Hispanic

For other uses, see Hispanic (disambiguation).

The Hispanic world. Dark green denotes Hispanic countries/US states, while green denotes areas populated by a large Hispanic community

.

Hispanic (Castilian Hispano, Portuguese Hispânico, Catalan: Hispà, from Latin Hispānus, adjective from Hispānia, the Roman name for the Iberian Peninsula) is a term that historically denoted relation to the ancient Hispania and its peoples. However, when the modern day country of Spain was created in the 15th century, it inherited the term, and thus, since then, Hispanic is also related to Spain, its people and its culture. With the expansion of the Spanish Empire, the peoples from Spain spread all over the world, creating new colonies and giving place to the Hispanophone. This expansion was mainly concentrated in the Americas, especially in what is called the Hispanic America, which comprises all those countries from the Americas that once belonged to the Spanish Empire. These countries, inherited the strong cultural and ancestral legacy of the Spaniards, and in consequence, their peoples and their cultures are also considered as Hispanic.

The term "Hispanic"

Etymology

Etymologically, the term Hispano/Hispanic is derived from Hispania (whose meaning and derivation is uncertain), the name given by the Romans to the entire Iberian Peninsula — modern-day Spain and Portugal — during the period of the Roman Republic. In the modern era, however, Hispanic/Hispano has usually only been applied to Spain and things related to it, while a derivation from or relation to Portugal and its people (including Brazil and Portuguese-speaking Brazilians) is normally denominated Luso/Lusitanic.

In Spanish, the word "Hispano" is also used as the first element of compounds referring to Spain and the Spanish, rather like the way Anglo is used in compounds referring to England and the English. Thus, the Spanish-American War in Spanish is known as Guerra Hispano-Estadounidense, the "Spanish-German Treaty" is Tratado Hispano-Alemán, and "Spanish America" is Hispanoamérica.

The usage of Hispanic as an ethnic indicator in the United States is believed to have come into mainstream prominence following its inclusion in a question in the 1980 U.S. Census, which asked people to voluntarily identify if they were of "Spanish/Hispanic origin or descent".

Synonyms and antonyms

Often the term "Hispanic" is used synonymously with the word "Latino", and frequently with "Latin" as well. Even though the terms may sometimes overlap in meaning, they are not completely synonymous.

"Hispanic" specifically refers to Spain, and to the Spanish-speaking nations of the Americas, as cultural and demographic extensions of Spain. It should be further noted that in a U.S. context, a Hispanic population consists of the people of Spain and everyone with origins in any of Spanish-speaking nations of the Americas, regardless of ancestry of the latter (including Amerindians). In the context of Spain and Latin America, a Hispanic population consists of the people of Spain, and when regarding the inhabitants of the Spanish-speaking nations of the Americas, includes only criollos, mestizos, mulattos, and others with Spanish ancestry, to the exclusion of indigenous Amerindians, unmixed descendants of black Africans and whites or other peoples from later migrations without any Spanish lineage.

In regards to the term Latin, in this context it refers to the conception of "Latin America" as a region, a concept which was introduced by the French in the 1860s when they dreamed of building an empire based in Mexico. See French intervention in Mexico. This concept of a "Latin" America was closely connected to the introduction of French positivism into the region's intellectual circles. The French understood "Latin" to include themselves and other continental European Romance speaking nations, to the exclusion of their "Anglo-Saxon" colonial rivals the United States (in the Americas) and the United Kingdom, as well as, the Germanic and Scandinavian peoples (in Europe).

Latinos, meanwhile, is a contraction of "Latinoamericanos", and refers only to those from Spanish or Portuguese-speaking countries of Latin America, regardless of ancestry in all contexts. Those from French Canada are very rarely included, while those from Haiti are never. In the rare cases where they are, along with residents of French Guiana, it is with some ambiguities.

The confusion that arises is from the similarity between the words Latino and Latin, and between the concept of Hispanic and Latino. Latino is a shortened version of the noun Latinoamericano (Latin American). In the Spanish language "Latín" (Latin) is the name of the language of the Romans. This means that "Latín" is not confined solely to Hispanics, Latin Americans, or Latinos, but has always included such peoples as the Italians, French, Romanians, Portuguese, etc.

Thus, of a group consisting of a Brazilian, a Colombian, a Mexican, a Spaniard, and a Romanian; the Brazilian, Colombian, and Mexican would all be Latinos, but not the Spaniard or the Romanian, since neither Spain nor Romania is geographically situated in Latin America. Conversely, the Colombian, Mexican and Spaniard would all be Hispanics, but not the Romanian and the Brazilian; Brazilians speak Portuguese as Brazil has evolved from the former Portuguese colony in South America. Finally, all of the above nationalities would be Latin, including the Romanian. To further clarify, a Latino is a US citizen or resident of Latin American descent or birth.

It should be noted that the categories of "Latino" and "Hispanic" are used primarily in the United States to socially differentiate people. As social categories they are not mutually exclusive and without ambiguities and cannot be seen as independent of social discrimination (socioeconomic, ethnic or racial). These terms are not in everyday usage in the Caribbean, Central or South America.

Besides "Hispanic", "Latino", and "Latin", other terms are used for more specific subsets of the Hispanic population. These terms often relate to specific countries of origin, such as "Mexican", "Mexican-American", "Cuban", "Puerto Rican" or "Dominican", etc. Other terms signify distinct cultural patterns among Hispanics which have emerged in what is now the United States, including "Chicano", "Tejano", "Nuyorican", etc.

The historical mistake

The languages of Spain. As can be seen in the map, Spain has more languages than just the Castilian. In addition, the old Hispania also included Portugal, so historically the Portuguese can be considered as a Hispanic language, although if we consider Hispanic as a synonym of Spain, the map shows the current Spanish languages.

Castilian (Spanish)   Catalan, co-official   Basque, co-official   Galician, co-official

Asturian, unofficial   Aragonese, unofficial   Aranese, co-official (dialect of Occitan)

Spain is not an uniform country; various ethnicities peacefully coexist in its territories, and each one has its own culture, traditions, idiosyncracy, and some of them have their own language. However, when one talks about Hispanic, it is usual to refer to the cultural or the ancestral background related to the Castilian-speaking Spain, instead of referring, for instance, to the Catalan-speaking Spain or the Basque-speaking Spain. So, for example, analogously to the case of the United Kingdom, Hispanic would be the equivalent to Briton. Note that this is not the same as Anglo, which would be equivalent to Castilian; or Scot and Welsh, which would be equivalent, for instance, to Catalan and Basque. This may seem a subtile difference, but it is very significant: historically, while in other countries such as the United Kingdom there has been a differentiation between the sub-nations that compose the country (English, Scottish, Welsh, Northern Irish, Cornish, etc.) and the supra-nation that engloves them (the United Kingdom), in Spain the dominant nation (Castile) has been always directly related to the supra-nation (Spain). This has provoked that while when one talks about Anglo and Briton one is aware to be talking about the historical region of England and the whole Great Britain respectively, in the case of Spain, one talks about Hispanic as a synonym of the whole country but also of the cultural identity related to the Castilian-speaking region of Castile, and thus subordinates the rest of the nationalities that exist in Spain to the predomianant one, setting them on the brink of the nullity with regard to the participation of these nationalities in the composition of the national identity of country.

Spain has dragged this historical mistake to the point that the peoples of the New World who began to speak Castilian when Cristopher Columbus discovered the Americas in the 15th century, instead of self-identifying themselves as peoples of Castilian cultural heritage, identified themselves as people of Hispanic heritage, using it as a synonym of the Castilian-speaking world, and hiding again the reality of those other Hispanics of non-Castilian culture, traditions, idiosyncracy, and language.

In addition, the Castilian-speaking peoples of the New World also adopted other cultural labels to identify themselves, such as the term Latino, which results into a corruption of the Castilian word of the same name , meaning, mainly, the Latin language or someone from Latium, or someone whose mother tongue is a Romance language (a language which derives from the Latin), and which, since it is used as a cultural label to identify almost exclusively the peoples of Castilian cultural or ancestral heritage in the Americas, has become alienating for other peoples who also speak Romance languages in other parts of the World (including those in Spain who were already alienated by the monopolization of the term Hispanic by the Castilian-speaking peoples).

The third era of this historical mistake is happening nowadays in the United States of America, where since the late 20th century the terms Hispanic and Latino have broken the cultural label to become an ethnic label, thus not only perpetuating but increasing the alienation, not only of the non-Castilian hispanics from Spain (through the term Hispanic) and the other Latin peoples from the rest of the World, including those non-Castilian Spaniards (through the term Latino), but also reaching the same Castilian-speaking peoples of the Peninsula, because this time, the acceptance of the term Hispanic as an ethnic label implies the identification of the same Castilian-speaking Spaniards with the large majority of Castilian-speaking peoples of Amerindian and South American ethnicity. In this context, the Castilian-speaking peoples of Spain have become a minority, like once were the non-Castilian peoples of the Iberian Peninsula in front of the Castilians, and thus, many cultural and linguistic issues relating the Spaniards are often confused and mixed with those relating to Mexicans and other Hispanic American peoples.

Today, although some people not only from the Hispanophone but also from other parts of the World are conscious of these issues, they are still very few in front of the, although young, deep-rooted tradition that the terms Hispanic and Latino have generated among the Amerindian and South American community, mainly in the United States of America. In great part, this affection to these terms is due to three main reasons:

1. The historical exclusion from the term Hispanic of the non-Castilian-speaking peoples of Spain, which was carried out by the Castilian-speaking peoples of Spain.
2. Therefore, the ignorance and manipulation has always surrounded the term Hispanic, and the thing has gone so far that it has become an ethnic label which has marginalized the same Castilian-speaking peoples of Spain.
3. The ignorance inherent to the low-class South Americans and Amerindians (the so-called Latinos) which has helped not only to perpetuate the bad usage of the terms but also to increase it and to spread it over the Americas, reaching the United States of America and joining a short point of view with regard to these issues in this country and, again, colliding with the ignorance that surrounds the true origin of the terms Hispanic and Latino, facts that have lead to the appearance of the ethnic label.

Nowadays, the same reasons that have provoked all this ignorance and confusion around the words Hispanic and Latino are still prevailing, and the so-called Latinos, among other people from all over the World, especially in the United States, keep the bad usage of the terms and, paradoxally, many of them support the ethnic label that surrounds these words, considering themselves as people of a different race, as Hispanics or Latinos, and thus establishing a common link among them, but at the same time, excluding and alienating more and more the other Hispanics from Spain (both the Castilian and the non-Castilian-speaking) and also the Latin peoples from the rest of the World.

The Hispanics of the Iberian Peninsula

As said before, Spain is not an uniform country but a land of contrasts and the home to a wide range of ethnicities and nationalities, each one of which has its own culture, traditions, idiosyncracy, and some of them have their own language. Historically, due to the historical mistake mentioned above, there has been a confusion regarding to the real meaning of Hispanic, which has been used for centuries as a synonym for all that related to the Castilian-speaking world, marginalizing the rest of cultures that developed from the old Hispania.

Historically, this has not affected the Portugueses because instead the modern day Portugal is in what anciently was known as Hispania, it has been a sepparate country from Spain for centuries and has fully developed its national identity. Therefore, while the word Hispanic has always been used to describe all that related to Spain, the word Luso or Lusitano has played the same role for Portugal. But, on the contrary, this situation of Castilian supremacy has really affected those nationalities that, from inside Spain have played a crucial role in the construction of the country and the Hispanophone from the stereotype of Hispanic, when while they were in fact from Spain and the old Hispania, they were not of Castilian heritage or language. This section aims to clarify the lack of information existing on this subject through doing a brief review on the history of Hispania and the peoples that inhabit it nowadays.

History of Hispania

Early history

Main articles: Prehistoric Spain and Prehistoric Portugal

The earliest record of hominids living in Europe has been found in the cave of Atapuerca, in the Spanish province of Burgos, and it has become a key site for world palaeontology. Fossils found there are dated to roughly 1,000,000 years ago.

Modern humans in the form of Cro-Magnons began arriving in the Iberian Peninsula from north of the Pyrenees some 35,000 years ago. The most conspicuous sign of prehistoric human settlements are the famous paintings in the cave of Altamira, in Cantabria, Spain, which were done ca. 15,000 BC and are regarded, along with those in Lascaux, France, as paramount instances of cave art.

Pre-roman times

Main articles: Pre-Roman peoples of the Iberian Peninsula and Pre-Roman Portugal

The earliest urban culture documented is that of the semi-mythical southern city of Tartessos, pre-1,100 BC. The seafaring Phoenicians, Greeks and Carthaginians successively settled along the Mediterranean coast. Around 1,100 BC, Phoenician merchants founded the trading colony of Gadir or Gades (modern day Cádiz) near Tartessos. In the 9th century BC the first Greek colonies, such as Emporion (modern Empúries, in Catalonia), were founded along the Mediterranean coast on the East of the Peninsula, leaving the southern coast to the Phoenicians. The Greeks are responsible for the name Iberia, apparently after the river Iber (Ebro in Castilian). In the 6th century BC the Carthaginians arrived in Iberia while struggling first with the Greeks and shortly after with the Romans for control of the Western Mediterranean. Their most important colony was Carthago Nova (Latin name of modern day Cartagena).

Roman Hispania

Main articles: Conquest of Hispania and Hispania

In 218 BC, the Romans disembarked in Emporion due to the break out of the Second Punic War, which confronted Rome and Carthage, and thus started the Conquest of Hispania, which would end in 17 BC. However, the Roman control of Hispania would last much longer, until the beginnings of the 5th century, when Germanic tribes from the Northern Europe began to invade the Peninsula.

Barbarian invasions and Visigothic Kingdom

Main articles: Migration period, Spain in the Middle Ages, and Visigoths

At the beginnings of the 5th century, the Visigoths, the Suevi (Quadi and Marcomanni) and the Buri, invaded the Peninsula and settled permanently. Others, like the Vandals (Silingi and Hasdingi), were also present, before moving on to North Africa. Many words of Germanic origin entered into the Vulgar Latin that was spoken in Hispania by those times, and were then transmitted to the Romance Languages that originated in the Peninsula during the Dark Ages, such as the Castilian, the Portuguese or the Catalan, and many more entered through other avenues (often French) in the ensuing centuries. The Visigoths established a Christian Kingdom that lasted until the arrival of the moors at the beginnings of the 8th century.

Al-Andalus

Main articles: Umayyad conquest of Hispania and Al-Andalus

The Umayyad conquest of Hispania (711–718) commenced when an army of the Umayyad Caliphate consisting largely of Moors, the Muslim inhabitants of Northwest Africa, invaded Visigothic Christian Hispania (Portugal and Spain) in the year 711. Under the authority of the Umayyad caliph at Damascus, and led by the Berber general Tariq ibn Ziyad, they landed at Gibraltar on April 30 and worked their way northward. Tariq's forces were joined the next year by those of his superior, the Emir Musa ibn Nusair. During the eight-year campaign, most of the Iberian Peninsula was brought under Muslim occupation save for small areas in the northwest (Galicia and Asturias) and largely Basque regions in the Pyrenees. The conquered territory, under the Arabic name al-Andalus, became part of the expanding Umayyad empire. The invaders subsequently moved northeast across the Pyrenees, but were defeated by the Frank Charles Martel at the Battle of Tours in 732. Muslim control of French territory was intermittent and ended in 975. Meanwhile, the Christian Reconquista, or reconquest, of the Iberian Peninsula began with Pelayo of Asturias' victory at the Battle of Covadonga in 722.

Reconquista and the New World

Main articles: Reconquista, Spanish colonization of the Americas, and Spanish Empire

The Reconquista (English: Reconquest) was the seven and a half century long process by which the Christian kingdoms of northern Hispania (modern Portugal and Spain) conquered the Iberian peninsula from the Muslim and Moorish states of Al-Ándalus. The Umayyad conquest of Hispania from the Visigoths occurred during the early 8th century, and the Reconquista is commonly considered to have begun almost immediately in 718 when Pelayo, a noble Visigoth who has been elected king, defeats the Muslim army in Alcama.

In 1236 the last Muslim stronghold of Granada under Mohammed ibn Alhamar was subjugated by Ferdinand III of Castile, and Granada became a vassal state of the Christian kingdom for the next 250 years. On January 2 1492, the last Muslim ruler, Abu 'abd Allah Muhammad XII (also known as Boabdil of Granada), surrendered to Ferdinand and Isabella, the Catholic Monarchs. This resulted in the creation of united Roman Catholic nation encompassing most of modern day Spain. Navarre remained separate until 1512.

The Portuguese Reconquista culminated in 1249 with the subjugation of Algarve by Afonso III.

In 1492, the same year that Boabdil of Granada surrendered to the Catholic Monarchs, [Christopher Columbus]] discovered the Americas, inaugurating an age of Spanish conquest and colonization of the continent, a process that would last for centuris and from which the new Hispanics would appear.

Modern day peoples of Hispania

Main article: Nationalities in Spain

Historically, the modern country of Spain was formed by the accretion of several independent Iberian realms through dynastic inheritance, conquest and the will of the local elites. These realms had their own personalities and borders. Portugal, an independent country since the 12th century, was the only of the Iberian realms not to be absorved to the the Spanish kingdom.

Since the reign of the Catholic Monarchs, there has been a process of uniformization by the central authorities. Simultaneously, this uniformization has been repelled by some of the local elites that formed their own national consciences based on traditional, historical, linguistical and cultural traits.

The dynamics between centralization and decentralization is one of the forces in the history of the latest centuries. Since the beginning of the transition to democracy in Spain, after the Francisco Franco dictatorship, there have been many movements towards more autonomy in certain regions of the country in order to achieve full independence in some cases and to get their own autonomous community in others.

It is a fact that it does not exist something so straightforward as just one Spanish nationality for the whole country nowadays. Many Spanish citizens feel no conflict in having several national identities at the same time.

This section aims to describe the different peoples that exist nowadays in Spain and that have systematically and historically been forgotten by the Castilian-speaking Spain, to the detriment of the cultural richness of the country and the term Hispanic, but that have still played a crucial role in the composition of the Hispanophone, though at expenses, in many cases, of their national identity.

Basques

The land

Main article: Basque Country (historical territory)

The Territory of the Basque Country (Basque: Euskal Herria) is a cultural region in the western Pyrenees that spans the border between France and Spain, extending down to the coast of the Bay of Biscay. It corresponds more or less with the homeland of the Basque people and language. In Spain, the Basque Country is an autonomous community with the status of historical region, the capital of which is Vitoria-Gasteiz (Vitoria is the Castilian name, while Gasteiz is Basque). It is part of the larger Basque speaking lands mentioned above.

The people

Main article: Basque people

The Basques (Basque: Euskaldunak) are the indigenous people who inhabit the Basque Country. The name Basque derives from Medieval French and ultimately from the ancient tribe of the Vascones, described by Strabo as living south of the western Pyrenees and north of the Ebro River, in modern day Navarre and northern Aragon. This tribal name, of unknown etymology, was extended in late Antiquity and the early Middle Ages to cover all Basque-speaking people on either side of the Pyrenees.

The language

Main article: Basque people

The Basque language is spoken by about 1,000,000 people along the Territory of the Basque Country. It is an isolate language, which means that it is different to any other known language, and it has been spoken by the inhabitants of the region for thousands of years.

Castilians

The land

Main article: Castile (historical region)

Castile is a historical region of Spain that comprises the territories of the old Crown of Castile (the conjunction of the Kingdom of Castile and the Kingdom of León) at the north, and the new territories that were conquered to the Moors during the Reconquista at the south. Castile's name means land or region of castles, in reference to the castles built in the area to consolidate the Christian Reconquista from the Moors.

The people

Main article: Castilian people

The Castilian people are the inhabitants of the historical region of Castile. Through the Reconquista, they spreaded outside historical region of Castile all over the Iberian Peninsula, especially in the southern Spanish regions of Extremadura, Andalusia, Murcia and the Canary Islands. After this, since the 15th century, through the Spanish conquest of the Americas, they also spreaded over the New World, bringing with them not only their language but also their culture, traditions and idiosyncracy.

The language

Main article: Castilian language

The Castilian language is the native language of the Castilians. It originated in the Cordillera Cantábrica, in northern Spain, during the 8th and 9th centuries AD. After the Reconquista, the Castilian was brought to the south and almost entirely replaced the languages that were spoken in the Moorish zone, such as the Arabic and the Mozárabe. However, in this process the Castilian also acquired strong influences from these languages that gradually absorved. During the Spanish conquest of the Americas, the Castilian was the dominant language in Spain, and therefore was the language that was transmitted to the New World by the Conquistadores. Due to this gradual process, the Hispanophone was created, and nowadays the Castilian is spoken by about 44,000,000 people in Spain and 412,000,000 people in the rest of the World.

Catalans

In general Catalans do not want to be identified as Hispanic, even though the vast majoroty live in modern Spain (some in south France and Italy). The vast majority identify themselves as white and Europeans in the US census. The main reason why they do not identify themselves as Hispanic is the fact that they do not have Spanish as mother tongue, but Catalan. They were also banned from migrating to America by the Spanish monarchy until the end of the 18th century.

The land

Main articles: Principality of Catalonia, Land of Valencia, Balearic Islands, and L'Alguer

The homeland of the Catalans is Catalonia, or the Principality of Catalonia (Catalan: Catalunya, or Principat de Catalunya), which is a historical region in southern Europe, embracing a territory situated in the north-east of Spain and an adjoining portion of southern France. It is divided between the autonomous communities of Catalonia and Aragon (in an borderland called La Franja) in Spain, and the Northern Catalonia in France (due to the Treaty of the Pyrenees of 1659). In addition, there are other adjacent and nearby Mediterranean areas which are home to the Catalans. These areas include: Andorra, a small historical country in the Pyrenees, the Land of Valencia and the Balearic Islands in Spain as a result of the Reconquista and the city of L'Alguer in the Italian island of Sardinia due to the Catalan rule of the Mediterranean during the ages of the Kingdom of Aragon. All these territories make up what is known as the Catalan Countries.

The people

Main article: Catalan people

The Catalans are an ethnic group or nation native from the former Principality of Catalonia, but that are now extended among all the Catalan Countries.

The language

Main article: Catalan language

The Catalan is a Romance language, the national language of Andorra, and a co-official language in the autonomous communities of Catalonia, the Land of Valencia (under the name of Valencian) and the Balearic Islands in Spain, and in the city of L'Alguer in the Italian island of Sardinia. It is also spoken, although with no official recognition, in the autonomous communities of Aragon (in La Franja) and Murcia (in El Carxe) in Spain, and in the Northern Catalonia, a historical region in the southern France, which is more or less equivalent to the French Région of the Pyrénées-Orientales. It is spoken by about 10 million people across the Catalan Countries.

The case of the Val d'Aran

The Valley of Aran (Aranese: Val d'Aran, Catalan: Vall d'Aran) is a small shire (620.47 km²) in the northwestern part of Catalonia. It is the source of the Garonne, and one of the highest valleys of the Pyrenees. Most of the valley constitutes the only Catalan territory on the north face of the Pyrenees, hence the only part of Catalonia whose waters drain into the Atlantic Ocean. The region is characterized by an Atlantic climate, due to its peculiar orientation, which is different from other valleys in the area.

The Valley of Aran has 7,130 inhabitants (as of 1996), which constitute a separate group from the Catalans. About 5,000 of them speak the Aranese language (aranés in Occitan/Gascon/Aranese), a variety of the Pyrenean Gascon (a dialect of the Occitan language). The Aranese is one of the three co-official languages of the Valley of Aran, along with the Catalan and the Castilian.

Galicians

The land

Main article: Galiza

The people

Main article: Galician people

The language

Main article: Galician language

Hispanics outside of Spain

Hispanics in the United States

"Hispanic" as a U.S. ethnic label

As used in the United States, Hispanic is one of several terms of ethnicity employed to categorize any person, of any racial background, of any country and of any religion who has at least one ancestor from the people of Spain or Spanish-speaking Latin America, whether or not the person has Spanish ancestry. It is therefore not a racial term, although as used in the United States it often carries racial connotations. The term was first adopted in the United States by the administration of Richard Nixon and has since been used as a broad form of classification in the U.S. census, local and federal employment, mass media, and business market research.

In Spain, Spanish-speaking Latin America and most countries outside the United States, Hispanic/Hispano is not commonly employed as a term for ethnicity; however, this can be implied depending on the context. When used in this manner, in Spanish-speaking Latin America an Hispano is commonly regarded to be any person whose ancestry stems, in whole or in part, from the people of Spain; to the contrast of the non-Hispanic (ie. non-Spanish descended) population. In this sense, when speaking of a nation's Hispanic population, those who are implied are Spaniards, criollos, mestizos, and mulattos, to the exclusion of Amerindians, unmixed descendants of black African slaves or other peoples from later migrations without any Spanish lineage who today reside in any of the Hispanic nations, regardless of whether they now use Spanish as their first and only language. In contrast, a non-Spanish-speaking Mayan Amerindian from Mexico, for example, who lives in the U.S. would be considered Hispanic as the term is officially defined and commonly understood there.

North Americans often confuse the words and concepts of "Hispanic" and "mestizo" (a mestizo is someone who is partly of Native American descent and partly of European descent), by assuming that all Latin Americans share the appearance of mestizos, who are generally brown- or dark-skinned with black hair and brown or black eyes. There are, however, Hispanics of every racial type and background: fair-skinned, blue/green-eyed, blond/red-haired; There are Hispanics of the Native American race, black Hispanics, Arab Hispanics, and Asian Hispanics. North Americans also confuse the word "Hispanic" with "Spanish", by calling Latinos "Spanish"; but "Spanish" properly refers only to people from Spain, regardless of race.

In the United States, some people consider "Hispanic" to be too general as a label, while others consider it offensive, often preferring to use the term "Latino", which is viewed as a self-chosen label. The preference of "Latino" over "Hispanic" is partly because it more clearly indicates that those it is referring to are the people from Latin America (including Brazil) and not Spain. Different labels prevail in different regions, as well. In places like Arizona and California, the Chicanos are proud of their personal association and their participation in the agricultural movement of the 1960s with César Chávez, that brought attention to the needs of the farm workers. Usually younger Hispanics will not refer to themselves as such, however.

It is important to remember that the majority of "Hispanics" do not identify as "Hispanic" or "Latino," but with their national origin, e.g. Mexican-American. And, it is debatable whether Latino is any more self-chosen than Hispanic. The label, Hispanic, was the result of efforts by a Hispanic New Mexican senator, Montoya, who wanted a label that could be used to quantify the Spanish-speaking population for the US Census. The label Hispanic was chosen in part because in New Mexico, well-to-do people of Spanish descent such as Montoya referred to themselves as Hispanos, and the transliteration of Hispano is Hispanic. Thus, while Latino is more popular in some urban areas, Hispanic is more popular in some parts of the southwest.

Previously Hispanics were commonly referred to as "Spanish-Americans", "Spanish-speaking Americans", and "Spanish-surnamed Americans". These terms, however, proved even more misleading or inaccurate since:

• Most U.S. Hispanics were not born in Spain, nor were most born to recent Spanish nationals;
• Although most U.S. Hispanics speak Spanish, not all do, and though most Spanish-speaking people are Hispanic, not all are (e.g., many U.S. Hispanics by the fourth generation no longer speak Spanish, while there are some non-Hispanics of the Southwestern United States that may be fluent in the language), and;
• Although most Hispanics have a Spanish surname, not all do, and while most Spanish-surnamed people are Hispanic, not all are (e.g., there are tens of millions of Spanish-surnamed Filipinos, but very few, only about 3.6%, would qualify as Hispanic by ancestry. In addition, there are also many Guamanians, Marshall Islanders, and Northern Marianians with Spanish surnames in US.).
• A number of Louisiana Creole and Cajun people have Spanish ancestry, and Hispanic surnames, yet they may identify more strongly with the traditional Francophone cultures of the region.
• Many Catalans and Basques refuse to identify themselves as Hispanic in the US census, especially those who have Catalan and Basque as mother tongues.
• The term "Spanish" to denote a person from or of descent from a Latin American country is incorrect, as "Spanish" means a person who is from Spain.

The term "Spanish American", however, is still currently in use by many of those who, while not of recent descent from a Spanish national, have continued to practice and view Spanish culture and identity as dominant in their lives. In this usage it emphasized ancestral history and identity, and is not meant to indicate citizenship of the 'old country'.

Demographics

Hispanic Americans

Regions with significant populations
Southwestern United States, Florida, New York City, Chicago
Languages
Spanish, American English
Religion
Roman Catholicism, Protestantism
Related ethnic groups
Native Americans, Spaniards

Hispanics as a percentage of the U.S population (2000)

Hispanics constitute the largest minority group, by place of origin, in the United States. Blacks/African Americans are the nation's largest minority by race, as Hispanic is not a race: a Hispanic person may be of any race (white, black, Asian, Amerindian, mixed). As of July 1, 2004, Hispanics accounted for 14.1% of the population, around 41.3 million people. The Hispanic growth rate over the July 1, 2003 to July 1, 2004 period was 3.6% - higher than any other ethnic group in the United States, and in fact more than three times the rate of the nation's total population (at 1.0%). The projected Hispanic population of the United States for July 1, 2050, is of 102.6 million people. According to this projection, Hispanics will constitute 24% of the nation’s total population on that date. These projections, however, are based on the problematic assumption that the children of the people who identify today as Latino or Hispanic will necessarily identify as Latino or Hispanic fifty years from now. Given that Hispanic is an ethnic identifier in the US Census, there is reason to believe that it will decrease in popularity as some Hispanics assimilate and become unhyphenated Americans.

Of the nation's total Hispanic population, 49% lives in California or Texas. Not counting Puerto Rico — which is a territorial possession of the United States — New Mexico is the state with the highest proportion of Hispanics, where 43% is of Hispanic origin. The proportion of Hispanics in the states of California and Texas exceeds 35% each.

The Hispanic population of Los Angeles County, California - numbering over 4.6 million - is the largest of any county in the nation. Meanwhile, for the 2000 to 2004 period, Lee County, Florida had the fastest growth rate in Hispanic population of any other county in the United States.

Some 64% of the nation's Hispanic population are of Mexican or Mexican-American ancestry. Another approximately 10% are of Puerto Rican background, with about 3% each of Cuban, Salvadoran and Dominican origins. The remainder are of other Central American, South American or other Hispanic or Latino origins.

The overwhelming majority of Hispanics of Mexican ancestry are concentrated in the Southwestern United States; California, Texas, Arizona, Nevada and New Mexico. The majority of the Hispanic population in the Southeastern United States, concentrated in southeastern Florida, are of Cuban origin. The Hispanic population in the Northeastern United States, concentrated in New York and New Jersey, is composed mostly of Puerto Ricans, however, the Dominican population has risen considerably in the last decade, especially in proportion to that region's Hispanic population. The remainder of other Hispanics, composed of various Central American and South American origins, may be found throughout the country, though South Americans tend to concentrate on the East Coast of the United States (joining Puerto Ricans, Dominicans, and Cubans) and Central Americans on the West Coast of the United States (joining Mexicans/Mexican Americans).

There are few recent immigrants directly from Spain. In the 2000 Census, of the 2.5 million Americans of Spanish ancestry, 299,948 specifically reported their ancestry as Spaniard, which was a significant decrease from the 1990 Census, where those who reported "Spaniard" numbered 519,136. The Census Bureau attributes the decrease to the trend among increasing numbers of Hispanics of all national groups, including Spaniards, of identifying themselves with general labels such as "Hispanic" rather than a specific national origin.

Several long-established Hispanic communities within the present-day territory of the United States do clearly fall within a traditional national origin category. One example is the Hispano population of northern New Mexico and southern Colorado. These peoples trace their ancestry to Spanish settlers who arrived in the region during the late 15th century through the 17th century. In addition, several Tejanos descend from peninsulares and criollos of New Spain. People from these backgrounds often self-identify as "Hispano," "Spanish," or "Hispanic;" but generally not as "Mexican" or "Mexican-American." Likewise, southern Louisiana is home to communities of people of Canary Islands descent, known as Isleños, in addition to other people of Spanish creole ancestry.

History

Main article: History of Hispanic people in the United States

A continuous Hispanic presence in the territory of the United States has existed since the 16th century, earlier than any other group after the Native Americans. Spaniards pioneered the present-day United States. The first confirmed European landing in the continental US was by Juan Ponce de León, who landed in 1513 at a lush shore he christened La Florida. Within three decades of Ponce de León's landing, the Spanish became the first Europeans to reach the Appalachian Mountains, the Mississippi River, the Grand Canyon and the Great Plains. Spanish ships sailed along the East Coast, penetrating to present-day Bangor, Maine, and up the Pacific Coast as far as Oregon. From 1528 to 1536, four castaways from a Spanish expedition, including a "black Moor", journeyed all the way from Florida to the Gulf of California, 267 years before the Lewis and Clark Expedition.

An anachronous map showing areas of the United States and other territories pertaining to the Hispanic world over a period exceeding 400 years. For detailed key click on map.

   The Spanish colonial empire at its territorial height in 1790.

   Regions of influence (explored/claimed but never controlled or vice versa) or short-lived / disputed colonies.

   Portuguese possessions ruled jointly under the Spanish sovereign, 1580–1640.

   Territories lost at, or prior to, the 1714 Peace of Utrecht.

   Spanish Morocco and Spanish West Africa, 1884–1975.

In 1540 Hernando de Soto undertook an extensive exploration of the present US, and in the same year Francisco Vázquez de Coronado led 2,000 Spaniards and Mexican Indians across today's Arizona-Mexico border and traveled as far as central Kansas, close to the exact geographic center of what is now the continental United States. Other Spanish explorers of the US make up a long list that includes, among others: Lucas Vásquez de Ayllón, Pánfilo de Narváez, Sebastián Vizcaíno, Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo, Gaspar de Portolà, Pedro Menéndez de Avilés, Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca, Tristán de Luna y Arellano and Juan de Oñate. In all, Spaniards probed half of today's lower 48 states before the first English colonization attempt at Roanoke Island in 1585.

The Spanish created the first permanent European settlement in the continental United States, at St. Augustine, Florida, in 1565. Santa Fe, New Mexico also predates Jamestown, Virginia (founded in 1607) and Plymouth Colony (of Mayflower and Pilgrims fame, founded in 1620). Later came Spanish settlements in San Antonio, Tucson, San Diego, Los Angeles and San Francisco, to name just a few. The Spanish even established a Jesuit mission in Virginia's Chesapeake Bay 37 years before the founding of Jamestown.

Two iconic American stories have Spanish antecedents, too. Almost 80 years before John Smith's alleged rescue by Pocahontas, a man by the name of Juan Ortiz told of his remarkably similar rescue from execution by an Indian girl. Spaniards also held a thanksgiving — 56 years before the famous Pilgrims festival — when they feasted near St. Augustine with Florida Indians, probably on stewed pork and garbanzo beans. As late as 1783, at the end of the American Revolutionary War, Spain held claim to roughly half of today's continental United States; in 1775, Spanish ships even reached Alaska. From 1819 to 1848, the United States and its army increased the nation's area by roughly a third at Spanish and Mexican expense, including three of today's four most populous states: California, Texas and Florida. Hispanics became the first American citizens in the newly acquired Southwest territory and remained a majority in several states until the 20th century. (See also New Spain.)

Hispanic soldiers have fought in all the wars of the United States, and have earned the highest distinction of any US ethnic group.([3], [4], [5], [6], List of Hispanic Medal of Honor recipients)

Political trends

Main article: Hispanic and Latino politics in the United States

President Clinton's Latino Appointees in 1998

Hispanics differ on their political views. For example, many Cubans and Colombians tend to favor conservative political ideologies and support the Republicans, while Mexicans, Puerto Ricans, and Dominicans lean more towards the Democrats; however, because the latter groups are far more numerous (Mexicans alone are nearly 60% of Hispanics), the Democratic Party is considered to be in a far stronger position among Hispanics overall.

In the past two national election cycles the Presidency of George W. Bush has had a significant impact on the political leanings of Hispanic Americans. As a former Governor of Texas, President Bush has regarded the growing Hispanic community as a potential source of growth for the conservative and/or Republican movement--particularly because of the Catholic and more conservative social values that many Hispanic Americans share with the conservative element of the American political system. The U.S. Census indicates that the Hispanic population of the United States is the fastest growing minority in the country, and will hold considerable political clout within the next 50 years.

Bush has made some gains for the Republican Party among Hispanics. For example, in the 1996 presidential election, 72% of Hispanics backed President Clinton, but in 2000, that Democratic total fell to 62%, and down further to 58% in 2004, with Democrat John Kerry winning Hispanics 58-40 over Bush.

It also breaks down by state. Hispanics in the West, especially in California, were much stronger for the Democratic Party than in Texas and Florida. California Latinos voted 63-32 for John Kerry in 2004, and both Arizona and New Mexico Latinos by a smaller 56-43 margin, but Texas Latinos were split nearly evenly, and Florida Latinos (mostly being Cuban American) actually backed President Bush by a 54-45 margin.

In the 2006 midterm election, however, due to the heated debate of illegal immigration in addition to Iraq and the general misfortune of the Republican Party, Latinos went as strongly Democratic as they have since the Clinton years. Exit poll showed Latinos voting for Democrats by a lopsided 69-30 margin, with Florida Latinos for the first time split evenly. The runoff election in Texas' 23rd congressional district was seen as a bellwether of Latino politics, and Democrat Ciro Rodriguez's unexpected (and unexpectedly decisive) defeat of Republican incumbent Henry Bonilla was seen as proof of a left lurch among Latino voters, as heavily Latino counties overwhelmingly backed Rodriguez, and heavily Anglo counties overwhelmingly backed Bonilla.

Some political organizations associated with Hispanic Americans are LULAC, the United Farm Workers, the Cuban American National Foundation, and the National Institute for Latino Policy.

Cultural trends

Main article: Hispanic culture

Popular culture varies widely from one Hispanic community to another, but despite this several features tend to unite Hispanics from diverse backgrounds. Many Hispanics, including U.S.-born second and third generation Mexican-Americans, use the English language frequently and Spanish language to varying degrees. The most usual pattern is monolingual Spanish usage among new migrants or older foreign born Hispanics (65% are Mexican), complete bilingualism among long settled immigrants and their children, and the use of English and/or Spanglish and colloquial Spanish within long established Hispanic communities by the third generation and beyond. In some families the children and grandchildren of immigrants speak mostly English with some Spanish words and phrases thrown in. More than half of U.S. Hispanics are bilingual in English and Spanish. Another one quarter, approximately, speak Spanish only, and the rest (perhaps one in seven Hispanics) speak English only. Overall, about three-fourths of the Hispanic population speaks English, most of them very well. This is especially due to the fact that 60% of Hispanics are US-born.[7]

Media

File:Univisionlogo.gif

Univision, the United States' largest Spanish-language television network

The United States is home to thousands of Spanish language media outlets ranging in size from giant commercial broadcasting networks and major Hispanic-oriented periodicals with circulations numbering in the millions, to low-power AM radio stations with listeners numbering in the hundreds. There are hundreds of online media outlets targeting US Hispanic audiences, some of which are online versions of their printed counterparts and others online exclusively.

In the aspect of public television, otherwise known as non-commercial television, there are organizations that advocate a greater degree of programming from a Hispanic-American perspective in public television. The National Hispanic Media Coalition (NHMC) has been a leader since its founding in 1986 in advocating for Latino inclusion in television, radio and film. In 1999, along with a board coalition of national Latino organizations, the NHMC led a "brownout" of the national television networks after discovering that there were no Latinos in any of their new shows that year. This resulted in the signing of historic diversity agreements with ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC that have increased the hiring of Latino talent and other staff in all of the networks since then. Also prominent in this area is Latino Public Broadcasting which funds programs of educational and cultural significance to Hispanic-Americans. These LPB-funded projects are distributed to various public television stations throughout the United States.

Noteworthy Spanish-language media outlets include:

• Univision and Telemundo, respectively the first and second largest Spanish-language television networks in the United States, each with affiliates in nearly every major U.S. market, including numerous affiliates internationally.
• El Nuevo Herald, a Spanish-language daily newspaper serving the greater Miami, Florida market.
• Vida Latina, a Spanish-language entertainment magazine distributed throughout the Southern United States.

Racial diversity

The racial diversity to be found among Hispanics stems from the fact that Hispanic America has always been, since 1492, an area of immigration until late in the 20th century, when the region has increasingly become an area of emigration. Even outside the broad US definition of Hispanic, the term encompasses a very racially diverse population. While in the United States, Hispanics are often treated as a group apart from whites, blacks or other races, they actually include people who may identify with any or all of those racial groups.

In the mass media as well as popular culture, "Hispanic" is often incorrectly used to describe a subject's race or physical appearance. In general, Hispanics are assumed to have traits such as dark hair and eyes, and tan or brown skin, similar to that of the Roma People. Many others are viewed as physically intermediate between whites, blacks and/or Amerindians.

Hispanics with mostly Caucasoid or Negroid features may not be recognized as such in spite of the ethnic and racial diversity of most Latin American populations. Hispanics who do not look like the stereotypical Hispanic may have their ethnic status questioned or even challenged by others. Actors Cameron Diaz and Alfonso Ribeiro, for example, are both Hispanic, even though they may be presumed not to be so because they do not fit the stereotype, the former being white and the latter predominantly black.

A great proportion of Hispanics identify as mestizo (mixed European and Amerindian), regardless of national origin. This is largely because most Hispanics have their origins in majority mestizo Latin American countries. Many individuals identified as "Hispanics" (based on the U.S. definition) are unmixed Native American ancestry, many of those from Bolivia, Guatemala, Peru—where they constitute a majority or plurality of the population—and a considerable proportion from Mexico.

Many Hispanics born in or with descent from the Dominican Republic, Venezuela and Colombia may be of African descent, be it mulatto (mixed European and black African), zambo (mixed Amerindian and black African), triracial (specifically European, black African, and Amerindian) or unmixed black African. Puerto Rico's racial makeup is as follows: white (mostly Spanish origin) 80.5%, black 8%, Amerindian 0.4%, Asian 0.2%, mixed and other 10.9%. [[8]] Also, many Hispanics may be of unmixed European ancestry. Besides Spaniards of pure Europen stock, many people from the countries of Argentina, Chile, Cuba, Uruguay, and many regions in Mexico, claim un-mixed European descent. In this case, these people, though labelled "Hispanic" by the U.S. definition, actually trace their ancestries to different European countries other than Spain. Alternate European ancestries in these countries include German, Irish, French, Polish, Welsh, and many others. Nevertheless, in most cases, many do possess some Spanish ancestry, as the waves of European immigrants to these two countries tended to quickly assimilate, intermarrying with the country's local population which initially was composed primarily of Spanish-descended criollos, mestizos, and according to census records of the period, in the region of Buenos Aires itself, up to 30% Afro-Argentines which included mulattos. Nevertheless the population before the beginning of the immigration waves was only 400,000 persons in Argentina and even less in Uruguay. Argentines and Uruguayans of full or partial Italian ancestry alone account for at least one third of their countries' populations, with up to half of all Argentines today believed to be eligible for Italian passports. By the 1910s, half of Buenos Aires population was foreign-born. With immigration , the total population of Argentina rose from 4 million in 1895 to 7.9 million in 1914, and to 15.8 million in 1947; during this time the country was settled by 1.5 million Italians and 1.4 million Spaniards, as well as Poles, Russians, French, Germans, Austrians and Swiss, Portuguese, Ukrainians, Yugoslavians, Czechs, Irish, Dutch, Scandinavians, etc. Minority groups consist of Native Americans and Asians in Argentina, blacks in Uruguay and people of mixed ancestries. Also, minority groups constitute about 5% of the Argentinian population and 10% of the Uruguayan population.

In the case of Argentina illegal immigration has been a relatively important population factor in recent demographics. Most illegal immigrants come from Bolivia and Paraguay, countries which border Argentina to the north. Smaller numbers arrive from Peru, Ecuador, Romania, and the People's Republic of China. The number of stowaways inside incoming ships from West Africa has increased in recent times. Estimates suggest that over one million people reside in Argentina illegally. Uruguay has not important problems with immigration these days.

Also, 81% of the Puerto Rican and 37% of the Cuban populations are white, of mostly Spanish origin.

Likewise, a percentage of Hispanics as defined by the U.S. government trace their ancestries to the Middle East, for example Colombians, Ecuadorians, and Mexicans of Lebanese ancestry. Many Hispanics are of East Asian ancestry, as in the case of Mexicans, Puerto Ricans, Argentinians, and Panamanians of Chinese ancestry or Peruvians of Japanese ancestry. If they were to migrate to the United States, the definition most frequently advocated would consider them Hispanic. See also: Asian Latin American.

On occasion the demographics of certain nations may not mirror the demographics of their communities in the United States. This is the case with Cuban Americans. Most Cuban Americans are of relatively unmixed Spanish ancestry, despite Cuba being a mulatto/black majority country, according to most estimates. The racial disparity between Cubans on the U.S. mainland and those on the island is caused largely by the fact that most of the emigrants who fled in the early days of communist Cuba belong to the upper and middle classes, classes which have traditionally been predominantly white in that country as in other parts of Latin America.

The presence of these mentioned races and race-mixes are not country-specific, since they can be found in every Latin American country, whether as larger of smaller proportions of their respective populations. Even in Spain, the European motherland of Hispanicity, there is a slowly growing population of mestizos and mulattos due to the reversal of the historic Old World-to-New World migration pattern.

Of the over 35 million Hispanics counted in the Federal 2000 Census, 47.9% identified as white (termed "white Hispanic" by the Census Bureau); 42.2% "Some other race"; 6.3% Two or more races; 2% Black or African American; 1.2% American Indian and Alaska Native; 0.3% Asian; and 0.1% Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander . Note that even among those Hispanics who reported one race only, most would also possess at least some ancestral lineage from one or more other races, despite the fact that only 6.3% reported as such. (This is also applicable to the Non-Hispanics counted in the U.S. Census, although maybe in less proportion.)

A further contribution that contradicts the popular conception of Hispanic as a race, and especially as a race genetically different from white or at least Anglo-Saxons, lies in the recent discoveries by population genetics. A research team at University of Oxford has found that the majority of Britons share a common genetic heritage with the Iberians who may have come to Britain as late as 6,000/7,000 years ago. The proportion of the native population that share this link with Iberia is 73 per cent in Scotland, 64 percent in England and 83 per cent in Wales. In fact, Dr. Bryan Sykes has stated that the genetic fingerprint of the populations tested in the British Isles and Spain is almost identical and Stephen Oppenheimer comes to similar conclusions. Like most of their genetic relatives in Iberia the British adopted Celtic culture and language from south France during the Bronze age. Under the Roman Empire a Romano-British culture developed, which was in turn superseded by the Germanic Anglo-Saxon culture and language in what became England during the Migration Period. Iberia, though, maintained its Roman culture and language. However, because of their common genetic heritage, native Britons and their American descendants still share many of the same genetic markers with Spaniards and many Hispanics.

Religious diversity

With regard to religious affiliation among Hispanics, Christianity — specifically Roman Catholicism — is usually the first religious tradition that springs to mind. Indeed, the Spaniards took the Roman Catholic faith to Latin America, and Roman Catholicism continues to be the overwhelmingly predominant, but not the only, religious denomination amongst most Hispanics. A small number of Hispanics are also Protestant.

There are also Hispanic Jews, of which most are the descendants of Ashkenazi Jews who migrated from Europe (German Jews, Russian Jews, Polish Jews, etc.) to Latin America, particularly Argentina (Argentina is host to the largest Jewish population in the Western Hemisphere outside of the United States) in the 19th century and during and following World War II. Some Hispanic Jews may also originate from the small communities of reconverted descendants of anusim — those whose Spanish and Portuguese Sephardi Jewish ancestors long ago hid their Jewish ancestry and beliefs in fear of persecution by the Spanish Inquisition and Portuguese Inquisition in the Iberian peninsula and Latin America. There are also the now Catholic-professing descendants of marranos and the Hispano crypto-Jews believed to exist in the once Spanish-held Southwestern United States and scattered through Latin America. Additionally, there are Sephardic Jews who are descendants of those Jews who fled Spain to Turkey, Syria, and North Africa, some of who have now migrated to Latin America, holding on to some Spanish/Sephardic customs, such as the Ladino language. (See also History of the Jews in Latin America and List of Latin American Jews.)

Among the Hispanic Catholics, most communities celebrate their homeland's patron saint, dedicating a day for this purpose with festivals and religious services. Some Hispanics syncretize Roman Catholicism and African or Native American rituals and beliefs. Such is the case of Santería, popular with Cuban Americans and which combines old African beliefs in the form of Roman Catholic saints and rituals; or Guadalupism (the devotion towards Our Lady of Guadalupe) among Mexican American Roman Catholics. This latter hybridizes Catholic rites for the Virgin Mary with those venerating the Aztec goddess Tonantzin (earth goddess, mother of the gods and protector of humanity) and has all her attributes also endowed to the Lady of Guadalupe, whose Catholic shrine stands on the same sacred Aztec site that had previously been dedicated to Tonatzín, on the hill of Tepeyac in Mexico.

While a tiny minority, there is number of Hispanic Muslims in Latin America and the US.

In the United States some 70% of U.S. Hispanics report themselves Catholic, and 23% Protestant, with 6% having no affiliation. A minority among the Roman Catholics, about one in five, are charismatics. Among the Protestant, 85% are "Born-again Christians" and belong to Evangelical or Pentecostal churches. Among the smallest groups, less than 1%, are U.S. Hispanic Jews and U.S. Hispanic Muslims. Most U.S. Hispanic Muslims are recent converts.

Music

Main articles: Music of Spain and Latin American music

See also: Music of Portugal

Folk and popular dance and music also varies greatly among Hispanics. For instance, the music from Spain is a lot different from the Hispanic American, although there is a high grade of exchange between both continents. In addition, due to the high national development of the diverse identities of Spain, there is a lot of music in the different languages the Peninsula (Catalan and Basque, mainly). See, for instance, Music of Catalonia or Rock català.

On the other side, Latin America is home to a wide variety of music, instead it's usual to speak about "Latin" music as a single genre. Hispanic Caribbean music tends to favor complex polyrhythms of African origin. Mexican music shows combined influences of mostly Spanish and Native American origin, while traditional Northern Mexican music — norteño and banda — is more influenced by country-and-western music and the polka, brought by Central European settlers to Mexico. The music of Mexican Americans — such as tejano music — has influences in rock and jazz music in addition to traditional Mexican music. Meanwhile, native Andean sounds and melodies are the backbone of Peruvian and Bolivian music, but also play a significant role in the popular music of most South American countries and are heavily incorporated into the folk music of Ecuador and Chile and the tunes of Colombia, and again in Chile where they play a fundamental role in the form of the greatly followed nueva canción. In US communities of immigrants from these countries it is common to hear these styles. Latin pop, Rock en Español, Latin hip-hop and Reggaeton styles tend to appeal to the broader Hispanic population, and varieties of Cuban music are popular with many Hispanics of all backgrounds.

Literature

There is a huge variety of literature from US Hispanics and the Hispanic countries.

Cuisine

"Hispanic cuisine" as the term is applied in the Western Hemisphere, is a misnomer. The vast majority of foods in "Latin America" are of Native American origins, and not of Spain. The cuisine of Spain often mirrors the cuisines of its Mediterranean neighbors, and in addition to the abundance of olives, olive oil, tomatoes, seafood and meats, foreign influences, such as the use of saffron, were introduced during the spice trade.

Traditional Mexican, Salvadoran, Cuban, Puerto Rican, Spanish, Argentine, and Peruvian cooking, for example, all vary greatly from each other, and take on new forms in the United States. While Mexican cuisine is the most familiar variety of "Hispanic food" in most of the United States, it is not representative of the cuisine of most other Hispanic peoples, in that is is heavily representative of indigenous ("Indian") foods.

The cuisines of Mexico, El Salvador and other Central American countries are still heavily dependent and greatly indebted to staples of the cuisine and diet of the Aztec and Maya, including maize, beans, chile peppers. After 1492 these tradition came to be melded with those from Spain to form the modern cuisines of that region. Among the more popular and well known dishes of this region are tacos, enchiladas, tamales, rice and beans, horchata, and pupusa.

Cuban and Puerto Rican cuisines, on the other hand, tend to use a lot of pork and can be heavily dependent on starchy root vegetables, plantain and rice, and the most prominent incluences on their Spanish culinary traditions are those which were introduced by African slaves, and to a lesser degree, French influence from Haiti and later Chinese immigrants. Hot, spicy foods are practically unknown in traditional Spanish-Caribbean dishes.

The Argentine diet is heavily influenced by Argentina's position as one of the world's largest beef and wine producers. Grilled meats are a staple of most meals as are pastas, potatoes, rice, and a variety of vegetables (Argentina is a huge exporter of agricultural products). As one of the world's largest producers, wine is as much a staple drink to Argentines as beer is to Germans.

In Ecuador and Peru, potato dishes are typical since the potato is originally from this region. Beef and chicken are common sources of meat as is the cuy, a South American relative of the guinea pig. Given the coastal location, both countries have extensive fishing fleets, which provide a wealth of seafood options, including the signature South American dish, ceviche. Rice also plays an important role in Peruvian cuisine.

This diversity in staples and cuisine is also evident in the differing regional cuisines within the national borders of the individual countries. Most groceries in heavily Hispanic areas carry a wide array of specialty Latin American products, in addition to the widely available brands of tortillas and Mexican style salsa.

Symbols

Flag

Flag of Hispanic Heritage. Motto: Justicia, Paz, Unión y Fraternidad ("Justice, Peace, Union and Fraternity").

While relatively unknown, there is a flag representing the countries of Hispanic America, its people, history and shared cultural legacy.

It was created in October of 1933 by Ángel Camblor, captain of the Uruguayan army. It was adopted by all the states of Latin America during La Conferencia Panamericana (The Pan-American Conference) held that same year in Montevideo, Uruguay.

The white background stands for peace, the Inti sun god in Inca mythology symbolizes the light shining on the American continent, and the three crosses represent Christopher Columbus' caravels, the Niña, Pinta, and Santa María used in his first voyage from Spain to the New World in 1492. The lilac color of the crosses evokes the Castilian banner.

Hymn

The hymn of the Americas was composed by R. Sciamarella in conmemoration of the Day of the Americas (Día de las Américas) which commemorates the foundation of the Union of the American Republics (Unión de Repúblicas Americanas, predecessor of the Organization of American States). Therefore it is not a hymn for all the Hispanics but just for those from the America.

Himno de las Américas

(R. Sciamarella)

Un canto de amistad, de buena vecindad,

unidos nos tendrá eternamente.

Por nuestra libertad, por nuestra lealtad

debemos de vivir gloriosamente.

Un símbolo de paz alumbrará el vivir

de todo el Continente Americano.

Fuerza de Optimismo, fuerza de la hermandad

será este canto de buena vecindad.

Argentina, Brasil y Bolivia,

Colombia, Chile y Ecuador,

Uruguay, Paraguay, Venezuela,

Guatemala y El Salvador,

Costa Rica, Haití y Nicaragua,

Honduras y Panamá,

Norteamérica, México y Perú,

Cuba y Canadá:

¡Son hermanos soberanos de la libertad!

¡Son hermanos soberanos de la libertad!

Hymn of the Americas

(translation)

A song of friendship, of good neighborhood,

will unite us eternally.

For our liberty, for our loyalty,

we must live gloriously.

A symbol of peace will illuminate the life

of all the American Continent.

A force of Optimism, a force of brotherhood

shall be this song of good neighborhood.

Argentina, Brazil and Bolivia,

Colombia, Chile and Ecuador,

Uruguay, Paraguay, and Venezuela,

Guatemala and El Salvador,

Costa Rica, Haiti and Nicaragua,

Honduras and Panama,

North America, Mexico and Peru,

Cuba and Canada:

They are sovereign brothers of freedom!

They are sovereign brothers of freedom!

In this version, "Haiti" refers to the Dominican Republic and perhaps also to the Republic of Haiti, as the name Haiti is one of the names of the island of Hispaniola, where both nations are located. Furthermore, from 1822 to 1844 the Republic of Haiti included the entire island. In an alternate version, the countries are re-arranged, "Canadá" is removed (as the already mentioned "Norteamérica" implies both the United States and Canada), and "Santo Domingo" (i.e. Dominican Republic) is added instead.

Argentina, Brasil y Bolivia,

Colombia, Chile y Ecuador,

Uruguay, Venezuela y Honduras

Guatemala y El Salvador,

Costa Rica, Haití y Nicaragua,

Cuba y Paraguay,

Norteamérica, México y Perú,

Santo Domingo y Panamá:

References

• De la Garza, Rodolfo O., and Louis Desipio. Ethnic Ironies: Latino Politics in the 1992 Elections (1996)

See also

• Spanish Empire
• Hispanophone
• Nationalities of Spain
• Languages of Spain
• Spanish colonization of the Americas
• Latino
• Spaniard
• Spain
• European
• Iberian
• Latin
• White people
• Hispania
• Spanish language
• Conquistadores
• Western Europe
• Latin Europe
• Roman Empire
• Lusitanic
• Criollo
• Christopher Columbus
• Hernán Cortés
• Spanish in the United States
• Cuban-American lobby
• Hispanic cultural legacy in the Philippines
• Famous Hispanic Americans
• List of United States cities with a majority Hispanic population
• Islenos
• Latin peoples
• Ethnic cleansing
• Aztec
• Mayan
• Inca
• Indigenous peoples
• Hispanic Paradox

External links

• Immigration, Hispanics and the curse of the Black Legend
• Famous Hispanics
• Hispanic Community in U.S. - Stats and Facts.
• Mexica Movement Indigenous rights and education organization that aggressively challenges the application of the Hispanic label toward people of Mexican and Central American descent. The groups states that the US government's usage of the term "Hispanic" is a top-down method of ethnically cleansing their indigenous identities.
• PBS 'A Cultural Identity' Examines the creation of the Hispanic label by Richard Nixon.
• Los Angeles Times 'A Look Beyond The Label' Newspaper editorial criticizing the usage of the terms "Hispanic" and "Latino" as being oversimplifications of what is essentially a Mexican-dominant group, not all being Spanish speakers.
• Separated by a Common Language: The Strange Case of the White Hispanic A White Argentine questions the application of the Hispanic label to non-white Spanish speakers.
• The History of Immigration
• U.S. Hispanic Market in 2010
• Hispanic Business magazine
• Hispanic Genealogy
• Hispanic Heritage Foundation
• Association of Hispanic Arts (AHA)
• HispanicTips.com
• Hispanic Online Market
• Hispanic Market in the U.S.
• Marketing to US Hispanics and Latin America Conference
• Parchepinga - Non profit hispanic virtual community from Arizona