Everything about Hispanophone totally explained
The term
Hispanophone (or
hispanophone; in
Spanish,
hispanohablante or
hispanófono) denotes Spanish-speakers and relation to the Spanish-speaking world. The word originates with the
Roman name of the
Iberian Peninsula,
Hispania, which comprised the territory of the modern states of
Spain,
Portugal,
Andorra and the
British Overseas Territory of
Gibraltar as well as a small southern part of
France.
In a cultural, rather than merely linguistic sense, the notion of "Hispanophone" goes further than the above definition. The term specifically refers to people whose cultural background is primarily associated with Spain, regardless of
ethnic and geographical differences. The Hispanophone culture is the legacy of the
Spanish colonial empire.
There are an estimated 417 million Hispanophones globally, making Spanish one of the most widely spoken languages in the world today. Hispanophone areas include
Spain (where the language originated) and
Hispanic America. There is a sizable
Hispanophone minority in the
United States. In the 2000 census, it comprised 10.7% of the population over the age of five - over 28 million people. There are also smaller Hispanophone groups in
Canada, northern
Morocco,
Equatorial Guinea, the
Philippines (the latter three being former colonies of Spain) and in many other places, particularly large cities.
Terminology
Hispanosphere
During the Spanish colonial period between 1492 to 1898, many people from Spain migrated to new lands they'd conquered. The Spaniards brought with them their language and culture, and integrated with the society they'd settled, creating a large empire that stretched all over the world and producing several multiracial populations. Their descendance are found in the following continents and countries that were originally colonized by the Spanish people.
Europe
Spain
Hispania are the Portuguese, Spanish,
Andorra and
Gibraltar people.
Historically, the modern country of Spain was formed by the accretion of several independent
Iberian kingdoms through dynastic inheritance, conquest and the will of the local elites. These kingdoms had their own nationalistic loyalties and political borders.
Today, there's no single Castilian-Spanish identity for the whole country. Many Spanish citizens feel no conflict in recognizing their several Spanish identities at the same time. Spain is a culturally heterogeneous country, home to a wide range of subcultures, each one with its own customs and
traditions. Some such subcultures have
their own language. 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, some with aims in achieving full independence and others with the goal of autonomous community.
Spain's various subcultures coexist in Spain's provinces, and each one has its own
traditions and
idiosyncracies. Some even have
their own language, all of them along the dialectal continuum of Romance languages, with the exception of the
Basque language. As it's used today, the term "Hispanic", however, often refers only to
cultural or
ancestral background related to
Castilian-speaking Spain. This resulted from the former dictator, Francisco Franco's attempts to remove any signs of the sub-nations that today comprise Spain. The existence of multiple distinct cultures in Spain allows an analogy to be drawn to the
United Kingdom. Using the term Hispanic for someone of Spanish descent would then be expected to be equivalent to using
Briton to describe someone descending from some 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 among others. 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 includes them (the
United Kingdom) has been clear. In Spain, however, the politically dominant territory (
Castile) has often been taken to be equivalent to the supra-nation (Spain). This has the effect of subordinating the role of other cultures within Spain in constituting the
national identity of Spain.
In the modern times, the
Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking peoples of the
New World have adopted other
cultural labels to identify themselves. The term
Latino, which stems from a contraction of
latinoamericano (
Latin American) is one example.{ This term, however, is defined in the Spanish language as
Latin, and it's 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
Spanish word of the same name.
The corruption of the terms Hispanic and
Latino has been especially apparent in the
United States of America. In the latter parts of the 20th century, both terms went from being used as a cultural label of various cultures to being misused as a racial label that describe mixed-race people, further confusing the meanings of the terms. The corruption of these terms has the effect of racially grouping together the white population of Spain and Portugal with the large non white Castilian speaking populations of Latin America, which is predominantly
Amerindian. In addition, cultural and linguistic issues related to
Spaniards and Portuguese are often confused with those of
Mexicans or other
Latin American people. 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 misuse of these terms as racial labels instead of cultural ones, to the point that today the term is excluding the
Hispanics to whom the labels originally applied.
Andalusian
Aragonese
The
Aragonese are a
subculture or
nation living in the
historical region of
Aragon, in northeastern Spain. The original language of the region is
Aragonese, although now it's only natively spoken in the northern part of the
province of
Huesca, in the
Pyrenees.
Aranese
The
Aran Valley (
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
Oceanic 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
The
Asturians are a
subculture or
nation living in the
historical region of the
Principality of Asturias, in the north of Spain. The original language of the region is
Asturian, as well as
Eonavian (transitional to
Galician) in the border region with
Galicia.
Canary Islanders
The Canarians are a
subculture 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 original
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, large groups of Canary islanders have emigrated and settled all over the
New World as early as the 15th century, mainly in
Venezuela,
Uruguay,
Cuba and
Puerto Rico, as well as parts of Texas when Texas was still a 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 today, their descendants still live in the region. They are called
Isleños (Castilian for
Islanders), and they've kept the traditional culture of the
Canary Islands and still speak the
Canarian dialect.
Castilians
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) in the north, and the southern area reconquered from the
Moors during the
Reconquista. Castile's name is thought to mean land or region of
castles, in reference to the castles built in the area.
Because the
kingdom of Castile (later
Crown of Castile) kept on expanding through most of its history, it's difficult to fix the exact boundaries of the
historical region of Castile. For example, 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, their
kingdom spread outside the
historical region of Castile all over the
Iberian Peninsula, reaching the southern
Spanish regions of
Extremadura,
Andalusia,
Murcia and the
Canary Islands. After this, since the 15th century, through the
Spanish colonization of the Americas, the kingdom and its people also spread over the
New World, bringing with them not only their
language but also traits of their
culture,
traditions and
idiosyncracy.
The
Spanish language, often called
castellano (Castilian) in Spanish, is the native language of the
Castilians. It originated in the
Cordillera Cantábrica and the upper
Ebro valley, 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. However, in this process the Castilian also acquired strong influences from these languages that it gradually absorbed.
During the
Spanish colonization of the Americas, the
Castilian was the dominant language in Spain, and therefore was the language that was transmitted to the
New World. Due to this gradual process, the Castilian-speaking world was created, and today the Castilian is spoken by about 44,000,000 people in Spain and 412,000,000 people in the rest of the
World.
Catalans, Valencians and Balearic Islanders
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 a
borderland called
La Franja) in Spain, and
Northern Catalonia in
France (due to the
Treaty of the Pyrenees of 1659). In addition, there are other adjacent and nearby
Mediterranean areas whose inhabitants are sometimes considered
Catalans. These areas include:
Andorra, a small historical country in the
Pyrenees, the
Land of Valencia and the
Balearic Islands in Spain 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
nation native from the former
Principality of Catalonia, but sometimes they're considered as being the inhabitants of all the
Catalan Countries. An important part of the
Catalans from
Catalonia refuse to be identified as Hispanic, mainly because they've
Catalan as
mother tongue instead of Castilian]. However, like the rest of the country, they've also played a crucial role in the development of the
History of Spain although they'd a very limited role in the
Spanish colonization of the Americas until the XVIII century due to the exclusivity given to Castile and Leon to exploit the newly discovered territories as documented in the
Testament
of Queen
Isabella of Castile. Despite this fact, a few Catalans had prominent roles is some expeditions 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,
(External Link)).
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.
Basques
The
Territory of the Basque Country (
Basque:
Euskal Herria,
Castilian:
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, Castilian:
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, described by
Strabo as living south of the western
Pyrenees and north of the
Ebro River, in modern day
Navarre and northern
Aragon. This 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's different to any other known language, and it has been spoken by the inhabitants of the region, in any of its present or early variants, for thousands of years.
Galicians
The
Galicians are a
subculture or
nation living in the
historical region of
Galicia. The language of the region is the
Galician language as well as the
Eonavian (transitional to
Asturian) in the border region with
Asturias.
Leonese
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
Leon province with the
Castile and León autonomous community and defend the separation of both
regions. The people in this area used to speak
Leonese (today a minority), and some of them refuse to be identified with the
Castilian people.
Americas
Hispanic America
Spanish is the official language in a great part of America.
United States
Origins and demography
The Hispanics in the United States or Hispanic Americans are an ethnic group in the
United States with Hispanic heritage. An Hispanic person may be of any race (White, Amerindian, Black, Asian or Pacific islander). An Hispanic person's status is independent from whether or not he speaks the Spanish language. Not all Hispanic Americans speak Spanish. 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 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 105.6 million people. According to this projection, Hispanics will constitute 25% of the nation’s total population by the year 2050.
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 on the continent was that of
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. 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 (
(External Link),
(External Link),
(External Link),
(External Link),
List of Hispanic Medal of Honor recipients). Historic figures in the United States have been Hispanic from early times. Some recent famous people include Rita Hayworth and baseball legends Lefty Gomez and Ted Williams whose mothers were Mexican.
National Hispanic Heritage Month
The National Hispanic Heritage Month is celebrated in the USA from
September 15 to
October 15.
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 has many regional varieties, with
Mediterranean flavors based on
olive oil, garlic, and
tomatoes, and a great selection of fish and
seafood due to its long Atlantic and Mediterranean coastlines, while in the castillian interior, there's a great culture of cured pork meats, as well as roasts and stews, based on beef, pork, lamb, and poultry. The European and Arab heritage of Spain is reflected in its food, along with cosmopolitan influences beginning in the many new ingredients brought in from the New World since the 16th century, eg tomatoes, potatoes, or chocolate, and the more modern tastes introduced from Europe since the 19th century, especially French and Italian dishes. It is only in the last ten years that Latin American dishes have been introduced in Spain. Whereas in the US, the number of "Spanish" restaurants is in a growing trend, following the "Tapas" fashion that spread in the 90's.
The cuisines of Mexico, Guatemala, 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
pupusas.
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 influences 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 cuisine of Haiti, a Latin American country (however not Hispanic majority), is very similar to its regional neighbors in terms of influences and ingredients used.
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.
In the United States, with its growing Hispanic population, food staples from the
Mexican cuisine and other Latin countries have become widely available and have taken a unique form such as the Tex-Mex. This so-called "Mexican food", which spread in the US from its southern border, is based on maize products, heavily spiced ground beefs, cheese and tomato sauces with chiles. This cuisine is widely available not just in the US but across other countries, where US exports are found. In Florida, Cuban food is widely available. All these "Hispanic" foods in the US have evolved their character as they're exploited commercially by large restaurant chains and food companies.
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 don't look like the stereotypical Hispanic may have their ethnic status questioned or even challenged by others. Actors
Martin Sheen and
Cameron Diaz for example, are Hispanic, even though they may be presumed not to be so because, being white, they not fit the stereotype.
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,
Cuba,
Peru and other countries 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.
Besides
Spaniards of European stock, many people from the countries of
Argentina,
Chile,
Cuba,
Uruguay, and small regions of
Mexico, are of unmixed European descent. Many of them, though labeled "Hispanic" by the U.S. definition, actually trace their ancestries to European countries other than Spain and even some Asian countries. Alternate European ancestries in these countries include
Italian,
German,
Irish,
French,
Polish,
Welsh, and many others. Some of the Asian ancestries include
Chinese and
Japanese. 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.
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,
Argentines,
Panamanians, and
Peruvians. 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's 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.)
According to one study (Stephens et al. 2001), "From the genetic perspective, Hispanics generally represent a differential mixture of European, Native American, and African ancestry, with the proportionate mix typically depending on country of origin."
(External Link)
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.
Nevertheless, the recent development of methodologies for defining population structure using genome-wide single nucleotide polymorphism markers has led a 2006 study of 681 individuals(North Americans and Europeans) including mainly Americans with southern European ancestry, western European, central European and eastern European ancestry and a sample of Europeans of Spanish,Swedish and Italian origin, conclude that there's 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.
(External Link)
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."
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.
(External Link) 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.
(External Link)
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's 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
(External Link) (External Link) and Haplotype V
(External Link) as well as the mtDNA Haplotype U6. It is also the region
in Europe with the highest frequency of Sub-Saharan mtDNA haplogroup L, probably as a result of Islamic colonisation as well as the slave trade which flourished in the 16th century.
(External Link) 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's 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.
(External Link)
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,
Suebi,
Buri,
Visigoths,
Alans,
Byzantines,
Slavs (
saqaliba),
Berbers,
Arabs,
Magyars,
Jews and, particularly in Andalusia, the
Roma.
Africa
Equatorial Guinea
In the former Spanish colony of
Equatorial Guinea, there's a small minority of African people who possessed Spanish and other European ancestry. These individuals form less than 1% of the population.
Morocco
In the former Spanish protectorate of
Morocco, Spanish speakers are present in small numbers, located in the northern coastal region of the country. However the majority of Moroccan people are predominantly muslims of Arab and African ancestry.
Plazas de Soberanía
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
In the former Spanish colony of
Western Sahara, Spanish speakers are present in small numbers, however most people in the country speaks Arabic as their first language and also practise
Arab culture.
Asia-Pacific
Philippines
In the former Spanish colony of the
Philippines, there's a small minority of people who possess Spanish or Latin American ancestry, or both. The size of this population is unknown, due to emigration to Spain, Latin America, and the United States, following the US bombing of
Intramuros, home to thousands of Spanish-speaking families. Many emigrated also during the
Ferdinand Marcos régime.
Guam, Mariana Islands and Palau
In the former Spanish colonies of
Guam,
Mariana Islands and
Palau there's a small minority of people who possess Spanish ancestry. However they've since integrated with the
American way of life. The people living on these islands no longer speak Spanish or partake of Spanish culture.
Further Information
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