Saint Malo, Louisiana

Saint Malo (Spanish: San Maló [samaˈlo]) was a small fishing village that existed along the shore of Lake Borgne in St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana as early as the mid-eighteenth century until it was destroyed by the 1915 New Orleans hurricane. Located along Bayou Saint Malo, about 6 miles (9.7 km) east of the Isleño fishing village of Shell Beach, it was the first permanent settlement of Filipinos and perhaps the first Asian-American settlement in the United States.

The exact date of the establishment of Saint Malo is disputed. The settlement may have been formed as early as 1763 or 1765 by Filipino deserters of the Spanish Manila galleon trade. The members of the community were commonly referred to as Manila men, or Manilamen, and later Tagalas.

Oral tradition states that the fisherman of Saint Malo witnessed the British invasion of Louisiana leading up to the Battle of New Orleans and joined the Baratarians under Jean Lafitte in the defense of New Orleans.

History

Small communities of criminals, fugitive slaves, and Filipinos commonly found refuge along Lake Borgne in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The settlement of Saint Malo was established, by some accounts, as early as 1763 by Filipinos who deserted Spanish ships during the Manila galleon trade. It is also possible that the community was established later into the early nineteenth century.