Timeline: Asian-American History
Asian immigration to America, 1600s to the present

by David Johnson
1600s 1700s 1800-1850 Next: Late 1800s
1600s
Spanish bring Chinese and Filipinos to Mexico.
1763
Filipinos desert Spanish ship in New Orleans, establish first Filipino community in U.S. in Louisiana bayou.
1830s
Chinese laborers brought to work in Hawaiian sugar cane fields. Chinese peddlers recorded in New York City.
1848
California gold rush attracts Chinese prospectors.
1850
California imposes tax on foreign miners, targeting Chinese.
1852
Presbyterian mission begins working with Chinese in San Francisco.
1854
Chinese in Hawaii begin to organize. In The People v. Hall, California Supreme Court rules that a Chinese man could not give testimony in court since Chinese were "inferior, and . . . incapable of progress or intellectual development beyond a certain point . . ." Yung Wing graduates from Yale University, becomes first Chinese to graduate from a U.S. college. Commodore Perry signs first commercial treaty with Japan since 1638.
Next Page
Next: Japan sends first diplomatic mission to U.S.
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