Chinese Caribbeans

Chinese Caribbeans
Regions with significant populations
 Jamaica 75,000[1]
 Dominican Republic 50,000[2]
 Cuba 41,000[3]
 Trinidad and Tobago 21,000[4]
 Suriname 15,700[5]
 French Guiana 15,000[6]
 Belize 10,000[7]
 Puerto Rico 3,000[8]
 Curaçao 1,600[9]
 Guyana 1,400[10]
Languages

Colonial Languages:
English (Guyanese · Jamaican · Trinidadian) · Spanish · French · Dutch · Portuguese
Chinese Varieties:

Mandarin · Hakka · Cantonese · Hokkien
Religion
Roman Catholicism · Protestantism · Buddhism · Chinese folk religion (including Taoism and Confucianism)
Related ethnic groups
Overseas Chinese

Chinese Caribbeans (sometimes Sino-Caribbeans) are people of Han Chinese ethnic origin living in the Caribbean. There are small but significant populations of Chinese and their descendants in all countries of the Greater Antilles. They are all part of the large Chinese diaspora known as Overseas Chinese.

Sub-groups

Caribbean Islands:

Mainland Caribbean:

Migration history

Between 1853 and 1879, 14,000 Chinese laborers were imported to the British Caribbean as part of a larger system of contract labor bound for the sugar plantations. Imported as a contract labor force from China, Chinese settled in three main locations: Jamaica, Trinidad, and British Guiana (now Guyana), initially working on the sugar plantations. Most of the Chinese laborers initially went to British Guiana; however when importation ended in 1879, the population declined steadily, mostly due to emigration to Trinidad and Suriname.[11]

Chinese immigration to Cuba started in 1847 when Cantonese contract workers were brought to work in the sugar fields, bringing the religion of Buddhism with them. Hundreds of thousands of Chinese workers were brought in from Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan during the following decades to replace and / or work alongside African slaves. After completing 8-year contracts or otherwise obtaining their freedom, some Chinese immigrants settled permanently in Cuba, although most longed for repatriation to their homeland. When the United States enacted the Chinese Exclusion Act on May 6, 1882, many Chinese in the United States fled to Puerto Rico, Cuba and other Latin American nations. They established small niches and worked in restaurants and laundries.[12]

See also

References

  1. Joshua Project. "Han Chinese, Hakka in Jamaica". Joshuaproject.net. Retrieved 16 June 2018.
  2. Joshua Project. "Chinese, general in Dominican Republic". Joshuaproject.net. Retrieved 16 June 2018.
  3. Joshua Project. "Han Chinese, Mandarin in Cuba". Joshuaproject.net. Retrieved 16 June 2018.
  4. Joshua Project. "Han Chinese, Cantonese in Trinidad and Tobago". Joshuaproject.net. Retrieved 16 June 2018.
  5. Joshua Project. "Country: Suriname". Joshuaproject.net. Retrieved 16 June 2018.
  6. Joshua Project. "Han Chinese, Hakka in French Guiana". Joshuaproject.net. Retrieved 16 June 2018.
  7. Joshua Project. "Chinese, general in Belize". Joshuaproject.net. Retrieved 16 June 2018.
  8. Joshua Project. "Chinese, general in Puerto Rico". Joshuaproject.net. Retrieved 16 June 2018.
  9. Joshua Project. "Han Chinese, Cantonese in Curacao". Joshuaproject.net. Retrieved 16 June 2018.
  10. Joshua Project. "Country: Guyana". Joshuaproject.net. Retrieved 16 June 2018.
  11. : Chinese in the English-Speaking Caribbean
  12. : The Chinese Community and Santo Domingo’s Barrio Chino
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.