Multiracial people
[2][3] A variety of terms have been used both historically and presently for multiracial people in a variety of contexts, including multiethnic, polyethnic, occasionally bi-ethnic, biracial, mixed-race, Métis, Muwallad,[4] Melezi,[5] Coloured, Dougla, half-caste, ʻafakasi, mulatto, mestizo,[6] mutt,[7] Melungeon,[8] quadroon,[9] octoroon, griffe, sacatra, sambo/zambo,[10] Eurasian,[11] hapa, hāfu, Garifuna, pardo, and Gurans.
According to U.S. sociologist Troy Duster and ethicist Pilar Ossorio: Some percentage of people who look native European will possess genetic markers indicating that a significant majority of their recent ancestors were African.
In Canada, 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.
Mestee, once widely used, is now used mostly for members of historically mixed-race groups, such as Louisiana Creoles, Melungeons, Redbones, Brass Ankles and Mayles.
[21] North Africa has numerous mixed-race communities, reflecting a history of both extensive Mediterranean trade around the region and later colonization and migration by African groups.
These two groups intermixed, forming the modern Malagasy people; later migrants from Arabia, Somalia, and India added to the genetic mixture.
The average Malagasy person's genetic makeup includes a roughly equal blend of Southeast Asian and East African genes.
[25] The people of the Indian subcontinent have a diverse genetic pool, being composed of South Asian hunter-gatherers, Neolithic Iranians, and Western Steppe Herders.
More recently a Eurasian mix developed during the Colonial period, beginning with the French, Dutch, Portuguese and other European traders and merchants, including British.
Article 366(2) of the Indian Constitution defines Anglo-Indian as:[26][27] (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;Myanmar (formerly Burma) was a British colony from 1826 until 1948.
[28] After the defeat of Spain during the Spanish–American War in 1898, the Philippines and other remaining Spanish colonies were ceded to the United States in the Treaty of Paris.
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.
The most notable mixed-race group is the Sri Lankan Moors, who trace their ancestry to Arab traders who settled on the island and intermarried with local women.
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.
Their cultural heritage includes the dance styles Kaffringna and Manja, as well as the Portuguese Sinhalese, Creole, Afro-Sinhalese varieties.
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.
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 and French ethnic groups).
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.
California and the Western United States had similar laws to prohibit European-Asian marriages, which was associated with discrimination against Chinese and Japanese on the West Coast.
[57] On January 20, 2009, Barack Obama was sworn in as America's first mixed-race president,[58] as he is the son of a European American mother of mostly English descent and a Luo father from Kenya.
Migration from a dozen or more different Pacific countries (Tuvalu, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Samoa and Wallis and Futuna being the most prevalent) have added to the various ethnicities and intermarriages.
[62] The Mexican philosopher and educator José Vasconcelos authored an essay on the subject, "La Raza Cósmica", celebrating racial mixture.
Colonialism throughout the West Indies has created diverse populations on many islands, including people of mixed race identities.
Of note is the mixture of West African communities, most brought to the region as slaves and East Indian settlers, most of whom came as indentured labor after the abolition of slavery.
In addition to such mixtures, many inhabitants of the West Indies can also have any combination of Amerindian, Latino, European, Chinese, Arab and Jewish heritage.
The Mixed Race Day (Dia do Mestiço), on 27 June, is official event in the states of Amazonas, Roraima, and Paraíba and a holiday in two cities.
Those terms are not considered offensive and focus more on skin color than ethnicity (they are seen as comparable to other human characteristics, such as being short or tall).
Since mixed-race relations in Brazilian society have occurred for many generations, some people find it difficult to trace their own ethnic ancestry.
Today a majority of mixed-race Brazilians do not really know their ethnic ancestry, but they are aware that their ancestors were probably Portuguese, African and Amerindian.
A high percentage of Brazilians is also of Jewish descent, perhaps hundreds of thousands, mostly found in the northeast of the country who cannot be sure of their ancestry as they descend from the so-called "Crypto-Jews" (Jews who practiced Judaism in secret but outwardly pretended to be Catholics), also called Marranos or New Christians, often considered Portuguese.
