Asian Latin American

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Asian Latin American
Total population
4,402,826
Regions with significant populations
Brazil, Peru, Paraguay, Mexico, Cuba
Languages
Portuguese, Spanish, Chinese, Hindi, Japanese, Korean, Lao, Tagalog, Vietnamese, others
Religions
Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Shintoism
Related ethnic groups
Asians, Latinos, Latin Americans, Asian Americans, Indo-Caribbeans

An Asian Latin American is a Latin American of Asian descent. Asian Latin Americans have a centuries-long history in the region and currently number several million.

Contents 1 History 2 Geographic distribution 2.1 Asian Latin Americans abroad 2.1.1 Asian Latinos 3 Composition 4 Notable persons 5 See also 5.1 Ethnic groups 5.2 Miscellanea 6 External link 7 References

[edit] History

The first Asian Latin Americans were the descendants of Filipinos who made their way to Latin America (particularly Mexico) in the 16th century, as sailors and crews during the colonial period. For two and a half centuries (between 1565 and 1815) many Filipinos sailed on the Manila Galleons, assisting in Spain'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 Acapulco, Culiacán, Guadalajara and Mexico City.

Most recent contemporary Asians, however, arrived as contract workers or coolies, others as economic refugees (especially from Japan), political refugees (victims of World War II, the Korean War, Vietnam War), Asian Indian indentured servants under British rule and many fleeing Communist Party of China rule.^{[citation needed]}

Today, the overwhelming majority of Asian Latin Americans are of Chinese, Japanese, or Korean descent, with Vietnamese the most significant group thereafter. While Vietnamese living in Latin America are almost entirely confined to Cuba, other Asian groups are represented all throughout Latin America.

[edit] Geographic distribution

Four million Latin Americans (almost 1% of the total population of Latin America) are of Asian descent. The number may be millions higher, as estimates can vary widely in some cases; in Peru Asian Peruvians are estimated at 3% of the population, but one source places the number of citizens with some Chinese ancestry at 4.2 million, which equates to 15% of the country's total population. ^[1]

Most who are of Japanese descent reside in Brazil and Peru, while significant populations of those of Chinese ancestry are found in Argentina, Brazil, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Panama, Peru, Puerto Rico, Mexico and Venezuela. Nicaragua is home to about 8,000 Asians (mostly Chinese/Taiwanese). Most of them reside in Managua. Smaller communities of Chinese, numbering in the hundreds or thousands only are also found in Costa Rica (where they make up about 1% of the total population), Ecuador and various other Latin American countries. There is also a significant Filipino and Taiwanese community in El Salvador. The small Korean communities reside in Chile, Brazil, Paraguay, Mexico and Argentina. There are around 50,000 living in Guatemala. There is also a large Laotian community in Argentina. Panama has also small Indian community.

In Peru, Asians (primarily ethnic Japanese and Chinese) constitute 3% of the population by some estimates, the largest as a percentage of any Latin American country^{[citation needed]}. Japanese Peruvians have a considerable economic position in Peru.^[2] 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. [2]

[edit] Asian Latin Americans abroad

Japanese Peruvians who immigrate to Japan are often relegated to low income jobs typically occupied by foreigners. As with other immigrants, they are often vulnerable to the Yakuza.^[3]

[edit] Asian Latinos

Most Asian Latin Americans who have made their way to the United States and Canada live in the largest cities, and can be found living amidst either Asian American, Asian Canadian, or Latino communities in Los Angeles, Vancouver, New York City, Chicago, San Francisco, Toronto, and San Diego. They and their descendants are sometimes known as Asian Latinos.

In the 2000 US Census, 119,829 respondents identified as Asian Latinos.^[4]

[edit] Composition

Asian Latin American population (incomplete data)

Nation	Chinese	Filipino	Indian[5]	Japanese[6][7]	Korean
Argentina	60,000		1,600	6,604	35,000[8]
Belize			500
Bolivia				222
Brazil	490,000[9]		1,900	1,500,000[10]
Chile			650	538
Colombia			20
Costa Rica			16
Cuba	113,828[11]			616
Dominican Republic				1,390
Ecuador			5
Guadeloupe			40,000
Guatemala	20,000		2,000[12]	400	50,000
Mexico	35,000[13]	200,000[14]	400	15,338	20,000[15]
Nicaragua	8,000[16]
Panama	200,000		2,164	456
Paraguay				10,321
Peru	100,000[17]		145	35,685
Puerto Rico			4,500[18]
Uruguay				456
Venezuela	400,000[19]		690	828

[edit] Notable persons

• Jorge Cham
• Franklin Chang-Diaz
• Alberto Fujimori
• Ana Gabriel
• Carlos Galvan
• Hiromi Hayakawa
• Kelis
• Myrna Mack
• Chino Moreno
• Barbara Mori
• Arlen Siu

[edit] See also

[edit] Ethnic groups

• Japanese Brazilian
• Chinese Brazilian
• Japanese Peruvian
• Chinese Peruvian
• Chinese Nicaraguan
• Asian Argentines
• Chinese Cuban
• Chinese Jamaican
• Chinese Puerto Rican
• Indo-Caribbean

[edit] Miscellanea

• Chinatowns in Latin America
• Koreatown
• Mexicali, Mexico: city with a large Chinese Mexican community
• Okinawans: migration to Bolivia in the 1960s

[edit] External link

• Asian-Latino Intermarriage in The Americas

[edit] References

1. ^ [1]
2. ^ Lama, Abraham. Asian Times. Home is where the heartbreak is. 1999. September 6, 2006.<http://www.atimes.com/japan-econ/AJ16Dh01.html>.
3. ^ Lama, Abraham. Asian Times. Home is where the heartbreak is. 1999. September 6, 2006.<http://www.atimes.com/japan-econ/AJ16Dh01.html>.
4. ^ Overview of Race and Hispanic Origin: 2000<http://www.census.gov/prod/2001pubs/cenbr01-1.pdf>.
5. ^ Overseas Indian Population 2001. Little India.
6. ^ Discover Nikkei. Nikkei Resources. September 6, 2006. <http://www.discovernikkei.org/wiki/index.php/Japanese_Immigration_Statistics>.
7. ^ Japanese American National Museum. Nikkei Demographics of the Americas. 2000. September 6, 2006. <http://www.janm.org/projects/inrp/english/demogrph.htm>.
8. ^ Migration News. South Koreans in Argentina. 1996. September 6, 2006. <http://migration.ucdavis.edu/mn/more.php?id=847_0_2_0>.
9. ^ http://www.pucsp.br/rever/rv3_2004/p_shoji.pdf
10. ^ http://www.mofa.go.jp/region/latin/brazil/index.html
11. ^ CIA World Factbook. Cuba. 2006. September 6, 2006. <https://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/cu.html>.
12. ^ Sólo queremos igualdad. prensalibre.com
13. ^ Ethnologue. Languages of Mexico. 2005. September 6, 2006. <http://www.ethnologue.com/show_country.asp?name=MX>.
14. ^ Floro L. Mercene. Filipinos in Mexican history. Ezilon Infobase. January 28, 2005.
15. ^ Vongs, Pueng. Pacific News Service. Race-based Political Caucuses Shrug Off Attack. 2003. September 6,2006. <http://news.pacificnews.org/news/view_article.html?article_id=e8bb44700edad69d7a38e572236852e9>.
16. ^ Total number — Chinese and non-Chinese — of Asian Nicaraguans.
17. ^ Ethnologue. Languages of Peru. 2005. September 6, 2005. <http://www.ethnologue.com/show_country.asp?name=PE>.
18. ^ East Indian. Joshua Project.
19. ^ Ethnologue. Languages of Venezuela. 2005. September 6, 2006.<http://www.ethnologue.com/show_country.asp?name=VE>.

v • d • e Asian Americans
East Asian	Chinese · Japanese · Kalmyk · Korean · Mongolian · Taiwanese
South Asian	Bangladeshi · Indian · Indo-Caribbean · Nepali  · Pakistani · Sri Lankan · Tibetan
Southeast Asian	Burmese · Cambodian · Filipino · Hmong · Indonesian · Laotian · Mien · Thai · Vietnamese
Other	Asian Latino · Amerasian · Afro-Asian  · Eurasian · Hapa