An
Asian Latin American is a
Latin American of
Asian descent.
Asian Latin Americans have a centuries-long history in the region, starting with
Filipinos in the 16th century. The heyday of Asian immigration occurred in the 19th and 20th centuries, however.
There are currently more than four million Asian Latin Americans, nearly 1% of
Latin America's population.
Chinese and
Japanese are the group's largest ancestries; others major ones include
Filipinos and
Koreans.
Brazil is home to the largest population of Asian Latin Americans, at some 1.5 million.
The highest percentage of any country in the region is 5% , in
Peru.
Politics,
music,
anthropology,
sport,
humour and
business are but some of the areas in which Asian Latin Americans have contributed to their countries and the world.
There has been 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
The first Asian Latin Americans were
Filipinos who made their way to Latin America (particularly
Mexico) in the 16th century, as sailors, crews, slaves, prisoners, adventurers and soldiers during the
Spanish colonial period of the Philippines. For two and a half centuries (between 1565 and 1815) many Filipinos 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, and others.
Chinese,
Japanese, or
Korean descent. 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 (though it still
continues in Guatemala) 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 and Chile after the
Korean War,
and some Hmong went to
French Guiana (which may or may not be considered part of Latin America depending on the definition) after the
Vietnam War.
Geographic distribution
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 4.2 million, which equates to 15% of the country's total population.
Most who are of Japanese descent reside in
Brazil,
Peru and
Argentina, while significant populations of Chinese ancestry are found in
Argentina,
Brazil,
Cuba,
Dominican Republic,
Panama,
Peru,
Puerto Rico,
Mexico, and
Costa Rica (where they make up about 1% of the total population).
Nicaragua is home to 12,000 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
Colombia,
Ecuador and various other Latin American countries. The largest Korean communities are in
Chile,
Brazil,
Paraguay,
Mexico and
Argentina. There are around 50,000 living in
Guatemala. There is also a
Hmong community in Argentina. Panama and Venezuela have small
Asian Indian communities.
In Peru, Asians (primarily ethnic
Japanese and
Chinese) constitute 5% of the population by some estimates, the largest as a percentage of any Latin American country Japanese Peruvians have a considerable economic position in Peru.
[Lama, Abraham. Asian Times. Home is where the heartbreak is. 1999. September 6, 2006..] Many past and present Peruvian Cabinet members are ethnic Asians and former president
Alberto Fujimori is of Japanese ancestry.
Brazil is home to the largest
Japanese community outside of
Japan, numbering about 1.5 million.
Emigrant communities
Canada
Canada has been a destination for Asian Latin American emigration. The immigrants usually settle in the largest cities, such as
Vancouver and
Toronto, and integrate into the overall
Asian Canadian communities.
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 and, as with other immigrants, are vulnerable to the
Yakuza.
Asian Hispanic and Latino Americans
Most Asian Latin Americans who have migrated to the
United States live in the largest cities, often in
Asian American or
Hispanic and Latino communities in the
Greater Los Angeles area,
New York metropolitan area,
Chicagoland,
San Francisco Bay area,
Greater Houston, the
San Diego area,
Imperial Valley,
California,
Dallas-Fort Worth, and
South Florida (mainly
Chinese Cubans). They and their descendants are sometimes known as
Asian Hispanics and
Asian Latinos.
In the
2000 US Census, 119,829 Hispanic or Latino
Americans identified as being of Asian ancestry 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.
Some notable Americans of Asian and Hispanic or Latino heritage include
Carlos Galvan,
Kelis, and
Chino Moreno.
Composition
Notable persons
- Ana Gabriel, singer and composer; Chinese-Japanese-Mexican
- Erasmo Wong, businessman, owner of various retail chains; Chinese Peruvian
See also
Ethnic groups
Asian Latin American enclaves
