Hispanidad

The Hispanic flag

The Hispanidad (English: Hispanicity) is the community formed by the people and countries that share a common Hispanic heritage and cultural pattern. The at least 23 nations that are included are all Spanish-speaking countries.

The community can be classified into three geographic areas: Hispanic Europe (Spain), Hispanic America, and Hispanic Africa (Equatorial Guinea). A few countries in the Asia-Pacific region also have historical Spanish influence (notably the Philippines), although they no longer have Spanish as their official language since 1987.

Various countries celebrate 12 October as the Día de la Hispanidad ("Day of Hispanicity" or "Hispanic Day"). Since 1987 Spain has celebrated this holiday as its Fiesta Nacional de España. In the other nations of the community, the day is also celebrated as a commemoration of the date in 1492 when Christopher Columbus discovered the Americas, marking the beginning of the diffusion of Spanish language and culture as well as its lasting impact on the New World.

At the beginning of the 20th century, Hispanidad was moribund. Zacarías de Vizarra, Faustino Rodríguez-San Pedro and Ramiro de Maeztu revived interest in the concept in Spain and the Americas, changing its name to Día de la Raza or "Day of the Race". This was already a national celebration in many Hispanic countries, in honor of the meeting of Europeans and Amerindians, their mixing and the emergence of the mestizo race. Shortly thereafter, the first pan-Hispanic organizations such as the Association of Spanish Language Academies began. With the restoration of democracy in Spain, all the Hispanic nations began to converge with, for example, the creation of the Ibero-American Summit in 1991. Since then, the number of Hispanic American and Filipino hispanism (Filhispanismo) organizations has increased.

...
Wikipedia