially the United Republic of Tanzania ( sw, Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania), is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It borders Uganda to the north; Kenya to the northeast; Comoro Islands ...
(including portions of the
East African Community
The East African Community (EAC) is an intergovernmental organisation composed of seven countries in the Great Lakes region of East Africa: the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the United Republic of Tanzania, the Republics of Kenya, Burun ...
), people of mixed raced are called
Half-castes (in English) or ''chotara'' (singular, in
Swahili),'' wachotara'' (plural in Swahili).
North Africa
In North Africa, numerous mixed race communities can be found, reflecting a history of both extensive Mediterranean trade around the region and later colonization and migration by African groups. Among these are the
Haratin
Haratin (), also referred to as Haratine, Harratin (singular: Hartani), are an ethnic group found in western Sahel and southwestern Maghreb. The Haratin are mostly found in modern Mauritania (where they form a plurality), Morocco, Western Sahar ...
, oasis-dwellers of Saharan southern
Morocco
Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria t ...
,
Algeria
)
, image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg
, map_caption =
, image_map2 =
, capital = Algiers
, coordinates =
, largest_city = capital
, relig ...
, and
Mauritania. They are believed to be an ethnicity composed of
Sub-Saharan Africans and
Berber ancestry. They constitute a socially and ethnically distinct group.
[Bridget Anderson, ''World Directory of Minorities'' (Minority Rights Group International: 1997), p. 435.]
For centuries
Arab
The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Western Asia, ...
slave traders sold sub-Saharan Africans as slaves in cumulatively large numbers throughout the
Persian Gulf
The Persian Gulf ( fa, خلیج فارس, translit=xalij-e fârs, lit=Gulf of Fars, ), sometimes called the ( ar, اَلْخَلِيْجُ ٱلْعَرَبِيُّ, Al-Khalīj al-ˁArabī), is a mediterranean sea in Western Asia. The bod ...
,
Anatolia
Anatolia, tr, Anadolu Yarımadası), and the Anatolian plateau, also known as Asia Minor, is a large peninsula in Western Asia and the westernmost protrusion of the Asian continent. It constitutes the major part of modern-day Turkey. The ...
,
Central Asia
Central Asia, also known as Middle Asia, is a subregion, region of Asia that stretches from the Caspian Sea in the west to western China and Mongolia in the east, and from Afghanistan and Iran in the south to Russia in the north. It includes t ...
and the
Arab world
The Arab world ( ar, اَلْعَالَمُ الْعَرَبِيُّ '), formally the Arab homeland ( '), also known as the Arab nation ( '), the Arabsphere, or the Arab states, refers to a vast group of countries, mainly located in Western A ...
. Communities descended from these slaves and local peoples can be found throughout these regions.
[Gwyn Campbell, ''The Structure of Slavery in Indian Ocean Africa and Asia'', 1 edition, (Routledge: 2003), p.ix] Barbary pirates were known to attack European and British ships and take Europeans into slavery as well. So many were taken, that the memoirs of survivors are considered a literary genre known as
captivity narratives
Captivity narratives are usually stories of people captured by enemies whom they consider uncivilized, or whose beliefs and customs they oppose. The best-known captivity narratives in North America are those concerning Europeans and Americans ta ...
. When English and other European colonists were taken captive by Native Americans, they had models for recounting their trials.
According to a recent genetic study in 2019, North African populations are composed of admixture of extensive gene flow from four different geographical regions (North Africa (
Iberomaurusian), Europe, West Asia, and Sub-Saharan Africa) and temporal sources (Palaeolithic migrations, Neolithization, Arabization, and recent migrations).
Madagascar
Almost the entire population of Madagascar is an about equal admixture of South East Asian (Indonesian), primarily from
Borneo
Borneo (; id, Kalimantan) is the third-largest island in the world and the largest in Asia. At the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia, in relation to major Indonesian islands, it is located north of Java, west of Sulawesi, and ea ...
, and Bantu-speaking settlers primarily from the mainland at
Mozambique
Mozambique (), officially the Republic of Mozambique ( pt, Moçambique or , ; ny, Mozambiki; sw, Msumbiji; ts, Muzambhiki), is a country located in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi ...
.
["On the Origins and Admixture of Malagasy: New Evidence from High-Resolution Analyses of Paternal and Maternal Lineages"](_blank)
Oxford Journals: "The present population, known by the general term "Malagasy", is considered an admixed population as it shows a combination of morphological and cultural traits typical of Bantu and Austronesian speakers ... r results confirmed that admixture in Malagasy was due to the encounter of people surfing the extreme edges of two of the broadest historical waves of language expansion: the Austronesian and Bantu expansions. In fact, all Madagascaran living groups show a mixture of uniparental lineages typical of present African and South East Asian populations with only a minor contribution of Y lineages with different origins." Years of intermarriages created the
Malagasy people, who primarily speak
Malagasy, an
Austronesian language with
Bantu influences.
South Africa
In
South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...
, the
Prohibition of Mixed Marriages Act of 1949 prohibited marriage between Whites (people of European descent) and non-Whites (being classified as Black, Asian and Coloured). But this followed centuries of interaction and unions resulting in mixed race children, especially among whites, Africans (black), and coloured. This law was repealed in 1985.
Mixed race South Africans are commonly referred to as ''
Coloureds''. According to the 2016 South African Census,
they are the second-largest ethnic group (8.8%), behind
Black Africans, or Bantu peoples, who constitute (80.8%) of the current population.
White South Africans make up 8.1%.
Asia
Central Asia
Today, many Central Asian populations are an amalgamation of various peoples such as Mongols, Turkics, and Iranians. The Mongol invasion of Central Asia in 13th century resulted in the massacre of the population of Iranians and other
Indo-European peoples, as well as a large degree of unions and assimilation. Genetic studies shows that Central Asian Turkic people and Hazara are a 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, such as Uyghurs and Uzbeks, have mostly European Y-DNA but also a significantly higher percentage of European MtDNA. Turkmen have predominantly European DNA in both paternal and maternal lines.
India
Henry Louis Vivian Derozio
Henry Louis Vivian Derozio (18 April 1809 – 26 December 1831) was an Indian poet and assistant headmaster of Hindu College, Kolkata. He was a radical thinker of his time and one of the first Indian educators to disseminate Western learning a ...
, a radical thinker and educator, was of Indian and European background.
Prior to colonization, the peoples of India had a long history of trade and other interaction with other peoples. More recently a Eurasian mix developed during the Colonial period, beginning with the French, Dutch, Portuguese and other European traders and merchants, including British. Such interaction continued during the
British Rule
The British Raj (; from Hindi ''rāj'': kingdom, realm, state, or empire) was the rule of the British Crown on the Indian subcontinent;
*
* it is also called Crown rule in India,
*
*
*
*
or Direct rule in India,
* Quote: "Mill, who was hims ...
in India, although it lessened as British families settled in the country. The estimated population of Anglo-Indians, the term for these Eurasians, is 600,000 worldwide, with the majority living in India and the UK.
Article 366(2) of the
Indian Constitution
The Constitution of India (IAST: ) is the supreme law of India. The document lays down the framework that demarcates fundamental political code, structure, procedures, powers, and duties of government institutions and sets out fundamental ri ...
defines Anglo-Indian as:
(2) an Anglo-Indian means a person whose father or any of whose other male progenitors in the male line is or was of European descent but who is domiciled within the territory of India and is or was born within such territory of parents habitually resident therein and not established there for temporary purposes only;
Goans
Goans ( kok, गोंयकार, Romi Konkani: , pt, Goeses) is the demonym used to describe the people native to Goa, India, who form an ethno-linguistic group resulting from the assimilation of Indo-Aryan, Dravidian, Indo-Portuguese, and ...
are an assimilation of Indo-Aryan, Eurasian, and Luso-Asian ancestries. Many have Portuguese ancestors, as they had considerable influence in Goa for over 450 years. Many Goans have traced family trees to find Portuguese ancestors from hundreds of years ago. Some Goans today identify as Portuguese-Goan as they have much Portuguese ancestry and Portuguese surnames.
Myanmar (Burma)
Myanmar
Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...
(formerly Burma) was a British colony from 1826 until 1948. Other European nationals were active in the country before the British arrived. Intermarriage and relationships took place among such settlers and merchants with the local Burmese population, and subsequently between British colonists and the Burmese. The local Eurasian population is known as the
Anglo-Burmese. This group dominated colonial society and through the early years of independence. After Burma gained independence in 1948, many
Anglo-Burmese left the country; the diaspora resides primarily in
Australia,
New Zealand
New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...
and the
UK. An estimated 52,000 Anglo-Burmese live in Burma.
Philippines
The
Philippines
The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no),
* bik, Republika kan Filipinas
* ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas
* cbk, República de Filipinas
* hil, Republ ...
was a
Spanish colony for almost four centuries, or 333 years. The United States took it over after the Spanish-American War, ruling for 46 years. Many Filipinos are of mixed
Spanish Filipino
Spanish Filipinos ( es, español filipino / hispano filipino / castellano filipino; cbk, español filipino / hispano filipino / conio; Filipino/ tl, Kastilà / Espanyól / Tisoy / Konyo; ceb, Katsílà / Ispaniyul; hil, Katsílà / Espany� ...
and Philippine-American descent.
After the defeat of Spain during the
Spanish–American War
, partof = the Philippine Revolution, the decolonization of the Americas, and the Cuban War of Independence
, image = Collage infobox for Spanish-American War.jpg
, image_size = 300px
, caption = (cloc ...
in 1898, the Philippines and other remaining
Spanish colonies were ceded to the United States in the
Treaty of Paris Treaty of Paris may refer to one of many treaties signed in Paris, France:
Treaties
1200s and 1300s
* Treaty of Paris (1229), which ended the Albigensian Crusade
* Treaty of Paris (1259), between Henry III of England and Louis IX of France
* Trea ...
. The Philippines was under U.S.
sovereignty
Sovereignty is the defining authority within individual consciousness, social construct, or territory. Sovereignty entails hierarchy within the state, as well as external autonomy for states. In any state, sovereignty is assigned to the perso ...
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 strong military presence in the Philippines, with as many as 21 U.S. military bases and 100,000 U.S. military personnel stationed there as defense in Asia and during the Vietnam War.
After the bases closed in 1992, American troops left, often abandoning partners and their
Amerasian children.
The Pearl S. Buck International foundation estimates there are 52,000 Amerasians in the Philippines, with 5,000 in the Clark area of
Angeles City
, anthem = Himno ning Angeles (Angeles Hymn)
, subdivision_type3 = District
, subdivision_name3 =
, established_title = Settled
, established_date = 1796
, established_title1 = Chartere ...
. An academic research paper presented in 2012 in the U.S. by an Angeles, Pampanga, Philippines Amerasian college research study unit suggests that the number could be much higher.
In the United States, intermarriage between Filipinos and other ethnicities is common. They have the highest number of
interracial marriage
Interracial marriage is a marriage involving spouses who belong to different races or racialized ethnicities.
In the past, such marriages were outlawed in the United States, Nazi Germany and apartheid-era South Africa as miscegenation. In 1 ...
s among Asian immigrant groups, as documented in California. Some 21.8% of Philippine-Americans are of mixed ancestry.
Singapore and Malaysia
According to government statistics, the population of
Singapore
Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, bor ...
as of September 2007 was 4.68 million. Mixed race people, including
Chindians
Chindian ( zh, c=中印人, p=Zhōngyìnrén, cy=Jūngyanyàn; ta, சிந்தியன்; is an informal term used to refer to a person of mixed Chinese and Indian ancestry; i.e. from any of the host of ethnic groups native to modern Ch ...
and
Eurasians, formed 2.4%.
In Singapore and
Malaysia
Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...
, the majority of inter-ethnic marriages are between
Chinese and
Indians. The offspring of such marriages are informally known as "
Chindian
Chindian ( zh, c=中印人, p=Zhōngyìnrén, cy=Jūngyanyàn; ta, சிந்தியன்; is an informal term used to refer to a person of mixed Chinese and Indian ancestry; i.e. from any of the host of ethnic groups native to modern Ch ...
". The Malaysian government classifies them only 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 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
Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...
, or the Chinese, who are predominantly
Buddhist and
Taoist
Taoism (, ) or Daoism () refers to either a school of philosophical thought (道家; ''daojia'') or to a religion (道教; ''daojiao''), both of which share ideas and concepts of Chinese origin and emphasize living in harmony with the '' Tao ...
. But Muslims and
Arabs in Singapore and Malaysia often take local Malay wives, because of their common
Islamic faith.
The
Chitty
The Chitty, also known as the Chetty or Chetti Melaka, are a distinctive group of Tamil people found mainly and originally in Melaka, Malaysia, and in Singapore where they migrated to in the 18th and 19th centuries from Melaka, who are also kn ...
people, in Singapore and the
Malacca state of Malaysia, are
Tamils
The Tamil people, also known as Tamilar ( ta, தமிழர், Tamiḻar, translit-std=ISO, in the singular or ta, தமிழர்கள், Tamiḻarkaḷ, translit-std=ISO, label=none, in the plural), or simply Tamils (), are a Drav ...
with considerable Malay ancestry. The early Tamil settlers took local wives, as they had not brought their own women at that time.
In the East Malaysian states of
Sabah and
Sarawak, intermarriage has been common between
Chinese and native tribespeople, such as the
Murut and
Dusun
Dusun is the collective name of a tribe or ethnic and linguistic group in the Malaysian state of Sabah of North Borneo. Collectively, they form the largest ethnic group in Sabah. Dusun has been recognised as among the indigenous community of ...
in Sabah, and the
Iban and
Bisaya
Visayans ( Visayan: ''mga Bisaya''; ) or Visayan people are a Philippine ethnolinguistic group or metaethnicity native to the Visayas, the southernmost islands of Luzon and a significant portion of Mindanao. When taken as a single ethnic group, ...
in Sarawak. A mixture of cultures has resulted in both states. The offspring of these marriages are called "Sino-(name of tribe)", e.g. Sino-Dusun. Normally, children are strongly affected by the father's ethnicity and culture, being raised in his culture. These Sino-natives usually become fluent in both
Malay and
English. A smaller number are able to speak Chinese dialects and
Mandarin, especially those who have received education in vernacular Chinese schools.
Sri Lanka
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. There are several mixed-race ethnicities in the Island. The most notable mixed-race group are the
Sri Lankan Moors, who trace their ancestry to Arab traders who settled on the island and intermarried with local women. Today, the Sri Lankan Moors live primarily in urban communities. They preserve Arab-Islamic cultural heritage while adopting many Southern Asian customs.
The
Burghers are a Eurasian ethnic group. They are descendants through paternal lines of European colonists from the 16th to 20th centuries (mostly Portuguese, Dutch, German and British) and with maternal ancestry among local women. Other European minorities in such admixtures include Swedish, Norwegian, French and Irish.
The
Sri Lanka Kaffirs
The Sri Lankan Kaffirs (cafrinhas in Portuguese, කාපිරි ''kāpiriyō'' in Sinhala, and காப்பிலி ''kāpili'' in Tamil) are an ethnic group in Sri Lanka who are partially descended from 16th-century Portuguese traders an ...
are an ethnic group partially descended from 16th-century Portuguese traders and their enslaved Africans. The Kaffirs spoke a distinctive creole based on Portuguese, the Sri Lanka Kaffir language, which is now extinct. Their cultural heritage includes the dance styles Kaffringna and Manja, as well as the Portuguese Sinhalese, Creole, Afro-Sinhalese varieties.
Taiwan
During the 1662
Siege of Fort Zeelandia
The siege of Fort Zeelandia () of 1661–1662 ended the Dutch East India Company's rule over Taiwan and began the Kingdom of Tungning's rule over the island.
Prelude
From 1623 to 1624 the Dutch had been at war with Ming China over the Pescador ...
in which Chinese
Ming loyalist forces commanded by
Koxinga
Zheng Chenggong, Prince of Yanping (; 27 August 1624 – 23 June 1662), better known internationally as Koxinga (), was a Ming loyalist general who resisted the Qing conquest of China in the 17th century, fighting them on China's southeastern ...
besieged and defeated the
Dutch East India Company
The United East India Company ( nl, Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie, the VOC) was a chartered company established on the 20th March 1602 by the States General of the Netherlands amalgamating existing companies into the first joint-stock ...
and conquered Taiwan, the Chinese took Dutch women and child prisoners. The Dutch missionary
Antonius Hambroek, two of his daughters, and his wife were among the Dutch prisoners of war with
Koxinga
Zheng Chenggong, Prince of Yanping (; 27 August 1624 – 23 June 1662), better known internationally as Koxinga (), was a Ming loyalist general who resisted the Qing conquest of China in the 17th century, fighting them on China's southeastern ...
. Koxinga sent Hambroek to Fort Zeelandia demanding Hambroek persuade them to surrender or else he would be killed when he returned. Hambroek returned to the Fort where two of his other daughters were. He urged the Fort not to surrender, and returned to Koxinga's camp. He was then executed by decapitation. In addition to this, a rumor was spreading among the Chinese that the Dutch were encouraging native Taiwan aboriginals to kill the Chinese, so Koxinga ordered the mass execution of Dutch male prisoners in retaliation, in addition to a few women and children also being killed. The surviving Dutch women and children were then turned into slaves. Koxinga took Hambroek's teenage daughter as a concubine, and Dutch women were sold to Chinese soldiers to become their wives. The daily journal of the Dutch fort recorded that "the best were preserved for the use of the commanders, and then sold to the common soldiers. Happy was she that fell to the lot of an unmarried man, being thereby freed from vexations by the Chinese women, who are very jealous of their husbands." In 1684 some of these Dutch wives were still captives of the Chinese.
Some Dutch physical traits like auburn and red hair among people in regions of south Taiwan are a consequence of this episode of Dutch women becoming concubines to the Chinese commanders. The Chinese took Dutch women as slave concubines and wives who were never freed: in 1684 some were reported to be living. In Quemoy a Dutch merchant was contacted with an arrangement to release the prisoners, proposed by a son of Koxinga's, but it came to nothing. The Chinese officers used the Dutch women they received as concubines. The Dutch women were used for sexual pleasure by Koxinga's commanders. This event of Dutch women being distributed to the Chinese soldiers and commanders was recorded in the daily journal of the fort.
A teenage daughter of the Dutch missionary Anthonius Hambroek became a concubine to Koxinga. She was described by the Dutch commander Caeuw as "a very sweet and pleasing maiden".
Dutch language accounts record this incident of Chinese taking Dutch women as concubines and the date of Hambroek's daughter.
Vietnam
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
The First Indochina War (generally known as the Indochina War in France, and as the Anti-French Resistance War in Vietnam) began in French Indochina from 19 December 1946 to 20 July 1954 between France and Việt Minh (Democratic Republic of Vi ...
. Some Eurasians stayed in Vietnam, after independence from French rule.
China
West Asia
Ottoman slave traders sold slaves in cumulatively large numbers over the centuries throughout the
Persian Gulf
The Persian Gulf ( fa, خلیج فارس, translit=xalij-e fârs, lit=Gulf of Fars, ), sometimes called the ( ar, اَلْخَلِيْجُ ٱلْعَرَبِيُّ, Al-Khalīj al-ˁArabī), is a mediterranean sea in Western Asia. The bod ...
,
Anatolia
Anatolia, tr, Anadolu Yarımadası), and the Anatolian plateau, also known as Asia Minor, is a large peninsula in Western Asia and the westernmost protrusion of the Asian continent. It constitutes the major part of modern-day Turkey. The ...
,
Central Asia
Central Asia, also known as Middle Asia, is a subregion, region of Asia that stretches from the Caspian Sea in the west to western China and Mongolia in the east, and from Afghanistan and Iran in the south to Russia in the north. It includes t ...
and the
Arab world
The Arab world ( ar, اَلْعَالَمُ الْعَرَبِيُّ '), formally the Arab homeland ( '), also known as the Arab nation ( '), the Arabsphere, or the Arab states, refers to a vast group of countries, mainly located in Western A ...
and communities descended from these slaves can be found throughout these regions.
Europe
United Kingdom
In 1991 an analysis of the census showed that 50% of Black/Mixed Caribbean men born in the UK have white partners, and the 2011 BBC documentary ''Mixed Britannia'' noted that 1 in 10 British children are growing up in mixed households.
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
The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been de ...
. 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. (estimate from 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.
In the United Kingdom, many mixed race people have
Caribbean,
African or
Asian heritage. For example, supermodel
Naomi Campbell
Naomi Elaine Campbell (born 22 May 1970) is an English model, actress, singer, and businesswoman. She began her career at the age of 15, and established herself amongst the most recognisable and in-demand models of the past four decades. Cam ...
, who has
Jamaican,
African and
Asia
Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an are ...
n roots. Some, like 2008
Formula One
Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...
World Champion,
Lewis Hamilton
Sir Lewis Carl Davidson Hamilton (born 7 January 1985) is a British racing driver currently competing in Formula One for Mercedes. In Formula One, Hamilton has won a joint-record seven World Drivers' Championship titles (tied with Mic ...
, are referred to or describe themselves as '
mixed'.
The
2001 UK Census
A nationwide census, known as Census 2001, was conducted in the United Kingdom on Sunday, 29 April 2001. This was the 20th UK census and recorded a resident population of 58,789,194.
The 2001 UK census was organised by the Office for National ...
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''. In the 2011 census, 2.2% chose 'Mixed' for the question on ethnicity.
North America
Canada
Mixed race Canadians in 2006 officially totaled 1.5% of the population, up from 1.2% in 2001. 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 black and South Asian heritage form the majority, specifically in
Toronto
Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...
), followed closely by ''white-black'', ''white-Chinese'', ''white-Arab'' and many other smaller mixes.
During the time of
slavery in the United States
The legal institution of human chattel slavery, comprising the enslavement primarily of Africans and African Americans, was prevalent in the United States of America from its founding in 1776 until 1865, predominantly in the South. Sl ...
, a very large but unknown number of African American slaves escaped to Canada, where
slavery
Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...
was made illegal in 1834, via the
Underground Railroad
The Underground Railroad was a network of clandestine routes and safe houses established in the United States during the early- to mid-19th century. It was used by enslaved African Americans primarily to escape into free states and Canada. ...
. 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"—and
European, particularly
English,
Scottish,
Irish
Irish may refer to:
Common meanings
* Someone or something of, from, or related to:
** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe
***Éire, Irish language name for the isle
** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...
and
French ethnic groups). Although the term "Métis" stems from the Latin verb , "to mix", the Métis people are a distinct ethnic group within Canada.
United States
In the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
, the 2000 census was the first in the history of the country to offer respondents the option of identifying themselves as belonging to more than one race. This mixed race option was considered a necessary adaptation to the demographic and cultural changes that the United States has been experiencing.
Mixed race
Americans
Americans are the citizens and nationals of the United States of America.; ; Although direct citizens and nationals make up the majority of Americans, many dual citizens, expatriates, and permanent residents could also legally claim Ame ...
officially numbered 6.1 million in 2006, or 2.0% of the population.
There is considerable evidence that an accurate number would be much higher. Prior to the mid-20th century, many people hid their mixed race 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. According to the Census Bureau, as of 2002, over 75% of all
African American
African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...
s had mixed ancestries usually European and Native American.
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. In 2012, those choosing 'Two or more races' on the census was 2.4% of the total.
According to
James P. Allen and Eugene Turner, by some calculations in the 2000 Census, the mixed race population that is part white is as follows:
*White/Native American and
Alaskan Native
Alaska Natives (also known as Alaskan Natives, Native Alaskans, Indigenous Alaskans, Aboriginal Alaskans or First Alaskans) are the indigenous peoples of Alaska and include Iñupiat, Yupik, Aleut, Eyak, Tlingit, Haida, Tsimshian, and a numb ...
: 7,015,017
*White/African American: 737,492
*White/Asian: 727,197 and
*White/Native Hawaiian and other Pacific Islander: 125,628.
The stigma of a mixed race heritage, associated with racial discrimination among numerous racial groups, has decreased significantly in the United States. 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, in 2010, they were offered choices of one or more racial categories from the following list:
*White
*Black, African Am. or Negro
*American Indian or Alaska Native
*Asian Indian
*Chinese
*Filipino
*Japanese
*Korean
*Vietnamese
*Native Hawaiian
*Guamanian or Chamorro
*Samoan
*Other Asian
pecify*Other Pacific Islander
pecify*Some Other Race
pecify
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