Between 1565 and 1815, the so-called Manila galleons enjoyed a near-complete monopoly on transpacific trade between Spain’s Asian and American colonies. Sailing from the Philippines to Mexico and back, these Spanish trading ships also facilitated the earliest migrations and displacements of Asian peoples to the Americas. Hailing from Gujarat, Nagasaki, and many places in between, both free and enslaved Asians boarded the galleons and made the treacherous transpacific journey each year. Once in Mexico, they became “chinos” within the New Spanish caste system.
Dr. Diego Javier Luis chronicles this first sustained wave of Asian mobility to the early Americas. Uncovering how and why Asian peoples crossed the Pacific, he sheds new light on the daily lives of those who disembarked at Acapulco. There, the term “chino” officially racialized diverse ethnolinguistic populations into a single caste, vulnerable to New Spanish policies of colonial control. Yet Asians resisted these strictures, often by forging new connections across ethnic groups. Social adaptation and cultural convergence, Luis argues, defined Asian experiences in the Spanish Americas from the colonial invasions of the sixteenth century to the first cries for Mexican independence in the nineteenth.
The First Asians in the Americas: A Transpacific History (Harvard University Press, 2024) speaks to an important era in the construction of race, vividly unfolding what it meant to be “chino” in the early modern Spanish empire. In so doing, it demonstrates the significance of colonial Latin America to Asian diasporic history and reveals the fundamental role of transpacific connections to the development of colonial societies in the Americas.
This interview was conducted by Dr. Miranda Melcher whose forthcoming book focuses on post-conflict military integration, understanding treaty negotiation and implementation in civil war contexts, with qualitative analysis of the Angolan and Mozambican civil wars.
Since humans began to adopt writing systems, they also created systems for passing along written messages.
For thousands of years, it would have been possible to get messages to distant parts of whatever empire or kingdom you happened to live in, provided you found the right courier and had enough money.
Today, the entire globe is integrated into a connected postal system, allowing physical messages to be sent between almost any two people.
Learn more about postal deliveries and how our modern system has ancient roots on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.
Sponsors
Sign up today at butcherbox.com/daily and use code daily to choose your free offer and get $20 off.
We'll tell you about the highly-anticipated ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court over whether states can remove former President Trump from their ballots.
Also, 16 states go to the polls today and the presidential race isn't the only one voters will have a hand in. We have a preview of Super Tuesday.
Plus, why one Florida beach town is "breaking up" with spring breakers, what happens now that a major airline merger has been called off, and how a new chatbot promises to be better than ChatGPT.
Control Body Odor anywhere with Lume Deodorant and get $5 off your Starter Pack (that’s over 40% off) with promo code NEWSWORTHY at LumeDeodorant.com! #lumepod
The Fits Everybody collection is available now at SKIMS.com. Plus, get free shipping on orders over $75. Be sure to let them know we sent you in the survey!
The Supreme Court ruled unanimously on Tuesday that former President Donald Trump can stay on Colorado’s primary ballot. This reverses a decision by Colorado’s Supreme Court, which ruled that Trump could be disqualified based on his actions on January 6th, and the 14th Amendment’s stipulation that insurrectionists cannot hold public office. To understand the Supreme Court’s rationale, we spoke to Leah Litman, co-host of Crooked’s “Strict Scrutiny” and professor at the University of Michigan Law School.
Today is Super Tuesday. Voters in 16 states and American Samoa head to the polls, and one of the states we’re keeping a close eye on is California where several House races could determine which party will take control of Congress. We spoke with Marisa Lagos, KQED politics reporter, about how these California races in several swing districts got so competitive in the first place.
And in headlines: the Supreme Court temporarily blocked Texas from implementing its harsh new immigration law, the first OTC birth control pill heads to pharmacies, and French lawmakers make abortion a constitutional right.
Voters in 15 states are headed to the polls or to caucuses Tuesday, in what is arguably the most important day in the 2024 presidential primary season; that is, Super Tuesday.
Alabama, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, and Virginia are all holding primaries. Caucuses will be held in Alaska and Utah.
Ryan Walker, Heritage Action for America executive vice president, says that when you look at the states that have already held primaries, “Nikki Haley has not garnered more than 40% of the vote.” So, Walker says he will be watching to see whether the former South Carolina governor can go beyond that threshold in states voting Tuesday. (The Daily Signal is the news outlet of The Heritage Foundation, of which Heritage Action for America is the grassroots arm.)
Former President Donald Trump has already clinched GOP primary and caucus victories in Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina, Nevada, Michigan, Idaho, and Missouri. Haley won the D.C. primary over the weekend.
Trump got a boost in media coverage ahead of the Super Tuesday voting when on Monday the Supreme Court ruled unanimously in his favor and against Colorado’s efforts to remove his name from the ballot there citing the “Insurrection Clause” of the 14th Amendment. The ruling clears the way for Trump to earn more delegates on Tuesday ahead of the GOP convention in mid-July.
“A state cannot decide if a former president, or a former candidate, is allowed to be on the ballot, especially if they have not been convicted of a crime,” Walker said.
Walker joins “The Daily Signal Podcast” to discuss what issues are driving voters to the polls on Super Tuesday, and what the results could mean for determining who ultimately will be the GOP nominee for president.
Ever poked at roadkill? Watched videos of whales exploding? Drooled over a curio cabinet full of claws & bones? Peered into a jar with a pickled toad? Then this one is for you. Whether you’ve heard it before or are new to this classic ep, you’re sure to be delighted by this Ologist’s storytelling. Arguably the world's most famous comparative anatomist (and pretty-much-also functional morphologist) Dr. Joy Reidenberg pulls up a chair at Mt. Sinai Hospital to talk about her fascinating backstory, exploding whales, taxidermied chipmunks, dead toadfish, animal's weird anatomy and its function and how it might help human health. She is absolutely amazing and you will become obsessed with her work.
When Patti retired a few months ago, everyone told her she would love the freedom and flexibility that came with leaving the workforce. Not so. The transition has left Patti grieving the loss of her routine and sense of purpose—and she’s wondering how to find fulfillment in life’s (gulp!) third act. On today’s episode, Courtney Martin welcomes Brad Stulberg, author of Master of Change: How to Excel When Everything Is Changing—Including You. Brad helps Patti rethink this massive transformation and emerge from it stronger.
Do you have a problem that needs solving? Send us a note at howto@slate.com or leave us a voicemail at 646-495-4001 and we might have you on the show. Subscribe for free on Apple, Spotify or wherever you listen.
How To’s executive producer is Derek John. Joel Meyer is our senior editor/producer. The show is produced by Rosemary Belson and Kevin Bendis.
Slate Plus members get bonus segments and ad-free podcast feeds. Sign up now at slate.com/howtoplus.
CEOs of Meta, Disney, and Microsoft attended the wedding of Asia’s richest family: The Ambani’s — Behind it all is Reliance Industries, India’s biggest company.
Apple was just fined $2B by the European Union for anti-competitive drama with Spotify — The shocker? The App Store in question is the only part of Apple that’s growing.
And Iowa’s basketball star Caitlin Clark has set the all-time scoring record for women and men — But we’re looking at her NIL deals and thinking: she’s already pro.
Plus, it’s Jack’s birthday, so we’ve got a poll going in his honor about a surprise in Birkenstock’s earnings report:
Open-toed shoes or close-toed shoes? Vote on 1 on Instagram @tboypod
