Asian Latino
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Asian Latino | |
|---|---|
Image:AnaGabriel079.JPG Image:JulianaImai.jpg
| |
| Total population | 4,402,826 |
| Regions with significant populations | Brazil, Peru, Paraguay, Mexico, Cuba |
| Language | Portuguese, Spanish, Chinese, Korean, Japanese, others |
| Religion | Buddhism, Shintoism, Christianity <tr>
<th style="background-color:#fee8ab;">Related ethnic groups</th> <td style="background-color:#fff6d9;">Asians, Latinos, Asian Americans</td> </tr> |
Asian Latino, as used in the United States, is a rarely employed term that refers to Latinos of Asian ancestry who identify as such. They are typically Spanish-speaking. Asian Latino might also be a term used for people of both Asian or Asian American and Latin American or Latino descent.
Contents |
[edit] History and Composition
Four million Latin Americans (almost 1% of the total population of Latin America) are descendants of Asian immigrants. Estimates can vary widely: just in Peru, some place the number of citizens with some Chinese ancestry at 15% of the country's population, or 4.2 million people. [1]
The earliest are the descendants of Filipinos who made their way to Latin America (particularly Mexico) as sailors and crews during the colonial period. For close to two and a half centuries (between 1570 to 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, Mexico.
Most 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 Latinos are of Chinese, Asian Indian or Japanese descent, with Koreans and Vietnamese the most significant groups thereafter. While Vietnamese living in Latin America are almost entirely confined to Cuba and Asian Indians are mostly confined to the Caribbean and Guyana, other Asian groups are represented all throughout Latin America. Most of those of Japanese descent reside in Brazil and Peru, while those of Chinese ancestry are found primarily in Argentina, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Panama, Peru, Puerto Rico, and Mexico. Smaller communities of Chinese--numbering anywhere between a couple of hundreds to one or two thousand--also reside 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, and Argentina. There are around 50,000 living in Guatemala.
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In Peru, where the Asian (Japanese and Chinese) community is said to constitute some 3% of the population by some estimates (the largest as a percentage of any Latin American country)[citation needed] they have become an influential political and economic group. The Japanese Peruvians have a considerable economic position in Peru.<ref>Lama, Abraham. Asian Times. Home is where the heartbreak is. 1999. September 6, 2006.<http://www.atimes.com/japan-econ/AJ16Dh01.html>.</ref> Many past and present Peruvian cabinet members have been of Asian origin, and even a past president, Alberto Fujimori, was of Japanese ancestry.
When Japanese Peruvians immigrate into Japan, looking for better jobs, they find hard labor. In Japan, these Japanese Peruvians are relegated to the jobs typically occupied by foreigners. They earn very little income in relation to the rest of Japanese society. The Yakuza preys upon them as it does other immigrants.<ref>Lama, Abraham. Asian Times. Home is where the heartbreak is. 1999. September 6, 2006.<http://www.atimes.com/japan-econ/AJ16Dh01.html>.</ref>
Brazil is home to the largest Japanese community outside of Japan, numbering about 1.5 million. [2]
Of those that made their way from Latin America to the United States and Canada, most live scattered among the largest cities, and can be found living amidst either Asian or Latino communities in Los Angeles, Vancouver, New York City, Chicago, San Francisco, Toronto, and San Diego.
| Nation | Japan<ref>Discover Nikkei. Nikkei Resources. September 6, 2006. <http://www.discovernikkei.org/wiki/index.php/Japanese_Immigration_Statistics>.</ref><ref>Japanese American National Museum. Nikkei Demographics of the Americas. 2000. September 6, 2006. <http://www.janm.org/projects/inrp/english/demogrph.htm>.</ref> | Korea | China |
|---|---|---|---|
| Argentina | 6,604 | 35,000<ref>Migration News. South Koreans in Argentina. 1996. September 6, 2006. <http://migration.ucdavis.edu/mn/more.php?id=847_0_2_0>.</ref> | |
| Mexico | 15,338 | 20,000<ref>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>.</ref> | 35,000<ref>Ethnologue. Languages of Mexico. 2005. September 6, 2006. <http://www.ethnologue.com/show_country.asp?name=MX>.</ref> |
| Brazil | 1,500,000[3] | 337,000<ref>Ethnologue. Languages of Argentina. 2005. September 6, 2006. <http://www.ethnologue.com/show_country.asp?name=BR>.</ref>-400,000 [4] | 490,000 [5] |
| Peru | 35,685 | 100,000<ref>Ethnologue. Languages of Peru. 2005. September 6, 2005. <http://www.ethnologue.com/show_country.asp?name=PE>.</ref> | |
| Bolivia | 222 | ||
| Guatemala | 50,000 | 10,000 | |
| Paraguay | 10,321 | ||
| Chile | 538 | ||
| Cuba | 616 | 113,828<ref>CIA World Factbook. Cuba. 2006. September 6, 2006. <https://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/cu.html>.</ref> | |
| Panama | 456 | ||
| Dominican Republic | 1,390 | ||
| Uruguay | 456 | ||
| Venezuela | 828 | 400,000<ref>Ethnologue. Languages of Venezuela. 2005. September 6, 2006.<http://www.ethnologue.com/show_country.asp?name=VE>.</ref> |
[edit] See also
- Asian Argentines
- Chinese Cuban
- Chinese Jamaican
- Chinese Mexican
- Chinese Peruvian
- Chinese Puerto Rican
- Japanese Brazilian
- Japanese Peruvian
- Franklin Chang-Diaz
- Alberto Fujimori
- Ana Gabriel
- Carlos Galvan
- Hiromi Hayakawa
- Chino Moreno
- Barbara Mori
- Kelis
- Indo-Caribbean
- Chinatowns in Latin America
[edit] External link
[edit] References
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