Hispanic America
Hispanic America, historically known as Spanish America or Castilian America, consists of the Spanish-speaking countries and territories of the Americas. In all of these countries, Spanish is the main language - sometimes sharing official status with one or more indigenous languages or English, and Latin Catholicism is the predominant religion.
Hispanic America is sometimes grouped together with Brazil under the term Ibero-America, meaning those countries in the Americas with cultural roots in the Iberian Peninsula. Hispanic America also contrasts with Latin America, which includes not only Hispanic America, but also Brazil and, by few definitions, the former French colonies in the Western Hemisphere.
History
The Spanish conquest of the Americas began in 1492, up until 1531, during the reign of the catholic crown King Fernando V and Queen Isabella. Christopher Columbus landed in the Caribbean islands during one of his expeditions with the Spanish crew looking for Asia. Once established in the "New World" the desire of the Spaniards to acquire wealth quickly developed into conquest, the idea of goods and wealth drew more Spaniards' attention to the new land. Conquerors like Hernan Cortes motivated the Spanish to conquer lands and establish their living in this 'New World' and ultimately was part of a larger historical process of world discovery, through which various European powers colonized a considerable amount of territory and peoples in the Americas, Asia, and Africa between the 15th and 20th centuries. Hispanic America became the main part of the vast Spanish Empire. Napoleon's intervention in Spain in 1808 and the consequent chaos initiated the dismemberment of the Spanish Empire, as the Hispanic American territories began their struggle for emancipation. By 1830, the only remaining Spanish American territories were the islands of Cuba and Puerto Rico, until the 1898 Spanish–American War.Impact
In general, Spanish colonies allowed mostly flexibility as long as people followed specific obligations and respected hierarchies and within these limits, Hispanic Americans were able to negotiate certain aspects of their living. In the early 1540s, once most of the territories were conquered, a lot of Spanish established themselves there for a living, and they also brought with them many African slaves and even free Africans to build on the economy of the 'New World'. They created two separate Republics; Republica de Españoles and Republica de Indios. One was composed by the Spanish and their African slaves and the other one by indigenous peoples.There are theories that there were various Republics, others say there were none, however, these two existed and inside the Republica de Indios there were lots of villages that created their own too. Both 'Republica de Indios' and 'Republica de Españoles' lived apart from each other but did not have problems between them, it was just a way to separate hierarchies due to race and ethnicity. Spaniards created this separation as a similar government behaviour as the one back in their country, where only the top of the hierarchy didn't work or pay. In this case, the 'Republica de Españoles' was the top of the hierarchy and most took advantage of it to gain wealth without working just because of their ethnicity. Later on, in the later 1550s the Spaniards would send some churchmen and officials to incorporate into the 'Republica de Indios' so that Christianity remained regardless of the ethnicity.
This idea of the two republics isolated the Hispanic people due to their race. It gave Spanish people wealth and power only because of their ethnicity, generating a social hierarchy that left Hispanic Americans in the lowest position at the level of the African slaves Spanish brought with them through the Atlantic slave trade, and them in the highest position. Spanish were always considered at the top of the hierarchy and both Indigenous Americans and Africans at the bottom. However, sexual relations between these groups developed into mixed raced populations called Castas. This partially threatened the hierarchy but Spanish maintained themselves at the top and maintained Hispanic Americans and Africans at the bottom but allowed Castas to position themselves somewhere in the middle. However people were often judged and categorised by their level of Spanish, their clothing and their diet as well as their relationship circles. This system entrenched racial inequalities that persisted long after the colonial period.
The independence of Hispanic American countries consisted mainly between 1808 and 1826, and was a fruit of the Spanish elites fighting for their territory as they saw an opportunity after the Spanish Independence War against Napoleon. The wars for territories consisted of many battles that were generally violent but ended up being effective for the new local bourgeoisie to gain their independence. However, it took long for some of the countries to re-establish economic stability in their territories since most of the wealth had been acquired by the Spanish and was no longer there.
Demographics
Countries and territories
Largest cities
Ethnology
The population of the Hispanic America is made up of the descendants of three large racial groups and their combinations:• The Indigenous peoples of the Americas, descendants of Incas, Aztecs, Mayan, Taíno, and others.
• Those of European ancestry, mainly Spanish, and Italian.
• Africans who were brought over to Hispanic America during the Slave Trade.
Unlike in the United States, there were no anti-miscegenation policies in Latin America. Though still a racially stratified society there were no significant barriers to gene flow between the three populations. As a result, admixture profiles are a reflection of the colonial populations of Amerindians, Europeans and Africans. The pattern is also sex biased in that the Amerindian and African maternal lines are found in significantly higher proportions than Amerindian or African Y chromosomal lines. This is an indication that the primary mating pattern was that of European males with Amerindian or African females. According to the study, half the White populations of the Latin American countries studied have some degree of either Indigenous American or African admixture. In countries such as Chile and Colombia almost the entire white population was shown to have some non-European admixture.
Frank Moya Pons, a Dominican historian documented that Spanish colonists intermarried with Taíno women, and, over time, these mestizo descendants intermarried with Africans, creating a tri-racial Creole culture. 1514 census records reveal that 40% of Spanish men in the colony of Santo Domingo had Taíno wives.
The most common combinations are:
• Mestizos, those of mixed ancestry.
| Country | Population | Mestizos | Whites | Others | ||||||
 ArgentinaLanguagesSpanish is the official language in most Hispanic American countries, and it is spoken by the vast majority of the population. Indigenous American languages are widely spoken in Chile, Peru, Guatemala, Bolivia, Paraguay and Mexico, and, to a lesser degree, in Panama, Ecuador, Colombia, and Venezuela. In some Hispanic American countries, the population of speakers of indigenous languages tends to be very small or even non-existent. Mexico contains the largest variety of indigenous languages; there, the most spoken native language is Nahuatl.In Peru, Quechua is an official language, alongside Spanish and any other indigenous language in the areas where they predominate. In Ecuador, while holding no official status, the closely related Quichua is a recognized language of the indigenous people under the country's constitution; however, it is only spoken by a few groups in the country's highlands. In Bolivia, Aymara, Quechua and Guaraní hold official status alongside Spanish. Guaraní, along with Spanish, is an official language of Paraguay, and is spoken by a majority of the population, and it is co-official with Spanish in the Argentine province of Corrientes. In Nicaragua, Spanish is the official language, but on the country's Caribbean coast English and indigenous languages such as Miskito, Sumo, and Rama also hold official status. Colombia recognizes all indigenous languages spoken within its territory as official, though fewer than 1% of its population are native speakers of these languages. Nahuatl is one of the 62 native languages spoken by indigenous people in Mexico, which are officially recognized by the government as "national languages" along with Spanish. Other European languages spoken in Hispanic America include: English, by some groups in Puerto Rico and descendants of British settlers in Argentina and Chile; German, in southern Chile and portions of Argentina, Venezuela, and Paraguay; Italian, in Argentina, Venezuela, and Uruguay; Ukrainian, Polish, and Russian in Argentina; and Welsh, in southern Argentina. Yiddish and Hebrew can be heard around Buenos Aires. Non-European or Asian languages include Japanese in Peru, Bolivia, and Paraguay; Korean in Argentina and Paraguay; Arabic in Argentina, Colombia, Venezuela, and Chile; and Chinese throughout South America. In several nations, especially in the Caribbean region, creole languages are spoken. Creole languages of mainland Latin America, similarly, are derived from European languages and various African tongues. The Garifuna language is spoken along the Caribbean coast in Honduras, Guatemala, Nicaragua and Belize mostly by the Garifuna people a mixed race Zambo people who were the result of mixing between Indigenous Caribbeans and escaped Black slaves. Primarily an Arawakan language, it has influences from Caribbean and European languages. ReligionThe Spanish and the Portuguese took the Latin Catholic faith to their colonies in the Americas, Asia, and Africa; Roman Catholicism remains the predominant religion amongst most Hispanic Americans. Membership in Protestant denominations is increasing, particularly in Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Puerto Rico and other countries. In particular, Pentecostalism has experienced massive growth. This movement is increasingly attracting Latin America's middle classes. Anglicanism also has a long and growing presence in Latin America.
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