Most Widespread Asian Diaspora Possible In Latin America

[EMT]

Basically, I've been thinking about how the Latin American countries with the biggest populations of Asian origin(Brazil, Peru, Mexico) are all relatively small; most of the rest of Latin America has a minor to insignificant number of Asian-origin citizens.

How big could the presence of Asians in Latin America get while still keeping Latin America as-is? And by as-is, I mean, still Spanish or Portuguese-speaking from Central Mexico southwards. Borders or modern-day states are all irrelevant in this scenario; feel free to propose a scenario that sees no Bolivia, a disunited Argentina; whatever, as long as it works towards the topic question.

 

[Color-Copycat]

Have the US Congress make the Chinese Exclusion Act an Oriental Exclusion Act. Butterfly away such things as Roosevelt's Gentlemen's Agreement, and you could easily divert large scale Japanese immigration over to Central and South America.

 

[iori]

Have the US Congress make the Chinese Exclusion Act an Oriental Exclusion Act. Butterfly away such things as Roosevelt's Gentlemen's Agreement, and you could easily divert large scale Japanese immigration over to Central and South America.

Outside of Hawai'i, where the Japanese population was established before it was part of the U.S., I don't think the Japanese immigrant population was particularly large, I mean even today they number less than a million, and half of those would be in Hawai'i alone.

Chinese Immigration however could definately be altered towards South America.

 

[Color-Copycat]

Also, if you avert the discovery of gold in California, there would be a larger impetus for East Asians to choose indentured agriculture labor in South America over limited opportunities in the undeveloped American West. Of course, Central Pacific's employment of Chinese laborers in the construction of their half of the Trans-Continental would again draw some immigration back to the US, but you could probably avert that by having the US government award the railway contract to a firm intent on building east to west as opposed to simultaneous construction in both directions.

Another possibility is getting the British to import more indentured Indian (South Asian) laborers to Belize/British Honduras. If you can get the Indian population to grow as much as it did in Guyana, you might even see some overspill in local immigration to neighboring Central American countries.

 

[Dan1988]

Have the US Congress make the Chinese Exclusion Act an Oriental Exclusion Act. Butterfly away such things as Roosevelt's Gentlemen's Agreement, and you could easily divert large scale Japanese immigration over to Central and South America.

That doesn't stop the Japanese and Koreans from entering Canada (including Taiwanese who could pass for Japanese due to being part of the Empire of Japan pre-1945).

 

[wolf_brother]

You'll need to drastically expand the Pig Trade.

 

[mightfly]

isn't there a japanese community in brazil and don't indians count as asians?

 

[Color-Copycat]

The Japanese-descended community in Brazil was large enough that at one point during the '80s, the Japanese government was issuing work visas to hundreds of Japanese-Brazilians in order to take up low income jobs that native Japanese refused to seek employment in.

 

[Joseph Solis in Australia]

For Argentina:

Have the word "European" not been stipulated in the Article 25 of the 1853 Constitution and instead, they simply encouraged immigration from somewhere else aside to European including from China, Japan, India, Korea, the Philippines, and Vietnam.

 

[iori]

and don't indians count as asians?

Yes, however the labour migration from the Subcontinent was really something that only happened in any noticable numbers by force/coercion until the mid-20th century, where-as East Asians did so of their own free will as well as being coerced.

 

[Daztur]

Getting rid of slavery earlier in the areas that had it and having more Asian labor brought in instead would help.

 

[Admiral Brown]

There are a sizeble number of persons of Asian descent in Perú, mostly in Lima and in the coast. They've even had a president who was of Japanese descent.

If the tratment of Chinese workers who went there in the XIX century after the abolition of slavery had been better, the Asian comunity might be much bigger. Also, a more stable Perú might be more atractive to imigrants from the other side of the Pacific.

 

[Deleted member 67076]

Its possible that the many countries would promote immigration to their countries during post WW2 Japanese diaspora, such as in Brazil. I don't know how that would work though.

 

[iori]

Its possible that the many countries would promote immigration to their countries during post WW2 Japanese diaspora, such as in Brazil. I don't know how that would work though.

The Japanese diaspora was primariy created in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, by 1930 it had stopped and post-WWII their'd be even less reason for immigration as Japan did rebuild and start to grow economically pretty damned fast.

 

[Daztur]

Maybe kill the 1965 immigration reform in the USA? That opened the door to a lot of immigrants who might've gone elsewhere otherwise. Still that might be too little too late for the purposes of this thread.

Korean immigration could've been bigger than it was. Maybe earlier vaccinations and water treatment to knock down infant mortality happening earlier (with earlier colonization or Korea?) leading too an earlier population boom?

Also at least some Koreans moved in later on (knew some in Bolivia selling electronics), especially before the economic boom that didn't take hold until the late 60's. Korea was dirt dirt dirt poor after the Korean War. Also Park Chung-hee was pretty competent as far as oppressive military dictators go and worked hard to lower the birth rate. A dumber dictator (like pretty much all of Korea's other dictators, they were pretty uniformly awful) or more instability than Park's long reign might have lead to more and poorer Koreans and more emigration.

The Nationalists winning the Chinese Civil War would've helped too for post-War emigration. Certainly easier for poor Chinese to get a ticket out of that than from Mao's China.

 

[Deleted member 67076]

The Japanese diaspora was primariy created in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, by 1930 it had stopped and post-WWII their'd be even less reason for immigration as Japan did rebuild and start to grow economically pretty damned fast.

Huh, did not know that, well you could always split Japan like Korea and further weaken it, that should give people more reason to move.

 

[iori]

Huh, did not know that, well you could always split Japan like Korea and further weaken it, that should give people more reason to move.

Even in bad times the Japanese tend to not immigrate in large numbers, IOTL the major reason for the diaspora was overpopulation in part of the country leading to government promoted immigration.

 

[Basilisk]

Another thing to consider that in the case of larger colonial holdings by Britain, the more Indians would find their way to South America. Consider the case of British Guiana, which has an Indian plurality to this day.

 

[iori]

Another thing to consider that in the case of larger colonial holdings by Britain, the more Indians would find their way to South America. Consider the case of British Guiana, which has an Indian plurality to this day.

Indeed, also the Netherlands, if it had another small colony on the mainland would be similar; Suriname is majority Asian (37% Indian, 15% Javanese, 8% Chinese) and the Dutch Caribbean tends to have asian minorities as well.