Hispanic and Latino Americans
Hispanic and Latino Americans are Americans who have a Hispanic or Latin American background, culture, or family origin. This demographic group includes all Americans who identify as Hispanic or Latino, regardless of race. According to annual estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau, as of July 1, 2024, the Hispanic and Latino population was estimated at 68,086,153, representing approximately 20% of the total U.S. population, making them the second-largest group in the country after the non-Hispanic White population.
"Origin" can be viewed as the ancestry, nationality group, lineage or country of birth of the person, parents or ancestors before their arrival into the United States of America. People who identify as Hispanic or Latino may be of any race, because similarly to what occurred during the colonization and post-independence of the United States, Latin American countries have had populations made up of multiracial and monoracial descendants of settlers from the metropole of a European colonial empire. In addition, there are also monoracial and multiracial descendants of Indigenous peoples of the Americas, descendants of African slaves brought to Latin America in the colonial era, and post-independence immigrants from Europe, the Middle East, and East Asia.
As one of only two specifically designated categories of ethnicity in the United States, Hispanics and Latinos form a pan-ethnicity incorporating a diversity of inter-related cultural and linguistic heritages, in which use of the Spanish language is the most important common element. The largest national origin groups of Hispanic and Latino Americans in order of population size are: Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, Salvadoran, Dominican, Colombian, Guatemalan, Honduran, Ecuadorian, Peruvian, Venezuelan and Nicaraguan. Although commonly embraced by Latino communities, Brazilians are officially not considered Hispanic or Latino. The predominant origin of regional Hispanic and Latino populations varies widely in different locations across the country. In 2012, Hispanic Americans were the second fastest-growing ethnic group by percentage growth in the United States after Asian Americans.
Hispanic Americans of Indigenous American descent and European descent are the second oldest racial group to inhabit much of what is today the United States. Spain colonized large areas of what is today the American Southwest and West Coast, as well as Florida. Its holdings included all of present-day California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas and Florida, as well as parts of Wyoming, Colorado, Kansas and Oklahoma, all of which constituted part of the Viceroyalty of New Spain, based in Mexico City. Later, this vast territory became part of Mexico after its independence from Spain in 1821 and until the end of the Mexican–American War in 1848.
Terminology
The terms Hispanic and Latino refer to an ethnicity. Hispanic first came into popular use to refer to individuals with origins in Spanish-speaking countries after the Office of Management and Budget created the classification in 1977, as proposed by a subcommittee composed of three government employees, a Cuban, Mexican, and Puerto Rican American. The United States Census Bureau defines being Hispanic as being a member of an ethnicity, rather than being a member of a particular race and thus, people who are members of this group may also be members of any race. In a 2015 national survey of self-identified Hispanics, 56% said that being Hispanic is part of both their racial and ethnic background, while smaller numbers considered it part of their ethnic background only or racial background only. Hispanics may be of any linguistic background; in a 2015 survey, 71% of American Hispanics agreed that it "is not necessary for a person to speak Spanish to be considered Hispanic/Latino". Hispanic and Latino people may share some commonalities in their language, culture, history, and heritage.File:National Hispanic Cultural Center Albuquerque.jpg|thumb|right|The National Hispanic Cultural Center in Albuquerque, New Mexico; Hispanics make up half of New Mexico's population.
The Smithsonian Institution defends that the term Latino should also include peoples with Portuguese roots, such as Brazilians, and not only those of Spanish-language origin. The difference between the terms Hispanic and Latino is ambiguous to some people. The US Census Bureau equates the two terms and defines them as referring exclusively to hispanic people and those from Spain or the Spanish-speaking countries of the Americas. After the Mexican–American War concluded in 1848, term Hispanic or Spanish American was primarily used to describe the Hispanos of New Mexico within the American Southwest. The 1970 United States census controversially broadened the definition to "a person of Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, Dominican, South or Central American, or other Spanish culture or origin, regardless of race". This is now the common formal and colloquial definition of the term within the United States, outside of New Mexico. This definition is consistent with the 21st century usage by the US Census Bureau and OMB, as the two agencies use both terms Hispanic and Latino interchangeably. The Pew Research Center mentions that some researches defend that the term Hispanic is strictly limited to Spain, Puerto Rico, and all countries where Spanish is the only official language, whereas "Latino" could include all countries in Latin America, but not Spain and Portugal.
File:Crossing 1st St. .jpg|thumb|left|Mariachi Plaza in Los Angeles; Hispanics form the largest ethnic group in California, at 15.7 million people, or 40.4% of the total population.
The terms Latino and Latina are words from Italy and are ultimately from ancient Rome. In English, the term Latino is a condensed form of "latinoamericano", the Spanish term for a Latin American, or someone who comes from Latin America. The term Latino has developed a number of definitions. This definition, as a "male Latin American inhabitant of the United States", is the oldest definition which is used in the United States, it was first used in 1946. Under this definition a Mexican American or Puerto Rican, for example, is both a Hispanic and a Latino. In the United States, Brazilian Americans are officially not considered "Latino", as they are for the most part descended from immigrants from a non-Hispanic country, unless they happen to have had recent history in a Latin American country.
Preference of use between the terms among Hispanics in the United States often depends on where users of the respective terms reside. Those in the Eastern United States tend to prefer the term Hispanic, whereas those in the West tend to prefer Latino.
The US ethnic designation Latino is abstracted from the longer form latinoamericano. The element Latino- is actually an indeclinable, compositional form in -o that is employed to coin compounded formations.
File:Latino_Cultural_Center_Dallas_8.jpg|thumb|upright|The Latino Cultural Center in Dallas; Hispanics are the largest ethnic group in Texas, making up 11.4 million people, or 39.3% of the population.
The term Latinx have gained some usage. The adoption of the X would be "eflecting new consciousness inspired by more recent work by LGBTQI and feminist movements, some Spanish-speaking activists are increasingly using a yet more inclusive "x" to replace the "a" and "o", in a complete break with the gender binary. Among the advocates of the term LatinX, one of the most frequently cited complaints of gender bias in the Spanish language is that a group of mixed or unknown gender would be referred to as Latinos, whereas Latinas refers to a group of women only. A 2020 Pew Research Center survey found that about 3% of Hispanics use the term, and only around 23% have even heard of the term. Of those, 65% said it should not be used to describe their ethnic group. Another gender neutral term, like LatinX, is Latine. Though "Latinx" is quite challenging to say in Spanish, "Latine" is easy. Spanish speakers are increasingly adopting this term, which originated in Spanish-speaking countries.
Some have pointed out that the term "Hispanic" refers to a pan-ethnic identity, one that spans a range of races, national origins, and linguistic backgrounds. "Terms like Hispanic and Latino do not fully capture how we see ourselves", says Geraldo Cadava, an associate professor of history and Hispanic studies at Northwestern University.
According to a 2020 American Community Survey data, more than two-thirds of Brazilians in the U.S. described themselves as Hispanic or Latino. In 2017, a small minority of Portuguese Americans, and the Filipino Americans self-identified as Hispanic.
History
16th and 17th centuries
Explorers were pioneers in the territory of the present-day United States. The first confirmed European landing in the continental United States was by Juan Ponce de León, who landed in 1513 at a lush shore he christened La Florida. In the next three decades, the small numbers of Spanish individuals became the first Europeans to reach the Appalachian Mountains, the Mississippi River, the Grand Canyon and the Great Plains. Ships sailed along the Atlantic Coast, penetrating to present-day Bangor, Maine, and up the Pacific Coast as far as Oregon. From 1528 to 1536, Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca and three fellows, from a Spanish expedition that foundered, journeyed from Florida to the Gulf of California. In 1540, Hernando de Soto undertook an extensive exploration of the present United States.Also in 1540, Francisco Vásquez de Coronado led 2,000 mostly Mexican natives 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 territory include, among others: Alonso Alvarez de Pineda, Lucas Vázquez de Ayllón, Pánfilo de Narváez, Sebastián Vizcaíno, Gaspar de Portolà, Pedro Menéndez de Avilés, Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca, Tristán de Luna y Arellano, and Juan de Oñate, and non-Spanish explorers working for the Spanish Crown, such as Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo.
File:Santa Fe San miguel chapel.jpg|thumb|right|San Miguel Chapel, built in 1610 in Santa Fe, New Mexico, is the oldest church structure in the United States.
In 1565, the Spanish created the first permanent European settlement in the continental United States, at St. Augustine, Florida. Spanish missionaries and colonists founded settlements including in the present-day Santa Fe, New Mexico, El Paso, San Antonio, Tucson, Albuquerque, San Diego, Los Angeles, and San Francisco.
Settlements in the American Continent were part of a broader network of trade routes that connected Europe, Africa, and the Americas. The mostly Tlaxkalan settlers established trade connections with other indigenous peoples, exchanging goods such as furs, hides, agricultural products, and manufactured goods. These trade networks contributed to the economic development of colonies and facilitated cultural exchange between different groups.