Asian slaves in Mexico’s history

Manila Bulletin Online ^ | Floro L. Mercene

[curmudgeonII]

I rather doubt the 100,000 figure.
For centuries the Spanish sent one ship a year from Manilla on a round trip to Mexico. [The Manilla galleon.]

Even if this ship carried nothing but slaves the number of individuals surviving this trip would be considerably less than 100,000.

[ASA Vet]

the Mexican Indians were decimated by diseases brought by the Europeans,
their population dwindling from 20 million to less than 5 million in a century.

A lose of 15 million is 75% not 10%.

[GOP_1900AD]

I've often wondered about many of those who the Mexicans label as "Chinos" but who looked SE Asian to me. This would tend to explain it. I am not surprised because the Mexicans tend to label anyone who looks oriental to be a "Chino."

[slickdain]

"They express their sentiments with hopes that future generations realize that fighting a war is useless."

I think Japan started the war. War are not useless, the are usefull ways to terminate conflict.

Another reason we don't need Mexicans streaming over the border.

[Varda]

Mole is a word derived from the Aztec language and the sauces major ingredient is also of New world origin. It's origins are unknown but its other ingredients suggest a Spanish influenence. Maybe someone who is better with google than I am can find some conformation about the stuff asserted in this article but I sure can't. I also don't get any hits on "American historian William Mason" or the idea that 500,000 blacks were brought to Mexico or that there was any significant slave trade from Asia.

One thing that is clearly in error, the reason any slaves were brought to Mexico is that it was illegal to enslave the Indians by order of Queen Isabella and later all Christianized Indians were declared off limits by the Pope.

[Deaf Smith]

"Have you ever had mole?"

Isn't this one of the products now banned from importation due to high lead content?

[Jacob Kell]

Please tell me more about the Asian settlers. The Filipinos were no doubt Catholic from the beginning. THe CHinese were either Catholic or they converted to Catholicism, am I right? ALso, what about the Japanese?

[Clemenza]

The Japanese settled in Peru, Ecuador and (especially) Brazil at the turn of the last century. Many became farmers (much as in Hawaii), but eventually they entered the merchant class in the cities. Few were Christian and there remains a large "Japantown" in Sao Paulo, with smaller such neighborhoods throughout southern Brazil. The Japanese in Peru and Ecuador don't have distinct neighborhoods anymore, although they still remain only halfway assimilated (if that) over a century later.

The Chinese have been coming to Latin America since at least the 1840s, mostly from Guandong (Canton) province in the 19th and early 20th century. More recent immigrants have come from other parts of the mainland, as well as Taiwan and Hong Kong. The initial wave of Chinese immigrants was usually small enough so as to be assimilated into the larger population. Even where there has been significant assimilation, the culinary influence is heavy (Peruvians tend to eat a large amount of Lo Mein and fried rice due to those early immigrants).

In certain cases, however, the population has been large enough to maintain a distinct community. Panama is about 10% Chinese, and Chinese-Panamanians play a similar role in that country as they do in the USA (take-out restaurants, laundromats, dry cleaners, grocery stores) although some have become wealthy. In Havana, there was a Chinatown well into the early 1960s, when the Chinese Cubans fled to the U.S., Hong Kong, or elsewhere. Many of those who settled in New York and Miami started Cuban-Chinese hybrid restaurants.

As far as the Filipinos are concerned, they settled all over Latin America, both as slaves and later as immigrants. Sharing both a religious heritage with the host population, along with a common experience of Spanish colonialism, Filipinos have typically intermarried rather than form distinct communities.

[Fishing-guy]

"Panama is about 10% Chinese..."

Is that true? I find that number hard to believe.
An interesting tidbit I recently learned is that there is a large Chinese, Chinese-Mexican population in Mexicali. Many Chinese made it and married Mexican in order to buy land, as Mexican law, in the past, allowed only native citizens to own land.

[Clemenza]

I used to travel to Panama for business reasons on a monthly basis from 1999-2002. A government official quoted me the 10% figure, and I can believe it judging from my own personal survey of the population.

[JustAnotherSavage]

Read later.