Asian cultural and migratory flows in Mexico in the early stages of "globalization" (1565-1816)

Autor: Ruben Carrillo Martín
Programa: Doctorat de Societat de la Informació i el Coneixement
Idioma: anglès
Director: Dr. David Martínez Robles  
Departament / Institut: Internet Interdisciplinary Institute (IN3)

Paraules clau: Asian diaspora, 'chino', New Spain, migration, proto-globalization 

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Resum:

This thesis explains the origin and establishment of the first permanent Asian diaspora in the Americas. Between 10,000 and 20,000 individuals hailing from various places in South, South East and East Asia arrived to the viceroyalty of New Spain after the establishment of the trade route between Acapulco and Manila, known as the Manila Galleon, in 1573. The chief argument presented is that these men and women, labeled in colonial Mexico with the generic term chino, had a considerable impact in New Spanish society and developed strategies to survive and thrive in the complex social structure of the colony. In terms of sources, the thesis contributes to the knowledge of this diaspora by incorporating baptismal sources from Mexico City, presenting an exhaustive corpus that outlines the previously unstudied case of the city of Puebla, and by assessing the repercussion of this group and the Manila Galleon in New Spanish literature.