Asian slaves shipped from the
Spanish Philippines to
Acapulco (see
Manila-Acapulco galleons), were all referred to as "Chino" meaning Chinese. In reality, they were of diverse origins, including Japanese, Malays, Filipinos, Vietnamese, Javanese, Timorese, and people from modern day Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka, Makassar, Tidore, Terenate, and China. Filipinos made up most of this population. People from this diverse community of Asians in Mexico were called "los indios chinos" by the Spanish. Most of these slaves were male and were obtained from Portuguese slave traders who obtained them from Portuguese colonial possessions and outposts of the
Estado da India, which included parts of India, Bengal, Malacca, Indonesia, Nagasaki in Japan, and Macau.
Spain received some of these Chino slaves from Mexico, where owning a Chino slave was a sign of high status. 16th century records of three Japanese slaves, Gaspar Fernandes, Miguel and Ventura, who ended up in Mexico showed that they were purchased by Portuguese slave traders in Japan and brought to Manila from where they were shipped to Mexico by their owner Perez. Some of these Asian slaves were also brought to
Lima, where it was recorded that in 1613 there was a small community of Asians made out of Chinese, Filipinos, Malays, Cambodians and others.
Chinese Historic communities inhabited by people of Chinese descent are found throughout the Peruvian
upper Amazon, including cities such as
Yurimaguas,
Nauta,
Iquitos and the north central coast (Lambayeque and Trujillo). In contrast to the Japanese community in Peru, the
Chinese appear to have intermarried much more since they came to work in the
rice fields during the Viceroyalty and to replace the
African slaves, during the abolition of slavery itself.
Japanese Japanese immigrants arrived from
Okinawa; but also from
Gifu,
Hiroshima,
Kanagawa and
Osaka prefectures. Many arrived as farmers or to work in the fields, but after their respective contracts were completed, settled in the cities. In the period before World War II, the Japanese community in Peru was largely run by
Issei immigrants born in Japan. "Those of the second generation", (the
Nisei), "were almost inevitably excluded from community decision-making." The first Asian-Peruvian president,
Alberto Fujimori, was
elected in 1990, prevailing over novelist
Mario Vargas Llosa.
Koreans According to the statistics of
South Korea's
Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Koreans in Peru formed Latin America's seventh-largest
Korean diaspora community at 1,774 people . ==Other groups==