The Manilamen of St. Malo

Ling enjoys a Filipino kamayan feast in the first episode  entitled "Mix Mix", of her series "Take Out With Lisa Ling".

Ling remarked "Oh my gosh, all of them. That Filipino kamayan, it was so delicious, and such a beautiful communal experience. I've been craving all of the food that was on that banana leaf."

The Manilamen of St. Malo

The settlement’s namesake, Juan San Maló, was a leader of a group of Maroons runaway enslaved people who took refuge in the marshlands.  The Asian pioneers of Saint Malo were the Filipino sailors and indentured servants who escaped the Spanish Galleons in the 1700s. They were later known in history as the Manilamen after the capital city of the Philippines.

Saint Malo was first established as a fishing village along the shores of Lake Borgne in Louisiana in the 18th century and continued to flourish until the 20th century.

The Manila Galleon Trade was a thriving global trade network between 1565 and 1815 that connected the economies of Asia, the Americas and Europe for over two centuries. During this period the Luzones Indios or natives of Luzon  became vital in the biannual voyages of the Spanish Galleons across the Pacific. Luzon is the largest island of the Philippines where Manila is also located.

As early as the 16th century, many Filipino slaves, indentured servants, and sailors  jumped ship and settled across land that is now Mexico and parts of the United States. They were placed under different racial categories that only added to their mystery. In Mexico they were often listed as Indios Chinos, while in Louisiana they were later known as the Manilamen.

According to oral traditions there was already an existing Filipino community in Saint Malo as early as 1763 when both the Philippines and Louisiana were under the Spanish colonial government in Mexico. However, the oldest known documented history of Saint Malo as a Filipino settlement only dates back to the 19th century. It was in 1883 when writer Lafcadio Hearn wrote about his journey to Saint Malo in an article for Harper’s Weekly magazine.

 Thank you!