This article analyzes the circumstances under which, in the middle of the 19th century, a large number of Chinese began to migrate to the United States, particularly to California, as contract workers. The routes that Chinese workers followed to reach North America are examined, as well as the methods they used to cross the border between Mexico and California. Also considered are the positions of the governments of the United States and Mexico around the matter, as well as the efforts of the US Immigration Service to eliminate “human smuggling”. The article pays special attention to the difficulties faced by the governments of both countries when trying to control this human trafficking and the reasons for its decline and disappearance at the end of the 1920s.
Chinese immigration to the United States and Exclusion Laws
During the second half of the 19th century, a large number of Chinese (mostly from the Pearl River Delta region, in Guangdong Province, southern China) traveled to the Americas, Southeast Asia, Australia, in New Zealand and the Caribbean as migrant workers. Overseas Chinese in USA Data The reasons why many members of the peasantry and labor groups in general in this region of China chose to emigrate under these conditions were various: the constant civil war, natural disasters, such as floods and drought, together with the inability of the economic production to satisfy the demands created by population growth (Barth, 1964:9-31, 5084; Mei, 1984:224-233).
Large-scale immigration to the United States began shortly after the beginning of the gold rush in California in 1848. The mines constituted the main source of employment, followed by a demand for “culíes” workers in cities, towns and agricultural areas , as well as in the construction of the When users spend more time on your pages transcontinental railroad and other lines.
Trade and smuggling routes
Despite increasing legal prohibitions, many Chinese attempted to enter the United States as part of a complex network of smuggling operations. ch leads The contraband trade was a highly profitable business, which left a profit of millions of dollars to the Chinese, Americans and Europeans – mainly English – who participated in the traffic.
