Indians in the Philippines
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| No figures available | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| Languages | |
| Religion | |
Indian Filipinos refers to Filipinos of Indian descent who have historical connections with and have established themselves in what is now the Philippines. The term refers to Filipino citizens of either pure or mixed Indian descent currently residing in the country, the latter a result of intermarriages between the Indians and local populations.
Iron Age finds in Philippines also point to the existence of trade between the Indian Subcontinent and the Philippine Islands during the ninth and tenth centuries B.C.
According to the National Geographic's DNA study, "The Genographic Project", they found out that the average Filipino's genes is 3% South Asian origin.
India had greatly influenced the many different cultures of the Philippines through the Indianized kingdom of the Hindu Majapahit, Khmer Empire and the Buddhist Srivijaya. For at least two millennia before the arrival of Spanish, Philippines was ruled by Hindu kings called Rajah and Pramukha. Numerous kings with written genealogies and Sanskrit names were found by Spanish warlords and friars. Indian presence in the Philippines has been ongoing since ancient times along with the Japanese people, and the Han Chinese, and Arab and Persian traders, predating even the coming of the Europeans by at least two millennium. Indian people together with the natives of the Indonesian Archipelago and the Malay Peninsula, who came as traders introduced Hinduism to the natives of the Philippines. Indian migrants have been crucial in the establishment of several Indianized Kingdoms or "Rajahnates" in the Philippines, Rajahates such as that of Butuan and Cebu. Indian Bania converts to Islam brought Sunni Islam to the Philippine islands in the course of trade, which was later enhanced and strengthened by Arab Muslim Sea traders to Mindanao and Sulu Sultanate.
...
Wikipedia