The term indio was the colonial classification imposed by Spanish authorities on indigenous Filipinos, placing the common population at the base of a rigid social hierarchy that governed daily life across the archipelago. The ordinary indio represented the majority of the Philippine population under Spanish rule.
Justiniano Asuncion documented this figure as part of his Tipos del País series, a collection of illustrations recording the social types of nineteenth-century Philippine society. The ordinary indio is depicted in everyday dress, his clothing and posture reflecting the material conditions of common Filipino life. Asuncion's inclusion of this figure alongside mestizos, officials, and señoritas gives the series its documentary completeness, recording the full social range of colonial society.
This print preserves a record of the everyday Filipino who formed the majority of the population under Spanish rule.
Available as a fine art print
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