Asian Pacific American Heritage Month History Timeline

Timeline of Historical Events

1600s Spanish bring Chinese and Filipinos to Mexico.
1763 Filipinos desert a Spanish ship in New Orleans, and establish first Filipino community in St. Malo in a Louisiana bayou.
1830s Chinese laborers brought to work in Hawaiian sugar cane fields. Chinese peddlers recorded in New York City.
1843 The first Japanese immigrants arrive in the United States on May 7, 1843.
1848 California Gold Rush attracts Chinese prospectors.
1854 Chinese in Hawaii begin to organize.
In The People v. Hall, California Supreme Court rules that a Chinese man could not give testimony in court since Chinese were "inferior, and…incapable of progress or intellectual development beyond a certain point…"
Yung Wing graduates from Yale University, becomes first Chinese
person to graduate from a U.S. college.
Commodore Perry signs first commercial treaty with Japan since 1638.
1860 The first Japanese Embassy is dispatched to the U.S.
1867 50,000 Chinese reported living in California.
«Previous   Next, Timeline 1868–1924»
Chinese immigrants waiting to board ships to the U.S.
Chinese immigrants waiting to board ships to the U.S. in search of better economic opportunities. Courtesy of California Historical Society.
Chinese miner
Chinese miner during the Gold Rush of 1848. Courtesy Nevada Historical Society.
Yung Wing, first Chinese person to graduate from a U.S. college.
Yung Wing, the first Chinese person to graduate from a U.S. college. Class Autograph Book 1854 photo courtesy of Manuscripts & Archives, Yale University Library.
first Chinese embassy pose with their American counterparts
The first Japanese embassy to the United States. They are pictured at
the Washington, DC shipyard.
Japanese print of American ships
A Japanese print illustrating Commodore Perry's flagship arriving in Uraga Harbor near Edo (Tokyo) in 1854.