Many of the racial and ethnic groups that live in the Hawaiian Islands today arrived at different
times in history. Most of them came to work as laborers on the sugar and pineapple plantations. The
first group arrived in the 1850’s, when the Chinese came. They were followed by the Japanese in the
1880’s, and then the Koreans and Filipinos in the early 1900’s. These groups were the last major Asian
immigrants to the islands. The immigration process continues today, but now many workers arrive from
Mexico and Central America.