Hispanidad
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Countries traditionally considered as the core of the Hispanidad.
NOTE: For a detailed list of the countries that appear in the map, see its description page | |
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Europe Asia and Oceania Africa |
America |
Hispanicity (Spanish, Hispanidad) is the multinational community formed by all the people and nations that share a common Spanish-speaking linguistic heritage and Spanish-derived national cultural patern.
The 23 nations that are included are all Spanish-speaking with the exception of the Philippines. The community can be classified into four geographic areas: Hispanic Europe (Spain), Hispanic America (Spanish-speaking Latin America), Hispanic Africa (overseas territories of Spain and the officially Spanish language government of Equatorial Guinea) and Hispanic Asia-Pacific (culturally and linguistically influenced nations of the Philippines, Guam, and Northern Mariana Islands).
Every October 12 in Spain Día de la Hispanidad ("Day of Hispanicity" or "Hispanic Day") is celebrated as the national holiday. In the other nations of the community exept the Philippines, the day is also celebrated as a commemoration of the date in 1492 when Christopher Columbus first set a foot in the Americas, marking the begining of the diffusion of Spanish language and culture and it's lasting impact on the modern world.
History
Hispanidad or Spanish linguistic and cultural difusion began its emergence on 12 October 1492 when Christopher Columbus sighted America and initiated its European colonization 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, altering the composition of the hemisphere. The penetration and reach of Spain at this time also extended into other European nations.
With its immense empire created in the Americas, in 1713 the Real Academia Española was established by to regulate and fix the use the Spanish language throughout the empire and to standardize the written language so as to be understood by all Hispanics. At the beginning of the 19th century, the dissatisfaction of the American colonies with the government, and the Napoleonic invasion of the homeland, created a propitious opportunity for revolution in America; all of the Spanish colonies obtained independence except Cuba, Puerto Rico and the Asian posetion of the Philippines. These three countries obtained 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 caused a resurgence of the concept of Hispanicity in Spain and the Americas, resulting in a change of name to Dia de la Raza or "Day of the [New] Race" (already a national celebration in many Hispanic countries, and named so in recognition of the meeting of Europeans and Amerindians, their mixing and the emergence of the mestizo race as a result of this). Shortly thereafter, the first pan-Hispanic organizations such as the Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española began to appear. With the restoration of democracy in Spain, a convergence between all the Hispanic nations began 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. Numerous Latino or Hispanic immigrants choose to immigrate to Spain due to its cultural and linguistic affinity.
The Hispanics in the world
The Spanish as mother tongue is spoken by more than 333 million people (located in second place after Chinese). The total population of Spanish-speakers reaches more than 395 million people.
Next, a list of places where Spanish language is spoken.
Europe
In Europe, Hispanics are mainly confined to Spain, with its native Hispanic population surpassing 44 million, plus a large immigrant Hispanic community from Hispanic America. There are also important minority communities of Hispanic immigrants both Spanish nationals and Hispanic Americans spread throughout the rest of Europe.
Americas
The great majority of Hispanics is concentrated in what is officially recognized as Hispanic America, coinciding with recognized international borders. The number surpasses 300 million. Countries like Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Puerto Rico and Venezuela are all countries of immense Hispanic majority.
The United States, Belize and Brazil, while not officially counted as Hispanic nations, count with a great amount of Hispanics, either dating back from the colonial period or more recent immigrants. Over 50% of Belize is Hispanic and the United States harbours more than 40 million Hispanic, or over 13% of that nation's total population.
Africa
The people considered Hispanics in the African continent are concentrated in overseas territories of Spain (Canary Islands, Ceuta, Melilla and Plazas de Soberanía) and in the nation of Equatorial Guinea which 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 language and culture. Altogether in Africa two million speak Spanish.
Southeast Asia
The Philippines is the only Asian country that conserves some identifiably Hispanic influences in its culture and Spanish loanwords in the native languages. Many attributes of Philippine culture and language have Hispanic origins. This is due to the fact that Spain ruled the country through Mexico for more than 300 years. Even when the country was under American rule for almost 50 years, it did not erase all the Spanish derived influences from the native culture or the languages, nor did it erase the Philippine's Hispanic legacy.
Other countries in Southeast Asia that maintain a similar degree of Hispanic influence as the Philippines are:
- Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands, where Chamorro, a Spanish-based créole language is spoken due to the fact that they were Spanish colonies.
- Caroline Islands, which nowadays are divided between the Federated States of Micronesia in the eastern part, and Palau. Spanish-based créole language also are spoken there, and the local languages have got Spanish influence.
Pacific Ocean
- Easter Island, nowadays an overseas territory of Chile. Spanish is the official language of the island.