Hispanidad

Hispanidad

The flag symbolizes the encounter between the three carabelas that took Christopher Columbus to America and the dazzling American Sun shining.

Countries traditionally considered as the core of the Hispanidad.

Members

21 nations that are Spanish-speaking Europe Spain Americas Argentina Bolivia Chile Colombia Costa Rica Cuba Dominican Republic Ecuador El Salvador Guatemala Honduras Mexico Nicaragua Panama Paraguay Peru Puerto Rico Uruguay Venezuela Africa Equatorial Guinea

Hispanicity (Template:Lang-es) is the community formed by all the people and countries that share a common Hispanic-heritage and cultural pattern.

The 21 nations that are included are all Spanish-speaking countries. The community can be classified into three geographic areas: Hispanic Europe (Spain), Hispanic America (Spanish-speaking America), Hispanic Africa (Spanish-African territories, Equatorial Guinea). A few countries in the Asia-Pacific region also have a historical Spanish-influence, although they do not have Spanish as their official language.

Every October 12 in Spain Día de la Hispanidad ("Day of Hispanicity" or "Hispanic Day") is celebrated as a national holiday. In the other nations of the community, the day is also celebrated as a commemoration of the date in 1492 when Christopher Columbus discovered America, marking the beginning of the diffusion of Spanish language and culture as well as its lasting impact on the world.

History

Hispanidad or Spanish linguistic and cultural diffusion began on 12 October 1492 when Christopher Columbus initiated its European colonization of the Americas in the name of the Catholic Monarchs of Spain. The kingdom of Castile (Castilla) built a global empire, spreading its culture and language in the Americas and biologically and culturally mixing with the Indigenous peoples and ultimately, the African slaves, altering the composition of the hemisphere. The penetration and reach of Spain at this time also extended into other European nations.

In 1713, the Real Academia Española was established to regulate written and spoken Spanish language throughout the empire so that it could be understood by all Hispanics. At the beginning of the 19th century, the American colonies' dissatisfaction with the Spanish government and Napoleon's invasion of Spain created an opportunity for revolution in America. All of the Spanish colonies obtained independence at this time, except Cuba, Puerto Rico and the Asian possessions. These three countries gained independence from Spain when the United States intervened in the Spanish-American War.

At the beginning of the 20th century, Hispanicity 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 Dia de la Raza or "Day of the [New] 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 Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española began. With the restoration of democracy in Spain, all the Hispanic nations began to converge with, for example, the creation of the Cumbre Iberoamericana in 1991. Since then, the number of Hispano-American, Ibero-American, Pan-Latin American organizations has increased.

Currently, Hispanicity is a cooperative venture. Spain has created a base of support for Hispanic America and is the country that invests the most in this zone. Latinos or Hispanic choose to immigrate to Spain, due to its cultural, linguistic and ancestral affinity.

Hispanics in the world

Windmills in La Mancha.

A street view in Guanajuato, Mexico.

File:Malecon de la Habana.jpg

Malecón in Havana, Cuba.

Salta, Argentina.

Cabo Rojo, Puerto Rico, founded in 1771, with its Spanish Colonial architecture.

Tenerife, Canary Islands off the west coast of Africa.

Major influence

Main article: Hispanic

Spanish, as a mother tongue, is spoken by more than 333 million people (second only to Chinese). The total number of Spanish speakers is more than 395 million people. Mexico contains the largest number of Spanish speakers.

Europe

In Europe, Hispanics reside primarily in Spain as it is the origin of Hispanicity, although there are small communities spread throughout Europe. The native-born population is more than 44 million, plus a large immigrant Hispanic community from Hispanic America and Equatorial Guinea.

Americas

The majority of Hispanics live in Hispanic America, coinciding with recognized international borders. The number surpasses 300 million. Countries with great majority Hispanic population include Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Puerto Rico (U.S. territory) and Venezuela.

The United States and Belize, while not officially counted as Hispanic nations, do each have a large Hispanic population. The United States has more than 40 million Hispanic residents or about 14% of its total population. 43% of Belizeans commonly speak Spanish at home.

Africa

Hispanics in the African continent are concentrated in overseas territories of Spain, which are Canary Islands, Ceuta, Melilla and Plazas de Soberanía). Moreover, Equatorial Guinea has Spanish as its official government language, although the people speak their respective native languages. In Morocco and Western Sahara, some people maintain Hispanic characteristics, although these countries are more so influenced by Arab and/or Berber languages and cultures. Altogether in Africa, two million speak Spanish.

Minor Historical influence

Asia-Pacific

The Philippines is the only Asian country which retains historical Hispanic influence in its culture and native languages although does not have Spanish as an official nor widley spoken language. One of the more obvious marks left by Spanish rule in the Philippines is a prevalence of Hispanic names and given surnames among many, if not most, Christianized Filipinos. One aspect of this unusual naming custom is that it is much in contrast to those of other Asian peoples where names are commonly associated to their historic languages and related to their regions of residence. Another interesting aspect of this naming custom is that, unlike the peoples of the Hispanic world, among Filipinos a Spanish surname does not indicate Spanish ancestry.

This is largely due to the fact that Spain ruled the country through Mexico for more than 300 years. Spanish has made contributions to Philippine languages such as Tagalog, Cebuano and other indigenous Philippine languages. One of the 170 languages in the Philippines is a Spanish-based creole called Chavacano.

Other countries, largely Spanish colonies, in the Asia-Pacific region which also exhibit Hispanic influence:

• Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands, where Chamorro, a Spanish-influenced Austronesian language, is spoken.
• Caroline Islands, which nowadays are divided between the Federated States of Micronesia in the eastern part and Palau, where a Spanish-based creole language is spoken, and the local languages have Spanish influence.
• Easter Island is now an overseas territory of Chile. Spanish is the official language of the island.

See also

• Hispanic
• List of hispanophones
• Flag of the Hispanic People