Manila Village (locally spelt Manilla;Jack A. Reynolds. "Manila Village" entry i
"Louisiana Placenames of Romance Origin."
LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses #7852. 1942. p. 329–330. , , or ) was a settlement of Filipino sailors, fishermen and laborers located on an island in

Barataria Bay Barataria Bay (), also Barrataria Bay, is a bay of the Gulf of Mexico, about 15 miles (24 km) long and 12 miles (19 km) wide, in southeastern Louisiana, in Jefferson Parish and Plaquemines Parish, United States. It is separated from ...

, in

Jefferson Parish Jefferson Parish () is a parish in the U.S. state of Louisiana. As of the 2020 census, the population was 440,781. Its parish seat is Gretna, its largest community is Metairie, and its largest incorporated city is Kenner. Jefferson Parish i ...

Louisiana Louisiana ( ; ; ) is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It borders Texas to the west, Arkansas to the north, and Mississippi to the east. Of the 50 U.S. states, it ranks 31st in area and 25 ...

, United States. The settlements of

Saint Malo Saint-Malo (, , ; Gallo: ; ) is a historic French port in Ille-et-Vilaine, Brittany. The walled city on the English Channel coast had a long history of piracy, earning much wealth from local extortion and overseas adventures. In 1944, the All ...

St. Bernard Parish St. Bernard Parish (; ) is a List of parishes in Louisiana, parish in the U.S. state of Louisiana. The parish seat and largest community is Chalmette, Louisiana, Chalmette. The parish was formed in 1807. St. Bernard Parish is part of the New Or ...

was occupied by Filipino sailors who had jumped ship from their Spanish captains, near

New Orleans New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...

in the year 1763. In later years, other Filipino countrymen arriving in port at Louisiana would also escape Spanish galleons. This group would later found the Manila Village settlement in the mid-19th century (or earlier). The newly liberated sailors became fishermen who caught and dried

shrimp A shrimp (: shrimp (American English, US) or shrimps (British English, UK)) is a crustacean with an elongated body and a primarily Aquatic locomotion, swimming mode of locomotion – typically Decapods belonging to the Caridea or Dendrobranchi ...

for export to

Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...

, and

Central America Central America is a subregion of North America. Its political boundaries are defined as bordering Mexico to the north, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest. Central America is usually ...

. On July 24, 1870, the

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

-speaking residents of St. Malo founded the first Filipino social club, called ''Sociedad de Beneficencia de los Hispano Filipinos'', to provide relief and support for the group's members, including the purchasing of burial places for their deceased. In 1938, the community had a population of 200 people, mostly Filipinos, but also Chinese, Mexicans, and Spaniards. The settlements were eventually destroyed by

hurricanes A tropical cyclone is a rapidly rotating storm system with a low-pressure area, a closed low-level atmospheric circulation, strong winds, and a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms that produce heavy rain and squalls. Depending on its locat ...

: Saint Malo by the 1915 New Orleans hurricane and Manila Village by

Hurricane Betsy Hurricane Betsy was an intense, deadly and destructive tropical cyclone that brought widespread damage to areas of Florida, the Bahamas, and the central United States Gulf Coast in September 1965. The storm's erratic nature, coupled with ...

in 1965. By 2016, only a small remnant of Manila island, about one

acre The acre ( ) is a Unit of measurement, unit of land area used in the Imperial units, British imperial and the United States customary units#Area, United States customary systems. It is traditionally defined as the area of one Chain (unit), ch ...

in size, remained. By 2021, the island stopped being visible during high tide. By 2024, it is no longer visible during low tide. In Jefferson Parish, Manila Plaza, located in front of

Jean Lafitte Jean Lafitte ( – ) was a French pirate, privateer, and slave trader who operated in the Gulf of Mexico in the early 19th century. He and his older brother Pierre spelled their last name Laffite, but English language documents of the time u ...

Town Hall, holds several

historical marker A commemorative plaque, or simply plaque, or in other places referred to as a historical marker, historic marker, or historic plaque, is a plate of metal, ceramic, stone, wood, or other material, bearing text or an image in relief, or both, ...

s and

commemorative plaque A commemorative plaque, or simply plaque, or in other places referred to as a historical marker, historic marker, or historic plaque, is a plate of metal, ceramic, stone, wood, or other material, bearing text or an image in relief, or both, ...

s acknowledging important figures in the area's

Filipino American Filipino Americans () are Americans of Filipino ancestry. Filipinos in North America were first documented in the 16th century and other small settlements beginning in the 18th century. Mass migration did not begin until after the end of the Sp ...

history. While there were several settlements scattered along the Louisiana coast in the late 19th century, Manila Village was the largest.Filipino Contributions Remembered with Historical Markers
Lara Arceneaux's blog article of July 12, 2013, at ''

The Times-Picayune ''The Times-Picayune , The New Orleans Advocate'' (commonly called ''The Times-Picayune'' or the ''T-P'') is an American newspaper published in New Orleans, Louisiana. Ancestral publications of other names date back to January 25, 1837. The cu ...

''; accessed 22 March 2015.

References

{{Jefferson Parish, Louisiana Asian-American culture in Louisiana Filipino-American history History of Louisiana Former populated places in Jefferson Parish, Louisiana

See also

References