View source for Miscegenation

{{Rewritten|date=January 2025}}{{Short description|Historical term for interracial relationships}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2021}}
{{Race}}
'''Miscegenation''' ({{IPAc-en|m|ɪ|ˌ|s|ɛ|dʒ|ə|ˈ|n|eɪ|ʃ|ən}} {{respell|mih|SEJ|ə|NAY|shən}}) is a [[marriage]] or [[genetic admixture|admixture]] between people who are members of different [[race (human categorization)|races]] or [[Ethnicity|ethnicities]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Miscegenation Definition & Meaning |publisher=[[Encyclopædia Britannica|Britannica Dictionary]] |url=https://britannica.com/dictionary/miscegenation |access-date=2023-03-24 |website=britannica.com |language=en-US}}</ref> It has occurred many times throughout history, in many places. It has occasionally been controversial or illegal. Adjectives describing miscegenation include "interethnic", "mixed-race", "multiethnic", "multiracial", and "[[interracial marriage|interracial]]".

==Etymological history==
[[File:Miscegenation 1864.jpg|thumb|upright|Hoax pamphlet "Miscegenation" that coined the term ''miscegenation'']]
''Miscegenation'' comes from the [[Latin]] {{wikt-lang|la|miscere}}, 'to mix' and {{wikt-lang|la|genus}}, 'kind'.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://unabridged.merriam-webster.com/unabridged/miscegenation|url-access=subscription|title=Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged|publisher=G. & C. Merriam|year=1961|editor-last=Gove|editor-first=Philip B.|location=Springfield, MA}}</ref> The word was coined in an anonymous [[propaganda]] [[pamphlet]] published in [[New York City]] in December 1863, during the [[American Civil War]]. The pamphlet was entitled ''[[Miscegenation hoax|Miscegenation: The Theory of the Blending of the Races, Applied to the American White Man and Negro]]''.<ref name="hoaxes">{{cite web |title=The Miscegenation Hoax |url=http://www.museumofhoaxes.com/hoax/archive/permalink/the_miscegenation_hoax/ |work=Museum of Hoaxes |access-date=2 April 2008}}</ref> It purported to advocate the intermarriage of whites and blacks until they were indistinguishably mixed, and further asserted that this was a goal of the [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican Party]]. The pamphlet was a hoax concocted by [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democrats]] to discredit the Republicans by imputing to them what were then radical views that would offend the vast majority of whites, even [[Abolitionism in the United States#Abolitionism during and after the Revolutionary War|those who opposed slavery]]. The issue of miscegenation, raised by opponents of [[Abraham Lincoln]], featured prominently in the [[1864 United States presidential election|election campaign of 1864]]. In his fourth debate with [[Stephen A. Douglas]], Lincoln took great care to emphasize that he supported the law of [[Illinois]], which forbade "the marrying of white people with [[Negro|negroes]]".<ref>{{cite web |last1=Lincoln |first1=Abraham |first2=Stephen A. |last2=Douglas |title=The Lincoln–Douglas Debates 4th Debate Part 1 |url=https://teachingamericanhistory.org/document/the-lincoln-douglas-debates-4th-debate-part-i/ |website=Teaching American History |date=September 18, 1858 }}</ref>

The pamphlet and variations on it were reprinted widely in both the [[Northern United States|North]] and [[Confederate States of America|South]] by Democrats and [[Confederate States of America|Confederates]]. Only in November 1864, after Lincoln had won the election, was the pamphlet exposed in the United States as a hoax. It was written by [[David Goodman Croly]], managing editor of the ''[[New York World]]'', a Democratic Party paper, and George Wakeman, a ''World'' reporter. By then, the word ''miscegenation'' had entered the common language of the day as a popular [[buzzword]] in political and social discourse. 

Before the publication of ''Miscegenation'', the words ''racial intermixing'' and ''amalgamation'' were used as general terms for ethnic and racial genetic mixing. Contemporary usage of the ''amalgamation'' metaphor, borrowed from [[metallurgy]], was that of [[Ralph Waldo Emerson]]'s private vision in 1845 of America as an ethnic and racial smelting-pot, a variation on the concept of the [[melting pot]] metaphor.<ref name="hollinger">{{Cite journal |last1=Hollinger |first1=D. A. |title=Amalgamation and Hypodescent: The Question of Ethnoracial Mixture in the History of the United States |doi=10.1086/529971 |journal=[[The American Historical Review]] |volume=108 |issue=5 |pages=1363–1390 |year=2003 }}</ref> Opinions in the United States on the desirability of such intermixing, including that between white [[Protestantism|Protestants]] and [[Irish Catholics|Irish Catholic]] immigrants, were divided. The term ''miscegenation'' was coined to refer specifically to the intermarriage of blacks and whites, with the intent of galvanizing opposition to the war.

In [[Hispanic America|Spanish America]], the term {{lang|es|mestizaje}}, which is derived from {{lang|es|[[mestizo]]}}, is a term used to describe a person who is the offspring of an [[Indigenous peoples of the Americas|Indigenous American]] and a European. The primary reason why there are so few remaining [[ethnic groups in Central America|indigenous peoples of Central]] and [[Indigenous peoples of South America|South America]]{{clarification needed|date=May 2025}} is because of the persistent and pervasive miscegenation between the [[Iberian Peninsula|Iberian]] colonists and the indigenous American population,{{Citation needed|date=May 2025|reason=Is that really the primary reason? Provide sources to prove it}} which is the most common admixture of ethnicities found in the genetic tests of present-day Latinos.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Bryc |first1=Katarzyna |last2=Durand |first2=Eric Y. |last3=Macpherson|first3=J. Michael |last4=Reich |first4=David |last5=Mountain |first5=Joanna L. |date=8 January 2015 |title=The Genetic Ancestry of African Americans, Latinos, and European Americans across the United States|journal=The American Journal of Human Genetics |language=English |volume=96 |issue=1 |pages=37–53 |doi=10.1016/j.ajhg.2014.11.010 |issn=0002-9297 |pmid=25529636|pmc=4289685}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Genetically, There's No Such Thing as a Mexican |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/genetically-theres-no-such-thing-mexican-n129866 |access-date=2 August 2021 |website=NBC News |date=12 June 2014 |language=en }}</ref> This explains why Latinos in North America, the vast majority of whom are immigrants or descendants of immigrants from Central and South America, carry an average of 18% Native American ancestry, and 65.1% European ancestry (mostly from the [[Iberian Peninsula]]).<ref>{{Cite web |last=Wade |first=Lizzie |date=18 December 2014 |title=Genetic study reveals surprising ancestry of many Americans |url=https://www.science.org/content/article/genetic-study-reveals-surprising-ancestry-many-americans-rev2 |access-date=2 August 2021 |website=Science |publisher=[[American Association for the Advancement of Science]] |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Bonilla |first1=C. |last2=Parra |first2=E. J. |last3=Pfaff |first3=C. L. |last4=Dios |first4=S. |last5=Marshall |first5=J. A. |last6=Hamman |first6=R. F. |last7=Ferrell |first7=R. E. |last8=Hoggart |first8=C. L. |last9=McKeigue |first9=P. M. |last10=Shriver |first10=M. D. |date=2004 |title=Admixture in the Hispanics of the San Luis Valley, Colorado, and its implications for complex trait gene mapping |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1046/j.1529-8817.2003.00084.x |journal=[[Annals of Human Genetics]] |language=en |volume=68 |issue=2 |pages=139–153 |doi=10.1046/j.1529-8817.2003.00084.x |pmid=15008793 |hdl=2027.42/65937 |s2cid=13702953 |issn=1469-1809 |hdl-access=free }}</ref>

==Usage==
In [[Spanish language|Spanish]], [[Portuguese language|Portuguese]], and [[French language|French]], the words used to describe the mixing of races are ''mestizaje'', ''mestiçagem'', and ''métissage'' respectively. These words, much older than the term ''miscegenation'', are derived from the [[Late Latin]] ''mixticius'' for "mixed", which is also the root of the Spanish word ''[[mestizo]]''. (Portuguese also uses ''miscigenação'', derived from the same Latin root as the English word.) These non-English terms for "race-mixing" are not considered as offensive as "miscegenation", although they have historically been tied to the [[caste]] system ([[casta]]) that was established during the colonial era in Spanish-speaking Latin America.

Today, the mixes among races and ethnicities are diverse, so it is considered preferable to use the term "mixed-race" or simply "mixed" (''mezcla''). In Portuguese-speaking Latin America (i.e., [[Brazil]]), a milder form of caste system existed, although it also provided for legal and social discrimination among individuals belonging to different races, since [[slavery]] for black people existed until the late 19th century. Intermarriage occurred significantly from the very first settlements to the present day, affording mixed people [[Social mobility|upward mobility]] in Brazil for [[Afro-Brazilians|Black Brazilians]], a phenomenon known as the "[[mulatto]] escape hatch".<ref name="Roth 2012 p. 191-192">{{cite book | last=Roth | first=W.D. | title=Race Migrations: Latinos and the Cultural Transformation of Race | publisher=Stanford University Press | year=2012 | isbn=978-0-8047-8253-1 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=i7sfNnihrdsC&pg=PA192 | access-date=2023-10-22 | pages=191–192}}</ref> To this day, there are controversies regarding whether the Brazilian class system would be drawn mostly around socioeconomic lines, not racial ones (in a manner similar to other former [[Portuguese Empire|Portuguese]] colonies). Conversely, people classified in [[Census|censuses]] as black, brown ("[[pardo]]") or indigenous have disadvantaged social indicators in comparison to the white population.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://biblioteca.ibge.gov.br/visualizacao/periodicos/1075/cd_2010_trabalho_rendimento_amostra.pdf|title=Censo Demografico 2010|website=Biblioteca.ibge.gov.br|access-date=29 May 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://biblioteca.ibge.gov.br/visualizacao/periodicos/545/cd_2010_educacao_e_deslocamento.pdf|title=Censo Demografico 2010 |website=Biblioteca.ibge.gov.br|access-date=29 May 2018}}</ref>

The concept of miscegenation is tied to concepts of racial difference. As the different connotations and etymologies of ''miscegenation'' and ''mestizaje'' suggest, definitions of [[Race (human categorization)|race]], "race mixing" and multiraciality have diverged globally as well as [[Historical race concepts|historically]], depending on changing social circumstances and cultural perceptions. Mestizo are people of mixed white and indigenous, usually [[Indigenous peoples of the Americas|Amerindian]] ancestry, who do not self-identify as indigenous peoples or Native Americans. In Canada, however, the [[Métis]], who also have partly Amerindian and partly white, often [[French Canadians|French Canadian]], ancestry, have identified as an ethnic group and are a constitutionally recognized [[Indigenous peoples in Canada|indigenous people in Canada]].

Interracial marriages are often disparaged in [[Minority group|racial minority]] communities as well.<ref>{{Cite web|title=How Racial Minorities View Interracial Couples {{!}} Psychology Today Canada|url=https://www.psychologytoday.com/ca/blog/talking-apes/202003/how-racial-minorities-view-interracial-couples|access-date=1 August 2021|website=www.psychologytoday.com|language=en}}</ref> Data from the [[Pew Research Center]] has shown that [[African Americans]] are twice as likely as [[white Americans]] to believe that interracial marriage "is a bad thing".<ref>{{Cite web|date=18 May 2017|title=2. Public views on intermarriage|url=https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2017/05/18/2-public-views-on-intermarriage/|access-date=1 August 2021|website=Pew Research Center’s Social & Demographic Trends Project|language=en-US}}</ref> There is a considerable amount of scientific literature that demonstrates similar patterns.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Paset|first1=P. S.|last2=Taylor|first2=R. D.|date=December 1991|title=Black and white women's attitudes toward interracial marriage|url=https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/1784661/|journal=Psychological Reports|volume=69|issue=3 Pt 1|pages=753–754|doi=10.2466/pr0.1991.69.3.753|issn=0033-2941|pmid=1784661|s2cid=29540796}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Chuang|first1=Roxie|last2=Wilkins|first2=Clara|last3=Tan|first3=Mingxuan|last4=Mead|first4=Caroline|date=1 April 2021|title=Racial minorities' attitudes toward interracial couples: An intersection of race and gender|url=https://doi.org/10.1177/1368430219899482|journal=Group Processes & Intergroup Relations|language=en|volume=24|issue=3|pages=453–467|doi=10.1177/1368430219899482|s2cid=216166130|issn=1368-4302|url-access=subscription}}</ref> The differences between related terms and words which encompass aspects of racial admixture show the impact of different historical and cultural factors leading to changing [[social interpretations of race]] and ethnicity. Thus the [[Comte de Montlosier]], in exile during the [[French Revolution]], equated class difference in 18th-century France with racial difference. Borrowing [[Henri de Boulainvilliers|Boulainvilliers]]' discourse on the "[[Nordic race]]" as being the [[French nobility|French aristocracy]] that invaded the plebeian "[[Gauls]]", he showed his contempt for the lowest [[social class]], the [[Estates General (France)|Third Estate]], calling it "this new person born of slaves ... a mixture of all races and of all times".{{Citation needed|date=May 2025}}

==History==
{{main|History of miscegenation}}
Interracial relationships have profoundly influenced various regions throughout history. [[Africa]] has had a long history of interracial mixing with non-Africans, since [[Prehistory|prehistoric times]], with migrations from the [[Levant]] leading to significant admixture. This continued into antiquity with [[Arab]] and [[Europe]]an explorers, traders, and soldiers having relationships with African women. Mixed-race communities like the [[Coloureds]] in [[South Africa]] and [[Basters]] in [[Namibia]] emerged from these unions. In the [[Americas]] and Asia, similar patterns of interracial relationships and communities formed. In the US, historical taboos and laws against interracial marriage evolved, culminating in the landmark ''[[Loving v. Virginia]]'' case in 1967. [[Latin America]], particularly [[Brazil]], has a rich history of racial mixing, reflected in its diverse population. In Asia, countries like [[India]], [[China]], and [[Japan]] experienced interracial unions through trade, colonization, and migration, contributing to diverse genetic and cultural landscapes.

In Europe, [[Nazi Germany]]'s anti-miscegenation laws sought to maintain "racial purity," specifically targeting [[Jewish]]-German unions. [[Hungary]] and France saw mixed marriages through historical conquests and colonialism, such as between [[Vietnamese people|Vietnamese]] men and French women during the early 20th century. In [[Oceania]], particularly [[Australia]] and [[New Zealand]], dynamics varied; Australia had policies like the [[White Australia policy]] and practices affecting [[Indigenous Australians|Indigenous populations]], while New Zealand saw significant [[Māori people|Māori]] and European intermarriages. In the [[Middle East]], inter-ethnic relationships were common, often involving [[Arabs|Arab]] and non-Arab unions. [[Portuguese colonies]] encouraged mixed marriages to integrate populations, notably seen in Brazil and other territories, resulting in diverse, multicultural societies.

===Laws banning miscegenation===
{{Main|Anti-miscegenation laws}}
{{Sex and the Law}}
Laws banning "race-mixing" were enforced in certain U.S. states until 1967 (but they were still on the books in some states until 2000),<ref name="abc news">{{cite news | url=https://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=3277875 | title=Groundbreaking Interracial Marriage | work=ABC News | date=14 June 2007}}</ref> in [[Nazi Germany]] (the [[Nuremberg Laws]]) from 1935 until 1945, and in South Africa during the [[apartheid]] era (1949–1985). All of these laws primarily banned marriage between persons who were members of different racially or ethnically defined groups, which was termed "amalgamation" or "miscegenation" in the United States. The laws in Nazi Germany and the laws in many U.S. states, as well as the laws in South Africa, also explicitly banned sexual relations between such individuals.

In the United States, various state laws prohibited marriages between [[White Americans|whites]] and [[African Americans|blacks]], and in many states, they also prohibited marriages between whites and [[Native Americans in the United States|Native Americans]] as well as marriages between whites and [[Asian Americans|Asians]].<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Karthikeyan|first=Hrishi |author2=Chin, Gabriel|year=2002|title=Preserving Racial Identity: Population Patterns and the Application of Anti-Miscegenation Statutes to Asian Americans, 1910–1950|journal=Asian Law Journal|volume=9|issue=1|ssrn=283998}}</ref> In the United States, such laws were known as [[anti-miscegenation laws]], with the [[Maryland General Assembly]] the first to criminalize interracial marriage in 1691.<ref>{{cite news |title=Eugenics, Race, and Marriage |url=https://www.facinghistory.org/resource-library/eugenics-race-and-marriage |access-date=July 21, 2024 |website=Facing History.org}}</ref> From 1913 until 1948, 30 out of the then 48 states enforced such laws.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://lovingday.org/map.htm|title=Where were Interracial Couples Illegal?|work=LovingDay|access-date=13 July 2008|archive-date=31 December 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071231145639/http://www.lovingday.org/map.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref> Although an "Anti-Miscegenation Amendment" to the [[United States Constitution]] was proposed in 1871, in 1912–1913, and again in 1928,<ref>[http://lovingday.org/courtroom.htm "Courtroom History"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071231035205/http://www.lovingday.org/courtroom.htm |date=31 December 2007 }} Lovingday.org Retrieved 28 June 2007</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Stein|first=Edward|year=2004|title=Past and present proposed amendments to the United States constitution regarding marriage|journal=Washington University Law Quarterly|volume=82|issue=3|ssrn=576181}}</ref> no nationwide law against racially mixed marriages was ever enacted. In 1967, the [[United States Supreme Court]] unanimously ruled in ''[[Loving v. Virginia]]'' that anti-miscegenation laws are [[unconstitutional]] via the [[Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution|Fourteenth Amendment]] adopted in 1868.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/388/1|title=Loving v. Virginia|website=LII / Legal Information Institute|language=en|access-date=2024-07-22|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191015003713/https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/388/1|archive-date=2019-10-15|url-status=live}}</ref> With this ruling, these laws were no longer in effect in the remaining 16 states which still had them.

The Nazi ban on interracial sexual relations and marriages was enacted in September 1935 as part of the [[Nuremberg Laws]], the ''Gesetz zum Schutze des deutschen Blutes und der deutschen Ehre'' (The Law for the Protection of German Blood and German Honour). The Nuremberg Laws classified [[Judaism|Jews]] as a race, and they also forbade extramarital sexual relations and marriages between persons who were classified as "[[Aryan race|Aryans]]" and persons who were classified as "[[Untermensch|non-Aryans]]". Violations of these laws were condemned as ''[[Rassenschande]]'' (lit. "race-disgrace/race-shame") and they could be punished by imprisonment (usually followed by [[deportation]] to a [[Nazi concentration camps|concentration camp]]) and could even be punished by death.

The [[Prohibition of Mixed Marriages Act]] in South Africa, enacted in 1949, banned intermarriages between members of different racial groups, including intermarriages between [[Whites in South Africa|whites]] and non-whites. The [[Immorality Act]], enacted in 1950, also made it a criminal offense for a white person to have any sexual relations with a person who was a member of a different race. Both of these laws were repealed in 1985.

==Demographics of ethnoracial admixture==

===United States===
According to the U.S. [[Census]],<ref>[https://www.census.gov/population/cen2000/phc-t19/tab01.pdf Hispanic Origin and Race of Coupled Households: 2000] U.S. Census. Retrieved 29 June 2007.</ref> in 2000 there were 504,119 Asian–white marriages, 287,576 black-white marriages, and 31,271 Asian–black marriages. The black–white marriages increased from 65,000 in 1970 to 403,000 in 2006,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-08-05-interracial-dating_N.htm|title=More black women consider 'dating out'|website=USA Today|access-date=22 October 2017}}</ref> and 558,000 in 2010,<ref>{{cite web |title=Table FG4. Married Couple Family Groups, by Presence of Own Children In Specific Age Groups, and Age, Earnings, Education, and Race and Hispanic Origin of Both Spouses: 2010 (thousands)|url=https://www.census.gov/population/www/socdemo/hh-fam/cps2010.html|publisher=U.S. Census Bureau}}</ref> according to Census Bureau figures.<ref>[https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna18090277 After 40 years, interracial marriage flourishing]. NBC News. 15 April 2007.</ref>

In the United States, rates of interracial [[cohabitation]] are significantly higher than those of marriage. Although only 7 percent of married African American men have Caucasian American wives, 13% of cohabitating African American men have Caucasian American partners. 25% of married Asian American women have Caucasian spouses, but 45% of cohabitating Asian American women are with Caucasian American men. Of cohabiting Asian men, slightly over 37% of Asian men have white female partners over 10% married White American women.<ref name="Swanbrow">{{cite web |url=http://www.umich.edu/news/index.html?Releases/2000/Mar00/r032300a |title=Intimate Relationships Between Races More Common Than Thought |last=Swanbrow |first=Diane |date=23 March 2000 |publisher=University of Michigan |access-date=15 July 2008}}</ref><ref>[http://www.modelminority.com/joomla/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=416:degrading-stereotypes-ruin-dating-experience-&catid=37:dating&Itemid=56 Degrading Stereotypes Ruin Dating Experience] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304000013/http://www.modelminority.com/joomla/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=416%3Adegrading-stereotypes-ruin-dating-experience-&catid=37%3Adating&Itemid=56 |date=4 March 2016 }}. Modelminority.com (22 October 2002). Retrieved 11 December 2011.</ref> Asian American women and Asian American men who live with a white partner, 40 and 27 percent, respectively (Le, 2006b). In 2008, of new marriages including an Asian man, 80% were to an Asian spouse and 14% to a White spouse; of new marriages involving an Asian woman, 61% were to an Asian spouse and 31% to a White spouse.<ref>Jeffrey S. Passel, Wendy Wang and Paul Taylor [http://pewsocialtrends.org/files/2010/10/755-marrying-out.pdf Marrying Out: One-in-Seven New U.S. Marriages Is Interracial or Interethnic] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160611003916/http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/files/2010/10/755-marrying-out.pdf |date=11 June 2016 }}. (PDF). Pew Research Center. 4 June 2010</ref> Almost 30% of Asians and Latinos outmarry, with 86.8 and 90% of these, respectively, being to a white person.<ref>{{Cite book
|last = McClain DaCosta
|first = Kimberly
|title = Making multiracials: state, family, and market in the redrawing of the color line
|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=9WFAUYfFV2QC&pg=PA9
|publisher = Stanford University Press
|year = 2007
|page = 9
|isbn = 978-0-8047-5546-7
}}
</ref> According to Karyn Langhorne Folan, "although the most recent census available reported that 70% of [[African American women]] are single, African American women have the greatest resistance to marrying 'out' of the race."<ref>{{Cite book
|last = Langhorne Folan
|first = Karyn
|title = Don't Bring Home a White Boy: And Other Notions That Keep Black Women from Dating Out
|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=4xBRucoPhD0C&pg=PA11
|publisher = Simon and Schuster
|year = 2010
|page = 11
|isbn = 978-1-4391-5475-5}}
</ref>

One survey revealed that 19% of black men had engaged in sexual activity with white women.<ref name="smallpox">{{Cite book
|last = Staples
|first = Robert
|title = Exploring black sexuality
|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=lm8mUih8Q2YC&pg=PA124
|publisher = Rowman & Littlefield
|year = 2006
|page = 124
|isbn = 978-0-7425-4659-2}}
</ref> A [[Gallup poll]] on interracial dating in June 2006 found 75% of Americans approving of a white man dating a black woman, and 71% approving of a black man dating a white woman. Among people between the ages of 18 and 29, the poll found that 95% approved of blacks and whites dating, and about 60% said they had dated someone of a different race.<ref>"[https://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2006-02-07-colorblind_x.htm New generation doesn't blink at interracial relationships]". USA Today (2 August 2006).</ref> 69% of Hispanics, 52% of non-Hispanic blacks, and 45% of non-Hispanic whites said they had dated someone of another race or ethnic group.<ref>"[http://www.gallup.com/poll/19033/Most-Americans-Approve-Interracial-Dating.aspx Most Americans Approve of Interracial Dating]". Gallup.com. 7 October 2005.</ref> In 1980, just 17% of all respondents said they had dated someone from a different racial background.<ref>"[http://fll.stcloudstate.edu/classes/English191Spring2001/Heather_Huston_CrosCultural.htm Interracial and Cross Cultural Dating of Generation Y] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304003822/http://fll.stcloudstate.edu/classes/English191Spring2001/Heather_Huston_CrosCultural.htm |date=4 March 2016 }}". St. Cloud State University.</ref>

[[File:BenToddJealousFamily.jpg|thumb|upright|Former [[NAACP]] President [[Ben Jealous]] is the son of a white father and a black mother.]]

However, according to a study from the [[University of California, Berkeley|University of California at Berkeley]], using data from over 1 million profiles of singles from [[Online dating website|online dating websites]], whites were far more reluctant to date outside their race than non-whites. The study found that over 80% of whites, including whites who stated no racial preference, contacted other whites, whereas about 3% of whites contacted blacks, a result that held for younger and older participants. Only 5% of whites responded to inquiries from blacks. Black participants were ten times more likely to contact whites than whites were to contact blacks, however black participants sent inquiries to other blacks more often than otherwise.<ref>"[http://newscenter.berkeley.edu/2011/02/11/onlinedating/ In online dating, blacks more open to romancing whites than vice versa]". Berkeley.edu 11 February 2011.</ref><ref>"[https://healthland.time.com/2011/02/22/love-isnt-color-blind-white-online-daters-spurn-blacks/ Love Isn't Color-Blind: White Online Daters Spurn Blacks]". ''Time''. 22 February. 2011</ref>

Interracial marriage is still relatively uncommon, despite the increasing rate. In 2010, 15% of new marriages were interracial, and of those only 9% of Whites married outside of their race. However, this takes into account inter ethnic marriages, meaning it counts [[White Hispanic and Latino Americans|white Hispanics]] marrying [[non-Hispanic whites]] as interracial marriages, despite both bride and groom being racially [[White Americans|white]]. Of the 275,000 new interracial marriages in 2010, 43% were white-Hispanic, 14.4% were white-Asian, 11.9% were white-black and the rest were other combinations.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052970204880404577226981780914906?mod=WSJ_hp_LEFTTopStories|title=More Marriages Cross Race, Ethnicity Lines|work=The Wall Street Journal|publisher=Theosophical University Press|access-date=18 February 2012|first=Miriam|last=Jordan|date=17 February 2012}}</ref> However, interracial marriage has become more common over the past decades due to increasing racial diversity, and liberalizing attitudes toward the practice. The number of interracial marriages in the United States increased by 65% between 1990 and 2000, and by 20% between 2000 and 2010.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/05/26/interracial-marriage-stil_n_590459.html |title=Interracial Marriage Still Rising, But Not As Fast: Report |last=Yen |first=Hope |date=26 May 2010 |work=HuffPost |agency=Associated Press}}</ref> "A record 14.6% of all new marriages in the United States in 2008 were between spouses of a different race or ethnicity from one another. ... Rates more than doubled among whites and nearly tripled among blacks between 1980 and 2008. But for both Hispanics and Asians, rates were nearly identical in 2008 and 1980", according to a [[Pew Research Center]] analysis of demographic data from the U.S. Census Bureau.<ref>"[http://pewresearch.org/pubs/1616/american-marriage-interracial-interethnic Marrying Out]". Jeffrey S. Passel, Wendy Wang and Paul Taylor, Pew Research Center. 4 June 2010.</ref>

According to studies by Jenifer L. Bratter and Rosalind B. King made publicly available on the [[Education Resources Information Center]], White female-Black male and White female-Asian male marriages are more prone to [[divorce]] than White-White pairings.<ref name="ERIC">{{Cite journal | last1 = Bratter | first1 = J. L. | last2 = King | first2 = R. B. | doi = 10.1111/j.1741-3729.2008.00491.x | title = 'But Will It Last?': Marital Instability Among Interracial and Same-Race Couples | journal = Family Relations | volume = 57 | issue = 2 | pages = 160–171 | year = 2008 | s2cid = 146490809 }}</ref> Conversely, unions between White males and non-White females (and between Hispanics and non-Hispanic persons) have similar or lower risks of divorce than White-White marriages, unions between white male-black female last longer than white-white pairings or white-Asian pairings.<ref name="ERIC" />

===Brazil===
{{See also|Race in Brazil}}
[[File:Redenção.jpg|thumb|upright|''A Redenção de Cam'' (''[[Ham's Redemption]]''), [[Modesto Brocos]], 1895, [[Museu Nacional de Belas Artes]]. The painting depicts a black grandmother, mulatta mother, white father and their [[quadroon]] child, hence three generations of [[hypergamy]] through [[racial whitening]].]]
In the 2022 census, 92.1 million people or 45.3% of Brazil's population identified themselves as "pardos", meaning brown or mixed race.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://g1.globo.com/economia/censo/noticia/2023/12/22/censo-2022-cor-ou-raca.ghtml | title=Censo 2022: Pela 1ª vez, Brasil se declara mais pardo que branco; populações preta e indígena também crescem | date=22 December 2023 | access-date=22 December 2023 | archive-date=22 December 2023 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231222234415/https://g1.globo.com/google/amp/economia/censo/noticia/2023/12/22/censo-2022-cor-ou-raca.ghtml | url-status=live }}</ref> According to some [[DNA]] researches, Brazilians predominantly possess some degree of mixed-race ancestry, though less than half of the country's population classified themselves as "pardos" in the census.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nacaomestica.org|title=Nação Mestiça - Movimento Pardo-Mestiço Brasileiro|accessdate=27 June 2016}}</ref> [[Multiracial]] Brazilians live in all regions of [[Brazil]], they are mainly people of mixed European, African, East Asian (mostly Japanese) and [[Amerindian]] ancestry.

Interracial marriages constituted 22.6% of all marriages in 2000. 15.7% of blacks, 24.4% of whites and 27.6% of ''[[Pardo]]s'' (mixed-race/brown) married someone whose race was different from their own.<ref>Escóssia, F. (23 October 2000) [http://scil.stanford.edu/research/learningcareers/capstones/brian/documents/brazil02.pdf "Casamento reflete discriminação racial."] ''[[Folha de S.Paulo]].''</ref>

==Genetic admixture{{anchor|Genetic_studies_of_racial_admixture}}==
{{main|Genetic admixture}}
Sexual reproduction between two populations reduces the [[genetic distance]] between the populations. During the [[Age of Discovery]] which began in the early [[15th century]], European explorers sailed all across the globe reaching all the major continents. In the process they came into contact with many populations that had been isolated for thousands of years. The [[Tasmanian Aboriginal]]s were one of the most isolated groups on the planet.<ref name=Chasteen>{{Cite book|title=Problems in modern Latin American history, sources and interpretations|first1=John Charles |last1=Chasteen|first2=James A |last2=Wood |publisher=Sr Books| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FxRdCirZ-voC&pg=PA4|year=2003|pages=4–10|isbn=978-0-8420-5060-9}}</ref> Many died from disease and conflict, but a number of their descendants survive today as multiracial people of Tasmanian and European descent. This is an example of how modern migrations may reduce the [[genetic divergence]] of the human species, which would usually lead to [[speciation]].

[[New World]] demographics were radically changed within a short time following the voyage of [[Christopher Columbus|Columbus]].<ref name=Chasteen/> The colonization of the [[Americas]] brought [[Indigenous people of the Americas|Native Americans]] into contact with the distant populations of [[Europe]], [[Africa]] and [[Asia]].<ref name=Chasteen/> As a result, many countries in the Americas have significant and complex [[multiracial]] populations.

===Admixture in the United States===
{{See also|Genetic history of indigenous peoples of the Americas|Multiracial American}}
Genetic studies indicate that many African-Americans possess varying degrees of European admixture, although it is suggested that the Native American admixture in African-Americans is exaggerated. Some estimates from studies indicated that many of the African-Americans who took part, had European admixture ranging from 25 to 50% in the [[Northeast United States|Northeast]] and less than 10% in the [[South United States|South]] (where a vast majority of the population reside).<ref name=23andme>{{cite bioRxiv| last1=Bryc | first1=Katarzyna | last2=Durand | first2=Eric Y. | last3=Macpherson | first3=J. Michael | last4=Reich | first4=David | last5=Mountain | first5=Joanna L. | title=The genetic ancestry of African, Latino, and European Americans across the United States | date=18 September 2014 | biorxiv=10.1101/009340}}. [http://biorxiv.org/content/biorxiv/suppl/2014/09/18/009340.DC1/009340-1.pdf "Supplemental Tables and Figures"]. p.&nbsp;42. 18 September 2014. Retrieved 16 July 2015.</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.theroot.com/exactly-how-black-is-black-america-1790895185|last=Gates|first=Henry Louis Jr.|date=11 February 2013|title=Exactly How 'Black' Is Black America?}}</ref> A 2003 study by [[Mark D. Shriver]] of a European-American sample found that the average admixture in the individuals who participated was 0.7% African and 3.2% Native American. However, 70% of the sample had no African admixture. The other 30% had African admixture ranging from 2% to 20% with an average of 2.3%. By extrapolating these figures to the whole population some scholars suggest that up to 74 million European-Americans may have African admixture in the same range (2–20%).<ref>{{cite web|author-link=Steve Sailer|author=Sailer, Steve|url=http://www.upi.com/Top_News/2002/05/08/Analysis-White-prof-finds-hes-not-2/UPI-53561020909970|title=Analysis: White prof finds he's not.|work=[[United Press International]]|date=8 May 2002}}</ref><ref>Shriver, et al., "[http://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/38568440/admixture/shriver01.pdf Skin pigmentation, biogeographical ancestry and admixture mapping] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141230031612/https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/38568440/admixture/shriver01.pdf |date=30 December 2014 }}, ''[[Human Genetics (journal)|Hum Genet]]'' (2003) 112 : 387–39.</ref> Recently J.T. Frudacas, Shriver's partner in DNA Print Genomics, contradicted him stating "Five percent of European Americans exhibit some detectable level of African ancestry."<ref>Jim Wooten, "[https://web.archive.org/web/20040803055203/https://abcnews.go.com/sections/Nightline/SciTech/racial_identity_031228.html Race Reversal Man Lives as ‘Black’ for 50 Years — Then Finds Out He's Probably Not], ''[[ABC News (United States)|ABC News]]'' (2004).</ref>

Historians estimate that 58% of enslaved women in the United States aged 15–30 years were sexually assaulted by their slave owners and other White men.<ref>{{cite news |title=Racism, African American Women, and Their Sexual and Reproductive Health: A Review of Historical and Contemporary Evidence and Implications for Health Equity |publisher=National Institutes of Health (NIH)|pmc=6167003 }}</ref> One such slave owner, [[Thomas Jefferson]], fathered his slave [[Sally Hemings]]' child.<ref>{{cite news |title=DNA Study Shows Jefferson Fathered His Slave's Child |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1998-nov-01-mn-38336-story.html |access-date=July 19, 2024 |newspaper=Low Angeles Times}}</ref> While publicly opposed to race mixing, in his ''[[Notes on the State of Virginia]]'' published in 1785, Jefferson wrote: "The improvement of the blacks in body and mind, in the first instance of their mixture with the whites, has been observed by every one, and proves that their inferiority is not the effect merely of their condition of life".<ref>{{cite book |last1=Higginbotham |first1=A. Leon |title=In the Matter of Color: Race and the American Legal Process. The Colonial Period |date=1980 |page=10}}</ref>

Within the African-American population, the amount of African admixture is directly correlated with darker skin since less selective pressure against dark skin is applied within the group of "non-passing" individuals. Thus, African-Americans may have a much wider range of African admixture (>0–100%), whereas European-Americans have a lower range (2–20%).
[[File:Alfred Jacob Miller - The Trapper's Bride - Walters 37194012.jpg|thumb|170px|''The Trapper's Bride'' shows a [[American Fur Company|trapper]], Francois, paying $600 in trade goods for an Indian woman to be his wife, {{Circa|1837}}.]]

A statistical analysis done in 1958 using historical census data and historical data on immigration and birth rates concluded that 21% of the white population had black ancestors. The growth in the White population could not be attributed to births in the White population and immigration from Europe alone, but had received significant contribution from the African American population as well.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Stuckert|first=Robert P.|date=May 1908|title=African Ancestry of the White American Population|journal=The Ohio Journal of Science|volume=58|issue=3|page=155|url=https://kb.osu.edu/dspace/bitstream/1811/4532/1/V58N03_155.pdf|access-date=13 July 2008}}</ref>
The author states in 1958:

{{blockquote|The data presented in this study indicate that the popular belief in the non-African background of white persons is invalid. Over twenty-eight million white persons are descendants of persons of African origin. Furthermore, the majority of the persons with African ancestry are classified as White.}}

A 2003 study on Y-chromosomes and mtDNA detected no African admixture in the European-Americans who took part in it. The sample included 628 European-American Y-chromosomes and mtDNA from 922 European-Americans<ref>{{Cite journal |pmc = 430174|year = 2003|last1 = Kayser|first1 = M.|title = Y Chromosome STR Haplotypes and the Genetic Structure of U.S. Populations of African, European, and Hispanic Ancestry|journal = Genome Research|volume = 13|issue = 4|pages = 624–634|last2 = Brauer|first2 = S.|last3 = Schädlich|first3 = H.|last4 = Prinz|first4 = M.|last5 = Batzer|first5 = M. A.|last6 = Zimmerman|first6 = P. A.|last7 = Boatin|first7 = B. A.|last8 = Stoneking|first8 = M.|pmid = 12671003|doi = 10.1101/gr.463003}}</ref> According to a genome-wide study by 23andMe, White Americans (European Americans) who participated were: "98.6 percent European, 0.19 percent African and 0.18 percent Native American on average."<ref name=23andme/>

In the United States, intermarriage among [[Filipino Americans|Filipinos]] with other races is common. They have the largest number of interracial marriages among Asian immigrant groups, as documented in California.<ref>{{cite web
|url=http://www.asian-nation.org/interracial.shtml
|title=Interracial Dating & Marriage
|work=asian-nation.org
|access-date=30 August 2007}}</ref> It is also noted that 21.8% of Filipino Americans are of mixed blood, second among Asian Americans, and is the fastest growing.<ref>{{cite web
|url=http://www.asian-nation.org/multiracial.shtml
|title=Multiracial / Hapa Asian Americans
|work=asian-nation.org
|access-date=30 August 2007}}</ref>

===Admixture in Latin America===

====Background====
Prior to the European conquest of the [[Americas]] the demographics of [[Latin America]] was naturally 100% [[Indigenous peoples of the Americas|American Indian]]. Today those who identify themselves as Native Americans are small minorities in many countries. For example, the CIA lists [[Demographics of Argentina#Indigenous peoples|Argentina's]] at 0.9%, [[Indigenous peoples in Brazil|Brazil's]] at 0.4%, and [[Uruguay]]'s at 0%.<ref>[https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/index.html CIA Factbook] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171107142508/https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/index.html |date=7 November 2017 }}. Cia.gov. Retrieved 11 December 2011.</ref> However, the range varies widely from country to country in [[Latin America]] with some countries having significantly larger [[Amerindian]] minorities.

[[File:Ignacio María Barreda - Las castas mexicanas.jpg|thumb|left|Depiction of casta system in [[New Spain|Mexico]], 18th century|309x309px]]

The early conquest of Latin America was primarily carried out by male soldiers and sailors from [[Spain]] and [[Portugal]]. Since they carried very few European women on their journeys the new settlers married and fathered children with Amerindian women and also with women taken by force from [[Africa]]. This process of miscegenation was even encouraged by the [[Spanish Monarchy]] and it led to the system of stratification known as the [[Casta]]. This system had Europeans ([[Spanish people|Spaniards]] and [[Portuguese people|Portuguese]]) at the top of the hierarchy followed by those of [[mixed race]]. Unmixed Blacks and Native Americans were at the bottom. A philosophy of [[Racial whitening|whitening]], an example of [[scientific racism]] in favor of [[white supremacy]], emerged in which Amerindian and African culture were stigmatized in favor of European values. Many Amerindian languages were lost as mixed race offspring adopted [[Spanish language|Spanish]] and [[Portuguese language|Portuguese]] as their first languages. Only towards the end of the 19th century and beginning of the 20th century did large numbers of Europeans begin to migrate to [[South America]] and consequently altering its [[Latin america#Demographics|demographics]].

In addition many [[Ethnic groups of Africa|Africans]] were shipped to regions all over the Americas and were present in many of the early voyages of the [[conquistador]]s. [[Brazil]] has the largest population of African descendants outside Africa. Other countries such as [[Jamaica]], [[Cuba]], [[Puerto Rico]], [[Dominican Republic]], [[Haiti]], [[Venezuela]], [[Colombia]], and [[Ecuador]] still have sizeable populations identified as [[Black people|Black]]. However countries such as [[Argentina]] do not have a visible African presence today. Census information from the early 19th century shows that people categorized as Black made up to 30% of the population, or around 400,000 people.<ref>{{Cite journal | last1 = Fejerman | first1 = L. | last2 = Carnese | first2 = F. R. | last3 = Goicoechea | first3 = A. S. | last4 = Avena | first4 = S. A. | last5 = Dejean | first5 = C. B. | last6 = Ward | first6 = R. H. | doi = 10.1002/ajpa.20083 | title = African ancestry of the population of Buenos Aires | journal = American Journal of Physical Anthropology | volume = 128 | issue = 1 | pages = 164–170 | year = 2005 | pmid =  15714513}}</ref> Though almost completely absent today, their contribution to Argentine culture is significant and include the [[Argentine tango|tango]], the [[Milonga (music)|milonga]] and the [[Zamba (artform)|zamba]], words of [[Bantu languages|Bantu]] origin.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cwo.com/~lucumi/argentina.html|title=Blacks in Argentina: Disappearing Acts|last=Aidi|first=Hisham|date=2 April 2002|work=History Notes|publisher=The Global African Community|access-date=13 July 2008}}</ref>

{| class="wikitable" style="float: right;"
|-
! colspan="4"|Demographics of Brazil in 1835, 1940, 2000 and 2008<ref name="skidmore">{{Cite journal|first=Thomas E. |last=Skidmore |title=Fact and Myth: Discovering a Racial Problem in Brazil|journal=Working Paper|volume=173|url=http://www.nd.edu/~kellogg/publications/workingpapers/WPS/173.pdf|date=April 1992}}</ref><ref>[http://noticias.uol.com.br/especiais/pnad/ultnot/2009/09/18/ult6843u18.jhtm Brasil perde brancos e pretos e ganha 3,2 milhões de pardos]. Noticias.uol.com.br (18 September 2009). Retrieved 11 December 2011.</ref>
|-
! Year!! White !! Brown!! Black
|-
| 1835
| 24.4% || 18.2%||51.4%
|-
| 1940
| 64% ||21%||14%
|-
| 2000
| 53.7% ||38.5%||6.2%
|-
| 2008
| 48.8% ||43.8%||6.5%
|}
The ideology of whitening encouraged non-whites to seek white or lighter skinned partners. This dilution of non-white admixture would be beneficial to their offspring as they would face less stigmatization and find it easier to assimilate into mainstream society. After successive generations of European gene flow, non-white admixture levels would drop below levels at which skin color or physical appearance is not affected thus allowing individuals to identify as White. In many regions, the native and black populations were simply overwhelmed by a succession of waves of European immigration.

Historians and scientists are thus interested in tracing the fate of Native Americans and Africans from the past to the future. The questions remain about what proportion of these populations simply died out and what proportion still has descendants alive today including those who do not racially identify themselves as their ancestors would have. Admixture testing has thus become a useful objective tool in shedding light on the demographic history of Latin America.

====Recent studies====
[[File:Cabrera Pintura de Castas.jpg|thumb|upright|A Spaniard plays with his mixed-race daughter while his Mulatta wife looks on, [[Miguel Cabrera (painter)|Miguel Cabrera]], 1763, Colonial Mexico.]]
Unlike the United States, there were no anti-miscegenation policies in Latin America. Though still a racially stratified society there were no significant barriers to gene flow between the three populations. As a result, admixture profiles are a reflection of the colonial populations of Africans, Europeans and Amerindians. The pattern is also sex biased in that the African and Amerindian maternal lines are found in significantly higher proportions than African or Amerindian Y chromosomal lines. This is an indication that the primary mating pattern was that of European males with Amerindian or African females. According to the study more than half the White populations of the Latin American countries studied have some degree of either Native American or African admixture ([[MtDNA]] or [[Y chromosome]]). In countries such as [[Chile]] and [[Colombia]] almost the entire white population was shown to have some non-white admixture.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Martínez Marignac|first=Verónica L.|author2=Bianchi Néstor O.|author3=Bertoni Bernardo|author4=Parra Esteban J.|year=2004|title=Characterization of Admixture in an Urban Sample from Buenos Aires, Argentina, Using Uniparentally and Biparentally Inherited Genetic Markers|journal=Human Biology| volume=76|issue=4|pages=543–57|url=http://muse.jhu.edu/login?uri=/journals/human_biology/v076/76.4marignac.html| doi=10.1353/hub.2004.0058|pmid=15754971|s2cid=13708018|url-access=subscription}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Gonçalves|first=V. F.|author2=Prosdocimi F.|author3=Santos L. S.|author4=Ortega J. M.|author5=Pena S. D. J.|date=9 May 2007|title=Sex-biased gene flow in African Americans but not in American Caucasians |journal=Genetics and Molecular Research|volume=6|issue=2|pages=256–61|issn=1676-5680|url=http://www.funpecrp.com.br/gmr/year2007/vol2-6/gmr0330_full_text.htm|access-date=13 July 2008|pmid=17573655}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal | last1 = Alves-Silva | first1 = Juliana| last2 = da Silva Santos | first2 = Magda| last3 = Guimarães | first3 = Pedro E. M.| last4 = Ferreira | first4 = Alessandro C. S.| last5 = Bandelt | first5 = Hans-Jürgen | last6 = Pena | first6 = Sérgio D. J.| last7 = Prado | first7 = Vania Ferreira| doi = 10.1086/303004 | title = The Ancestry of Brazilian mtDNA Lineages | journal = [[The American Journal of Human Genetics]]| volume = 67 | issue = 2 | pages = 444–461 | year = 2000 | pmid = 10873790| pmc = 1287189| display-authors=6}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Salzano|first=Francisco M. |author2=Cátira Bortolini, Maria |title=The Evolution and Genetics of Latin American Populations|publisher=Cambridge University Press|location=Cambridge|year=2002|series=Cambridge Studies in Biological and Evolutionary Anthropology|volume=28|page=512|isbn=978-0-521-65275-9}}</ref>

[[Frank Moya Pons]], a [[Dominican Republic|Dominican]] historian documented that Spanish colonists intermarried with [[Taíno]] women, and, over time, these mestizo descendants intermarried with Africans, creating a tri-racial Creole culture. 1514 census records reveal that 40% of Spanish men in the colony of [[Captaincy General of Santo Domingo|Santo Domingo]] had Taíno wives.<ref>Ferbel, Dr. P. J. [http://www.kacike.org/FerbelEnglish.html "Not Everyone Who Speaks Spanish is from Spain: Taíno Survival in the 21st Century Dominican Republic".] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100529100634/http://www.kacike.org/FerbelEnglish.html |date=29 May 2010 }} ''Kacikie: Journal of Caribbean Amerindian History and Anthropology.'' . Retrieved 24 September 2009.</ref> A 2002 study conducted in [[Puerto Rico]] suggests that over 61% of the population possess Amerindian mtDNA.<ref>Martínez Cruzado, Juan C. (2002). [http://www.kacike.org/MartinezEnglish.pdf The Use of Mitochondrial DNA to Discover Pre-Columbian Migrations to the Caribbean:Results for Puerto Rico and Expectations for the Dominican Republic.] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040622184420/http://www.kacike.org/MartinezEnglish.pdf |date=22 June 2004 }} ''Kacike: The Journal of Caribbean Amerindian History and Anthropology.'' Lynne Guitar, Ed. (Retrieved 25 September 2006)</ref>

===Admixture in the Philippines===
[[History of the Philippines (1898–1946)|Historically]], admixture has been a common phenomenon in the Philippines. The Philippines were originally settled by [[Australoid]] peoples called [[Negritos]] which now form the country's aboriginal community. Admixture occurred between this earlier group and the mainstream [[Malayo-Polynesian]] population.<ref name=stanford>{{Cite journal | last1 = Thangaraj | first1 = K. | last2 = Singh | first2 = L. | last3 = Reddy | first3 = A. G. | last4 = Rao | first4 = V. R. | last5 = Sehgal | first5 = S. C. | last6 = Underhill | first6 = P. A. | last7 = Pierson | first7 = M. | last8 = Frame | first8 = I. G. | display-authors = 6| last9 = Hagelberg | first9 = E. | doi = 10.1016/S0960-9822(02)01336-2 | title = Genetic Affinities of the Andaman Islanders, a Vanishing Human Population | journal = Current Biology | volume = 13 | issue = 2 | pages = 86–93 | year = 2003 | pmid =  12546781| s2cid = 12155496 | doi-access = free | bibcode = 2003CBio...13...86T }}</ref>

There has been [[Indian Filipino|Indian migration]] to and influence in the Philippines since the precolonial era. About 25% of the words in the [[Tagalog language]] are [[Sanskrit]] terms and about 5% of the country's population possess Indian ancestry from antiquity.<ref name=precolonial>[https://web.archive.org/web/20091020001239/http://geocities.com/CollegePark/Pool/1644/precolonial.html Pre Colonial Period]. geocities.com</ref> There has been a [[Chinese people|Chinese]] presence in the [[Philippines]] since the 9th century. However, large-scale migrations of Chinese to the Philippines only started during the Spanish colonial era, when the world market was opened to the Philippines. It is estimated that among [[Filipino people|Filipinos]], 10%–20% have some Chinese ancestry and 1.5% are "full-blooded" Chinese.<ref name=ocac>[http://www.ocac.gov.tw/english/public/public.asp?selno=1163&no=1163&level=B :: Overseas Compatriot Affairs Commission, R.O.C. ::] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110104195124/http://www.ocac.gov.tw/english/public/public.asp?selno=1163&no=1163&level=B |date=4 January 2011 }}. Ocac.gov.tw (24 August 2004). Retrieved 14 August 2010.</ref>

According to the American [[Anthropology|anthropologist]] Dr. H. Otley Beyer, the ancestry of [[Filipino people|Filipinos]] is 2% [[Arab]]. This dates back to when Arab traders intermarried with the local [[Malay race|Malay]] Filipino female populations during the [[History of the Philippines (Before 1521)|pre-Spanish history of the Philippines]].<ref name=Arab-Malays>{{cite web|title=Arab and native intermarriage in Austronesian Asia|work=ColorQ World|url=http://www.colorq.org/MeltingPot/article.aspx?d=Asia&x=ArabMalays|access-date=24 December 2008}}</ref> A recent genetic study by [[Stanford University]] indicates that at least 3.6% of the population are [[European ethnic groups|European]] or of part European descent from both [[Spanish Empire|Spanish]] and United States colonization.<ref>{{Cite journal | last1 = Capelli | first1 = C. | last2 = Wilson | first2 = J. F. | last3 = Richards | first3 = M. | last4 = Stumpf | first4 = M. P. H. | last5 = Gratrix | first5 = F. | last6 = Oppenheimer | first6 = S. | last7 = Underhill | first7 = P. | last8 = Pascali | first8 = V. L. | last9 = Ko | first9 = T. M. | doi = 10.1086/318205 | last10 = Goldstein | first10 = D. B. | title = A Predominantly Indigenous Paternal Heritage for the Austronesian-Speaking Peoples of Insular Southeast Asia and Oceania | journal = The American Journal of Human Genetics | volume = 68 | issue = 2 | pages = 432–443 | year = 2001 | pmid =  11170891| pmc = 1235276}}</ref>

===Admixture among the Romani people===
{{multiple image
 | align = right
 | total_width = 450

 | image1 = Debret casa ciganos.jpg
 | caption1 = Interior of a Roma's house in [[Brazil]] c. 1820, by [[Jean-Baptiste Debret|Debret]]

 | image2 = RO CJ Mociu Roma dancers.jpg
 | caption2 = Romani dancers in [[Romania]]
}}
Genetic evidence has shown that the [[Romani people]] originated from the [[Indian subcontinent]] and mixed with the local populations in [[Central Asia]], the [[Middle East]], and [[Europe]]. In the 1990s, it was discovered that Romani populations carried large frequencies of particular [[Y chromosome]]s (inherited paternally) that otherwise exist only in populations from [[South Asia]], in addition to fairly significant frequencies of particular [[mitochondrial DNA]] (inherited maternally) that is rare outside South Asia.

47.3% of Romani males carry Y chromosomes of [[Haplogroup H (Y-DNA)|haplogroup H-M82]] which is rare outside of the Indian subcontinent.<ref name="kalaydjieva">{{Cite journal 
| last1 = Kalaydjieva | first1 = L. 
| last2 = Morar | first2 = B. 
| last3 = Chaix | first3 = R. 
| last4 = Tang | first4 = H. 
| title = A newly discovered founder population: The Roma/Gypsies 
| doi = 10.1002/bies.20287 
| journal = BioEssays 
| volume = 27 
| issue = 10 
| pages = 1084–1094 
| year = 2005 
| pmid = 16163730 
}}</ref> Mitochondrial [[Haplogroup M (mtDNA)|haplogroup M]], most common in Indian subjects and rare outside Southern Asia, accounts for nearly 30% of Romani people.<ref name="kalaydjieva"/> A more detailed study of Polish [[Romani people|Romani]] shows this to be of the M5 lineage, which is specific to India.<ref>{{Cite journal | last1 = Malyarchuk | first1 = B. A. | last2 = Grzybowski | first2 = T. | last3 = Derenko | first3 = M. V. | last4 = Czarny | first4 = J. | last5 = Miscicka-Sliwka | first5 = D. | title = Mitochondrial DNA Diversity in the Polish Roma | doi = 10.1111/j.1529-8817.2005.00222.x | journal = Annals of Human Genetics | volume = 70 | issue = 2 | pages = 195–206 | year = 2006 | pmid =  16626330| s2cid = 662278 }}</ref> Moreover, a form of the inherited disorder [[Myasthenia gravis|congenital myasthenia]] is found in Romani subjects. This form of the disorder, caused by the 1267delG mutation, is otherwise only known in subjects of Indian ancestry. This is considered to be the best evidence of the Indian ancestry of the Romanies.<ref name="Bharti_Morar">{{Cite journal 
| last1 = Morar | first1 = B. 
| last2 = Gresham | first2 = D. 
| last3 = Angelicheva | first3 = D. 
| last4 = Tournev | first4 = I. 
| last5 = Gooding | first5 = R. 
| last6 = Guergueltcheva | first6 = V. 
| last7 = Schmidt | first7 = C. 
| last8 = Abicht | first8 = A. 
| last9 = Lochmuller | first9 = H. 
| doi = 10.1086/424759 
| last10 = Tordai | first10 = A. 
| last11 = Kalmár | first11 = L. 
| last12 = Nagy | first12 = M. 
| last13 = Karcagi | first13 = V. 
| last14 = Jeanpierre | first14 = M. 
| last15 = Herczegfalvi | first15 = A. 
| last16 = Beeson | first16 = D. 
| last17 = Venkataraman | first17 = V. 
| last18 = Warwick Carter | first18 = K. 
| last19 = Reeve | first19 = J. 
| last20 = De Pablo | first20 = R. 
| last21 = Kučinskas | first21 = V. 
| last22 = Kalaydjieva | first22 = L. 
| title = Mutation History of the Roma/Gypsies 
| journal = The American Journal of Human Genetics 
| volume = 75 
| issue = 4 
| pages = 596–609 
| year = 2004 
| pmid = 15322984 
| pmc =1182047 
| display-authors=6
}}</ref>

The Romanis have been described as "a conglomerate of genetically isolated founder populations",<ref name="Luba_Kalaydjieva">{{Cite journal | last1 = Kalaydjieva | first1 = L. | last2 = Gresham | first2 = D. | last3 = Calafell | first3 = F. | title = Genetic studies of the Roma (Gypsies): A review | journal = BMC Medical Genetics | volume = 2 | pages = 5 | year = 2001 | doi = 10.1186/1471-2350-2-5 | pmid =  11299048| pmc =31389 | doi-access = free }}</ref> while a number of common Mendelian disorders among Romanies from all over Europe indicates "a common origin and founder effect".<ref name="Luba_Kalaydjieva"/> See also this table:<ref>{{cite journal|doi=10.1186/1471-2350-2-5|year=2001|last1=Kalaydjieva|first1=Luba|last2=Gresham|first2=David|last3=Calafell|first3=Francesc|journal=BMC Medical Genetics|volume=2|page=5|pmid=11299048|title=Genetic studies of the Roma (Gypsies): A review|pmc=31389 |doi-access=free }} [http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2350/2/5/figure/F4 Figure 4].</ref>

A study from 2001 by Gresham et al. suggests "a limited number of related founders, compatible with a small group of migrants splitting from a distinct caste or tribal group".<ref name="David_Gresham"/> Also the study pointed out that "genetic drift and different levels and sources of admixture, appear to have played a role in the subsequent differentiation of populations".<ref name="David_Gresham">{{Cite journal |title=Origins and Divergence of the Roma (Gypsies) |journal=American Journal of Human Genetics |volume=69 |issue=6 |pages=1314–1331 |pmid=11704928 |doi=10.1086/324681 |pmc=1235543 |year=2001 |last1=Gresham |first1=D. |last2=Morar |first2=B. |last3=Underhill |first3=P. A. |last4=Passarino |first4=G. |last5=Lin |first5=A. A. |last6=Wise |first6=C. |last7=Angelicheva |first7=D. |last8=Calafell |first8=F. |last9=Oefner |first9=P. J. |last10=Shen |first10=P. |last11=Tournev |first11=I. |last12=De Pablo |first12=R. |last13=Kuĉinskas |first13=V. |last14=Perez-Lezaun |first14=A. |last15=Marushiakova |first15=E. |last16=Popov |first16=V. |last17=Kalaydjieva |first17=L. | display-authors=6}}</ref> The same study found that "a single lineage ... found across Romani populations, accounts for almost one-third of Romani males. A similar preservation of a highly resolved male lineage has been reported elsewhere only for Jewish priests".<ref name="David_Gresham"/> See also the [[Y-chromosomal Aaron|Cohen Modal Haplotype]].

A 2004 study by Morar et al. concluded that the Romani are "a founder population of common origins that has subsequently split into multiple socially divergent and geographically dispersed Gypsy groups".<ref name="Bharti_Morar"/> The same study revealed that this population "was founded approximately 32–40 generations ago, with secondary and tertiary founder events occurring approximately 16–25 generations ago".<ref name="Bharti_Morar"/>

===Admixture in South Africa===
{{See also|Coloureds}}
[[File:South Africa 2011 Coloured population proportion map.svg|thumb|250px|Coloured people as a proportion of the total population in South Africa.
{{clear}}
{{legend-col
|{{legend|#EDF8E9|0–20%}}
|{{legend|#BAE4B3|20–40%}}
|{{legend|#74C476|40–60%}}
|{{legend|#31A354|60–80%}}
|{{legend|#006D2C|80–100%}}
}}]]
'''Coloureds''' ({{langx|af|Kleurlinge}} or ''Bruinmense'', lit. "Brown people") are a [[multiracial]] [[ethnic group]] [[Indigenous peoples of Africa|native]] to [[Southern Africa]] who have ancestry from more than one of the various populations inhabiting the region, including [[Khoisan]], [[Bantu peoples|Bantu]], [[White South Africans|European]], [[Austronesian peoples|Austronesian]], [[East Asian people|East Asian]] or [[South Asian ethnic groups|South Asian]]. Because of the combination of ethnicities, different families and individuals within a family may have a variety of different physical features.<ref>{{cite web|title=coloured|url=http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/coloured?q=coloured|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140309100643/http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/coloured?q=coloured|url-status=dead|archive-date=9 March 2014|work=Oxford Dictionaries|publisher=Oxford University|access-date=14 April 2014}}</ref><ref name="Posel2001">{{cite journal |url=http://www.transformation.und.ac.za/issue%2047/47%20posel1.pdf |title= What's in a name? Racial categorisations under apartheid and their afterlife|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061108101109/http://www.transformation.und.ac.za/issue%2047/47%20posel1.pdf |archive-date=8 November 2006 |journal=Transformation|issn=0258-7696 |year=2001|last=Posel|first= Deborah|pages= 50–74}}</ref> ''Coloured'' was a legally defined [[Race (human categorization)|racial classification]] during [[apartheid]].<ref name="Posel2001"/><ref name="Pillay2019">{{cite book|last1=Pillay|first1=Kathryn|title=The Palgrave Handbook of Ethnicity|chapter=Indian Identity in South Africa|year=2019|pages=77–92|doi=10.1007/978-981-13-2898-5_9|isbn=978-981-13-2897-8|doi-access=free}}</ref>
In the [[Western Cape]], a distinctive [[Cape Coloureds|Cape Coloured]] and affiliated [[Cape Malay]] culture developed. In other parts of Southern Africa, people classified as Coloured were usually the descendants of individuals from two distinct ethnicities. Genetic studies suggest the group has the highest levels of mixed ancestry in the world.<!-- Number of people included? --><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna30502963|title=Africans have world's greatest genetic variation
|work = NBC News|last=Schmid|first=Randolph E.|date=30 April 2009|access-date=23 October 2009}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |vauthors=Tishkoff SA, Reed FA, Friedlaender FR |title=The Genetic Structure and History of Africans and African Americans |journal=Science |date=April 2009 |pmid=19407144 |pmc=2947357 |doi=10.1126/science.1172257 |volume=324 |issue=5930 |pages=1035–44|display-authors=etal|bibcode=2009Sci...324.1035T }}</ref> [[Mitochondrial DNA]] studies have demonstrated that the maternal lines of the Coloured population are descended mostly from African [[Khoisan]] women. This ethnicity shows a gender-biased admixture.<ref name="cell.com">{{cite journal |last1=Quintana-Murci |first1=L |last2=Harmant |first2=C |first3=Quach |last3=H |last4=Balanovsky |first4=O |last5=Zaporozhchenko |first5=V |last6=Bormans |first6=C |last7=van Helden |first7=PD |year=2010 |title= Strong maternal Khoisan contribution to the South African coloured population: a case of gender-biased admixture| journal=The American Journal of Human Genetics|url= |display-authors=etal |doi=10.1016/j.ajhg.2010.02.014 |volume=86 |issue=4 |pages=611–620 |pmid=20346436 |pmc=2850426}}</ref><ref name="onlinelibrary.wiley.com">{{cite journal |last1=Schlebusch |first1=CM |last2=Naidoo |first2=T |last3=Soodyall |first3=H |year=2009 |title= SNaPshot minisequencing to resolve mitochondrial macro-haplogroups found in Africa |doi=10.1002/elps.200900197 |volume=30 |issue=21 |journal=Electrophoresis|pages=3657–3664 |pmid=19810027|s2cid=19515426 }}</ref> While a plurality of male lines have come from Ngunis, Southern African, West African and East African populations, 45.2%, [[Western Europe]]an lineages contributed 37.3% to paternal components and [[South Asian]]/ [[Southeast Asian]] lineages 17.5%.<ref name="cell.com" /><ref name="onlinelibrary.wiley.com" />

Coloureds are to be mostly found in the western part of [[South Africa]]. In [[Cape Town]], they form 45.4% of the total population, according to the [[South African National Census of 2011]].<ref name="wc-muni-report">
{{Cite book
 |title      = Census 2011 Municipal report: Western Cape
 |publisher  = Statistics South Africa
 |year       = 2012
 |isbn       = 978-0-621-41459-2
 |url        = http://www.statssa.gov.za/census/census_2011/census_products/WC_Municipal_Report.pdf
 |access-date = 30 November 2016
}}
</ref>{{rp|56–59}}

==See also==
{{div col|colwidth=28em}}
* [[Exogamy]]
* [[Interethnic marriage]]
* [[Interracial marriage]]
* [[Interracial pornography]]
* [[Interfaith marriage]]
* [[Interdenominational marriage]]
* [[Multiculturalism]]
* [[Multiracialism]]
* [[Plaçage]]
* [[Race and genetics]]
* [[Race and society]]
* [[Race of the future]]
* [[Racial antisemitism]]
* [[Racial segregation]]
* [[Racism]]
* [[Racism by country]]
* [[Same-sex marriage]]
* [[Transnational marriage]] 
{{div col end}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
* {{Cite news|last=Pascoe|first=Peggy|title=Why the Ugly Rhetoric Against Gay Marriage Is Familiar to this Historian of Miscegenation|publisher=George Mason University's History News Network|date=19 April 2004|url=http://hnn.us/articles/4708.html|access-date=14 July 2008}}
*[[Julie Novkov|Novkov, Julie]], ''Racial union: law, intimacy, and the White state in Alabama, 1865–1954'', University of Michigan Press, 2008, pp.&nbsp;125–128.
*{{Cite book|last=Rosenthal|first=Debra J.|title=Race Mixture in Nineteenth-Century U.S and Spanish-American Fiction|publisher=University of North Carolina Press|year=2004|isbn=978-0-8078-5564-5|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=i_8kSPDFVGEC}}
*{{Cite book|title=Interracial Intimacy in Japan|first=Gary P.|last=Leupp|publisher=[[Continuum International Publishing Group]]|year=2003|isbn=978-0-8264-6074-5}}
*Deschamps, Bénédicte, ''Le racisme anti-italien aux États-Unis (1880–1940)'', in ''Exclure au nom de la race (États-Unis, Irlande, Grande-Bretagne)'', Michel Prum (Éd.). Paris: Syllepse, 2000. 59–81.
* {{Cite book|author=Lemire, Elise|title="Miscegenation": Making Race in America|location=Philadelphia|publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press|date=July 2002|isbn=978-0-8122-3664-4}}
* {{Cite journal | last1 = Novkov | first1 = J. | title = Racial Constructions: The Legal Regulation of Miscegenation in Alabama, 1890–1934 | journal = Law and History Review | volume = 20 | issue = 2 | pages = 225–277 | doi = 10.2307/744035 | year = 2002 | jstor = 744035 | s2cid = 145460865 }}
* {{Cite book|title=Interracialism: Black-White Intermarriage in American History, Literature, and Law|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=Oxford|date=19 October 2000|edition=Sollors, Werner|isbn=978-0-19-512856-7|url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_hb6524/is_200110/ai_n25878127|editor= Werner Sollors}}
*{{Cite book|editor=Hodes, Martha|chapter=Miscegenation|title=Reader's Companion to U.S. Women's History|location=New York, Boston|publisher=Houghton Mifflin Company|year=1998|isbn=978-0-395-67173-3|chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/readerscompanion00mank}}
* Jacobson, Matthew Frye, ''[http://www.columbia.edu/itc/hs/pubhealth/rosner/p8773/readings/jacobson1.pdf Whiteness of a different color. European Immigrants and the Alchemy of Race]'', Harvard University Press, 1998.

==External links==
* {{wiktionary-inline}}
* {{Commons category-inline}}

{{Sexual ethics}}
{{Multiethnicity}}

[[Category:Interracial relationships]]
[[Category:1860s neologisms]]
[[Category:Political pejoratives]]