Hispanic (Spanish: hispano, hispánico) is a term that originally denoted a relationship to Hispania, which is to say the Iberian Peninsula: Portugal, Andorra, Gibraltar and Spain. During the modern era, Hispanic sometimes takes on a more limited meaning, particularly in the United States, where the term can mean a person of (usually) mixed race with a Spanish surname. The term Hispanic was first adopted by the United States government in the early 1970s, during the administration of Richard Nixon,[1] It has been used in the U.S. Census since 1980.[2] The term hispanic is seen as a false cognate with a limited meaning from the original historical term "hispano".[3]As such, the term to many people in North America has lost its association with Spain and Portugal, and has become associated primarily with Latin America. This usage is viewed by some as incomplete since the term Hispanic has referred to Hispania (the Iberian Peninsula: modern day Spain and Portugal) and its Hispanic inhabitants (the Spanish and Portuguese) for thousands of years. Currently many federal and state agencies have made this distinction, and presently include peoples of Spain (Spanish) and peoples of Portugal (Portuguese) in classifying Hispanics. However, while some individuals from Spain and Portugal classify themselves as Hispanic, others emphatically do not.
The term has also been used to denote the culture and people of Spanish and Portuguese colonization of the Americas countries formerly ruled by the Spanish and Portuguese Empires, usually with a majority Hispanophone population. Collectively known as Hispanic America, this region includes Mexico, the majority of the Central and South American countries, and the Spanish-speaking island-nations of the Caribbean.
Hispanic is also used by people in the United States who are of Hispanic American origin (Hispanic and Latino Americans). Cultural elements (Spanish names, the Spanish language, Spanish customs, etc.) and people known as Hispanic can also be found in other areas that were formerly part of the Spanish and Portuguese Empires, such as in Equatorial Guinea in Africa, or in the Spanish East Indies and the Portuguese Brazil.
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The term Hispanic is derived from Hispanicus, which derived from Hispania) Hispania may in turn derive from Latin Hispanus, or from Greek Ισπανία Hispania and Ισπανός Hispanos, probably from Celtiberian[4] or from Basque Ezpanna.[5] The words Spain, Spanish, and Spaniard are of the same etymology as Hispanic, ultimately.[4]
Hispanus was the Latin name given to a person from Hispania (Portugal and Spain)during Roman rule. In English, the term Hispano-Roman is sometimes used.[6] The Hispano-Romans were composed of people from many different tribes.[7] Some famous Hispani (plural of Hispanus) were Seneca the Elder, Seneca the Younger, Marcus Annaeus Lucanus, Martial, Prudentius, the Roman Emperors Trajan, Hadrian and Theodosius I, and also Magnus Maximus and Maximus of Hispania.
Here follows a comparison of several terms related to Hispanic:
Hispania was the Roman name for the whole territory of the Iberian Peninsula. Initially, Hispania was divided into two provinces: Hispania Citerior and Hispania Ulterior. In 27 b.C, Hispania Ulterior was divided into two new provinces, Hispania Baetica and Hispania Lusitania, while Hispania Citerior was renamed Hispania Tarraconensis. This division of Hispania explains the usage of the singular and plural forms (Spain, and The Spains) used to refer to the peninsula and its kingdoms in the Middle Ages.[12]
Prior to the marriage of Queen Isabella I of Castile and King Ferdinand II of Aragon in 1469, the four Christian kingdoms of the Iberian Peninsula, namely the Kingdom of Portugal, the Crown of Aragon, the Crown of Castile, and the Kingdom of Navarre, were collectively referred to as Hispania - the Roman name for the Iberian Peninsula. This revival of the old Roman name in the Middle Ages appears to have originated in Provençal, and appears to be first documented at the end of the 11th century. In the Council of Constance, the four kingdoms shared one vote.
Portugal adopted the word "Lusitanic",[13] or "Lusitanian" to refer to its culture and people, in reference to the Lusitanians, one of the first Indo-European tribes to settle in Europe. From this tribe's name had derived the name of the Roman province of Lusitania, which was a part of Roman province of Hispania, and Lusitania remains Portugal's name in Latin.
The terms "Spain" and " the Spains" were not interchangeable.[14] Spain was a geographic territory home to several kingdoms (Christian and Muslim), with separate governments, laws, languages, religions, and costumes and was also the historical remnant of the Hispano-Gothic unity.[15] Spain was not a political entity and should not be confounded with the nation-state of today.[16] The term "The Spains" referred specifically to a collective of juridico-political units, that is, it first referred only to the Christian kingdoms, then to the different kingdoms ruled by the same king.
With the Decretos de Nueva Planta, Philip V started to organize the fusion of his kingdoms that until then were ruled as distinct and independet, but this unification process lacked a formal and juridic proclamation.[17][18]
Although colloquially and literarilly the expression "King of Spain" or "King of the Spains" was already widespread,[19] it did not refer to a unified nation-state. It was only in the constitution of 1812 that was adopted the name "Españas" (Spains) for the Spanish nation and the use of the title of "king of the Spains".[20] The constitution of 1876 adopts for the first time the name "Spain" for the Spanish nation and from then on the kings would use the title of "king of Spain".[21]
The expansion of the Spanish Empire between 1492 and 1898 brought thousands of Spanish migrants to the conquered lands, who established settlements, mainly in the Americas but also in other distant parts of the world, like in the Philippines being the lone Spanish territory in Asia, producing a number of multiracial populations. Today the term Hispanic is typically applied to the varied populations of these places, including those with insignificant or no Spanish or Portuguese ancestry.
Portugal [22] and Spain have both the same defenition for the term Hispanic. The Royal Spanish Academy (Spanish: Real Academia Española, RAE), the official royal institution responsible for regulating the Spanish language defines the term hispanic as[23]:
The term Hispanic, as mentioned by the Office of Management and Budget, is used in the United States for people with origins in Spanish-speaking countries, like Mexico, Costa Rica. Hispanic is not a race, as the Chilean Nobel Prize Gabriela Mistral once said, "mi patria es mi lengua" (My fatherland is my language). Latino, from American Spanish, is used in some cases as an abbreviation for latino americano or "Latin American" and tends to be used interchangeably with Hispanic in the United States, despite the fact these two words are not synonyms. [25] In other Hispanophone countries, Hispanic and Latino are not commonly used. The term "Latin America" was used for the first time in the nineteenth century when the French occupied Mexico (1862–1867), leading to the Second Mexican Empire, and wanted to be included in what was considered Spanish America.
The 1970 Census was the first time that a "Hispanic" identifier was used and data collected with the question. The definition of "Hispanic" has been modified in each successive census. The 2000 Census asked if the person was "Spanish/Hispanic/Latino".[26]
The U.S. Office of Management and Budget currently defines "Hispanic or Latino" as "a person of Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, South or Central American, or other Spanish culture or origin, regardless of race".[27] This definition excludes people of Portuguese origins, such as Portuguese Americans or Brazilian Americans. However, they are included in some government agencies' definitions. For example, the U.S. Department of Transportation defines Hispanic to include, "persons of Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, Dominican, Central or South American, or others Spanish or Portuguese culture or origin, regardless of race."[28] This definition has been adopted by the Small Business Administration as well as many federal, state, and municipal agencies for the purposes of awarding government contracts to minority owned businesses. Still, other government agencies adopt definitions that exclude people from Spain, since there is a distinct ethnic difference (indigenous American or European American). Some others include people from Brazil, but not Spain or Portugal. The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission encourages any individual who believes that he or she is Hispanic to self-identify as Hispanic.[29] The United States Department of Labor - Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs encourages the same self-identification.[30] As a result, any individual who traces his or her origins to part of the Spanish Empire or Portuguese Empire may self-identify as Hispanic, because an employer may not override an individual's self-identification.[31]
Hispanicization is the process by which a place or a person absorbs characteristics of Hispanic society and culture.[32][33][34] Modern hispanization of a place, namely in the United States, might be illustrated by Spanish-language media and businesses. Hispanization of a person might be illustrated by speaking Spanish, making and eating Latin food, listening to Spanish language music or participating in Hispanic festivals and holidays - Hispanization of those outside the Hispanic community as opposed to assimilation of Hispanics into theirs.
One reason Hispanic advocates claim the assimilation of Hispanics in the U.S. is not comparable to that of other cultural groups is that Hispanic and Latino Americans have been living in parts of North America for centuries, in many cases well before the English-speaking culture became dominant. For example, California, Texas, Colorado, New Mexico (1598), Arizona, Nevada, Florida and Puerto Rico have been home to Spanish-speaker people since the 16th century, long before the U.S. gained independence from Great Britain. These and other Spanish-speaking territories were part of the Viceroyalty of New Spain, and later Mexico (with exception of Florida and Puerto Rico), before these regions joined or were taken by the United States in 1848. Some cities in the U.S. were founded by Spanish settlers in the 16th century, prior to the creation of the Thirteen Colonies. For example, San Miguel de Galdape, Pensacola and St. Augustine, Florida were founded in 1526, 1559 and 1565 respectively, Santa Fe, New Mexico was founded in 1604, and Albuquerque was established in 1660, In the case of St. Agustine Florida it was founded by Pedro Menéndez de Avilés. Therefore, in many parts of the U.S., the Hispanic cultural legacy predates British influence. For this reason, according to Hispanic advocates, many generations have largely maintained their cultural traditions and Spanish language. However, Spanish-speaking persons in the above-listed areas amounted to only a few thousand people when they became part of the United States; a large majority of current Hispanic residents are descended from Hispanics who entered the United States in the mid-to-late 20th and early 21st centuries. In that sense, the early influence of Spain in the United States, and Spanish speakers, was not unlike the Netherlands and France who also had colonial holdings in what later became the United States.
Language retention is a common index to assimilation and according to the 2000 census, about 75 percent of all Hispanics spoke Spanish in the home. Spanish language retention rates vary geographically; parts of Texas and New Mexico have language retention rates over 90 percent, whereas in parts of Colorado and California, retention rates are lower than 30 percent. The degree of retention of Spanish as the native language is based on recent arrival from countries where Spanish is spoken. As is true of other immigrants, those who were born in other countries still speak their native language. Later generations are increasingly less likely to speak the language spoken in the country of their ancestors, as is true of other immigrant groups.
| Spanish-speaking countries |
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Spanish identified as an official or de facto official language
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Today, Spanish is among the most commonly spoken first languages of the world. During the period of the Spanish Empire from 1492 and 1898, many people migrated from Spain to the conquered lands. The Spaniards brought with them the Castillian language and culture, and in this process that lasted several centuries, created a global empire with a diverse population. Miscegenation between peoples in the colonies led to the creation of the new mixed peoples, chiefly half-caste and mulattos, in many countries. Culturally, Spaniards are typically European and are believed to be the longest continuously established population in Europe; they also have small traces of many peoples from the rest of Europe, the Near East and the Mediterranean areas of northern Africa.[35][36] The Hispanic countries, including Spain, are also inhabited by peoples of non-Spanish ancestry, to widely varying extents.
| Continent/Region | Country/Territory | Languages Spoken [37] | Ethnic Groups [38] | Picture | References |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Europe | Spain | Spanish (official) 89%, Catalan 9%, Galician 5%, Basque 1%, are official regionally. (Spanish is spoken by 100% of the population, over 100% indicates bilingual population).[39] | 88.0% Spanish, 12.0% others (Romanian, British, Moroccan, Latin American, German) (2009) (See: Spanish people) |
[40][41] | |
| North America | Mexico | Spanish 92.7%, Spanish and indigenous languages 5.7%, indigenous only 0.8%, unspecified 0.8%; (Indigenous languages include Mayan languages, Nahuatl, and other) (2005) | Mestizo (European-Amerindian) 60-70%,[42] Amerindian (or predominantly Amerindian) 12-18%, White (or predominantly White) 9-17%,[43] other (including Black minority) 1%[42] (See: Mexican people) |
[44] | |
| United States | English 80.0%, Spanish 12.4%, other Indo-European 3.7%, Asian and Pacific Islander languages 3.0%, other 0.9% (2009 census) (Hawaiian is an official language in the state of Hawaii).
(Note: The U.S. is a predominantly English-speaking country. As is true of many immigrant families, the immigrants often speak Spanish and some English, while their children are fluent English speakers because they were born and educated in the U.S. Some retain their Spanish language as is true of other immigrant families. The recent influx of large numbers of immigrants from Spanish speaking countries into the U.S. has meant that the number of Spanish speaking U.S. residents has increased, but the children speaking English as is true of the historic U.S. immigrant experience, continues. Migration from Hispanic countries has increased the Spanish speaking population in the United States. Of those who speak Spanish in the United States, three quarters speak English well or very well. |
White 79.96%, Black 12.85%, Asian 4.43%, Amerindian and Alaska Native 0.97%, Native Hawaiian and other Pacific islanders 0.18%, two or more races 1.61% (July 2007 estimate)
(Note: a separate listing for Hispanics is not included because the U.S. Census Bureau considers Hispanic to mean a person of Latin American descent (including persons of Cuban, Mexican, or Puerto Rican origin) and of Spanish descent living in the U.S. who may be of any race or ethnic group (white, black, Asian, etc.); about 15-16% of the total U.S. population is Hispanic, not including estimates about alien residents). |
[45][46] | ||
| Central America | Belize | Spanish 43%, Belizean Creole 37%, Mayan dialects 7.8%, English 5.6% (official), German 3.2%, Garifuna 2%, other 1.5% | Mestizo 34%, Kriol 25%, Spanish 15%, Maya peoples 10.6%, Garifuna 6.1%, other 11% (2000 census) (See:Belizean people) |
[47] | |
| Costa Rica | Spanish (official) | (White including Mestizo) 94%, Black 3%, Amerindian 1%, Chinese 1% Other 1% | [48] | ||
| El Salvador | Castilian (official) | Mestizo 86%, White 12%, Amerindian 1% | [49] | ||
| Guatemala | Spanish 70%, Amerindian languages 30% (23 officially recognized Amerindian languages, including K'iche, Kakchiquel, Kekchi, Mam, Garifuna, and Xinca). | Mestizo (in local Spanish called Ladino) and White 59.4%, K'iche 9.1%, Kaqchikel 8.4%, Mam 7.9%, Q'eqchi 6.3%, other Maya peoples 8.6%, indigenous non-Mayan 0.2%, other 0.1% (2001 census) | [50] | ||
| Honduras | Spanish, various Amerindian languages | Mestizo (mixed Amerindian and European) 90%, Amerindian 7%, Black 2%, White 1% | [51] | ||
| Nicaragua | Spanish 97.5% (official), Miskito 1.7%, others 0.8% (1995 census) (English and indigenous languages on Atlantic coast). | Mestizo (mixed Amerindian and European) 69%, White 17%, Black 9%, Amerindian 5% | [52] | ||
| Panama | Spanish (official), English 14% (bilingual) | Mestizo (mixed Amerindian and European) 70%, Amerindian and mixed (West Indian) 14%, White 10%, Amerindian 6% | [53] | ||
| South America | Argentina | Spanish (official), other European and Amerindian languages | European Argentine 86% (mostly from Spanish and Italian ancestries), Mestizo, Amerindian and other non-European or non-White groups (including Arab, East Asian, and Black minorities) 14% (See: Argentinian people) |
[54] | |
| Bolivia | Spanish 60.7% (official), Quechua 21.2% (official), Aymara 14.6% (official), foreign languages 2.4%, other 1.2% (2001 census) | Quechua 30%, Mestizo (mixed White and Amerindian ancestry) 30%, Aymara 25%, White 15%, Black minority. | [55] | ||
| Chile | Spanish (official), Mapudungun, other European languages | White 52,7%, Mestizo 44,1%, Amerindian 3,2% (See: Chilean people) |
[56] | ||
| Colombia | Spanish (official) | Mestizo 58%, White 20%, Mulatto 14%, Black 4%, mixed Black-Amerindian 3%, Amerindian 1% (See: Colombian people) |
[57] | ||
| Ecuador | Spanish (official), Amerindian languages (especially Quechua) | Mestizo (mixed Amerindian and White) 65%, Amerindian 25%, White 7%, Black 3% | [58] | ||
| Paraguay | Spanish (official), Guaraní (official) | Mestizo (mixed European and Amerindian) 74,5%, White 20%, Mulato 3,5%, Indigenous 1,5% | [59] | ||
| Peru | Spanish (official), Quechua (official), Aymara, and a large number of minor Amazonian languages | Amerindian 45%, Mestizo (mixed Amerindian and White) 37%, White 15%, Black, East Asian and others 3% | [60] | ||
| Uruguay | Spanish (official) | White (mostly from Spanish and Italian ancestries) 88%, Mestizo 8%, Black 4%, Amerindian (less than 0.5%) | [61] | ||
| Venezuela | Spanish (official), numerous indigenous dialects | Mestizos (mixed Amerindian and White) 65%, White 25%, Black 8% and Amerindians 2% (See: Venezuelan people) |
[62] | ||
| Caribbean Islands | Cuba | Spanish (official) | White 65.1% (mostly Spanish), Mulattoes and Mestizos 24.8%, Black 10.1% (2002 census) (See: Cubans) |
[63] | |
| Dominican Republic | Spanish (official) | Mixed 73%, White 16%, Black 11% | [64] | ||
| Puerto Rico (Territory of the U.S. with Commonwealth status) |
Spanish, English | White (mostly of Spanish ancestry) 76.2%, Black 6.9%, Asian 0.3%, Amerindian 0.2%, mixed 4.4%, other 12% (2007) | [65] | ||
| Africa | Equatorial Guinea | Spanish 67.6% (official), other 32.4% (includes the other 2 official languages - French and Portuguese, Fang, Bube, Annobonese, Igbo, Krio, Pichinglis, and English) (1994 census) Note: Equatorial Guinea was the only Spanish colony in Sub-Saharan Africa. |
Fang 85.7%, Bubi 6.5%, Mdowe 3.6%, Annobon 1.6%, Bujeba 1.1%, other 1.4% (1994 census) | [66] | |
| Polynesia | Easter Island Territory of Chile |
Spanish (official), Rapanui | Rapanui | [67] | |
| The CIA World Factbook is in the public domain. Accordingly, it may be copied freely without permission of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).[68] | |||||
| Continent/Region | Country/Territory | Languages Spoken [37] | Ethnic Groups [38] | Picture | References |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Africa | Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic Disputed | Arabic is the official language of Western Sahara, while Spanish is still widely spoken. | |||
| Asia | Philippines | Chavacano, a Spanish-based creole language is still spoken in the Philippines by 600,000 people.[69] Spanish in the Philippines is natively spoken by 5,000 people but second- and third-language speakers range from 500,000 to 2,500,000.[70][71] Hispanic influences have impacted several aspects of native languages, such as Tagalog, Cebuano and Ilocano[69] | Austronesian 94%, Eurasian (mixed White and Austronesian) 3.6%, Chinese 2%, and others including Aeta 0.4% (See: Filipino people) |
[69] | |
| Micronesia | Guam | Most former Spanish territories in Asia-Pacific no longer recognize Spanish as an official language. The predominant languages used in Guam are English, Chamorro and Filipino. Also, in Guam -a U.S. territory- and the Northern Mariana Islands, a commonwealth in political union with the U.S., a Malayo-Polynesian language called Chamorro is spoken, with numerous loanwords with Spanish etymological origins. However it is not a Spanish creole language.[72] | Asians, Chamorro, and others | [72] | |
| FSM Micronesia | Micronesia's official language is English, although native languages, such as Chuukese, Kosraean, Pohnpeian, Yapese, Ulithian, Woleaian, Nukuoro and Kapingamarangi are also prominent.[73] | Asians, Micronesians, and others | [73] | ||
| Northern Mariana Islands | In the Northern Mariana Islands, a commonwealth in political union with the U.S., a Malayo-Polynesian language called Chamorro is spoken, with numerous loanwords with Spanish etymological origins. However it is not a Spanish creole language. The top four languages used in the Northern Mariana Islands are Filipino, Chinese, Chamorro and English.[74] | Asians, Chamorro, and others | [74] | ||
| Palau | In Palau, Spanish is no longer used; instead, the people use their native languages, such as Palauan, Angaur, Sonsorolese and Tobian.[75] | Asians, Palauan, and others | [75] | ||
| The CIA World Factbook is in the public domain. Accordingly, it may be copied freely without permission of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).[68] | |||||
Folk and popular dance and music also varies greatly among Hispanics. For instance, the music from Spain is a lot different from the Hispanic American, although there is a high grade of exchange between both continents. In addition, due to the high national development of the diverse nationalities and regions of Spain, there is a lot of music in the different languages of the Peninsula (Catalan, Galician and Basque, mainly). See, for instance, Music of Catalonia or Rock català, Music of Galicia, Cantabria and Asturias, and Basque music. Flamenco is also a very popular music style in Spain, especially in Andalusia. Spanish ballads "romances" can be traced in Mexico as "corridos" or in Argentina as "milongas", same structure but different scenarios.
On the other side of the ocean, Latin America is also home to a wide variety of music, even though "Latin" music is often erroneously thought of, as a single genre. Hispanic Caribbean music tends to favor complex polyrhythms of African origin. Mexican music shows combined influences of mostly Spanish and Native American origin, while traditional Northern Mexican music — norteño and banda — is more influenced by country-and-western music and the polka, brought by Central European settlers to Mexico. The music of Hispanic Americans — such as tejano music — has influences in rock, jazz, R&B, pop, and country music as well as traditional Mexican music such as Mariachi. Meanwhile, native Andean sounds and melodies are the backbone of Peruvian and Bolivian music, but also play a significant role in the popular music of most South American countries and are heavily incorporated into the folk music of Ecuador and Chile and the tunes of Colombia, and again in Chile where they play a fundamental role in the form of the greatly followed nueva canción. In U.S. communities of immigrants from these countries it is common to hear these styles. Latin pop, Rock en Español, Latin hip-hop, Salsa, Merengue, colombian cumbia and Reggaeton styles tend to appeal to the broader Hispanic population, and varieties of Cuban music are popular with many Hispanics of all backgrounds.
Spanish Language literature and folklore is very rich and is influenced by a variety of countries. There are thousands of writers from many places, and dating from the Middle Ages to the present. Some of the most recognized writers are Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra (Spain), Lope de Vega (Spain), Calderón de la Barca (Spain), Carlos Fuentes (Mexico), Octavio Paz (Mexico), Miguel Ángel Asturias (Guatemala), George Santayana (US), José Martí (Cuba), Sabine Ulibarri (US), Federico García Lorca (Spain), Miguel de Unamuno (Spain), Gabriel García Márquez (Colombia), Horacio Quiroga (Uruguay), Rómulo Gallegos (Venezuela), Rubén Darío (Nicaragua), Mario Vargas Llosa (Peru), Giannina Braschi (Puerto Rico), Cristina Peri Rossi (Uruguay), Luisa Valenzuela (Argentina), Roberto Quesada (Honduras), Julio Cortázar (Argentina), Pablo Neruda (Chile), Gabriela Mistral (Chile), Jorge Luis Borges (Argentina), Pedro Henríquez Ureña (Dominican Republic), Ernesto Sabato (Argentina), Juan Tomás Ávila Laurel (Equatorial Guinea), Ciro Alegría (Peru), Joaquin Garcia Monge (Costa Rica), and José Rizal (Philippines).
With regard to religious affiliation among Spanish-speakers, Christianity — specifically Roman Catholicism — is usually the first religious tradition that comes to mind. Indeed, the Spaniards took the Roman Catholic faith to Latin America, and in the Philippines, and Roman Catholicism continues to be the overwhelmingly predominant, but not the only, religious denomination amongst most Hispanics. A small but growing number of Hispanics belong to a Protestant denomination. There are also Spanish-speaker Jews, of which most are the descendants of Ashkenazi Jews who migrated from Europe (German Jews, Russian Jews, Polish Jews, etc.) to Latin America, particularly Argentina, Uruguay, Peru and Cuba (Argentina is host to the third largest Jewish population in the Western Hemisphere, after the United States and Canada)[76][77] in the 19th century and during and following World War II. Many Spanish-speaker Jews also originate from the small communities of reconverted descendants of anusim — those whose Spanish and Portuguese Sephardi Jewish ancestors long ago hid their Jewish ancestry and beliefs in fear of persecution by the Spanish Inquisition and Portuguese Inquisition in the Iberian Peninsula and Latin America. The Spanish Inquisition led to a large number of forced conversions of Spanish Jews. Genetic studies on the (male) Y-chromosome conducted by the University of Leeds in 2008 appear to support the idea that the number of forced conversions have been previously underestimated significantly. They have determined that the current population of Spain has ancestry through the male line that is at least 20% Jewish.[78] This seems to imply there was much forced conversions than which was previously thought to be about 200,000. There are also the now Catholic-professing descendants of marranos and the Spanish-speaker crypto-Jews believed to exist in the once Spanish-held Southwestern United States and scattered through Latin America. Additionally, there are Sephardic Jews who are descendants of those Jews who fled Spain to Turkey, Syria, and North Africa, some of whom have now migrated to Latin America, holding on to some Spanish/Sephardic customs, such as the Ladino language which mixes Spanish, Hebrew, Arabic and others, though written with Hebrew and Latin characters.[79] Though, it should be noted, that Ladinos were also African slaves captive in Spain held prior to the colonial period in the Americas. (See also History of the Jews in Latin America and List of Latin American Jews.)
Among the Spanish-speaker Catholics, most communities celebrate their homeland's patron saint, dedicating a day for this purpose with festivals and religious services. Some Spanish-speakers syncretize Roman Catholicism and African or Native American rituals and beliefs. Such is the case of Santería, popular with Afro-Cubans and which combines old African beliefs in the form of Roman Catholic saints and rituals. Other syncretistic beliefs include Spiritism and Curanderismo.
While a tiny minority, there are some Muslims in Latin America, in the US, and in the Philippines, living predominantly in Mindanao, the of home of Islam in the Philippines.
In the United States, some 70% of Hispanics and Latinos report themselves Catholic and 23% Protestant, with 6% having no affiliation.[80] A minority among the Roman Catholics, about one in five, are charismatics. Among the Protestant, 85% are "Born-again Christians" and belong to Evangelical or Pentecostal churches. Among the smallest groups, less than 4%, are Jewish.