Spanish Americans
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| Self-identified as Hispanics 10,017,244 759,781 (2013 ACS) and 635,253 (2010 census) Over 50,000,000 (Latin American descent 2010) |
|
| Regions with significant populations | |
| California · Texas · New Mexico · Florida · New York · Louisiana | |
| Languages | |
|
English (American English dialects) Spanish (American Spanish dialect, Peninsular Spanish dialects) |
|
| Religion | |
| Predominantly Roman Catholicism | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Spaniards · Hispanic and Latino Americans · Portuguese Americans · Italian Americans · other European Americans |
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Spanish Americans (hispano-americanos) is a term with multiple meanings. Within the context of Latin America, it can either refer to the descendants of the millions of Spaniards who emigrated to the Americas during the colonial period (1492–1824) or to the millions more who settled after the independence of Latin American republics. The term can also extend to mean those who share a language and culture rooted in Spain, regardless of their ancestry.
Within a specifically US context, the meaning of Spanish Americans is different, where it is distinguished from Hispanics or Latin Americans, even though it also refers to Americans whose ancestry originates wholly or partly from Spain. The term "Spanish-American" is used only to refer to Americans whose ancestry originates directly from Spain, and therefore excludes ethnically Spanish Americans who immigrated to the U.S. from Latin American republics. An exception to this rule are Tejanos, Nuevomexicanos and Californios, descendants of Mexican citizens inhabiting Mexican territory later acquired by the United States, who are typically considered to be Spanish Americans.
Spanish Americans are the longest-established European-American group with a continuous presence in Florida since 1565 and are the eighth-largest (choosing the term "Spaniard") Hispanic group in the United States of America. About 50.5 million Americans are of Latin American descent and therefore a majority of which have Spanish ancestry due to five centuries of Spanish colonial settlement and large-scale immigration to both pre and post-colonial Latin America.
Throughout the colonial times, there were a number of white settlements of Spanish populations in the present–day United States of America with governments answerable to Madrid. The first settlement was at St. Augustine, Florida, in 1565, followed by others in New Mexico, California, Arizona, Texas, and Louisiana. In 1598, San Juan de los Caballeros was established, near present-day Santa Fe, New Mexico, by Juan de Oñate and about 1,000 other Spaniards. Spanish immigrants also established settlements in San Diego, California (1602), San Antonio, Texas (1691) and Tucson, Arizona (1699). By the mid-1600s the Spanish in America numbered more than 400,000.
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Wikipedia