Hispanidad

Hispanidad

The Hispanic flag

Spanish-speaking nations

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  Western Sahara Asia  Philippines

The Hispanidad (English: Hispanicity) are the community formed by all the people and countries that share a common Hispanic heritage and cultural pattern. The 23 nations that are included are all Spanish-speaking countries.

The community can be classified into three geographic areas: Hispanic Europe (Spain), Hispanic America, and Hispanic Africa (Equatorial Guinea). A few countries in the Asia-Pacific region also have historical Spanish influence (notably the Philippines), although they no longer have Spanish as their official language.

Various countries celebrate 12 October as the Día de la Hispanidad ("Day of Hispanicity" or "Hispanic Day"). Since 1987 Spain has celebrated this holiday as its Fiesta Nacional de España. In the other nations of the community, the day is also celebrated as a commemoration of the date in 1492 when Christopher Columbus discovered the Americas, marking the beginning of the diffusion of Spanish language and culture as well as its lasting impact on the New World.

History

At the beginning of the 20th century, Hispanidad 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 Día de la Raza or "Day of the 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 Association of Spanish Language Academies began. With the restoration of democracy in Spain, all the Hispanic nations began to converge with, for example, the creation of the Ibero-American Summit in 1991. Since then, the number of Hispanic American and Filipino hispanism (Filhispanismo) organizations has increased.

Currently, Hispanidad is a cooperative venture. Spain has created a base of support for Hispanic America and the Philippines due to heavy investments in these zones. Some Hispanic Americans choose to immigrate to Spain, because of its cultural, linguistic and ancestral affinity.

Demographics

Hispanic countries

Flag	Arms	Name	Area (km²)	Population	Population density (per km²)	Capital	Name in Spanish
		Argentina	2,780,400	43,024,374	14.4	Buenos Aires	Argentina
		Bolivia	1,098,581	10,631,486	9	Sucre	Bolivia
		Chile	756,102	17,363,894	23	Santiago	Chile
		Colombia	1,138,910	46,245,297	41.5	Bogotá	Colombia
		Costa Rica	51,100	4,755,234	91.3	San José	Costa Rica
		Cuba	110,860	11,047,251	100.6	Havana	Cuba
		Dominican Republic	48,670	10,349,741	210.9	Santo Domingo	República Dominicana
		Ecuador	283,561	15,654,411	54.4	Quito	Ecuador
		Equatorial Guinea	28,051	722,254	24.1	Malabo	Guinea Ecuatorial
		El Salvador	21,041	6,125,512	290.3	San Salvador	El Salvador
		Guatemala	108,889	14,647,083	129	Guatemala City	Guatemala
		Honduras	112,090	8,598,561	76	Tegucigalpa	Honduras
		Mexico	1,964,375	120,286,655	57	Mexico City	México
		Nicaragua	130,370	5,848,641	44.3	Managua	Nicaragua
		Panama	75,420	3,608,431	54.2	Panama City	Panamá
		Paraguay	406,752	6,703,860	14.2	Asunción	Paraguay
		Peru	1,285,216	30,147,935	23	Lima	Perú
		Puerto Ricoa	13,790	3,620,897	397	San Juan	Puerto Rico
		Spain	505,370	47,737,941	92	Madrid	España
		Uruguay	176,215	3,332,972	18.87	Montevideo	Uruguay
		Venezuela	912,050	28,868,486	31.59	Caracas	Venezuela
Total				439,320,916 (6.1% of the global population)

^a Puerto Rico is an unincorporated territory of the U.S. where Spanish and English are the official languages^[1] and Spanish is the primary language.

In November 2008 a district court judge ruled that a sequence of Congressional actions have had the cumulative effect of changing Puerto Rico's status to incorporated.^[2] However, by April 2011 the issue had not yet made its way through the courts,^[3] and in January 2013 the U.S. government still referred to Puerto Rico as unincorporated.^[4]

Largest Hispanic cities

The following is a list of the ten largest metropolitan areas in the Hispanic world.^[5]

	City	Country	Metropolitan population (2012)	Gross Domestic Product (USD, 2012)	GDP per capita (USD, 2012)	Global economic ranking by GDP (2012)
1.	Mexico City	Mexico	20,631,353	$411.4 billion	$19,940	15th
2.	Buenos Aires	Argentina	13,333,912	$348.4 billion	$26,129	20th
3.	Lima	Peru	10,231,678	$177.4 billion	$17,340	62nd
4.	Bogotá	Colombia	8,868,395	$140.9 billion	$15,891	86th
5.	Santiago	Chile	7,023,767	$150.3 billion	$21,393	79th
6.	Madrid	Spain	6,598,395	$264.0 billion	$40,007	37th
7.	Caracas	Venezuela	5,297,026	$69 billion	$24,000[6]	N/A
8.	Barcelona	Spain	4,712,749	$171.0 billion	$36,280	65th
9.	Guadalajara	Mexico	4,593,444	$77.4 billion	$16,855	142nd
10.	Monterrey	Mexico	4,208,832	$130.7 billion	$31,051	93rd

Spanish language

The common shared Spanish language among the Hispanic nations of Hispanic America and Spain, together with the growing Spanish speaking population in the United States, form the modern Hispanic world.

Spanish in the Hispanic world

Most Spanish speakers are in Hispanic America; of all countries with a majority of Spanish speakers, only Spain and Equatorial Guinea are outside the Americas. Spanish is the official national language of Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Puerto Rico, Uruguay, and Venezuela.

In Europe, Spanish is the official national language of Spain, the country after which it is named and from which it originated. It is also spoken in Andorra, and by a minority of the population in Portugal, France, and the United Kingdom.^[7]

Spanish elsewhere in the Americas

Spanish is spoken in other parts of the Americas as a co-official language, second language, or a minority language. The importance of the Spanish language throughout the Americas, has spread the use of Spanish beyond the borders of Hispanic countries.

Spanish has no official recognition in the former British colony of Belize; however, per the 2000 census, it is spoken by 46% of the population.^[8] Due to their proximity to Spanish-speaking countries, Trinidad and Tobago and Brazil have implemented Spanish language teaching into their education systems. The Trinidad government launched the Spanish as a First Foreign Language (SAFFL) initiative in March 2005.^[9] In 2005, the National Congress of Brazil approved a bill, signed into law by the President, making it mandatory for schools to offer Spanish as an alternative foreign language course in both public and private secondary schools in Brazil.^[10] In many border towns and villages (especially in the Uruguayan-Brazilian and Paraguayan-Brazilian border areas), a mixed language known as Portuñol is spoken.^[11]

Spanish in the United States

According to 2006 census data, 44.3 million people of the U.S. population were Hispanic or Hispanic American by origin;^[12] 38.3 million people, 13 percent, of the population over five years old speak Spanish at home.^[13] The Spanish language has a long history and presence in the United States due to historic Spanish and later, Mexican administration over territories now forming the southwestern states as well as Florida, which was Spanish territory until 1821.

Spanish is by far the most common second language spoken and taught in the country, and with over 50 million total speakers, the United States is now the second largest Spanish-speaking country in the world after Mexico.^[14] Spanish is spoken by 10.7% of the population. While English is the de facto official language of the country, Spanish is often used in public services and notices at the federal and state levels. Spanish is also used in administration in the state of New Mexico.^[15] The language also has a strong influence in major metropolitan areas such as those of Los Angeles, Miami, San Antonio, New York, San Francisco, Dallas-Fort Worth, and Phoenix; as well as more recently, Chicago, Las Vegas, Boston, Houston, and Baltimore-Washington, D.C. due to 20th and 21st century immigration.

Hispanics in the world

Plaza mayor, Segovia, Spain founded by Celtiberians about 700 BC, the Romans in 80 BC.

Street view in Guanajuato, Mexico, founded 1554.

Old San Juan, Puerto Rico founded 1521 .

San Salvador, El Salvador founded 1525.

Fort Santiago, Intramuros, Manila, Philippines founded 1571.

Major influence

Spanish, as a mother tongue, is spoken by more than 390 million people (second only to Chinese). The total number of Spanish speakers is more than 500 million people.^[16] Mexico contains the largest number of Spanish speakers, with over 100 million.

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, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Puerto Rico, El Salvador, Uruguay 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 50 million Hispanic residents. With 10.7% its total population speaking Spanish, Spanish-language TV networks and other media companies are located across the United States. Additionally, Puerto Rico is a commonwealth in free association with the United States and its residents are American citizens. 46% of Belizeans can speak Spanish.^[17]

Africa

Hispanics in the African continent are concentrated in overseas territories of Spain, which are the Canary Islands, Ceuta, Melilla and largely unpopulated 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 Berber languages and cultures. In Angola and Nigeria there are small populations of Spanish speakers who descend from repatriated Afro-Cubans of the colonial era. Altogether in Africa, two million speak Spanish.

Asia

Some countries in the Asia-Pacific region received influence from the Hispanic world while they were governed by the Spanish Crown via Mexico City and Madrid. The Philippines, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Palau and the Federated States of Micronesia are among those in this region that received influence from Spain and Mexico.

In the Philippines, there is a significant Hispanic population. They are mostly concentrated in Cebú, Metro Manila, Zamboanga, Iloílo, and Dávao. Spanish was one of the official languages of the Philippines until 1973, when president Ferdinand Marcos had it removed. The constitution of the Malolos government said that Spanish was to be official "por ahora" or "for the time being". However the language is considered as an optional language on the Philippine Constitution. Spanish is natively spoken by 5,000 people but around 500,000 to 2,500,000 speak it as their second or third language alongside English and Filipino. In addition, Chavacano, a Spanish-based creole language in the Philippines has approximately 600,000 native speakers. In contrast with people from the Hispanic world, the prevalence of Hispanic given names and surnames among the majority of Filipinos does not indicate Spanish ancestry. It was implemented due to a decree by the Spanish crown for the systematic distribution of family names and the imposition of the Spanish naming system on the inhabitants of the Philippines for proper recording and to help ease the collection of taxes (see Catálogo alfabético de apellidos).

See also

• Hispanic
• List of hispanophones
• Flag of the Hispanic People
• Hispanosphere
• Panhispanism
• Patria Grande

References