American settlement in the Philippines () began during the Spanish colonial period. The period of American colonialization of the Philippines was 48 years. It began with the cession of the Philippines to the U.S. by Spain in 1898 and lasted until the U.S. recognition of Philippine independence in 1946. After independence in 1946, many Americans chose to remain in the Philippines while maintaining relations with relatives in the US. Most of them were professionals, but missionaries continued to settle the country. In 2015, the U.S. State Department estimated in 2016 that more than 220,000 U.S. citizens lived in the Philippines and more than 650,000 visited per year, with a significant mixed population of Amerasians and descendants from the colonial era as well.
The United States invaded the Philippines, which was then governed by Spain as the Spanish East Indies, during the Spanish–American War. During that war, Philippine revolutionaries declared independence. Wanting to maintain a stronghold over the island nation as a stepping stone to Japan and continental Asia, the United States maintained authority over the archipelago and the Philippine–American War ensued. America then held the Philippines until granting full independence on July 4, 1946.
History of immigration
Spanish colonialization
American colonialization
American colonial rule in the Philippines saw an increase in immigration to the Philippines. Retiring soldiers and other military-men were among the first Americans to become long-term Philippine residents and settlers; these included African-American Soldiers and former volunteer Soldiers primarily from the Western states. The Education Act of 1901 authorized the colonial government to recruit American teachers to help establish the new educational system, and 80 former soldiers became teachers. They were soon joined by 48 teachers recruited in America who arrived in June 1901 on the ship Sheridan, named after Philip Sheridan and by 523 others who arrived on August 1, 1901, on the Thomas. Collectively, these teachers became known as the Thomasites. Besides English, the Thomasites taught agriculture, reading, grammar, geography, mathematics, general courses, trade courses, housekeeping and household arts (sewing, crocheting and cooking), manual trading, mechanical drawing, freehand drawing and athletics (baseball, track and field, tennis, indoor baseball and basketball). Many of these people settled in the Philippines and had Filipino spouses.
By 1913, there were more than 1,400 mestizos with American parentage, the product of the nearly 8,000 Americans living in the Philippines. 15% of the children of Americans who settled in the Philippines were orphans. Prior to World War II, Americans were not prevalent in the Philippines, most living in enclaves, particularly around Fort Santiago; one term for those who settled in the Philippines was Manila Americans. By 1939, 8,709 Americans were in the Philippines, primarily in Manila, and of whom only 4,022 were working age and employed. The Japanese invasion of the Philippines brought about an abrupt end to the distinctions of race, due to the external threat caused by the invasion.
Commonwealth period
The Commonwealth period (1935-1946) saw significant increases of American presence in the Philippines. This included over 20,000 U.S. military personnel assigned to the Philippine Department of the United States Army Forces in the Far East by the time of the Japanese invasion of the Philippines in 1941, many of whom were captured and imprisoned by Japanese forces and imprisoned. This U.S. military presence increased substantially during the U.S. Army actions to liberate the Philippines.
Post independence
The Philippines gained independence from the United States in 1946 and many Americans chose to permanently settle in the Philippines. The Americans, until the mid-1990s, had a heavy presence in the cities of Angeles and Olongapo, northwest of Metro Manila, due to the presence of large US military bases there. During the American colonial period (1898–1946), a recorded number of more than 800,000 Americans were born in the Philippines. Large concentrations of Filipinos with American ancestry aside from Metro Manila are located in the areas of the former US bases such as the Subic Bay area in Zambales and Clark Field in Angeles City.