What races are close to Filipinos?

The Roots of the Filipino People

People have called the Philippine archipelago home for tens of thousands of years, building a rich and deeply rooted history across its thousands of islands. But when it comes to ancestry and genetic ties, the modern population belongs to the vast Austronesian family.

Around 4,000 years ago, seafaring Austronesian populations migrated through maritime Southeast Asia, shaping the culture, languages, and heritage that define the region today. Because of this shared migration wave, Filipinos share deep historical and ancestral connections with the peoples of Indonesia.

More surprisingly, those same ancient maritime routes create a fascinating, distant link all the way across the Indian Ocean to Madagascar. Through centuries of trade, exploration, and migration, Austronesian sailors carried their language and ancestry far from home, creating enduring ties between communities separated by thousands of miles.