2:00. Yes, the Indios Luzones "Luzon Indians" were sailors aboard the Spanish galleon "Nuestra Señora de la Esperanza," under the command of Pedro de Unamuno. By this time, several Spanish ships had crossed the Pacific Ocean from Mexico to the Philippines, but the Esperanza was only the second European ship to cross the Pacific from Asia to the Americas. Unamuno's account of this expedition is confusing because "Indios" was a generic Spanish word for "indigenous," and the Spanish referred to both the Filipinos and Native Americans as "Indios." On October of 1587, Unamuno describes going ashore in what is now California, with the Luzon Indians as scouts. They encountered indigenous Californians, who may have been members of the Chumash people. But the indigenous Californians thought they were under attack, so the "Indians" attacked Unamuno's crew with arrows and javelins, killing one of the Spaniards and one of the "Luzon Indian" scouts. A running battle ensued, as Unamuno's crew returned fire with muskets while retreating to their ship. They killed an unknown number of indigenous Californians, before boarding the Esperanza and continuing on to Mexico. And thus ended the very first Filipino encounter with the Americas... 3:54. The first Filipino American settlement was actually St. Malo near Lake Borgne in St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana, which was founded in the early 1800s. St. Malo was destroyed by the Hurricane of 1915. Manila Village was a Filipino American settlement in Barataria Bay in Jefferson Parish, Louisiana, and it was founded in the 1880s or 1890s. It was the largest of several Filipino and Chinese fishing villages around Barataria Bay, and it was named after the capital of the Philippines, the city of Manila, which was also the colonial capital of the Spanish Philippines. Manila Village was destroyed by Hurricane Betsy in 1965. Winston Ho 何嶸. Independent Historian. Researching Chinese American History in New Orleans 紐奧良華僑歷史研究.
