(Redirected from Hispanics)
'Hispanic' (
Spanish 'Hispano',
Portuguese 'Hispânico', 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.
Prior to the marriage of
Queen Isabella of
Castile and
King Ferdinand of Aragon in 1469 the four
Christian kingdoms of the
Iberian Peninsula,
Portugal,
Aragon,
Castile-
Leon and
Navarre were collectively referred to as
Hispania. This usage, in
medieval times, appears to have originated in
provençal and appears to be first documented at the end of the
XI Century. Indeed, in the
Council of Constance the four kingsoms appear as if forming a single unity ("nación española") and all four shared one vote.
Though the term Hispania initially encompassed all of the
Christian lands of
Iberia, it was the union of
Castile and
Leon,
Aragon and
Navarre (only later to be formally known as the Kingdom of Spain) that would inherit the term.
The last time that the term Hispanic commonly included the Kingdom of
Portugal was in 1640 prior to final Portuguese separation from the
Habsburg kings then ruling the rest of Iberia in the period of the
Iberian Union. From 1580 through 1640, the king of the kingdoms of Hispania used the title ''
Rex Omniae Hispaniae'', roughly translated "King of all the Hispanias". Thus, since at least the mid-17th Century, the term Hispanic has generally been used to refer to
Spain, its
people and its
culture. Because Hispanic became an adjective of the kingdom of
Spain,
Portugal adopted the word
Lusitanic for the same purposes (in reference to the
Lusitanians, one of the first
Indo-European tribes to settle in
Europe from which derived the name of the
Roman province of
Lusitania, which was a part of
Roman province of
Hispania. In this process,
Portugal was excluded from the term.
[1].
With the expansion of the
Spanish Empire, the
peoples from Spain spread all over the world, creating new
colonies and giving rise to the
Hispanophone. This expansion was
mainly concentrated in the
Americas, especially in what is called
Hispanic America, which comprises all those countries from the
Americas that once belonged to the
Spanish Empire and where the
Spanish influence is still present (
Brazil not being included since when it was settled by the
Portuguese, the separation between the terms Hispanic pertaining to
Spain and
Lusitanic to
Portugal was already effective). These countries, inherited the cultural and ancestral legacy of the
Spaniards, and in consequence, their peoples and their cultures are also considered as Hispanic. Nowadays, the peoples from
Hispanic America who live in the
United States have developed their own identity with an unquestionable Hispanic substrate, and they are also considered Hispanics
[2][3].
The term Hispanic
Situation in the United States of America:
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,
Portugal,
Andorra and
Gibraltar — 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. Although some people also use the term "Hispanic" in relation to Portugal and its people (including Brazil and
Portuguese-speaking Brazilians), this usage is not appropriate and may cause irritation. It could be compared to calling a North American "British" because in the past both countries were politically connected. When speaking of these peoples, the correct term is
Luso/Lusophone.
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".
[4]
Synonyms and antonyms
Often the term "Hispanic" is used synonymously with the word "
Latino", and frequently with "Latin" as well, as they are used in the U.S. 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 may consist of the people of
Spain, and when regarding the inhabitants of the
Hispanic America, includes only
criollos,
mestizos,
mulatos, 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. This distinction was established in the
Spanish Empire in the
17th century, as an
institutionalized system of racial and social stratification and segregation (''
Sistema de Castas'') based on the person's heritage. However, when talking of Hispanic in a cultural and linguistic sense, the term refers to even peoples without Spanish ancestry but living in the
Hispanic America who have
Spanish as
mother tongue or as
vehicular language.
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.
[5] 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 commonly to those from Spanish or Portuguese-speaking countries of Latin America, regardless of ancestry in all contexts. Those from
French Canada and Haiti are rarely included, although technically (even more so in Haiti's case) they are Latin Americans.
The confusion that arises is due to a missuse in English of the words Latino and Latin, and between the concept of Hispanic and Latino. Latino (in English) 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, and Latino the name of the people who spoke the language or speak a modern derivative. This means that latino in Spanish is not confined solely to Hispanics and Latin Americans, but has always included such European peoples as the
Italians,
French,
Romanians,
Portuguese, etc. In Italian however, Latino refers to both the language and the people who spoke Latin.
Thus, of a group consisting of a
Brazilian, a
Colombian, a
Mexican, a
Spaniard, a
Frenchman and a
Romanian, all would be, properly speaking, Latinos; Conversely, the Colombian, Mexican and Spaniard would all be Hispanics, but not the Romanian, the Brazilian or the Frenchman.
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).
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.
Historical usage of the term
}
is not a
uniform country; various
ethnicities coexist in its territories, and each one has its own
culture,
traditions, and
idiosyncracies. Some even have
their own language or dialect along the dialectical continuum of Romance languages, with the exception of the Basque Language. The term Hispanic, however, often refers only to
cultural or
ancestral background related to
Castilian-speaking Spain, but not to other parts of Spain, such as
Catalan-speaking Spain or
Basque-speaking Spain. The existence of multiple distinct cultures in Spain allows an analogy to be drawn between itself and the
United Kingdom. Using the term Hispanic for someone of Spaniard descent would then be expected to be equivalent to using
Briton to describe someone descending from part of the United Kingdom. Cultures within the United Kingdom, such as
Anglo,
Scottish and
Welsh, would then correspond in this analogy to cultures within Spain such as
Castilian,
Catalan and
Basque. It is a subtle, yet important, distinction. In other countries, this distinction between the sub-nations that compose the country (for instance,
English,
Scottish,
Welsh,
Northern Irish,
Cornish, etc.) and the ''supra-nation'' that engloves them (the
United Kingdom) has been clear. In
Spain, however, the dominant nation (
Castile) has often been taken to be equivalent to the supra-nation (
Spain). The result of this confusion is that unlike the case of Great Britain, where there is a general awareness of the cultures comprising the supra-nation, Hispanic is taken by many to be not only a synonym for that which is related to the whole of Spain, but also of the cultural identity of the Castilian region within Spain. This, in turn, has the effect of subordinating the role of other cultures within Spain in constituting the
national identity of Spain.
In fact, the Spanish exploration and settlement of the
New World was marked by a blurring of the distinction between the nation and a constituent culture. The Spaniards identified themselves not as being of Castilian
cultural heritage, but instead as people of Hispanic heritage. In using Hispanic as a synonym for the
Castilian-speaking world,
non-Castilian culture in Spain was obscured.
In the modern times, the
Castilian-speaking peoples of the
New World have also adopted other
cultural labels to identify themselves. The most important of these
labels is the term
Latino, which stems from a contraction of ''
latinoamericano'' (
Latin American)
[6]. But the term
Latino already has a meaning in
Castilian, which is, literally,
Latin[7], and it is used to refer to all the Latin peoples, both from
Europe and the
Americas. Therefore, using
Latino as a contraction of ''
latinoamericano'' results in a
corruption of the
Castilian word of the same name. However, the new meaning has rapidly gained popularity, and nowadays it is widely used as a
cultural label to identify the peoples of
Castilian cultural or
ancestral heritage in the
Americas. Thus, many of the people to whom the term Latino originally applied would no longer be identified as such under its present usage.
The evolution of the terms Hispanic and
Latino has been especially apparent in the
United States of America. In the latter parts of the
20th century, the terms went from being cultural labels to being ethnic labels, further confusing the meanings of the terms. The use of the terms in this context groups the Castilian speaking Spaniards together with the large Castilian speaking population in the Americas, which is of predominantly
Amerindian ethnicity. As a result, cultural and linguistic issues related to
Spaniards are often confused with those of
Mexicans or other
Hispanic American peoples. While some are conscious of this issue, many of the people to whom the labels Latino or Hispanic are applied are not aware of it. As such, they often help perpetuate further usage of these terms as ethnic labels instead of cultural ones, to the point that it excludes the
Hispanics and
Latinos to whom the labels originally applied.
==The Hispanicus from
Hispania==
'''Hispanicus''', (also: Hispanus, Hispanienses, Hispanensis) was the
Latin name given to the native people of
Hispania, the ''Hispano-
Romans''. The Hispano-Romans were composed of people from many different native
★
tribes of Hispania. Some famous ''Hispanicus'' were
Seneca the Elder,
Seneca the Younger,
Lucan,
Martial,
Prudentius, the
Roman Emperor Trajan, the
Roman Emperor Theodosius I, the
Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius and also
Magnus Maximus and
Maximus of Hispania.
Like in many words where the
original meaning of a word changes over time and the root word meaning is often different from its contemporary definition, the etymology of the words, Hispanic, Spanish and ''Hispano''-Roman, has the same Latin root name, Hispania , but the connotation of the original meaning of the root word has slightly different meanings in the multiple
derived modern English words:
★ 'Hispano-Roman' - is only used to refer to the culture and people of
Hispania, ancestors of the
Portuguese and
Spanish people. (historical meaning)
★ 'Hispanic' - is used to refer to modern Spain and to the
Spanish-speaking nations of
the Americas their people and culture. (widening of meaning)
[1] [2]
★ 'Spanish' - is used to refer to the Spanish language, the culture and the people of
Spain. (narrowing of meaning)
★ 'Spaniard' - is only used to refer to the people of Spain.(narrowing of meaning)
★ 'Hispania' - in English, as in Latin, it only refers to a
province of the
Roman empire, the native land of the Hispano-Romans.
★ 'Spain' - is the name of an
Iberian country, in the
European Union, the country of the Spanish people.
Notice that, in History, when referring to Medieval Spain, before the XV century, Spain has the same meaning as the
Iberian Peninsula has today, it was the name of the
peninsula that housed several Christian kingdoms. The peninsula then had two names: one of Latin origin, Hispania, the other of Greek origin, Iberia, both referring to the same geographic region. Although, at different times, Hispania referred only to specific geographic regions in Iberia and not the whole of it.
Until today
Portugal and
Spain share one common name,
Iberian, when referring to the two countries only, being this the name of the
Peninsula.
As said above,
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,
idiosyncrasy, 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 (in part of the
Roman provinces of
Lusitania and
Gallaecia), it has been a separate 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
Lusitanic 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 Spain nowadays.
History of Hispania
Early history
Main articles: Prehistoric Iberia
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. 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.
Modern humans in the form of
Cro-Magnons began arriving in the
Iberian Peninsula from north of the
Pyrenees some
35,000 years ago. This
genetically homogenous wave of population (characterized by the M173
mutation in the
Y chromosome), developed the
M343 mutation, giving rise to the
R1b Haplogroup, which still dominant in modern
Portuguese and
Spanish populations (especially in the
Basques). Meanwhile the
Neanderthals became extinct; their last refuge was today's
Portugal or
Gibraltar around
28,000 BC. Far later, some
12,000 years ago, an interstadial
deglaciation called the
Allerød Oscillation occurred, weakening the rigorous conditions of the
last ice age. This also ended the
Upper Palaeolithic period, beginning the
Mesolithic. The populations sheltered in
Iberia, descendants of the
Cro-Magnon, given the
deglaciation, migrated and recolonized all of
Western Europe, thus spreading the
R1b Haplogroup populations (still dominat, in variant degrees, from Iberia to
Scandinavia). Due to this fact, nowadays the genetical origins of most
Europeans can be traced back to the
Iberian Peninsula.
Pre-Roman times
Main articles: Pre-Roman peoples of the Iberian Peninsula,
Prehistoric Iberia
The earliest urban culture documented in the
Iberian Peninsula, is that of the semi-mythical southern city of
Tartessos, which dates back to much before the
1,100 BC. However, the
Tartessians were not the only ones: apart from them, the whole of the
Iberian Peninsula was inhabited by other
non-Indo-European peoples (
Aquitanians and other Proto-Basques,
Iberians,
Turdetani,
Cynetes or Conii and others), by
Indo-European peoples (
Proto-Celtics,
Celtics and
Lusitanians, mainly) and by a mix of both (
Celtiberians, a mix of
Celts and
Iberians).
Far later, the seafaring
Phoenicians,
Greeks and
Carthaginians began to settle 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,
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,
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) and
Alans 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
[8]. The
Visigoths established a
Christian Kingdom that lasted until the arrival of the moors at the beginnings of the
8th century.
Muslim Occupation
Main articles: Umayyad conquest of Hispania,
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,
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 Moorish states of
Al-Andalus. The
Umayyad conquest of Hispania from the
Visigoths occurred during the early
8th century. Almost immediately, in
718,
Pelayo of Asturias, a noble
Visigoth, leads the fight against the
Moors in the
Asturias and establishes the
Kingdom of Asturias. In
722,
King Pelayo defeats a large force sent by
Emir Munuza to annihilate him at the
Battle of Covadonga. He then leads an alliance of
Asturian and
Cantabrian mountaineers in the counter-offensive against the
Muslims beginning what will be called
La Reconquista.
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 had already 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 and the
Jews were expelled from Spain,
Christopher Columbus discovered the
Americas, inaugurating an age of
Spanish conquest and colonization of the continent, a process that would last for centuries and from which the ''new Hispanics'' would appear. Notice that the
Portuguese colonial expansion, which would give rise to the
Portuguese Empire (namely
Brazil), had began in
1415. The last muslims and crypto-muslims were expelled in 1609-10.
Modern day peoples of Hispania
Main articles: Nationalities in Spain
The modern day people that live in the region of ancient
Hispania are the Portuguese, Spanish,
Andorra and
Gibraltar people only.
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 absorbed into 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,
linguistic 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.
Aragonese
Main articles: Aragon,
Aragonese people,
Aragonese language
The
Aragonese are an
ethnic group or
nation living in the
historical region of
Aragon, in the northeastern
Spain. The language of the region is the
Aragonese, although it is mainly spoken in the northern
province of
Huesca, in the
Pyrenees.
Aranese
Main articles: Aranese language
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
Catalan and
Castilian.
Asturians
Main articles: Asturias,
Asturian people,
Asturian language,
Eonavian
The
Asturians are an
ethnic group or
nation living in the
historical region of the
Principality of Asturias, in the north of
Spain. The language of the region is the
Asturian, as well as the
Eonavian in the border region with
Galicia.
Basques
Main articles: Basque Country (historical territory),
Basque people,
Basque language
The
Territory of the Basque Country (
Basque: ''Euskal Herria'',
Spanish: ''País Vasco'' or ''Vascongadas'') 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 Basques (
Basque: ''Euskaldunak'',
Spanish: ''Vascos'') are the
people who inhabit the
Basque Country. The name ''Basque'' derives from
Medieval French and ultimately from the ancient tribe of the
Vascones,
[9] 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
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.
Canary Islanders
Main articles: Canary Islands,
Canarian people,
Isleños,
Canarian dialect
The Canarians are an
ethnic group or
nation living in the
archipelago of the
Canary Islands (an
autonomous community of
Spain), near the coast of
Western Africa. The language of the region is the ''
habla canaria'' (
Castilian for ''Canary speech'') or the ''
dialecto canario'' (
Castilian for ''Canarian dialect''), a distinctive dialect of
Castilian spoken in the islands.
The islands were conquered by
Castilians at the beginnings of the
15th century, who subdued the native
Guanche population. After subsequent settlement by Spaniards and other
European peoples, mainly
Portuguese, the remaining
Guanches were gradually absorbed by the settlers and their culture almost totally disappeared.
Historically, the
Canary Islands have been a connection point between
Spain and the
Americas, and therefore, large groups of Canary islanders have emigrated and settled all over the
New World as early as the
15th century, mainly in
Venezuela,
Cuba,
Puerto Rico and
Uruguay, as well as in parts of what today is the
United States when those lands were still a little part of the
Spanish Empire. For example, settlers from the
Canary Islands founded
San Antonio, Texas in
1731, when it was a
Spanish colony (see
Spanish Texas), one hundred years before the first
Anglo-Saxon immigrants arrived to the region, fleeing the religious prosecution in
Europe and looking for a better life.
Louisiana was also settled by large groups of
Canary Islanders, and nowadays, their descendants still live in the region. They are called
Isleños (
Spanish for ''Islanders''), and they have kept the traditional culture of the
Canary Islands and still speak the
Canarian dialect[10].
Castilians
Main articles: Castile (historical region),
Castilian people,
Castilian language
Castile is a
historical region of
Spain that comprises the territories of the former
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.
In the definition of the
historical region of Castile, the
provinces of
León,
Salamanca and
Zamora, which correspond to the former
Kingdom of León, may or may not be included (see the
Leonese below).
The
Castilian people are the inhabitants of the
historical region of Castile. Through the
Reconquista, they spread 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 spread over the
New World, bringing with them not only their
language but also their
culture,
traditions and
idiosyncracy.
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[11].
Catalans, Valencians and Balearic Islanders
Main articles: Principality of Catalonia,
Land of Valencia,
Balearic Islands,
La Franja,
El Carxe,
L'Alguer,
Catalan people,
Catalan language
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
Crown of Aragon. All these territories make up what is known as the
Catalan Countries.
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. An important part of the
Catalans from
Catalonia refuse to be identified as Hispanic, mainly because they have
Catalan as
mother tongue instead of
Castilian, and as explained
above, the modern definition of Hispanic has historically excluded those
peoples of Spain who did not have
Castilian as
mother tongue. However, like the rest of the country, they have also played a crucial role in the development of the
History of Spain and significantly participated
Spanish colonization of the Americas, from
Alaska to
Tierra del Fuego (see, for example, important figures such as
Gaspar de Portolà, or pioneer expeditions of
Catalan volunteers to the
Pacific coast of
North America,
[3]).
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.
Galicians
Main articles: Galiza,
Galician people,
Galician language,
Eonavian
The
Galicians are an
ethnic group or
nation living in the
historical region of
Galicia. The language of the region is the
Galician language, as well as the
Eonavian in the border region with
Asturias.
Leonese
Main articles: Leonese language
In the western part of what today is the
autonomous community of
Castile and León (the
provinces of
León,
Salamanca and
Zamora), which corresponds to the historical land of the former
Kingdom of Leon, there are still some people who refuse the annexation of the
Kingdom of Leon with the
Kingdom of Castile, and defend the separation of both
regions. They speak the
Leonese and they refuse to be identified with the
Castilian people.
The Hispanics from outside Spain
Due to the expansion of the
Spanish Empire and the consequent creation of the
Hispanophone, the
Hispanics are now spread all over the
World. This section aims to describe the different places of the world that have, or have had, significant populations of Hispanic origin, or that have received strong influences from the
Spanish culture and
language.
Hispanics in Africa
Equatorial Guinea
Main articles: Spanish Guinea,
Equatorial Guinea
The
Portuguese explorer,
Fernão do Pó, seeking a route to
India, is credited with having discovered the island of
Bioko in 1472. He called it ''Formosa'' (
Portuguese for ''Beautiful''), but it quickly took on the name of its European discoverer. The islands of
Fernando Po and
Annobón were colonized by
Portugal in
1474. The Portuguese retained control until
1778, when the island, adjacent islets, and commercial rights to the mainland between the
Niger and
Ogooué Rivers were ceded to
Spain in exchange for territory in the American continent (
Treaty of El Pardo, between Queen
Maria I of Portugal and King
Charles III of Spain). From
1827 to
1843,
Britain established a base on the island to combat the
slave trade. The mainland portion,
Río Muni, became a protectorate in
1885 and a colony in
1900. Conflicting claims to the mainland were settled in
1900 by the
Treaty of Paris, and periodically, the mainland territories were united administratively under Spanish rule. Between
1926 and
1959 they were united as the colony of
Spanish Guinea.
In March
1968, under pressure from Equatoguinean nationalists and the
United Nations,
Spain announced that it would grant independence to
Equatorial Guinea. A constitutional convention produced an electoral law and draft constitution. In the presence of a
UN observer team, a referendum was held on
August 11,
1968, and 63% of the electorate voted in favor of the constitution, which provided for a government with a General Assembly and a Supreme Court with judges appointed by the president.
Although there has never been much immigration of
Spaniards, a great number of
missionaries,
explorers,
adventurers and
entrepreneurs explored and settled the region, and brought the
Spanish language, that now is official in
Equatorial Guinea.
Morocco
Spanish is still present in Morocco due to the former
Spanish colony in Morocco. The country counts with 360,706 Spanish speakers and an important number of Spanish expatriates
[12]. Historically, in
Morocco, Spanish has seen its importance as colonial language eclipsed due to the presence of the French, but it has always been present, especially in the nearby area to the
autonomous cities of
Ceuta and
Melilla, and in the late times, its importance is growing in the country due to the influx of immigrants.
Plazas de Soberanía
Main articles: Plazas de Soberanía,
Ceuta,
Melilla,
Islas Chafarinas,
Peñón de Alhucemas,
Peñón de Vélez de la Gomera
Since the
Reconquista, the
Spanish have held numerous emplacements in
North Africa.Many of them, such as
Oran, have been lost, and nowadays, with an approximate population of 143,000 people, only the
Autonomous Cities of
Ceuta and
Melilla, which constitute the two ''Plazas de Soberanía Mayores'' (or Large Places of Sovereignty), and the
Islas Chafarinas, the
Peñón de Alhucemas and the
Peñón de Vélez de la Gomera, which constitute the three ''Plazas de Soberanía Menores'' (or Lesser Sovereignty Places), still forming part of the
Spain.
Western Sahara
Since the times of the former colony of the
Spanish Sahara, the colonial language in the region has been
Spanish. Due to the strong relations that the country keeps with
Spain, who has historically supported its right to the independence from
Morocco, and to the strong presence of Spanish
NGOs in the region, nowadays Spanish is still spoken by 37,132 people, the 13.04% of the population, being the second in importance of the country after the
Arabic[12].
Hispanics in Asia-Pacific
Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands
The
Mariana Islands are an island group in the northernmost
Micronesia, a larger island group of the
Pacific side of
Southeast Asia. They are composed of the
Northern Mariana Islands in the south (which include, mainly, the islands of
Saipan,
Tinian and
Rota), a
Commonwealth of the
United States, and
Guam in the north, a
United States territory.
They were discovered by
Ferdinand Magellan on
March 6 1521, and were called ''Islas de los Ladrones'' (
Spanish for ''Islands of the Thieves''). In
1667 Spain formally claimed them, established a regular colony there, and gave the islands the official title of ''Las Marianas'' in honor of
Spanish Queen Mariana of Austria, widow of
Philip IV of Spain. They then had a population of 40-60,000 inhabitants, but the
Chamorros were almost exterminated by the diseases brought by the
Spaniards. The islands were used as a connection point between the
Philippines and
Mexico, and remained as a possession of the
Spanish Empire until the
Spanish-American war.
Nowadays, the islands still have a small minority of Hispanic population (mainly mixed
Spanish and
Austronesian) that are mostly descended from
Chamorros, the
indigenous peoples that lived in the islands before the arrival of the Spaniards. They speak the
Chamorro language, which is an
Austronesian language with a large number of Spanish
loanwords.
The Philippines
Main articles: Philippines,
History of the Philippines (1521-1898),
Hispanic influence on Filipino culture
Europeans first arrived in the
Philippine Islands with the
Spanish expedition around the world led by
Portuguese explorer
Ferdinand Magellan in
1521 (
March 17,
1521 in real date; Magellan did not realize that they had crossed the
International Date Line). Magellan landed on the island of
Cebu, claiming the lands for Spain and naming them ''Islas de San Lázaro''
[14]. Over the next several decades, other Spanish expeditions were dispatched to the islands. In 1543,
Ruy López de Villalobos led an expedition to the islands and gave the name ''Las Islas Felipinas'' (after
Philip II of Spain) to the islands of
Samar and
Leyte.
[15] The name would later be given to the entire archipelago. In 1565 an expedition led by
Miguel López de Legazpi sailing from New Spain (Mexico) landed in
Cebu where the first Spanish settlement was created. Legazpi later went on to found
Manila in 1571, which later became the capital of the Spanish colony, and the entire
Spanish East Indies.
During the following four centuries the Philippines remained as a part of the
Spanish Empire and territory of
New Spain. Consequently, the indigenous
culture and
Languages of the Philippines received a great influence from Spain and from other parts of the Empire, mainly
Mexico. Although the
Spanish language was not adopted as the
mother tongue by the majority of the population, there is an important group of the population, composed mainly of
Spaniards and
Filipino mestizos (who include, among others,
Filipinos of Spanish descent and
Filipinos of Mexican descent), who speaks it. Spanish was introduced in all her territories including the Philippines. At its peak, Spanish was spoken at around 10% to 15% of the population at the end of the 19th century. After the
Spanish-American War of 1898; colonists from the
United States introduced
English on the islands. Spanish remained as co-
official languages along with Tagalog and English until 1987, when it lost its status; opting for the Filipino government to used
Tagalog and English as the official languages. Other
Philippine languages including
Cebuano were not entirely replaced, but received strong influences from the Spanish language. New languages also originated, such as the
Chavacano, a
Spanish-based creole language.
Hispanics in Australia
Australian people of Hispanic descent or immigrants who came from
Spain or
Latin America to live in and/or to work in Australia, represent a relatively small community. According to the
2001 Australian census, there are 60,000 Latino Australians, the largest being of Chilean (See
Chilean Australian) and
Salvadoran ancestries. The Spanish Australian population is around 50,000. Hispanic Australians comprise of about under one percent of people living in Australia.
Hispanics in America
Main articles: Spanish colonization of the Americas
The Spanish colonization of the Americas began with the arrival in the
Western Hemisphere of
Christopher Columbus (Cristóbal Colón) in
1492. From early small settlements in the
Caribbean, the
Spanish gradually expanded their range over four centuries to include
Central America, most of
South America,
Mexico, the South of what today is
Southern United States, the Western part of what today is
Central United States, the Southwestern part of what today is
British Columbia in
Canada, and even reaching
Alaska[16], eventually ending with a series of independence movements in the
Nineteenth Century, including ultimately
Cuba's independence and the
U.S. colonization of
Puerto Rico in
1898 as part of the
Spanish-American War.
Hispanics in Hispanic America
Main articles: Hispanic America
The total Hispanic population in
Hispanic America numbers 353,525,000 million people.
Hispanic America is composed by the following countries:
:
Argentina 38,971,000
:
Bolivia 9,430,000
:
Chile 16,267,000
:
Colombia 42,718,000
:
Costa Rica 4,326,000
:
Cuba 11,239,000
:
Dominican Republic 9,010,000
:
Ecuador 13,182,000
:
El Salvador 7,004,000
:
Guatemala 13,019,000
:
Honduras 7,389,000
:
Mexico 104,389,000
:
Nicaragua 5,584,000
:
Panama 3,263,000
:
Paraguay 5,964,000
:
Peru 27,636,000
: ''
Puerto Rico (
US) 3,925,000
:
Uruguay 3,314,000
:
Venezuela 26,895,000
Hispanics in the United States
Main articles: Hispanics in the United States,
History of Hispanic people in the United States
The Hispanics in the United States or Hispanic Americans are an ethnic group in the
United States with Hispanic heritage. A Hispanic person may be of any race (
Amerindian,
Mixed-race, white,
black, and Asian). Also, a Hispanic person's status is independent from whether one speaks the Spanish language, as not all Hispanic Americans do. 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 105.6 million people. According to this projection, Hispanics will constitute 25% of the nation’s total population on that date.
[17]
Historically, 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.
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.(
[4],
[5],
[6],
[7],
List of Hispanic Medal of Honor recipients)
Hispanics in Europe
Spain is one of the 20 Hispanic countries in the world, and the source of many other Hispanic populations worldwide. However it is the only Hispanic country in
Europe.
Hispanics in the United Kingdom
The Hispanic population of the
UK is relatively low compared to the USA, however is one of the fastest growing
ethnic groups in the country.
London has the largest hispanic population of any British city at well over 50,000. The Hispanic population (inc. Ancestry) stands at around 200,000 (0.2% of UK total population).
See also:
★
Famous Latin American Britons
★
Famous Spanish Britons
Hispanics in Germany
The Hispanic population in Germany also has a strong presence, especially in such cities as
Cologne and
Hamburg. However the actual
Hispanic American population is not as large as that of the United Kingdom. The German Hispanic population currently stands at around 200,000 (0.3% of German total population).
| Hispanic Group | Actual Population |
|---|
| Spaniards | 108,300 |
About Hispanics
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
Arabs or 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.
El Salvador and
Paraguay are examples of mostly mestizo populations, with 90% of Salvadorans identified as mestizos and over 80% of Paraguayans.
Many individuals identified as "Hispanics" (based on the U.S. definition) are of unmixed
Native American ancestry. For example, 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,
Puerto Rico,
Colombia or
Cuba 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),
Mestizo (mixed Amerindian and European) or unmixed black African.
81% of the Puerto Rican and 65% of the Cuban populations are white, of mostly Spanish origin.
[18][19]
Besides
Spaniards of pure European stock, many people from the countries of
Argentina,
Chile,
Ecuador,
Cuba,
Uruguay,
Colombia, and many regions in
Mexico, are un-mixed European descent. Many of them, though labeled "Hispanic" by the U.S. definition, actually trace their ancestries to European countries other than Spain, which. 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 people:
criollos, mestizos, and mulattoes.
[ Blacks in Argentina -- officially a few, but maybe a million ][20][21]
The population before the beginning of the immigration waves was only 400,000 persons in Argentina
[22] and even less in Uruguay. By the 1910s, half of Buenos Aires population was foreign-born. With immigration
[23], 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.
[24][25] 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. 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.
[26]
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.
[ Making Room: Argentina finds a place for its local immigrants ]
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 and
United States.
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
[27]. 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 largely during the Paleolithic and Mesolithic. The proportion of the native population that share
Y-chromosome DNA haplogroups with Iberia is 73 percent in
Scotland, 64 percent in
England, 83 percent in
Wales and 89-95 percent in
Ireland.
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.
[28][29][30][31]
Nevertheless, the recent development of methodologies for defining population structure using genome-wide single nucleotide polymorphism markers has led a 2006 study of 681 European individuals to conclude that there is a ''consistent and reproducible distinction between “northern” and “southern” European population groups'', strongly suggesting the later Mediterranean (Neolithic) origin of Spaniards, Greeks, Portuguese and Italians. On the other hand, all European populations north of the Alps and the Pyrenees (except for Ashkenazi Jews) seem to fall squarely into the "Northern" population group.
[8]
Still, the findings of a similar 2007 study claims; ''"The Spanish and Basque groups are the furthest away from other continental groups, which is consistent with the suggestions that the Iberian peninsula holds the most ancient European genetic ancestry"''. The same study also found ''"several significant axes of stratification, most prominently in a North-Southeastern trend but also along an East-West axis."'' It also said: ''"there is low apparent diversity in Europe with the entire continent-wide samples only marginally more dispersed than single population samples elsewhere in the world."''
[32]
The Spanish, like all European populations, have received multiple other influences. The possibility of Neolithic population movements into Iberia from North Africa is also suggested by geneticist Arnaiz-Villena, using HLA and MtDNA markers together with archaeological and linguistic evidence.
[10] This could explain the puzzling fact that out of the 19 lineages of Mtdna Haplogroup U6 found in Iberia, only 9 are currently found in North Africa, pointing to a prehistoric (as well as modern) northward expansion into Iberia, probably during the
Capsian diffusion.
[11]
There exists a number of studies which focus on the genetic impact of the eight centuries of Muslim rule in the Iberian peninsula on the genetic make up of the Iberian population. Recent studies agree that there is a genetic relationship between (particularly southern) Iberia and North Africa as a result of this period of history. Iberia is the only region in Europe with a significant presence of the typically North West African Y-chromosome haplotypes E-M81
[12][13] and Haplotype V
[14] as well as the Mtdna Haplotype U6. It is also the region in Europe with the highest frequency of Subsaharan Mtdna haplogroup L, probably as a result of Islamic colonisation as well as the slave trade which flourished in the 16th century.
[15] [16] Evidently, the North African element in modern day Iberians' ancestry is minor when compared to the pre-Islamic elements.
The inhabitants of the
Canary Islands, hold a gene pool that is halfway between the Iberians and the ancient native population, the
Guanches (a proto-berber population), although with a major Iberian contribution. Guanche genetic markers have also been found, at low frequencies, in peninsular Spain, probably as a result of slavery and/or later immigration from the Canary Islands.
[17]
The ancestry of Iberians has thus received influences from the many people which have settled on its territory throughout history including
Phoenicians,
Greeks,
Romans,
Punics,
Celts,
Vandals,
Suevi,
Visigoths,
Alans,
Byzantines,
Berbers,
Arabs,
Slavs,
Jews and, particularly in Andalusia, the
Roma.
Furthermore, the Spanish population is becoming increasingly diverse due to recent immigration, as a result of the country's strong economic growth. Immigrants now make up about 10% of the population and come mainly from Morocco, Ecuador, Romania, Colombia and other countries in Africa, Europe and Latin America.
[18]. (see
Immigration to Spain).
Religious diversity
With regard to religious affiliation among Hispanics,
Christianity — specifically
Roman Catholicism — is usually the first religious tradition that comes to mind. Indeed, the Spaniards took the Roman Catho
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