THE INTERNATIONAL DISTRICT:

The International District is home to many different ethnicities of an Asian background. It was first established by Chinese immigrants who were restricted from living in other parts of Seattle. The first Chinatown was originally in Pioneer Square and then moved to the current International District. The cultural atlas, Seattleness, has a section dedicated to the history of Pioneer Square but sadly does not mention anything about it’s brush with Chinese immigrants. The atlas also briefly mentions Chinatown as a place to visit for potential tourists, but does not go in depth, which is a fault of the book.

After the Chinese Exclusion Act, the Chinese population decreased substantially, and the Japanese population grew in its absence. With that, the number of Japanese laborers began to replace the lost Chinese cheap labor. The Japanese population was then wiped out during the internment after World War II. By this point Chinese had begun to return to Seattle and they began to return and develop Chinatown. This was followed by the return of the Japanese and the rebuilding of Japantown in the ID by the Nisei. Soon after the Vietnamese came in and created Little Saigon in the ID as well. The three ethnicities are split but are all within the same area of the International District. They have had similar experiences and have been able to build a home away from home in Seattle.