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Asian Latin Americans

Asian Latin Americans (sometimes Asian-Latinos) are Latin Americans of Asian descent.

Asian immigrants to Latin America have largely been from East Asia or West Asia. Historically, Asians in Latin America have a centuries-long history in the region, starting with Filipinos in the 16th century. The peak of Asian immigration occurred in the 19th and 20th centuries. There are currently more than four million Asian Latin Americans, nearly 1% of Latin America's population. Chinese, Japanese, and Lebanese are the largest Asian ancestries; other major ethnic groups include Filipinos, Syrians, Indians, and Koreans. Brazil is home to the largest population of East Asian descent, estimated at 2.08 million. The country is also home to a large percentage of West Asian descendants. With as much as 5% of their population having some degree of Chinese ancestry, Peru and Mexico have the highest ratio of any country for East Asian descent. Though the most recent official census, which relied on self-identification, gave a much lower percentage.

Asian Latin Americans
Asiáticolatinoamericanos
Total population
c. 6,607,730 approximately
Regions with significant populations
Asian Latin Americans Brazil2,084,288 (self-identified East Asian ancestry)
Asian Latin Americans Peru1,461,638 estimated 36,841 self-reported
Asian Latin Americans Mexico1,000,000
Asian Latin Americans Venezuela500,000
Asian Latin Americans Argentina344,130
Asian Latin Americans Colombia213,910
Asian Latin Americans Panama140,000
Asian Latin Americans Cuba114,240
Asian Latin Americans Dominican Republic52,000
Asian Latin Americans Paraguay51,000
Asian Latin Americans Guatemala27,000
Asian Latin Americans Chile25,000
Asian Latin Americans Ecuador17,080
Asian Latin Americans Bolivia15,000
Asian Latin Americans Nicaragua14,000
Asian Latin Americans Costa Rica9,170
Asian Latin Americans Puerto Rico6,390
Asian Latin Americans Uruguay4,000
Asian Latin Americans El Salvador3,271(self-reported; 20,000 estimated)
Asian Latin Americans Honduras2,609
Asian Latin Americans Haiti<1,000
Languages
European Languages:
English · Spanish · Portuguese
Asian Languages:
Arabic · Chinese · Hindustani (Hindi) · Tamil · Telugu · Japanese · Korean · Malay · Thai · Punjabi · Filipino · Bengali · Vietnamese
Religion
Buddhism · Christianity · Hinduism · Islam · Shintoism · Sikhism · Taoism · Zoroastrianism · Jainism · African diaspora religions
Related ethnic groups
Latino, Hispanic, Asian, Filipinos, Spaniards, Portuguese, European Latin Americans, Asian Hispanic and Latino Americans, Latin American Asian, Asian Caribbean, Chinese Caribbeans

There has been notable emigration from these communities in recent decades, so that there are now hundreds of thousands of people of Asian Latin American origin in both Japan and the United States.

History

Asian Latin Americans 
Chinese immigrants working in the cotton crop (1890) in Peru.

The first Asian Latin Americans were Filipinos who made their way to Latin America (primarily to Cuba and Mexico and secondarily to Colombia, Panama and Peru) in the 16th century, as slaves, crew members, and prisoners during the Spanish colonial rule of the Philippines through the Viceroyalty of New Spain, with its capital in Mexico City. For two and a half centuries (between 1565 and 1815) many Filipinos and Chinese sailed on the Manila-Acapulco Galleons, assisting in the Spanish Empire's monopoly in trade. Some of these sailors never returned to the Philippines and many of their descendants can be found in small communities around Baja California, Sonora, Mexico City, Peru and others, thus making Filipinos the oldest Asian ethnic group in Latin America.

While South Asians had been present in various forms in Latin America for centuries by the 1800s, it was in this century that the flow into the region spiked dramatically. This rapid influx of hundreds of thousands of mainly male South Asians was due to the need for indentured servants. This is largely tied to the abolition of black slavery in the Caribbean colonies in 1834. Without the promise of free labor and a hostile working class on their hands, the Dutch colonial authorities had to find a solution – cheap Asian labor.

Asian Latin Americans 
Japanese immigrant family in Brazil

Many of these immigrant populations became such fixtures in their adopted countries that they acquired names of their own. For example, the Chinese men who labored in agricultural work became known as "coolies". While these imported Asian laborers were initially just replacement for agricultural slave labor, they gradually began to enter other sectors as the economy evolved. Before long, they had entered more urban work and the service sector. In certain areas, these populations assimilated into the minority populations, adding yet another definition to go on a casta.

In some areas, these new populations caused conflict. In Northern Mexico, tensions became inevitable when the United States began to shut off Chinese immigration in the early 1880s. Many who were originally bound for the United States were re-routed to Mexico. The rapid increase in population and rise to middle/upper class standing generated strong resentment among existing residents. These tensions lead to riots. In the state of Sonora, the entire Chinese population was expelled in 1929.

Today, the overwhelming majority of Asian Latin Americans are either of East Asian (namely Chinese, Japanese or Korean), or West Asian descent (mostly the Lebanese or Syrians). Many of whom arrived during the second half of the 1800s and the first half of the 1900s. Japanese migration mostly came to a halt after World War II (with the exception of Japanese settlement in the Dominican Republic), while Korean migration mostly came to an end by the 1980s and Chinese migration remains ongoing in a number of countries.

Settlement of war refugees has been extremely minor: a few dozen ex-North Korean soldiers went to Argentina after the Korean War and some Hmong went to French Guiana after the Vietnam War.

Roles in labor

Asian Latin Americans served various roles during their time as low wage workers in Latin America. In the second half of the nineteenth century, nearly a quarter of a million Chinese migrants in Cuba worked primarily on sugar plantations. The Chinese "coolies" who migrated to Peru took up work on the Andean Railroad or the Guano Fields. Over time the Chinese progressed to acquiring work in urban centers as tradesmen, restaurateurs and in the service industry. By the second decade of the nineteenth century, approximately 25,000 Chinese migrants in Mexico found relative success with small businesses, government bureaucracy, and intellectual circles. In the 1830s, the British and Dutch colonial governments also imported South Asians to work as indentured servants to places such as Trinidad and Tobago, Suriname, Curaçao and British Guiana (later renamed Guayana). At the turn of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, Japanese immigrants reached Brazil and Peru. Much like the Chinese, the Japanese often worked as indentured servants and low wage workers for planters. Japanese work contracts were notably more short term than those of the Chinese and the process was closely monitored by the Japanese government to dissuade abuse and foul play. In both cases, the influx of Asian migrant workers was to fill the void left in the Latin American work forces after the abolition of slavery. Employers of all kinds were desperate for a low cost replacement for their slaves so those who did not participate in any illegal slave operations turned to the Asian migrants.

Geographic distribution

Asian Latin Americans 
Chinatown, Lima-Peru.

Four and a half million Latin Americans (almost 1% of the total population of Latin America) are of Asian descent. The number may be millions higher, even more so if all who have partial ancestry are included. For example, Asian Peruvians are estimated at 5% of the population there, but one source places the number of all Peruvians with at least some Chinese ancestry at 5 million, which equates to 20% of the country's total population.

Asian Latin Americans 
The Liberdade neighborhood is a Little Tokyo of São Paulo.

The Chinese are the most populous Asian Latin Americans. Significant populations of Chinese ancestry are found in Peru, Venezuela, Brazil, Colombia, Argentina, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Panama, Nicaragua, Puerto Rico, Mexico and Costa Rica (where they make up about 1% of the total population; or about 9,000 residents). Nicaragua is home to 14,000 ethnic Chinese; the majority reside in Managua and on the Caribbean coast. Smaller communities of Chinese, numbering just in the hundreds or thousands, are also found in Ecuador and various other Latin American countries. Many Latin American countries are home to barrios chinos (Chinatowns).

Most who are of Japanese descent reside in Brazil, Peru, Argentina, Mexico, Bolivia, Colombia and Paraguay. Japanese Peruvians have a considerable economic position in Peru. Many past and present Peruvian Cabinet members are ethnic Asians, but most particularly Japanese Peruvians have made up large portions of Peru's cabinet members and former president Alberto Fujimori is of Japanese ancestry who is currently the only Asian Latin American to have ever served as the head of any Latin American nation (or the second, if taking into account Arthur Chung). Brazil is home to the largest Japanese community outside Japan, numbering about 1.7 million with ancestry alone. Brazil is also home to 10,000 Indians, 5,000 Vietnamese, 4,500 Afghans, 2,900 Indonesians and 1,000 Filipinos.

Korean people are the third largest group of Asian Latin Americans. The largest community of this group is in Brazil (specially in Southeast region) with a population of 51,550. The second largest is in Argentina, with a population of 23,603 and with active Koreatowns in Buenos Aires. More 10,000 in Guatemala, and Mexico, This last with active communities in Monterrey, Guadalajara, Coatzacoalcos, Yucatan and Mexico City. More than 1,000 in Chile, Paraguay, Venezuela, Honduras and Peru where Jung Heung-won, a Korean Peruvian, was elected mayor in City of Chanchamayo. He is the first Mayor of Korean origin in Peru and all of Latin America. There are small and important communities (less 1,000 peoples) in Colombia, Cuba, Ecuador, Bolivia, Costa Rica, Panama, Dominican Republic, Uruguay, Puerto Rico and Haiti.

Emigrant communities

Asian Latin Americans 
Monument dedicated to Japanese Immigration in Santo Domingo (Paseo Bellini).

Japan

Japanese Brazilian immigrants to Japan numbered 250,000 in 2004, constituting Japan's second-largest immigrant population. Their experiences bear similarities to those of Japanese Peruvian immigrants, who are often relegated to low income jobs typically occupied by foreigners.

United States

In the 2000 US Census, 119,829 Hispanic or Latino Americans identified as being of Asian race alone. In 2006 the Census Bureau's American Community Survey estimated them at 154,694, while its Population Estimates, which are official, put them at 277,704.

Composition

Asian Latin American population (incomplete data)
Country Asian Latin Americans  Chinese Asian Latin Americans  Japanese Asian Latin Americans  Korean Asian Latin Americans  Filipino Others References
Asian Latin Americans  Argentina No data 65,000 23,063 15,000 2,000
Asian Latin Americans  Bolivia No data 14,178 654 39 No data
Asian Latin Americans  Brazil 350,000 2,000,000 50,281 1,000 No data
Asian Latin Americans  Chile No data 4,000 2,700 800 No data
Asian Latin Americans  Colombia No data 3,000 900 17,000
Asian Latin Americans  Costa Rica 9,170 No data No data No data No data
Asian Latin Americans  Cuba No data 1200 900 No data No data No data
Asian Latin Americans  Dominican Republic No data 847 675 No data No data
Asian Latin Americans  Ecuador 95,000 434 714 No data No data
Asian Latin Americans  El Salvador 2,140 176 151 No data 103
Asian Latin Americans  Guatemala 13,700 288 12,918 No data No data
Asian Latin Americans  Honduras 1,415 422 No data No data No data
Asian Latin Americans  Mexico 90,000 75,000 30,000 100,000 1,300
Asian Latin Americans  Nicaragua 14,000 145 745 No data No data
Asian Latin Americans  Panama 258,886 456 421 No data No data Tatyana Ali
Asian Latin Americans  Paraguay No data 9,484 5,039 No data No data
Asian Latin Americans  Peru 1,300,000 160,000 1,493 160 No data
Asian Latin Americans  Puerto Rico >2,200 10,486 109 9,832 No data
Asian Latin Americans  Uruguay No data 3,456 216 No data No data
Asian Latin Americans  Venezuela No data 2,000 1,000 No data 10,000

Notable persons

Argentina

  • Juliana Awada, former First Lady of Argentina, Lebanese Argentine.
  • Carlos Balá, actor of Lebanese descent.
  • Yamila Diaz-Rahi, model of Lebanese descent.
  • Dumbfoundead, rapper Argentine-born Korean American Rapper.
  • Liu Song, table tennis player; Chinese Argentine.
  • Ignacio Huang, actor; Taiwanese Argentine.
  • Hoshitango Imachi, ex-sumo wrestler, Japanese Argentine.
  • Mario Alberto Ishii, political and mayor of the region José C. Paz, Japanese Argentine.
  • Natalia Kim [es], actress and model, Korean Argentine.
  • Chang Sung Kim, actor, Korean Argentine.
  • María Kodama, writer of Japanese descent.
  • Katsutoshi Kurata [es], martial artist, Japanese Argentine.
  • Margarita Lee [es] "Señorita Lee"; model, actress and television host; Korean Argentine.
  • Yoshihiro Matsumura [es], martial artist, Japanese Argentine.
  • Carlos Menem, lawyer and politician, former president of Argentina, Syrian Argentine.
  • Eduardo Menem, politician and brother of Carlos Menem, Syrian Argentine.
  • Jessica Michibata, fashion model; Japanese Argentine.
  • Sergio Nakasone [es] producer and TV director, Japanese Argentine.
  • Leonardo Nam, actor; Korean Argentine.
  • Jae Park, Korean American singer-songwriter born in Argentina.
  • Kazuya Sakai [es], painter, Japanese Argentine.
  • María Eugenia Suárez, actress and singer; Japanese Argentine.
  • Alicia Terada, politician, Japanese Argentine.
  • Marco, actor; Korean Argentine.
  • Chanty, actress, model and singer; Filipina Argentine

Bolivia

Brazil

Chile

Colombia

  • Shakira, of partial Lebanese descent
  • Farina, Colombian rapper and reggaeton singer of Peruvian and Lebanese descent.
  • Yokoi Kenji, speaker; Japanese Colombian.
  • José Kaor Dokú, ex-soccer player and ex-military; Japanese Colombian.
  • Maru Yamayusa [es], Colombian actress, partial Japanese descent.
  • Yu Takeuchi, mathematician; Japanese Colombian.
  • Yuriko Yoshimura [es], actress and model; Japanese Colombian.
  • Paublo Ng Choi, Chef, Chinese Colombian.
  • Laura González, Miss Colombia 2017; Lebanese descent.
  • Jordy Monroy, footballer, born in Colombia; Armenian origin
  • Sayaka Osorio, Karateka, Korean Colombian.
  • Nydia Quintero Turbay, former First Lady of Colombia, Lebanese descent.
  • Manuel Teodoro, American journalist of Colombian and Filipino descent.
  • Lisa, Japanese singer-songwriter; Colombian mother

Costa Rica

Cuba

Dominican Republic

Ecuador

El Salvador

Guatemala

Honduras

  • Rodrigo Wong Arevalo [es], journalist and TV host; Chinese Honduran
  • Hajime waki, Musician; Japanese Honduran
  • Fernando Chin: Salesman, first mayor of La Lima.

Mexico

Nicaragua

Paraguay

Panama

Peru

Puerto Rico

Uruguay

  • Alberto Abdala, Former Vice-president of Uruguay; Lebanese Uruguayan
  • Barbara Mori, Uruguyan-born Mexican actress; Japanese and Lebanese descent

Venezuela

See also

References

Further reading

  • Affigne, Tony, and Pei-te Lien. "Peoples of Asian descent in the Americas: Theoretical implications of race and politics." Amerasia Journal 28.2 (2002): 1-27.
  • Avila-Tàpies, Rosalia, and Josefina Domínguez-Mujica. "Postcolonial migrations and diasporic linkages between Latin America and Japan and Spain." Asian and Pacific Migration Journal 24.4 (2015): 487–511.
  • Chee Beng Tan, and Walton Look Lai, eds. The Chinese in Latin America and the Caribbean (2010) excerpt
  • Fu, Puo-An Wu. "Transpacific Subjectivities:" Chinese"--Latin American Literature after Empire." in Chinese America: History and Perspectives (2018): 13-20.
  • Hu-Dehart, Evelyn. "The Chinese of Peru, Cuba, and Mexico." in The Cambridge survey of world migration (1995): 220–222.
  • Hu-DeHart, Evelyn. "Coolies, Shopkeepers, Pioneers: The Chinese of Mexico and Peru (1849–1930)." Amerasia Journal 15.2 (1989): 91–116.
  • Hirabayashi, Lane Ryo, Akemi Kikumura-Yano, and James A. Hirabayashi, eds. New worlds, new lives: Globalization and people of Japanese descent in the Americas and from Latin America in Japan. Stanford University Press, 2002.
  • Hu-DeHart, Evelyn. "Latin America in Asia-Pacific Perspective Evelyn Hu-DeHart." Asian Diasporas: New Formations, New Conceptions (2007): 29+.
  • Jingsheng, Dong. "Chinese emigration to Mexico and the Sino-Mexico relations before 1910." Estudios Internacionales (2006): 75–88.
  • Kikuchi, Hirokazu. "The Representation of East Asia in Latin American Legislatures." Issues & Studies 53.01 (2017): 1740005. doi: 10.1142/S1013251117400057
  • Kim, Hahkyung. "Korean Immigrants' Place in the Discourse of Mestizaje: A History of Race-Class Dynamics and Asian Immigration in Yucatán, Mexico." Revista Iberoamericana (2012).
  • Lee, Rachel. "Asian American cultural production in Asian-Pacific perspective." boundary 2 26.2 (1999): 231–254. online
  • Lim, Rachel. "Racial Transmittances: Hemispheric Viralities of Anti-Asian Racism and Resistance in Mexico." Journal of Asian American Studies 23.3 (2020): 441–457.
  • Masterson, Daniel M. The Japanese in Latin America. University of Illinois Press, 2004. 0252071441, 9780252071447.
  • Min, Man-Shik. "Far East Asian immigration into Latin America." Korea & world affairs 11.2 (1987): 331+
  • Pan, Lynn, ed. The encyclopedia of the Chinese overseas (Harvard UP, 1998). pp 248–2630.
  • Rivas, Zelideth María. "Literary and Cultural Representations of Asians in Latin America and the Caribbean." in Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Literature (2019).
  • Romero, Robert Chao, and Kevin Escudero. ""Asian Latinos" and the US Census." AAPI Nexus: Policy, Practice and Community 10, no. 2 (2012): 119-138. online[dead link]
  • Seijas, Tatiana. "Asian migrations to Latin America in the Pacific World, 16th–19th centuries." History Compass 14.12 (2016): 573–581. online[dead link]
  • Tigner, James L. "Japanese immigration into Latin America: a survey." Journal of Interamerican Studies and World Affairs 23.4 (1981): 457–482.

Tags:

Asian Latin Americans HistoryAsian Latin Americans Roles in laborAsian Latin Americans Geographic distributionAsian Latin Americans Emigrant communitiesAsian Latin Americans CompositionAsian Latin Americans Notable personsAsian Latin Americans Further readingAsian Latin Americans

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