Asian Latino
Categories: Ethnic groups of the United States
- For the usage of the word Latino, please see that article.
Asian Latino, as used in the United States, is a rarely employed term that refers to the Asian immigrant communities, and their descendants, now residing in Latin America; as well as those that have moved on from Latin America to the United States, and identify as such. They are typically Spanish-speaking.
Asian Latino might also be used for mixed-race people of Asian and Latin American (Latino) descent.
History and Composition
Less than 0.5% of Latin America's total population are descendants of Asian immigrants. Of those that do exist, 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 Galleons from Manila, 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), and many fleeing Chinese Communist rule.
Today, the overwhealming majority of "Asian Latinos" are of Chinese or Japanese descent, with Korean and Vietnamese the most significant groups thereafter. 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, again in Peru, and Puerto Rico. Smaller communities of Chinese - numbering anywhere between a couple of hundreds to one or two thousand - also reside in Costa Rica, Nicaragua and various other Latin American countries. The small Korean communities reside in Chile and Argentina.
Most Asians in Latin America are either white-collar workers, entrepreneurs of small businesses, or owners of Asian cuisine restaurants. In Peru, however, where the Asian (Japanese and Chinese) community is said to constitute some 3% of the population (the largest as a percentage of any Latin American country) they have become a disproportionately influential political and economic power. Many past and present Peruvian cabinet members have been of Asian origin, and even a past president, Alberto Fujimori, was of Japanese ancestry.
Of those that made their way from Latin America to the United States, most live scattered among the largest cities, and can be found living amidst either Asian or Latino communities in Los Angeles, New York City, San Francisco, and San Diego.
See also
- Chinese Cuban
- Chinese Mexican
- Chinese Peruvian
- Chinese Puerto Rican
- Japanese-Brazilian
- Ana Gabriel
- Barbara Mori
- Kelis
- Chino Moreno
- Chinatowns in Latin America
- Ashanti Douglas