alternatehistory.com

During the 19th century, most of the immigration to the continental U.S. were from southern China, though certainly there were many Japanese and Filipino immigrants as well. This continued until the Chinese Exclusion Acts -

Initially, Japanese and South Asian laborers filled the demand that could not be met by new Chinese immigrants. The 1900 census counted 24,326 Japanese residents, a sharp increase, and 89,863 Chinese residents. The first South Asian immigrants landed in the United States in 1907, and were predominantly PunjabiSikh farmers. As immigration restrictions specific to South Asians would begin two years later and against Asians generally eight years after that, "[a]ltogether only sixty-four hundred came to America" during this period.[27] Like the Chinese and Japanese immigrants of the time, these South Asians were predominantly men.[27]South Asian migrants also arrived on the East Coast, although to a lesser extent in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, predominantly Bengali Muslims who worked as craftsmen and merchants, selling 'exotic' goods such as embroidered silks and rugs

Interestingly, the other major 19th century population movement for labor was from India:

An early trade in Asian labourers is believed to have begun sometime in or around the 16th century. Social and political pressure led to the abolition of the slave trade throughout the British Empire in 1807, with other European nations following suit. Labour-intensive industries, such as cotton and sugar plantations, mines and railway construction, in the colonies were left without a cheap source of manpower.[8] As a consequence, a large-scale slavery-like trade in Asian (primarily Indian and Chinese) indentured labourers began in the 1820s to fill this vacuum. ...

By the 1820s, many Indians were voluntarily enlisting to go abroad for work, in the hopes of a better life. European merchants and businessmen quickly took advantage of this and began recruiting them for work as a cheap source of labour.[43][44] The British began shipping Indians to colonies around the world, including Mauritius, Fiji, Natal, British East Africa, and British Malaya. The Dutch also shipped workers to labour on the plantations on Suriname and the Dutch East Indies. A system of agents was used to infiltrate the rural villages of India and recruit labourers. They would often deceive the credulous workers about the great opportunities that awaited them for their own material betterment abroad. The Indians primarily came from the Indo-Gangetic Plain, but also from Tamil Nadu and other areas to the south of the country.[22]

Given that China and India have been the most populated areas of the world for quite some time, it makes sense that the places that were exporting surplus labor were from those two places. Though the rise in Eastern European and Russian immigration in the 19th century was also because of additional population thanks to improved agricultural techniques. So, how could there be South Asian migrants to the U.S. in the 19th century, similar to Chinese immigration?

I'm also curious if there were any massive voluntary population migrations during that time period besides Chinese/Indian laborers.
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