Japanese, Chinese and Indians in cosmopolitan Lima early seventeenth century

• Autor: Vega Loyola, José
• Formato: artículo
• Fecha de Publicación: 2015
• Institución: Universidad Nacional Federico Villarreal
• Repositorio: Revistas - Universidad Nacional Federico Villarreal
• Lenguaje: español
• OAI Identifier: oai:ojs2.revistas.unfv.edu.pe:article/53
• Enlace del recurso: https://revistas.unfv.edu.pe/RCV/article/view/53
• Nivel de acceso: acceso abierto

The presence of Asian population in the city of Lima in the early seventeenth century is identified, based on the Census of Indians in Lima in 1613, the Books of Council, marriage and baptismal records from the archives of the Archbishop of Lima and the notary protocols from the General Archive of the Nation. A database containing names, marital status, age, place of origin, time and place of residence in Lima and economic activity wascreated. We noticed that Lima, during the early seventeenth century, was a cosmopolitan city with people from the “four corners of the world”: Europe, Africa, America and Asia. People of American and Asian origin were called Indians, registering 114 Indians from “China and Xapon and Yndia and Portugal” as a generic name comprising, besides India in Malabar a set of Portuguese colonies in Southeast Asia. Most Asian people identified came from Japan, India, China, Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, Java, Burma and Cambodia. They took part in the economic activities of the city, working as servants, official tailors, soleteros and neck openers; although a significant number, despite having the status of slaves or servants, were employed as retailers, the final link in the chain of distribution of smuggled goods. These results question the traditional belief that the first people of Asian descent arrived in Peru in the nineteenth century; and on the other hand, force us to review the history of slavery, migration and trade relations with South East Asia.