Chinese settler carries whip in part of Mexico (7)
I believe the answer is:
yucatan
'part of mexico' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'chinese settler carries whip in' is the wordplay.
'chinese settler carries' becomes 'yuan' (I can't justify this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'whip' becomes 'cat' (cat o' nine tails, cat for short is a type of whip).
'in' is an insertion indicator.
'yuan' placed around 'cat' is 'YUCATAN'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for yucatan that I've seen before include "Mexican state" , "part of Mexico" , "Alcoholic drink" , "N. Mexican peninsula" , "Region of Mexico" .)