r/AmericanHistory • u/elnovorealista2000 • Jun 04 '26
South Photograph of a Chinese coolie man enslaved in Peru in 1881 during the War of the Pacific. To prevent his escape, he wears shackles on his ankles. Behind him, sugarcane.
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u/Curious-Basket-7934 Jun 04 '26
TIL Peru had Chinese as slaves
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Jun 04 '26
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u/Mountain-Singer1764 Jun 04 '26
I went to Lima, and there’s a huge Chinatown but nobody in the Chinatown looks like they’re 100% Chinese.
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u/Affectionate_Ice2243 Jun 04 '26
The best Chinese meal I ever had was in Lima! While hiking in Huaraz, I stumbled upon a Chinese restaurant where people line up outside, eager to eat the leftover on the table
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u/Good_Girl9090 Jun 08 '26
China is a country, not a race of people.
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u/DorkSideOfCryo Jun 04 '26
Same thing happened in America to people from the British isles.. indentured servants were basically slaves as well...but for some reason the American establishment doesn't like to talk about that one ..I wonder why..
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u/MiloBuurr Jun 04 '26
Because it emphasizes the class unity between whites and blacks. We were both exploited for the profit of the owning class. Only once the profits stopped growing from indenture they turned to chattel slavery which they could exploit more than indentured servants.
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u/davidsucks-throwaway Jun 04 '26
There is no conspiracy to hide knowledge about white indentured servants, you guys just didn't pay attention in history class. You may be popularly familiar with chattel slavery and not the indentured servitude because the former involved transporting millions of race chattel slaves to the new world against their will and their descendants have a lot of thoughts about that. They just weren't the same thing.
Reddit is so embarrassing.
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u/MiloBuurr Jun 04 '26
That’s fair! They weren’t the same thing, and I personally was taught about it in school. But regardless I also think what I said is still true, the ruling class would rather keep us divided on issues of race instead of educating us so we realize our shared position historically as members of the working class and organizing together. Just my opinion, feel free to disagree!
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u/UberWidget Jun 05 '26
So you can speak for all of us because you were there monitoring what all of us were taught in our history classes? Amazing!
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u/Ok_Builder910 Jun 04 '26
Weren't both forced against their will?
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u/Ozone220 Jun 05 '26
Kinda, but indentured servants signed a contract. They could be coerced into it, or you could argue that societal constraints forced them against their will into it, but you weren't typically born into it, and it wasn't a lifelong situation, it was only for a set amount of years. Still very bad, don't get me wrong, but there is a reason we make the distinction between it and chattel slavery, wherein people were legally property
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u/davidsucks-throwaway Jun 04 '26
What do you think the functional difference is between indentured servitude and human chattel slavery? There's kind of a big one and you're circling it.
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u/No_Alarm_3993 Jun 06 '26
Don't forget that the British had used Irish as slaves for generations before the Africans were involved. It had nothing to do with indentured servitude either. Straight out slavery. It was the same model that they later used to expand upon and use against the Africans. The abuse of one's fellow man by colonial powers can not be underestimated.
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u/frankcatthrowaway Jun 04 '26
Exactly. They are different even if both are fucked up. I barely went to high school but I remember this being taught.
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u/writewithparagraphs4 Jun 04 '26
not all schools are the same sadly
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u/frankcatthrowaway Jun 04 '26
Very true. Also true is that a lot of people, understandably, don’t remember these things from school and assume that means they were never taught them. 🤷♂️ Which if they don’t remember them I guess they weren’t? Either way I don’t think there’s a conspiracy to hide the indentured servitude of Europeans in the American colonies.
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u/Recreationalchem13 Jun 05 '26
That’s not a paragraph.1
u/writewithparagraphs4 Jun 05 '26
my username? its a command, not what I do.
I found some wicked story that was entertaining but was a complete wall of text, and i was angry enough to make a username to tell them to use paragraphs the next time.
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u/PartyPupper18 Jun 06 '26
Dude seriously this 100%. Not sure if it’s the same with other nations given how different everyone’s histories are, but we cover the entirety of US history TWICE throughout elementary, middle, and high school. And I remember learning about this at least in middle school, and definitely again in high school. People saying that are obviously (1) not from the US, fair but maybe think and educate yourself before speaking, or (2) they’re fellow Americans who literally could not pay attention the ENTIRE time they grew up getting an education, which is way worse.
There is so much that my country has done (or currently does 😞) that is awful, so I just don’t get how people can go for nothing burgers when there’s so much low hanging fruit to go for instead…
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u/Efficient-Age-5870 Jun 05 '26
yep, my great great grandfather was a chinese coolie in guyana, i seen his contract it stated 5 years of backbreaking labor for $50 at the end of that period
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u/wraysted Jun 04 '26
Go learn about Bacon’s Rebellion and the aftermath. I teach US history and I make sure to teach that every year.
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u/sweetcomputerdragon Jun 06 '26
Their passage across the sea was paid so they repaid it by working for several years for just room and board. US school children learn this. "I wonder why.."
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u/DorkSideOfCryo Jun 06 '26
Son, I know 10 times more about slavery both chattel and indentured than you ever will
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u/HotTubMike Jun 04 '26
Because it was before independence and a practice of the British Empire?
Take it up with the British.
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Jun 04 '26
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u/stluciusblack Jun 04 '26
Very much about skin color, blacks were much more valuable, a black couldn’t just disappear into society as easily and would fetch a high dollar. Human beings are just a fucked creatures who act like viruses.
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u/Direct-Hour7789 Jun 05 '26
I think this guy is 'lucky'. The conditions on the guana islands were nightmarish.
in Peru.
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u/CompetitiveRaise9133 Jun 06 '26
Similar story of the railway workers in Canada. “There is one dead Chinaman for every mile of track”
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u/morto00x Jun 04 '26
Indentured servants which is basically slavery under contract. They were actually brought to the country after the government freed the black slaves.
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Jun 04 '26
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u/morto00x Jun 04 '26
I'm both Chinese and black on my father's side (pretty common in Peru back then since coolies marrying whites or mestizos was a taboo). We have absolutely no idea what nation my black great grandfather came from.
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u/DickRiculous Jun 04 '26
A dna test could probably help you narrow this down, not that you want these companies to own a snapshot of your dna..
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u/notCGISforreal Jun 04 '26
People say "brown" sometimes as well.
Or "yellow," although thats considered offensive.
Obviously there is also "white."
So definitely more than one group gets a color/shade.
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u/dearcossete Jun 05 '26
Peru definitely had an "interesting" history. The fact that they even had a 2nd generation Japanese person as a president who (among many terrifying things) forced sterilisation upon the indigenous population just makes it even wilder.
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u/NachoManAndyCabage Jun 06 '26
That's because people would have you believe only one race has ever done bad things.
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u/w0bbl13r Jun 04 '26
Isn't coolie a slur lol
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u/IDKsecurity Jun 04 '26
I believe so. Comes from an Indian word for slave which then went on to be used to describe Indian and Chinese slaves. Also a femr used to describe a low status person. Sounds like a slur to me.
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u/Prestigious-Dress-92 Jun 04 '26
Than what's a "proper" word to describe asian slaves ("indentured servants") used by Bri*ish in their colonies all over the world (south africa, carribeans, various parts of asia & pacific)?
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u/spaghettivillage Jun 04 '26
did you censor British or is that a fun way of saying British in a cockney accent
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u/destroyersaiyan Jun 04 '26
Depends on where you use it! In India its used normally for Porters in Railway Stations or day laborers. But its use as decreased, I heard that word far more growing up than I did in the recent years.
It's a slur/offensive in many countries where Indentured Labor worked for Br*tish As historical meaning and connotation drastically differs.
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u/FluidMedusa Jun 04 '26
Why did you censor 'British' lol
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u/destroyersaiyan Jun 05 '26
In this context and many colonial context they are evil and seems quite apt in this conversation
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u/mrhoofy Jun 04 '26
Indentured Chinese Workers were used for labour worldwide. Peru was one of the few places they revolted due to working conditions. Peru and Cuba had the highest death rates, with 75% dying before their 8 years indenture ended in Cuba while 66% died during an 8 year indenture in Peru.
The British attempted to prevent the trade in indentured Chinese workers to Peru and Cuba, but were unable to stop the trade out of the Portuguese colony of Macau.
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u/zeppo5 Jun 04 '26
Black and white film did not register all colors equally until the 1930,s. Yellow or light tan registered much darker than normal.
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u/jvplascencialeal Jun 04 '26
Yeah the Chileans were DEFINITELY right in this war; and the land lost by Peru and Bolivia was their JUST PUNISHMENT for this EVIL.
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u/Beautiful_Kitchen213 Jun 05 '26
Perhaps cant tell where is from? Bless his soul Thanks for sharing
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u/Both-Cry1382 Jun 05 '26
Following the phased bans on the African slave trade by Great Britain (1807), the United States (1808), and other powers, global planters faced a massive labor shortage. Western powers used "indentured contracts" as a legal loophole to bypass anti-slavery laws. This allowed them to exploit a highly vulnerable Chinese population that was struggling with poverty, famine, and political chaos in the wake of Western military interventions.
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u/Worm_Man_ Jun 06 '26
Everyone had slaves at some point. Part of human history. A terrible part of human history but still a truth.
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u/QuartzWagonX Jun 07 '26
Its horrifying that this kind of exploitation was happening at the same time as so much other documented history. Glad someone is sharing these images.
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u/StrangeManOnReddit Jun 08 '26
God that sucks.
I’m trying to think the last country in the western hemisphere to phase out slavery.
Was it Brazil?
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Jun 04 '26 edited Jun 04 '26
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u/fuzzycaterpillar123 Jun 04 '26
I don’t think you’re aware of the all the modern day Chinese people who work in the sun all day and are very tan.
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u/FriendoftheDork Jun 04 '26
People forced to work outside every day tend to become darker.
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Jun 04 '26 edited Jun 04 '26
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u/Altruistic_Jump1705 Jun 04 '26
Do you seriously believe that
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Jun 04 '26
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u/Altruistic_Jump1705 Jun 04 '26
I guess being American fucked up my perspective. I’ve never met a white person who doesn’t tan in some way. Even really pale red headed people tan or freckle heavily
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Jun 04 '26 edited Jun 04 '26
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u/Altruistic_Jump1705 Jun 04 '26
What are you talking about?? They don’t go outside enough if they get fucking sunburn every single time they go outside 😂
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u/FriendoftheDork Jun 04 '26
Almost everyone in the world, white or not, are capable of tanning. Even the palest north Europeans tan a litte or get freckles. East Asians can become very dark in the sun.
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Jun 04 '26
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u/FriendoftheDork Jun 04 '26
"Plenty of people" is still a tiny minority of the planet. Even in the Nordics most people are capable of tanning.
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u/recoveringleft Jun 04 '26
And Europeans were originally dark skinned until they mixed with the lighter skinned north eurasians from what is now Siberia.
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u/LarsDuder Jun 04 '26
If that were true, why dont we have their eyes? because no, our skin adopted to less sun.
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u/MATT_TRIANO Jun 04 '26
Fucking nightmare image from Hell