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Central American Migration Foodways

Diaspora

INTO the region: enslaved Africans to the Caribbean coasts and the Pacific ports; GARIFUNA deported from Saint Vincent in 1797; WEST INDIAN labour for the railways, the banana plantations and the Panama Canal from the 1870s; CHINESE indentured and free migration from the 1850s, building the corner shop and the chow mein of Panama City, Managua and Limรณn; LEBANESE and Palestinian traders from the 1890s, now prominent in Honduran and Salvadoran commerce; MENNONITES to Belize from 1958; and Yucatec Mestizos into northern Belize after the 1847 Caste War. OUT: an enormous northward migration to the UNITED STATES, driven by the civil wars of the 1980s, by Hurricane Mitch in 1998, and by violence and climate since โ€” with Salvadoran, Guatemalan and Honduran communities in Los Angeles, Houston, Washington DC, New York and Miami, and remittances that are a very large share of several national economies.

Atlas โ€” where and when

Communities and languages

Languages: Spanish, English, Garifuna, Cantonese

What is recorded

  • Hurricane Mitch devastates Honduran and Nicaraguan agriculture and drives a large new wave of northward migration. documented
  • Documented migrations into Central America include enslaved Africans, the Garifuna deportation of 1797, West Indian labour recruitment from the 1870s, Chinese migration from the 1850s, Lebanese and Palestinian migration from the 1890s, Mennonite settlement of Belize from 1958, and Yucatec Mestizo migration into northern Belize after 1847. Outward migration to the United States has been driven by the civil wars of the 1980s, Hurricane Mitch in 1998, and subsequent violence and climate pressure, with remittances constituting a very large share of several national economies. documented
  • Cattle, pigs, chickens, wheat, rice, sugarcane, citrus and plantain introduced; plantain and rice become staples of the Caribbean coasts. documented
  • Chinese migration to Panama, Costa Rica and Nicaragua begins, initially for railway construction. documented

Related foodways

This foodway relates to

  • migrated to American documented
  • related to Chinese documented

    Chinese migration from the 1850s built the corner shop and the chow mein of Panama City, Managua and Limรณn.

  • related to Levantine Foodways documented

    Lebanese and Palestinian traders from the 1890s, now prominent in Honduran and Salvadoran commerce.

Recipes

No recipes are filed under this cuisine yet.