Filipinos (Filipino: Mga Pilipino) are the people who are native to, or identified with the country of

the Philippines. Filipinos come from various ethnolinguistic groups. Currently, there are more than
175 ethnolinguistic groups, each with its own language, identity, culture and history.

The modern Filipino identity, with its Austronesian roots, was developed in conjunction with Spanish,
Chinese and American influences. According to the The Genographic Project, a DNA study on
modern-day populations by the National Geographic Society, the studied population living in the
Philippine archipelago are on average about: 53% Southeast Asian/Oceanian, 36% East Asian, 5%
Southern European, 3% South Asian, and 2% Native American.[31]

The Philippines was a Spanish colony for 333 years, setting a foundation for contemporary Filipino
culture. Under Spanish rule, most of the Filipino populace embraced Roman Catholicism, yet
revolted many times against its hierarchy. Almost all Filipinos adopted Spanish surnames from
the Catlogo alfabtico de apellidos published in 1849 by the Spanish colonial government.[32] As
neither past governments nor the modern Philippine Statistics Authority account for the racial
background of an individual, the exact percentage of Filipino people of Spanish ancestry is unknown.