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Asian Diasporas in Latin America and the Caribbean: An Historical Overview

2008; Volume: 27; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

2327-9648

Evelyn Hu-DeHart, Kathleen López,

Hispanic-African Historical Relations

The academic study of Latin America and the Caribbean has focused on three racial-ethnic groups-Europeans or whites, Africans or blacks, and the indigenous. Curiously, although Columbus was looking for a new route to Las Indias, Asia was quickly forgotten in the construction of New World history, perhaps because it soon became obvious that Columbus missed his mark and reached lands previously unknown to his compatriots in Europe. But Columbus persisted in his illusion that he had indeed reached Asia, and gave the native peoples he encountered the enduring misnomer of Indians-a constant reminder, it would seem, that the idea of Asia in the invention of America was fixed at America's inception. Furthermore, Columbus's failure only spurred on the Spaniards to find that connection to Asia, which they accomplished with the 250-year-long global trade system between Europe and Asia that went through Acapulco in Spanish Mexico and Manila in Spanish Philippines. It was in Manila, the Spanish outpost in the far Pacific, that Spaniards found the vibrant global marketplace and cultural intersection that connected all corners of the known world, as captured in the words of Jesuit Father Colin, who visited in 1663: Manila is the equal of any other emporium of our monarchy, for it is the center to which flow the riches of the Orient and the Occident, the silver of Peru and New Spain; the pearls and precious stones of India; the diamonds of Narsinga and Goa; the rubies, sapphires and topazes, and the cinnamon of Ceylon; the pepper of Sumatra and the Javas; the cloves, nutmegs and other spices of the Moluccas and Banda; the fine Persian silks and wool and carpets from Ormuz and Malabar; rich hangings and bed coverings of Bengal; fine camphor of Borneo; balsam and ivory of Abada and Cambodia, [. . .] and from Great China silks of all kinds, raw and woven in velvets and figured damasks, taffetas and other cloths of every texture, design and colors, linens and cotton fabrics, gilt-decora ted articles, embroideries and porcelains, and other riches and curiosities of great value and esteem; from Japan, amber, varicolored silks, writing desks, boxes and tables of precious woods, lacquered and with curious decorations; and very fine silverware. (Schurz 50) Similarly, the Portuguese seaborne empire stretched from the Atlantic to the Pacific and across the Indian Ocean, linking Europe to Brazil to Asia and Africa (Boxer). In view of the longevity and evident commercial success of the Manila Galleon Trade, which entailed at least one ship sailing yearly without fail between America and Asia from 1565 to 1815, how to explain then, the puzzling fact that Asia and Asian migrants to America barely registered in the historiography of Latin America. This curious omission has persisted into the nineteenth and twentieth centuries when Asian labor migration and free immigration to Latin America and the Caribbean accelerated. The scholars, writers, and artists represented in this volume aim to correct the practical erasure of Asia and Asians from the master narrative of Latin American/Caribbean history. It is a history that has been largely hidden in plain sight, as the essays in this volume begin to demonstrate. We emphasize begin because in no way does this rather eclectic collection of interdisciplinary essays on the Asian presence in Latin America offer a comprehensive coverage of the rich history of Asians in the region; rather, they serve as an introduction to a growing field of study within both Latin American/Caribbean studies and Asian Studies, with scholars trained in history, literature, anthropology, and sociology, plunging in with enthusiasm and creative approaches to research and methodology. In view of the focus of this special issue of the Afro-Hispanic Review, we have sought to call attention to places and spaces where Asians encountered, collided with, or otherwise interacted with peoples of African descent, such as Cuba. …