As presented in the excellent PBS documentary series Ancestors in the Americas, the first Asians came to the western hemisphere were Chinese Filipinos who settled in Mexico. Eventually, Filipino sailors were the first to settle in the U.S. around 1750 in what would later be Louisiana. Later around 1840, to make up for the shortage of slaves from Africa, the British and Spanish brought over slaves or ""coolies"" from China, India, and the Philippines to islands in the Caribbean, Peru, Ecuador, and other countries in South America. The Gold Rush was one of the pull factors that led many Chinese to come to the U.S. to find their fortune and return home rich and wealthy. Most of these early Chinese workers were from the Guangdong (also called Canton) province in China. However, there were also push factors that drove many to want to leave China. The most important factor was economic hardship due to the growing British dominance over China, after Britain defeated China in the Opium War of 1839-1842. In 1860 China lost a second was over opium, this time Great Britain and France troops occupied Canton for several years and China was forced to legalize the importation of opium.
The first wave of immigration started with Chinese Immigrant to America between 1820-1924. The Chinese came in Hawaii for the first sugar plantation. The demanded of Chinese labors increased due to their work performance and wages. The Chinese labors were cheaper than the native Hawaiian labors and white labors in both money wise and benefits. The sugar companies had started hire more Chinese labors. Because the companies paid less money to the immigrants as compare to the native and white labors. The sugarcane plantation increased approximately eighteen times, which increased the sugar export 90 percent of the total export (Takaki, 14). The frequency of strikes on plantation was increased, where the workers from the same country.
