cultures
Culture ( ) is a concept that encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and Social norm, norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, Social norm, customs, capabilities, Attitude (psychology), attitudes ...
, or countries related to
Spain
Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...
, the
Spanish language
Spanish () or Castilian () is a Romance languages, Romance language of the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family that evolved from the Vulgar Latin spoken on the Iberian Peninsula of Europe. Today, it is a world language, gl ...
ethnic
An ethnicity or ethnic group is a group of people with shared attributes, which they collectively believe to have, and long-term endogamy. Ethnicities share attributes like language, culture, common sets of ancestry, traditions, society, re ...
Spaniards
Spaniards, or Spanish people, are a Romance-speaking ethnic group native to the Iberian Peninsula, primarily associated with the modern nation-state of Spain. Genetically and ethnolinguistically, Spaniards belong to the broader Southern a ...
and Spanish-speaking (
Hispanophone
Hispanophone refers to anything related to the Spanish language.
In a cultural, rather than merely linguistic sense, the notion of "Hispanophone" goes further than the above definition. The Hispanic culture is the legacy of the vast and prolonge ...
) populations and countries in
Hispanic America
Hispanic America ( or ), historically known as Spanish America () or Castile (historical region), Castilian America (), is the Spanish-speaking countries and territories of the Americas. In all of these countries, Spanish language, Spanish is th ...
(the continent) and
Hispanic Africa
Hispanic Africa () is a cultural region integrated by the territories and countries of Africa where Spanish has an official presence. The people from this region are called "Hispanic Africans".
The territory is integrated by two countries, ...
(
Equatorial Guinea
Equatorial Guinea, officially the Republic of Equatorial Guinea, is a country on the west coast of Central Africa. It has an area of . Formerly the colony of Spanish Guinea, its post-independence name refers to its location both near the Equ ...
and the
disputed territory
A territorial dispute or boundary dispute is a disagreement over the possession or control of territories (land, water or airspace) between two or more political entities.
Context and definitions
Territorial disputes are often related to the ...
of
Western Sahara
Western Sahara is a territorial dispute, disputed territory in Maghreb, North-western Africa. It has a surface area of . Approximately 30% of the territory () is controlled by the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR); the remaining 70% is ...
), which were formerly part of the
Spanish Empire
The Spanish Empire, sometimes referred to as the Hispanic Monarchy (political entity), Hispanic Monarchy or the Catholic Monarchy, was a colonial empire that existed between 1492 and 1976. In conjunction with the Portuguese Empire, it ushered ...
due to colonization mainly between the 16th and 20th centuries. The cultures of Hispanophone countries outside Spain have been influenced as well by the local pre-Hispanic cultures or other foreign influences.
There was also Spanish influence in the former
Spanish East Indies
The Spanish East Indies were the colonies of the Spanish Empire in Asia-Pacific, Asia and Oceania from 1565 to 1901, governed through the Captaincy General of the Philippines, captaincy general in Manila for the Monarchy of Spain, Spanish Crown, i ...
, including the
Philippines
The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...
,
Marianas
The Mariana Islands ( ; ), also simply the Marianas, are a crescent-shaped archipelago comprising the summits of fifteen longitudinally oriented, mostly Volcano#Dormant and reactivated, dormant volcanic mountains in the northwestern Pacific Ocean ...
, and other nations. However, Spanish is not a predominant language in these regions and, as a result, their inhabitants are not usually considered Hispanic.
Hispanic culture is a set of customs, traditions, beliefs, and art forms in music, literature, dress, architecture, cuisine, and other cultural fields that are generally shared by peoples in Hispanic regions, but which can vary considerably from one country or territory to another. The
Spanish language
Spanish () or Castilian () is a Romance languages, Romance language of the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family that evolved from the Vulgar Latin spoken on the Iberian Peninsula of Europe. Today, it is a world language, gl ...
is the main cultural element shared by Hispanic peoples.
Terminology
The term Hispanic derives from the
Latin
Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...
word , the adjectival derivation of ', which means of the
Iberian Peninsula
The Iberian Peninsula ( ), also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in south-western Europe. Mostly separated from the rest of the European landmass by the Pyrenees, it includes the territories of peninsular Spain and Continental Portugal, comprisin ...
and possibly Celtiberian origin. Also etymology of "Spain" on the same site. In English the word is attested from the 16th century (and in the late 19th century in American English).
The words ''Spain'', ''Spanish'', and ''Spaniard'' are of the same etymology as ', ultimately.
was the Latin name given to a person from Hispania during Roman rule. The ancient Roman
Hispania
Hispania was the Ancient Rome, Roman name for the Iberian Peninsula. Under the Roman Republic, Hispania was divided into two Roman province, provinces: Hispania Citerior and Hispania Ulterior. During the Principate, Hispania Ulterior was divide ...
, which roughly comprised what is currently called the
Iberian Peninsula
The Iberian Peninsula ( ), also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in south-western Europe. Mostly separated from the rest of the European landmass by the Pyrenees, it includes the territories of peninsular Spain and Continental Portugal, comprisin ...
, included the contemporary states of
Spain
Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...
,
Portugal
Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...
, parts of
France
France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...
,
Andorra
Andorra, officially the Principality of Andorra, is a Sovereignty, sovereign landlocked country on the Iberian Peninsula, in the eastern Pyrenees in Southwestern Europe, Andorra–France border, bordered by France to the north and Spain to A ...
, and the
British Overseas Territory
The British Overseas Territories (BOTs) or alternatively referred to as the United Kingdom Overseas Territories (UKOTs) are the fourteen dependent territory, territories with a constitutional and historical link with the United Kingdom that, ...
of
Gibraltar
Gibraltar ( , ) is a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory and British overseas cities, city located at the southern tip of the Iberian Peninsula, on the Bay of Gibraltar, near the exit of the Mediterranean Sea into the A ...
. In English, the term ''Hispano-Roman'' is sometimes used. The Hispano-Romans were composed of people from many different Indigenous tribes, in addition to colonists from
Italia
Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...
. Some famous (plural of ') and were the emperors
Trajan
Trajan ( ; born Marcus Ulpius Traianus, 18 September 53) was a Roman emperor from AD 98 to 117, remembered as the second of the Five Good Emperors of the Nerva–Antonine dynasty. He was a philanthropic ruler and a successful soldier ...
,
Marcus Aurelius
Marcus Aurelius Antoninus ( ; ; 26 April 121 – 17 March 180) was Roman emperor from 161 to 180 and a Stoicism, Stoic philosopher. He was a member of the Nerva–Antonine dynasty, the last of the rulers later known as the Five Good Emperors ...
,
Hadrian
Hadrian ( ; ; 24 January 76 – 10 July 138) was Roman emperor from 117 to 138. Hadrian was born in Italica, close to modern Seville in Spain, an Italic peoples, Italic settlement in Hispania Baetica; his branch of the Aelia gens, Aelia '' ...
,
Theodosius I
Theodosius I ( ; 11 January 347 – 17 January 395), also known as Theodosius the Great, was Roman emperor from 379 to 395. He won two civil wars and was instrumental in establishing the Nicene Creed as the orthodox doctrine for Nicene C ...
and
Magnus Maximus
Magnus Maximus (; died 28 August 388) was Roman emperor in the West from 383 to 388. He usurped the throne from emperor Gratian.
Born in Gallaecia, he served as an officer in Britain under Theodosius the Elder during the Great Conspiracy ...
, the poets
Marcus Annaeus Lucanus
Marcus Annaeus Lucanus (3 November AD 39 – 30 April AD 65), better known in English as Lucan (), was a Roman poet, born in Corduba, Hispania Baetica (present-day Córdoba, Spain). He is regarded as one of the outstanding figures of the Imper ...
,
Martial
Marcus Valerius Martialis (known in English as Martial ; March, between 38 and 41 AD – between 102 and 104 AD) was a Roman and Celtiberian poet born in Bilbilis, Hispania (modern Spain) best known for his twelve books of '' Epigrams'', pu ...
and
Prudentius
Aurelius Prudentius Clemens () was a Roman Christian poet, born in the Roman province of Tarraconensis (now Northern Spain) in 348.H. J. Rose, ''A Handbook of Classical Literature'' (1967) p. 508 He probably died in the Iberian Peninsula some ...
, the philosophers
Seneca the Elder
Lucius Annaeus Seneca the Elder ( ; – c. AD 39), also known as Seneca the Rhetorician, was a Roman writer, born of a wealthy equestrian family of Corduba, Hispania. He wrote a collection of reminiscences about the Roman schools of rhetoric, ...
and
Seneca the Younger
Lucius Annaeus Seneca the Younger ( ; AD 65), usually known mononymously as Seneca, was a Stoicism, Stoic philosopher of Ancient Rome, a statesman, a dramatist, and in one work, a satirist, from the post-Augustan age of Latin literature.
Seneca ...
, and the usurper Maximus of Hispania. A number of these men, such as Trajan, Hadrian and others, were in fact descended from Roman colonial families.
Here follows a comparison of several terms related to ''Hispanic'':
* ''Hispania'' was the name of the
Iberian Peninsula
The Iberian Peninsula ( ), also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in south-western Europe. Mostly separated from the rest of the European landmass by the Pyrenees, it includes the territories of peninsular Spain and Continental Portugal, comprisin ...
/Iberia from the 3rd century BC to the 8th AD, both as a
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire ruled the Mediterranean and much of Europe, Western Asia and North Africa. The Roman people, Romans conquered most of this during the Roman Republic, Republic, and it was ruled by emperors following Octavian's assumption of ...
province and immediately thereafter as a
Visigothic kingdom
The Visigothic Kingdom, Visigothic Spain or Kingdom of the Goths () was a Barbarian kingdoms, barbarian kingdom that occupied what is now southwestern France and the Iberian Peninsula from the 5th to the 8th centuries. One of the Germanic people ...
, 5th–8th century.
* ''Hispano-Roman'' is used to refer to the culture and people of Hispania, both during the Roman period and subsequent Visigothic period.
* ''Hispanic'' is used to refer to modern Spain, to the Spanish language, and to the Spanish-speaking nations of the world, particularly the
Americas
The Americas, sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North America and South America.''Webster's New World College Dictionary'', 2010 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio. When viewed as a sing ...
.
* ''Spanish'' is used to refer to the people, nationality, culture, language and other things of Spain.
* ''Spaniard'' is used to refer to the people of Spain.
''Hispania'' was divided into two provinces:
Hispania Citerior
Hispania Citerior (English: "Hither Iberia", or "Nearer Iberia") was a Roman province in Hispania during the Roman Republic. It was on the eastern coast of Iberia down to the town of Cartago Nova, today's Cartagena in the autonomous community of ...
and
Hispania Ulterior
Hispania Ulterior (English: "Further Hispania", or occasionally "Thither Hispania") was a Roman province located in Hispania (on the Iberian Peninsula) during the Roman Republic, roughly located in Baetica and in the Guadalquivir valley of moder ...
. In 27 BC, Hispania Ulterior was divided into two new provinces,
Hispania Baetica
Hispania Baetica, often abbreviated Baetica, was one of three Roman provinces created in Hispania (the Iberian Peninsula) in 27 BC. Baetica was bordered to the west by Lusitania, and to the northeast by Tarraconensis. Baetica remained one of ...
Hispania Tarraconensis
Hispania Tarraconensis was one of three Roman provinces in Hispania. It encompassed much of the northern, eastern and central territories of modern Spain along with modern North Region, Portugal, northern Portugal. Southern Spain, the region now ...
. 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.
Before the marriage of Queen
Isabella I of Castile
Isabella I (; 22 April 1451 – 26 November 1504), also called Isabella the Catholic (Spanish: ''Isabel la Católica''), was Queen of Castile and List of Leonese monarchs, León from 1474 until her death in 1504. She was also Queen of Aragon ...
and King
Ferdinand II of Aragon
Ferdinand II, also known as Ferdinand I, Ferdinand III, and Ferdinand V (10 March 1452 – 23 January 1516), called Ferdinand the Catholic, was King of Aragon from 1479 until his death in 1516. As the husband and co-ruler of Queen Isabella I of ...
in 1469, the four Christian kingdoms of the Iberian Peninsula—the Kingdom of
Portugal
Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...
, the
Crown of Aragon
The Crown of Aragon (, ) ;, ; ; . was a composite monarchy ruled by one king, originated by the dynastic union of the Kingdom of Aragon and the County of Barcelona (later Principality of Catalonia) and ended as a consequence of the War of the Sp ...
, the
Crown of Castile
The Crown of Castile was a medieval polity in the Iberian Peninsula that formed in 1230 as a result of the third and definitive union of the crowns and, some decades later, the parliaments of the kingdoms of Kingdom of Castile, Castile and Kingd ...
, and the
Kingdom of Navarre
The Kingdom of Navarre ( ), originally the Kingdom of Pamplona, occupied lands on both sides of the western Pyrenees, with its northernmost areas originally reaching the Atlantic Ocean (Bay of Biscay), between present-day Spain and France.
The me ...
—were collectively called The Spains. This revival of the old Roman concept in the
Middle Ages
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...
appears to have originated in
Provençal
Provençal may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to Provence, a region of France
** Provençal dialect, a dialect of the Occitan language, spoken in the southeast of France
** ''Provençal'', meaning the whole Occitan language
* Provenca ...
, and was first documented at the end of the 11th century. In the
Council of Constance
The Council of Constance (; ) was an ecumenical council of the Catholic Church that was held from 1414 to 1418 in the Bishopric of Constance (Konstanz) in present-day Germany. This was the first time that an ecumenical council was convened in ...
, the four kingdoms shared one vote.
The terms ''Spain'' and ''the Spains'' were not interchangeable. Spain was a geographic territory, home to several kingdoms (Christian and Muslim), with separate governments, laws, languages, religions, and customs, and was the historical remnant of the Hispano-Gothic unity. Spain was not a political entity until much later, and when referring to the Middle Ages, one should not be confounded with the nation-state of today. The term ''The Spains'' referred specifically to a collective of juridico-political units, first the Christian kingdoms, and then the different kingdoms ruled by the same king. Illustrative of this fact is the historical ecclesiastical title of Primate of the Spains, traditionally claimed by the
Archbishop of Braga
The Archdiocese of Braga () is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or archdiocese of the Catholic Church in Portugal. It is known for its use of the Rite of Braga, a use of the liturgy distinct from the Roman Rite and other Latin liturgical ...
, a Portuguese prelate.
With the '' Decretos de Nueva Planta'', Philip V started to organize the fusion of his kingdoms that until then were ruled as distinct and independent, but this unification process lacked a formal and juridic proclamation.
Although colloquially and literally the expression "King of Spain" or "King of the Spains" was already widespread, 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". 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".
The expansion of the
Spanish Empire
The Spanish Empire, sometimes referred to as the Hispanic Monarchy (political entity), Hispanic Monarchy or the Catholic Monarchy, was a colonial empire that existed between 1492 and 1976. In conjunction with the Portuguese Empire, it ushered ...
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 (as in the Philippines, the lone Spanish territory in Asia), producing a number of multiracial populations. Today, the varied populations of these places, including those with Spanish ancestry, are also designated as Hispanic.
Definitions in ancient Rome
The Latin gentile adjectives that belong to Hispania are ''Hispanus, Hispanicus,'' and ''Hispaniensis.'' A Hispanus is someone who is a native of Hispania with no foreign parents, while children born in Hispania of Roman parents were ''Hispanienses''. ''Hispaniensis'' means 'connected in some way to Hispania', as in "Exercitus Hispaniensis" ('the Spanish army') or "mercatores Hispanienses" ('Spanish merchants'). ''Hispanicus'' implies 'of' or 'belonging to' Hispania or the Hispanus or of their fashion as in "gladius Hispanicus". The gentile adjectives were not ethnolinguistic but derived primarily on a geographic basis, from the toponym Hispania as the people of Hispania spoke different languages, although Titus Livius (
Livy
Titus Livius (; 59 BC – AD 17), known in English as Livy ( ), was a Roman historian. He wrote a monumental history of Rome and the Roman people, titled , covering the period from the earliest legends of Rome before the traditional founding i ...
) said they could all understand each other, not making clear if they spoke dialects of the same language or were polyglots.
The first recorded use of an
anthroponym
Anthroponymy (also anthroponymics or anthroponomastics, from Ancient Greek ἄνθρωπος ''anthrōpos'', 'human', and ὄνομα ''onoma'', 'name') is the study of ''anthroponyms'', the proper names of human beings, both individual and coll ...
derived from the toponym Hispania is attested in one of the five fragments, of
Ennius
Quintus Ennius (; ) was a writer and poet who lived during the Roman Republic. He is often considered the father of Roman poetry. He was born in the small town of Rudiae, located near modern Lecce (ancient ''Calabria'', today Salento), a town ...
in 236 BC who wrote "Hispane, non Romane memoretis loqui me" ("Remember that I speak like a Hispanic not a Roman") as having been said by a native of Hispania.
Definitions in Portugal, Spain, the rest of Europe
In Portugal, Hispanic refers to something historical related to ancient Hispania (especially the terms Hispano-Roman and Hispania) or the Spanish language and cultures shared by all the Spanish-speaking countries. Although sharing the etymology for the word (pt: ', es: '), the definition for Hispanic is different between Portugal and Spain.
The
Royal Spanish Academy
The Royal Spanish Academy (, ; ) is Spain's official royal institution with a mission to ensure the stability of the Spanish language. It is based in Madrid, Spain, and is affiliated with national language academies in 22 other Hispanophon ...
(Spanish: Real Academia Española, RAE), the official royal institution responsible for regulating the Spanish language defines the terms "'" and "'" (which in Spain have slightly different meanings) as:
''Hispano'':
* 1. A native of ''Hispania'' oman region* 2. Belonging or relating to ''Hispania''
* 3. Spanish, as applied to a person
* 4. Of or pertaining to
Hispanic America
Hispanic America ( or ), historically known as Spanish America () or Castile (historical region), Castilian America (), is the Spanish-speaking countries and territories of the Americas. In all of these countries, Spanish language, Spanish is th ...
* 5. Of or pertaining to the population of Hispanic American origin who live in the United States of America
* 6. A person of this origin who lives in the United States of America
''Hispánico''
* 1. Belonging or relating to ancient ''Hispania'' or the people inhabiting the region
* 2. Belonging or relating to Spain and Spanish-speaking countries
The modern term to identify Portuguese and Spanish territories under a single nomenclature is "Iberian", and the one to refer to cultures derived from both countries in the Americas is "Iberian-American". These designations can be mutually recognized by people in Portugal and
Brazil
Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...
. "Hispanic" is totally void of any self-identification in Brazil, and quite to the contrary, serves the purpose of marking a clear distinction in relation to neighboring countries' culture. Brazilians may identify as Latin Americans, but refute being considered Hispanics because their language and culture are neither part of the Hispanic cultural sphere, nor Spanish-speaking world.
In Spanish, the term "'", as in "'", refers to the people of Spanish origin who live in the Americas and to a relationship to Spain or to the Spanish language. There are people in Hispanic America that are not of Spanish origin, such as Amerindians- the original people of these areas, as well as Africans and people with origins from other parts of Europe.
Like in Portugal, in the rest of Europe (and wider world) the concept of 'Hispanic' refers to historical ancient Hispania (especially the term Hispano-Roman and Hispania during the Roman Empire) or the Spanish language and cultures shared by all the Spanish-speaking countries.
Definitions in the United States
Both ''Hispanic'' and '' Latino'' are widely used in American English for Spanish-speaking people and their descendants in the United States. While ''Hispanic'' refers to Spanish speakers overall, '' Latino'' refers specifically to people of
Latin America
Latin America is the cultural region of the Americas where Romance languages are predominantly spoken, primarily Spanish language, Spanish and Portuguese language, Portuguese. Latin America is defined according to cultural identity, not geogr ...
n descent. ''Hispanic'' can also be used for the people and culture of Spain as well as Latin America. While originally the term ''Hispanic'' referred primarily to the
Hispanos of New Mexico
The Hispanos of New Mexico, also known as New Mexican Hispanics or Nuevomexicanos, are Hispanic residents originating in the historical region of Santa Fe de Nuevo México, today the US state of New Mexico (''Nuevo México''), southern Color ...
within the
United States
The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
,Cobos, Rubén (2003) "Introduction", ''A Dictionary of New Mexico & Southern Colorado Spanish'' (2nd ed.); Santa Fe: Museum of New Mexico Press; p. ix; today, organizations in the country use the term as a broad catchall to refer to persons with a historical and cultural relationship with Spain regardless of race and ethnicity. The United States Census Bureau uses ''Hispanic or Latino'' to refer to ''a person of Cuban, Mexican, Puerto Rican, South or Central American, or other Spanish culture or origin regardless of race'' and states that Hispanics or Latinos can be of any race and any ancestry.
Because of the technical distinctions involved in defining "race" vs. "ethnicity", there is confusion among the general population about the designation of Hispanic identity. Currently, the United States Census Bureau defines six race categories:
* White or Caucasian
* Black or African American
* American Indian or Alaska Native
* Asian
* Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander
* Some Other Race
A 1997 notice by the U.S.
Office of Management and Budget
The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) is the largest office within the Executive Office of the President of the United States (EOP). The office's most prominent function is to produce the president's budget, while it also examines agency pro ...
defined ''Hispanic or Latino'' persons as being "persons who trace their origin or descent to Mexico, Puerto Rico, Cuba, Central and South America, and other Spanish cultures." The
United States Census
The United States census (plural censuses or census) is a census that is legally mandated by the Constitution of the United States. It takes place every ten years. The first census after the American Revolution was taken in 1790 United States ce ...
uses the
ethnonym
An ethnonym () is a name applied to a given ethnic group. Ethnonyms can be divided into two categories: exonyms (whose name of the ethnic group has been created by another group of people) and autonyms, or endonyms (whose name is created and used ...
s ''Hispanic or Latino'' to refer to "a person of Cuban, Mexican, Puerto Rican, South or Central American, or other Hispanic culture or origin regardless of race."
The 2010 census asked if the person was "Spanish/Hispanic/Latino". The
United States census
The United States census (plural censuses or census) is a census that is legally mandated by the Constitution of the United States. It takes place every ten years. The first census after the American Revolution was taken in 1790 United States ce ...
uses the ''Hispanic or Latino'' to refer to "a person of Cuban, Mexican, Puerto Rican, South or Central American, or other Spanish culture or origin regardless of race." The Census Bureau also explains that " igin can be viewed as the heritage, nationality group, lineage, or country of birth of the person or the person's ancestors before their arrival in the United States. People who identify their origin as Hispanic, Latino or Spanish may be of any race."
The
U.S. Department of Transportation
The United States Department of Transportation (USDOT or DOT) is one of the executive departments of the U.S. federal government. It is headed by the secretary of transportation, who reports directly to the president of the United States a ...
defines ''Hispanic'' as, "persons of Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, Central or South American, or other Spanish culture or origin, regardless of race." This definition has been adopted by the
Small Business Administration
The United States Small Business Administration (SBA) is an independent agency of the United States government that provides support to entrepreneurs and small businesses. The mission of the Small Business Administration is "to maintain and str ...
as well as by many federal, state, and municipal agencies for the purposes of awarding government contracts to minority owned businesses.
The
Congressional Hispanic Caucus
The Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC) is an organization of 38 Democratic members of the United States Congress of Hispanic and Latino descent. The Caucus focuses on issues affecting Hispanics and Latinos in the United States. The CHC was fo ...
and the
Congressional Hispanic Conference
The Congressional Hispanic Conference (CHC) is a Republican sponsored caucus in the United States Congress. Currently with 20 members, the CHC was formed in 2003, with the stated goal of promoting policy outcomes of importance to Americans of ...
include representatives of Spanish and Portuguese, Puerto Rican and Mexican descent. The
Hispanic Society of America
The term Hispanic () are people, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an ethnic or meta-ethnic term.
The term commonly appl ...
is dedicated to the study of the arts and cultures of the Hispanic and Lusitanic world. The
Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities
A Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI) is defined in U.S. federal law as an accredited, degree-granting, public or private nonprofit institution of higher education with 25% or higher total undergraduate Hispanic or Latino full-time equivalent (FTE ...
, proclaimed champions of Hispanic success in higher education, is committed to Hispanic educational success in the United States, and the Hispanic and Lusitanic world.
The U.S.
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is a federal agency that was established via the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to administer and enforce civil rights laws against workplace discrimination. The EEOC investigates discrimination ...
encourages any individual who believes that he or she is Hispanic to self-identify as Hispanic. The
United States Department of Labor
The United States Department of Labor (DOL) is one of the executive departments of the U.S. federal government. It is responsible for the administration of federal laws governing occupational safety and health, wage and hour standards, unemp ...
–
Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs
The Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) is part of the U.S. Department of Labor. OFCCP is responsible for ensuring that employers doing business with the federal government comply with the laws and regulations requiring nondis ...
encourages the same self-identification. As a result, individuals with origins to part of the
Spanish Empire
The Spanish Empire, sometimes referred to as the Hispanic Monarchy (political entity), Hispanic Monarchy or the Catholic Monarchy, was a colonial empire that existed between 1492 and 1976. In conjunction with the Portuguese Empire, it ushered ...
may self-identify as Hispanic, because an employer may not override an individual's self-identification.
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.
In a recent study, most Spanish speakers of Spanish or Hispanic American descent do not prefer the term ''Hispanic'' or ''Latino'' when it comes to describing their identity. Instead, they prefer to be identified by their country of origin. When asked if they have a preference for either being identified as ''Hispanic'' or ''Latino'', the Pew study finds that "half (51%) say they have no preference for either term." Among those who do express a preference, "'Hispanic' is preferred over 'Latino' by more than a two-to-one margin—33% versus 14%." 21% prefer to be referred to simply as "Americans". A majority (51%) say they most often identify themselves by their family's country of origin, while 24% say they prefer a pan-ethnic label such as Hispanic or Latino.
Culture
The
Miguel de Cervantes Prize
The Miguel de Cervantes Prize () is awarded annually to honour the lifetime achievement of an outstanding writer in the Spanish language. The ''Encyclopædia Britannica'' calls it "most prestigious and remunerative award given for Spanish-languag ...
is awarded to Hispanic writers, whereas the
Latin Grammy Award
The Latin Grammy Awards (stylized as Latin GRAMMYs) are awards presented by the Latin Recording Academy to recognize outstanding achievement in the Latin music industry. The Latin Grammy honors works recorded in Spanish or Portuguese from any ...
recognizes Hispanic musicians, and the Platino Awards as given to outstanding Hispanic films.
Music
Folk and popular dance and music also varies greatly among Hispanics. For instance, the music from Spain is a lot different from the
Hispanic America
Hispanic America ( or ), historically known as Spanish America () or Castile (historical region), Castilian America (), is the Spanish-speaking countries and territories of the Americas. In all of these countries, Spanish language, Spanish is th ...
n, 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
Spain is a diverse country integrated by contrasting entities with varying economic and social structures, languages, and historical, political and cultural traditions. The Spanish constitution responds ambiguously to the claims of historic ...
Basque
Basque may refer to:
* Basques, an ethnic group of Spain and France
* Basque language, their language
Places
* Basque Country (greater region), the homeland of the Basque people with parts in both Spain and France
* Basque Country (autonomous co ...
, mainly). See, for instance,
Music of Catalonia
The music of Catalonia comprises one of the oldest documented musical traditions in Europe. In tandem with the rest of Western Europe, it has a long musical tradition, incorporating a number of different styles and genres over the past two thous ...
Music of Galicia, Cantabria and Asturias
The musical traditions of the Northwest Iberian Peninsula include those of Galicia, Asturias, and Cantabria. The music of Galicia and Asturias is characterized by the use of bagpipes, with some similarities to the music of Cantabria.
History
It ...
, and
Basque music
Basque music refers to the music made in the Basque Country (greater region), Basque Country, reflecting traits related to its society/tradition, and devised by people from that territory. While traditionally more closely associated to rural base ...
.
Flamenco
Flamenco () is an art form based on the various folkloric music traditions of southern Spain, developed within the Gitanos, gitano subculture of the region of Andalusia, and also having historical presence in Extremadura and Region of Murcia, ...
is also a very popular music style in Spain, especially in
Andalusia
Andalusia ( , ; , ) is the southernmost autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in Peninsular Spain, located in the south of the Iberian Peninsula, in southwestern Europe. It is the most populous and the second-largest autonomou ...
. Spanish ballads "romances" can be traced in Argentina as "milongas", same structure but different scenarios.
On the other side of the ocean, Hispanic 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
The music of Mexico is highly diverse, featuring a wide range of musical genres and performance styles. It has been influenced by a variety of cultures, primarily deriving from Europeans, Indigenous, and Africans. Music became an expression of M ...
shows combined influences of mostly European and Native American origin, while traditional Northern Mexican music— norteño and
banda
Banda may refer to:
People
* Banda (surname)
* Banda Prakash (born 1954), Indian politician
* Banda Kanakalingeshwara Rao (1907–1968), Indian actor
* Banda Karthika Reddy (born 1977), Indian politician
*Banda Singh Bahadur (1670–1716), Sikh ...
—
polka
Polka is a dance style and genre of dance music in originating in nineteenth-century Bohemia, now part of the Czech Republic. Though generally associated with Czech and Central European culture, polka is popular throughout Europe and the ...
, has influence from polka music brought by
Central Europe
Central Europe is a geographical region of Europe between Eastern Europe, Eastern, Southern Europe, Southern, Western Europe, Western and Northern Europe, Northern Europe. Central Europe is known for its cultural diversity; however, countries in ...
an settlers to
Mexico
Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...
which later influenced western music. The music of Hispanic Americans—such as
tejano music
Tejano music (), also known as Tex-Mex music, is a popular music style fusing Mexican influences. Its evolution began in northern Mexico (a variation of regional Mexican music known as ).
It reached a larger audience in the late 20th century ...
—has influences in
rock
Rock most often refers to:
* Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids
* Rock music, a genre of popular music
Rock or Rocks may also refer to:
Places United Kingdom
* Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wale ...
,
jazz
Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...
pop
Pop or POP may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
* Pop music, a musical genre
Artists
* POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gang Parade
* Pop! (British group), a UK pop group
* Pop! featuring Angie Hart, an Australian band
Album ...
, and
country music
Country (also called country and western) is a popular music, music genre originating in the southern regions of the United States, both the American South and American southwest, the Southwest. First produced in the 1920s, country music is p ...
as well as traditional Mexican music such as
Mariachi
Mariachi (, , ) is a genre of regional Mexican music dating back to at least the 18th century, evolving over time in the countryside of various regions of western Mexico. The usual mariachi group today consists of as many as eight violins, two ...
. Meanwhile, native
Andean
The Andes ( ), Andes Mountains or Andean Mountain Range (; ) are the longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range is long and wide (widest between 18°S ...
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 the tunes of Colombia, and in Chile where they play a fundamental role in the form of the greatly followed
nueva canción
(European , ; 'new song') is a left-wing social movement and musical genre in Latin America and the Iberian Peninsula, characterized by folk music, folk-inspired styles and socially committed lyrics. is widely recognized to have played a profou ...
. In U.S. communities of immigrants from these countries it is common to hear these styles.
Rock en español
Rock most often refers to:
* Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids
* Rock music, a genre of popular music
Rock or Rocks may also refer to:
Places United Kingdom
* Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...
,
Latin hip-hop
Latin hip hop (also known as Latin rap) is a subgenre of hip hop music that is recorded by Spanish-speaking artists in the Caribbean, North America, Central America, South America, and Spain.
Latin hip hop in the United States West Coast
In the ...
,
Salsa
Salsa most often refers to:
* Salsa (food), a variety of sauces used as condiments
* Salsa music, a popular style of Latin American music
* Salsa (dance), a Latin dance associated with Salsa music
Salsa or SALSA may also refer to:
Arts and ent ...
Bachata
Bachata may refer to:
* Bachata (music), a musical genre which originated in the Dominican Republic
** Traditional bachata, a subgenre of bachata music
** Bachata (dance), a dance form
* Bachatón, a hybrid bachata/reggaeton music style
* "Bach ...
,
Cumbia
Cumbia refers to a number of musical rhythms and folk dance traditions of Latin America, generally involving musical and cultural elements from American Indigenous peoples, Europeans, and Africans during colonial times. Cumbia is said to have com ...
and
Reggaeton
Reggaeton (, ) is a modern style of popular music, popular and electronic music that originated in Panamanian reggaetón, Panama during the late 1980s, and which rose to prominence in the late 1990s and early 2000s through a plethora of Puert ...
styles tend to appeal to the broader Hispanic population, and varieties of Cuban music are popular with many Hispanics of all backgrounds.
Literature
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:
* Spain: Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra,
Lope de Vega
Félix Lope de Vega y Carpio (; 25 November 156227 August 1635) was a Spanish playwright, poet, and novelist who was a key figure in the Spanish Golden Age (1492–1659) of Spanish Baroque literature, Baroque literature. In the literature of ...
Federico García Lorca
Federico del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús García Lorca (5 June 1898 – 19 August 1936) was a Spanish poet, playwright, and theatre director. García Lorca achieved international recognition as an emblematic member of the Generation of '27, a g ...
,
Miguel de Unamuno
Miguel de Unamuno y Jugo (; ; 29 September 1864 – 31 December 1936) was a Spanish essayist, novelist, poet, playwright, philosopher, professor of Greek and Classics, and later rector at the University of Salamanca.
His major philosophical ...
,
* Mexico:
Carlos Fuentes
Carlos Fuentes Macías (; ; November 11, 1928 – May 15, 2012) was a Mexican novelist and essayist. Among his works are ''The Death of Artemio Cruz'' (1962), '' Aura'' (1962), '' Terra Nostra'' (1975), '' The Old Gringo'' (1985) and '' Christop ...
,
Octavio Paz
Octavio Paz Lozano (March 31, 1914 – April 19, 1998) was a Mexican poet and diplomat. For his body of work, he was awarded the 1977 Jerusalem Prize, the 1981 Miguel de Cervantes Prize, the 1982 Neustadt International Prize for Literature, a ...
,
* Guatemala:
Miguel Ángel Asturias
Miguel Ángel Asturias Rosales (; 19 October 1899 – 9 June 1974) was a Guatemalan poet-diplomat, novelist, playwright and journalist. Winning the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1967, his work helped bring attention to the importance of i ...
,
* U.S.:
George Santayana
George Santayana (born Jorge Agustín Nicolás Ruiz de Santayana y Borrás, December 16, 1863 – September 26, 1952) was a Spanish-American philosopher, essayist, poet, and novelist. Born in Spain, Santayana was raised and educated in the Un ...
José Martí
José Julián Martí Pérez (; 28 January 1853 – 19 May 1895) was a Cuban nationalism, nationalist, poet, philosopher, essayist, journalist, translator, professor, and publisher, who is considered a Cuban national hero because of his role in ...
,
* Colombia:
Gabriel García Márquez
Gabriel José García Márquez (; 6 March 1927 – 17 April 2014) was a Colombian writer and journalist, known affectionately as Gabo () or Gabito () throughout Latin America. Considered one of the most significant authors of the 20th centur ...
,
Rafael Pombo
José Rafael de Pombo y Rebolledo (November 7, 1833 – May 5, 1912) was a Colombian poet born in Bogotá. Trained as a mathematician and an engineer in a military school, Rafael Pombo served in the army and he traveled to the United States of Am ...
,
* Uruguay:
Horacio Quiroga
Horacio Silvestre Quiroga Forteza (31 December 1878 – 19 February 1937) was a Uruguayan playwright, poet, and short story writer. The jungle settings of his stories emphasized the conflict between humans and nature. His portrayals of mental ...
Rómulo Gallegos
Rómulo Ángel del Monte Carmelo Gallegos Freire (2 August 1884 – 5 April 1969) was a Venezuelan novelist and politician. In 1948, he became the first freely elected President of Venezuela, president in Venezuela's history. He was removed from ...
,
* Nicaragua:
Rubén Darío
Félix Rubén García Sarmiento (18 January 1867 – 6 February 1916), known as Rubén Darío ( , ), was a Nicaraguan poet who initiated the Spanish-language literary movement known as '' modernismo'' (modernism) that flourished at the end of ...
,
* Peru:
Mario Vargas Llosa
Jorge Mario Pedro Vargas Llosa, 1st Marquess of Vargas Llosa (28 March 1936 – 13 April 2025) was a Peruvian novelist, journalist, essayist and politician. Vargas Llosa was one of the most significant Latin American novelists and essayists a ...
Julio Cortázar
Julio Florencio Cortázar (26 August 1914 – 12 February 1984; ) was an Argentine and naturalised French novelist, short story writer, poet, essayist, and translator. Known as one of the founders of the Latin American Boom, Cortázar influenc ...
,
Jorge Luis Borges
Jorge Francisco Isidoro Luis Borges Acevedo ( ; ; 24 August 1899 – 14 June 1986) was an Argentine short-story writer, essayist, poet and translator regarded as a key figure in Spanish literature, Spanish-language and international literatur ...
,
Ernesto Sabato
Ernesto Sabato (; June 24, 1911 – April 30, 2011) was an Argentine novelist, essayist, painter, and physicist. According to the BBC he "won some of the most prestigious prizes in Hispanic literature" and "became very influential in the litera ...
* Honduras: Roberto Quesada,
* Chile:
Pablo Neruda
Pablo Neruda ( ; ; born Ricardo Eliécer Neftalí Reyes Basoalto; 12 July 190423 September 1973) was a Chilean poet-diplomat and politician who won the 1971 Nobel Prize in Literature. Neruda became known as a poet when he was 13 years old an ...
,
Gabriela Mistral
Lucila Godoy Alcayaga (; 7 April 1889 – 10 January 1957), known by her pseudonym Gabriela Mistral (), was a Chilean poet-diplomat, educator, and Catholic. She was a member of the Secular Franciscan Order or Third Franciscan order. She was ...
,
* Dominican Republic:
Pedro Henríquez Ureña
Pedro Henríquez Ureña (June 29, 1884 – May 11, 1946) was a Dominican essayist, philosopher, humanist, philologist and literary critic.
Biography
Early works
Pedro Henríquez Ureña was born in Santo Domingo, the third of four siblings. He ...
,
* Equatorial Guinea:
Juan Tomás Ávila Laurel
Juan Tomás Ávila Laurel (born 6 November 1966) is an Equatoguinean author and activist. His parents were from the remote island of Annobón, off the West African coast. He is at the center of the feature award-winning documentary '' The Writer ...
Juan León Mera
Juan León Mera Martínez (28 June 1832 – 13 December 1894) was an Ecuadorian essayist, novelist, politician and painter. His best-known works are the Ecuadorian National Hymn and the novel '' Cumandá'' (1879). Additionally, in his politic ...
.
* Philippines:
Jose Rizal
Jose is the English transliteration of the Hebrew and Aramaic name ''Yose'', which is etymologically linked to ''Yosef'' or Joseph.
Given name Mishnaic and Talmudic periods
* Jose ben Abin
* Jose ben Akabya
*Jose the Galilean
* Jose ben Halaft ...
Jesus Balmori
Jesus (AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, and many Names and titles of Jesus in the New Testament, other names and titles, was a 1st-century Jewish preacher and religious leader. He is the Jesus in Chris ...
Sports
In the majority of the Hispanic countries,
association football
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...
is the most popular sport. The men's national teams of Argentina, Uruguay and Spain have won the
FIFA World Cup
The FIFA World Cup, often called the World Cup, is an international association football competition among the senior List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams of the members of the FIFA, Fédération Internatio ...
a total six times. The Spanish
La Liga
The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known as the Primera División or La Liga, and officially known as LaLiga EA Sports for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Spain and the highest ...
is one of the most popular in the world, known for
FC Barcelona
Futbol Club Barcelona (), commonly known as FC Barcelona and colloquially as Barça (), is a professional Football club (association football), football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top flight of ...
and
Real Madrid
Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional Football club (association football), football club based in Madrid. The club competes in La Liga, th ...
. Meanwhile, the
Argentine Primera División
The Primera División (; ), known officially as Liga Profesional de Fútbol, or Torneo Betano for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Argentina and the highest level of the Argentine football league system. Organ ...
is one of the strongest leagues in the Americas.
However,
baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...
is the most popular sport in some Central American and Caribbean countries (especially Cuba, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico,Nicaragua and Venezuela), as well as in the diaspora in the United States. Notable Hispanic teams in early baseball are the All Cubans, Cuban Stars and
New York Cubans
The New York Cubans were a Negro league baseball team that played during the 1930s and from 1939 to 1950. Despite playing in the Negro leagues, the team occasionally employed white-skinned Hispanic baseball players as well, because Hispanics pl ...
. The Hispanic Heritage Baseball Museum recognizes Hispanic baseball personalities. Nearly 30 percent (22 percent foreign-born Hispanics) of
MLB
Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...
players today have Hispanic heritage.
Several Hispanic sportspeople have been successful worldwide, such as
Diego Maradona
Diego Armando Maradona Franco (30 October 196025 November 2020) was an Argentine professional association football, football player and manager. Widely regarded as one of the greatest players in the history of the sport, he was one of the two ...
Lionel Messi
Lionel Andrés "Leo" Messi (; born 24 June 1987) is an Argentine professional Association football, footballer who plays as a forward (association football), forward for and Captain (association football), captains both Major League Soccer ...
,
Diego Forlán
Diego Forlán Corazo (born 19 May 1979) is a Uruguayan professional Manager (association football), football manager and former football player who played as a Striker (association football), striker. Regarded as one of the best forwards of his ...
,
Fernando Torres
Fernando José Torres Sanz (; born 20 March 1984) is a Spanish Association football, football Manager (association football), manager and former Football player, player who played as a Striker (association football), striker. He is the curr ...
,
Xavi Xavi () is a Catalan given name, usually used as a nickname for Xavier. Notable people with the name include:
Football
* Xavi Hernández (born 1980), Spanish football manager and former player
* Xavi Andorrà (born 1985), Andorran footballe ...
,
Andrés Iniesta
Andrés Iniesta Luján (; born 11 May 1984) is a Spanish former professional footballer who played as a midfielder and spent most of his career at La Liga club Barcelona. Often regarded as one of the greatest players of all time, he was known ...
,
Iker Casillas
Iker Casillas Fernández (; born 20 May 1981) is a Spanish former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper and currently works as a football commentator. Popularly dubbed "''San Iker''" ("Saint Iker") for his ability to produce miracu ...
,
Xabi Alonso
Xabier Alonso Olano (, ; born 25 November 1981) is a Spanish professional Manager (association football), football manager and former Football player, player who is the head coach of La Liga club Real Madrid CF, Real Madrid. He is regarded as o ...
(association football),
Juan Manuel Fangio
Juan Manuel Fangio (, ; 24 June 1911 – 17 July 1995) was an Argentine racing driver, who competed in Formula One from to . Nicknamed "el Chueco" and "el Maestro", Fangio won five Formula One World Drivers' Championship titles and—at the ti ...
,
Juan Pablo Montoya
Juan Pablo Montoya Roldán (; born 20 September 1975) is a Colombian racing driver, who competed in Formula One from to , IndyCar between 1999 and 2022, and the NASCAR Cup Series between 2006 and 2024. Montoya won seven Formula One Grand ...
,
Eliseo Salazar
Eliseo Salazar Valenzuela (; born 14 November 1954) is a Chilean former racing driver, who competed in Formula One from to . Salazar remains the only Chilean driver to compete in Formula One.
Salazar made his Formula One debut at the 1981 Uni ...
,
Fernando Alonso
Fernando Alonso Díaz (; born 29 July 1981) is a Spanish racing driver who competes in Formula One for Aston Martin in Formula One, Aston Martin. Alonso has won two Formula One World Drivers' Championship titles, which he won in and with ...
,
Marc Gené
Marc Gené i Guerrero (born 29 March 1974) is a Spanish professional racing driver. He is best known as a tester for Williams Grand Prix Engineering, Williams and Scuderia Ferrari, Ferrari in Formula One, Minardi Formula One driver and factory ...
,
Carlos Sainz Sr.
Carlos Sainz Cenamor (born 12 April 1962) is a Spanish Rallying, rally driver. He won the World Rally Championship List of World Rally Championship Drivers' Champions, drivers' title with Toyota Team Europe, Toyota in and , and finished runne ...
Ángel Nieto
Ángel Nieto Roldán (25 January 1947 – 3 August 2017) was a Spanish professional Grand Prix motorcycle racer. He was one of the most accomplished motorcycle racers in the history of the sport, winning 13 World Championships and 90 Grand Prix ...
,
Dani Pedrosa
Daniel Pedrosa Ramal (born 29 September 1985) is a Spanish Grand Prix motorcycle racing, Grand Prix motorcycle racer who retired from regular competition after the season. He grew up in Castellar del Vallès, a village near Sabadell. He is a ...
,
Jorge Lorenzo
Jorge Lorenzo Guerrero (; born 4 May 1987) is a Spanish former professional Grand Prix motorcycle racing, motorcycle racer. He is a five-time World Champion, with three List of 500cc/MotoGP Motorcycle World Champions, MotoGP World Championships ...
,
Marc Márquez
Marc Márquez Alentà (born 17 February 1993) is a Spanish Grand Prix motorcycle road racer who races for the Ducati Lenovo Team. He previously raced for the Ducati satellite team Gresini in 2024 and Honda's factory team from his MotoGP deb ...
,
Marc Coma
Marc Coma i Camps (born 7 October 1976) is a Spanish rally racing motorcycle rider. He won the Dakar Rally in 2006, 2009, 2011, 2014, and 2015 riding a KTM motorcycle, and is also a six-time winner of the FIM Cross-Country Rallies World Champion ...
,
Nani Roma
Joan "Nani" Roma Cararach (born 17 February 1972) is a rally racing driver from Folgueroles, Barcelona, Spain. He won the Dakar Rally riding a motorcycle in 2004. Since then, he has entered the car category, taking the win in the 2014 edition ...
Pau Gasol
Pau Gasol Sáez (, ; born July 6, 1980) is a Spanish former professional basketball player. He was a six-time NBA All-Star Game, NBA All-Star and a four-time All-NBA team selection, twice on the second team and twice on the third team. Gasol ...
,
Marc Gasol
Marc Gasol Sáez (, ; born 29 January 1985) is a Spanish former professional basketball player who is the president of Bàsquet Girona of the Liga ACB. The Center (basketball), center is a two-time All-NBA Team member and a three-time NBA All-St ...
(basketball),
Julio César Chávez
Julio César Chávez González (; born July 12, 1962), also known as Julio César Chávez Sr., is a Mexican former professional boxer who competed from 1980 to 2005. A multiple-time world champion in three weight divisions, Chávez was liste ...
,
Saúl Álvarez
Saul is a masculine given name of Hebrew origin. It is the English form of ''שָׁאוּל'', the Hebrew name of the Biblical King Saul. The name translates to "asked for/borrowed".
People named Saul include:
* Saul Adadi (1850–1918), Se ...
,
Carlos Monzón
Carlos Roque Monzón (7 August 1942 – 8 January 1995), nicknamed Escopeta (''Shotgun''), was an Argentine professional boxer who held the undisputed world middleweight championship for seven years. He successfully defended his title 14 times a ...
(boxing),
Miguel Indurain
-->
Miguel is a given name and surname, the Portuguese and Spanish form of the Hebrew name Michael. It may refer to:
Places
* Pedro Miguel, a parish in the municipality of Horta and the island of Faial in the Azores Islands
* São Miguel (disam ...
,
Alberto Contador
Alberto Contador Velasco (; born 6 December 1982) is a Spanish former professional cyclist. He is one of the most successful riders of his era, winning the Tour de France twice (2007, 2009), the Giro d'Italia twice (2008, 2015), and the Vuelta ...
,
Santiago Botero
Santiago Botero Echeverry (born October 27, 1972) is a Colombian former professional road bicycle racer. He was a pro from 1996 to 2010, during which he raced in three editions of the Tour de France and four editions of the Vuelta a España (th ...
,
Rigoberto Urán
Rigoberto Urán Urán, Colombian military decorations, ODB (born 26 January 1987) is a Colombian former road racing cyclist who competed as a professional from 2006 to 2024. During his professional career, Urán has taken fifteen victories, inc ...
,
Nairo Quintana
Nairo Alexánder Quintana Rojas, Order of Boyacá, ODB, (born 4 February 1990) is a Colombian racing cyclist, who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam .
Nicknamed "Nairoman" and "El Cóndor de los Andes", Quintana is a specialist climber, known fo ...
(cycling),
Roberto de Vicenzo
Roberto De Vicenzo (14 April 1923 – 1 June 2017) was a professional golfer from Argentina. He won a record 229 professional tournaments worldwide during his career, including seven on the PGA Tour and most famously the 1967 Open Championship. ...
,
Ángel Cabrera
Ángel Leopoldo Cabrera (; born 12 September 1969) is an Argentine professional golfer who has played on both the European Tour and PGA Tour. He is known affectionately as ''"El Pato"'' in Spanish ''("The Duck")'' for his waddling gait. He is a ...
,
Sergio García
Sergio García Fernández (; born 9 January 1980) is a Spanish professional golfer. He turned professional in 1999 and played on the European Tour and PGA Tour prior to joining LIV Golf in 2022. García has won 36 international tournaments as ...
,
Severiano Ballesteros
Severiano Ballesteros Sota (; 9 April 1957 – 7 May 2011) was a Spanish professional golfer, a World No. 1 who was one of the sport's leading figures from the mid-1970s to the mid-1990s. A member of a gifted golfing family, he won 90 inte ...
,
José María Olazábal
José María Olazábal Manterola (, ; born 5 February 1966) is a Spanish Basques, Basque professional golfer from the Basque Country (greater region), Basque Country, who has enjoyed success on both the European Tour and the PGA Tour, and has wo ...
(golf),
Luciana Aymar
Luciana Paula Aymar (; born 10 August 1977) is an Argentine retired field hockey player.
She is the only player in history to receive the FIH Player of the Year Award eight times, and is considered the best female hockey player of all time. In ...
(field hockey),
Yair Rodríguez
Yair Raziel Rodríguez Portillo (born October 6, 1992) is a Mexican professional mixed martial artist. He currently competes in the Featherweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), where he is a former Interim UFC Featherweig ...
,
Brandon Moreno
Brandon Moreno Carrillo (born December 7, 1993) is a Mexican professional mixed martial artist. He currently competes in the Flyweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), where he is a former two-time UFC Flyweight Champion and ...
,
Ilia Topuria
Ilia Topuria ( ka, ილია თოფურია; born January 21, 1997) is a Georgian and Spanish professional mixed martial artist. He currently competes in the Featherweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), where he i ...
(mixed martial arts),
Rafael Nadal
Rafael Nadal Parera (born 3 June 1986) is a Spanish former professional tennis player. He was ranked as the List of ATP number 1 ranked singles tennis players, world No. 1 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for ...
,
Marcelo Ríos
Marcelo Andrés Ríos Mayorga (; born 26 December 1975) is a Chilean former professional tennis player. He was ranked as the world No. 1 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), the first Latin American to reach the t ...
,
Guillermo Vilas
Guillermo Vilas (; born 17 August 1952) is an Argentine former professional tennis player. He was the world No. 1 of the Grand Prix tennis circuit, Grand Prix seasons in 1974, 1975 and 1977. He won 62 singles titles and 16 doubles titles during ...
,
Gabriela Sabatini
Gabriela Beatriz Sabatini (; born 16 May 1970) is an Argentine former professional tennis player. A former world No. 3 in both singles and doubles, Sabatini was one of the leading players from the mid-1980s to the mid-1990s, amassing 41 titles a ...
,
Juan Martín del Potro
Juan Martín del Potro (; born 23 September 1988) is an Argentine former professional tennis player. He was ranked world No. 3 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), in August 2018. Del Potro won 22 ATP Tour-level sing ...
(tennis).
Notable Hispanic sports television networks are
ESPN Deportes
ESPN Deportes (, ) is an American multinational Spanish-language pay television sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., a joint venture between The Walt Disney Company (which owns a controlling 80% stake) and Hearst Communications (which owns the ...
,
Fox Deportes
Fox Deportes (formerly Fox Sports en Español) is an American pay television network dedicated to broadcasting sports-related programming in Spanish, aimed at the Hispanic population in the United States. Launched in 1993, Fox Deportes, a divis ...
,
Televisa Deportes
TUDN (formerly Televisa Deportes) is a division of the Mexico, Mexican television broadcaster Televisa that produces sports programming for Las Estrellas, Canal 5 (Mexico), Canal 5, Nueve (Mexican TV network), Nueve, FOROtv, Foro TV and the Te ...
,
Azteca Deportes
Azteca Deportes (currently known as TV Azteca Deportes) is the sports division of Mexico's TV Azteca television network. It produces sports events and regular sports programming aired on the Azteca Uno and Azteca 7 networks in Mexico and now on Es ...
and
TyC Sports
TyC Sports is an Argentine pay television sports channel co-owned by Torneos and Clarín Group, based in Buenos Aires. In Argentina, the channel broadcasts the Argentine B Nacional, CONMEBOL Qualifiers, Argentina national football team friend ...
.
Religion
The Spanish and the Portuguese took the
Catholic
The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...
faith to their colonies in the Americas, Africa, and Asia; Catholicism remains the predominant religion amongst most Hispanics. A small but growing number of Hispanics belong to a
Protestant
Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that emphasizes Justification (theology), justification of sinners Sola fide, through faith alone, the teaching that Salvation in Christianity, salvation comes by unmerited Grace in Christianity, divin ...
denomination. Hispanic Christians form the largest ethno-linguistic group among Christians in the world, about 18% of the world's Christian population are Hispanic (around 430 million).
In the United States, some 65% of Hispanics and Latinos report themselves Catholic and 21% Protestant, with 13% having no affiliation. A minority among the Catholics, about one in five, are charismatics. Among the Protestant, 85% are " Born-again Christians" and belong to
Evangelical
Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide, interdenominational movement within Protestantism, Protestant Christianity that emphasizes evangelism, or the preaching and spreading of th ...
or
Pentecostal
Pentecostalism or classical Pentecostalism is a movement within the broader Evangelical wing of Protestantism, Protestant Christianity that emphasizes direct personal experience of God in Christianity, God through Baptism with the Holy Spirit#Cl ...
churches. Among the smallest groups, less than 4%, are Jewish.
Christianity
Among the Spanish-speaking Catholics, most communities celebrate their homeland's
patron saint
A patron saint, patroness saint, patron hallow or heavenly protector is a saint who in Catholicism, Anglicanism, Eastern Orthodoxy or Oriental Orthodoxy is regarded as the heavenly advocate of a nation, place, craft, activity, class, clan, fa ...
, dedicating a day for this purpose with festivals and religious services. Some Spanish-speakers in Latin America syncretize Roman Catholicism and African or Native American rituals and beliefs. Such is the case of
Santería
Santería (), also known as Regla de Ocha, Regla Lucumí, or Lucumí, is an African diaspora religions, Afro-Caribbean religion that developed in Cuba during the late 19th century. It arose amid a process of syncretism between the traditional ...
, popular with
Afro-Cubans
Afro-Cubans () or Black Cubans are Cubans of full or partial sub-Saharan African ancestry. The term ''Afro-Cuban'' can also refer to historical or cultural elements in Cuba associated with this community, and the combining of native African an ...
, which combines old African beliefs in the form of Roman Catholic saints and rituals. Other syncretistic beliefs include
Spiritism
Spiritism may refer to:
Religion
* Espiritismo, a Latin American and Caribbean belief that evolved and less evolved spirits can affect health, luck and other aspects of human life
* Kardecist spiritism, a new religious movement established in ...
Our Lady of the Pillar
Our Lady of the Pillar () is the name given to the Blessed Virgin Mary in the context of the traditional belief that Mary, while living in Jerusalem, supernaturally appeared to the Apostle James the Greater in AD 40, AD 40 while he was pre ...
'' is considered the Patroness of the
Hispanic people
The term Hispanic () are people, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an ethnic or meta-ethnic term.
The term commonly applie ...
and the
Hispanic world
Hispanophone refers to anything related to the Spanish language.
In a cultural, rather than merely linguistic sense, the notion of "Hispanophone" goes further than the above definition. The Hispanic culture is the legacy of the vast and prolonge ...
.
Islam
While a tiny minority, there are some Muslims in Latin America, in the United States, and in the Philippines. Those in the Philippines live predominantly in
Bangsamoro
Bangsamoro, officially the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM; ; ), is an autonomous region in the Philippines, located in the southwestern portion of the island of Mindanao.
Replacing the Autonomous Region in Muslim Minda ...
.
Judaism
There are also Spanish-speaking
Jews
Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...
, most of whom are the descendants of
Ashkenazi Jews
Ashkenazi Jews ( ; also known as Ashkenazic Jews or Ashkenazim) form a distinct subgroup of the Jewish diaspora, that emerged in the Holy Roman Empire around the end of the first millennium CE. They traditionally speak Yiddish, a language ...
who migrated from Europe (German Jews, Russian Jews, Polish Jews, etc.) to Hispanic America, particularly
Argentina
Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...
,
Uruguay
Uruguay, officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay, is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast, while bordering the Río de la Plata to the south and the A ...
,
Peru
Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...
, and
Cuba
Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...
(Argentina is host to the third-largest Jewish population in the Western Hemisphere, after the United States and Canada) in the 19th century and following World War II. Many Spanish-speaking Jews also originate from the small communities of reconverted descendants of
anusim
Anusim (, ; singular male, anús, ; singular female, anusá, , meaning "coerced") is a legal category of Jews in '' halakha'' (Jewish law) who were forced to abandon Judaism against their will, typically while forcibly converted to another re ...
—those whose Spanish
Sephardi Jewish
Sephardic Jews, also known as Sephardi Jews or Sephardim, and rarely as Iberian Peninsular Jews, are a Jewish diaspora population associated with the historic Jewish communities of the Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal) and their descendant ...
ancestors long ago hid their Jewish ancestry and beliefs in fear of persecution by the
Spanish Inquisition
The Tribunal of the Holy Office of the Inquisition () was established in 1478 by the Catholic Monarchs of Spain, Catholic Monarchs, King Ferdinand II of Aragon and Queen Isabella I of Castile and lasted until 1834. It began toward the end of ...
in the
Iberian Peninsula
The Iberian Peninsula ( ), also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in south-western Europe. Mostly separated from the rest of the European landmass by the Pyrenees, it includes the territories of peninsular Spain and Continental Portugal, comprisin ...
and Ibero-America. The Spanish Inquisition led to many forced conversions of Spanish Jews.
Genetic studies on the (male)
Y-chromosome
The Y chromosome is one of two sex chromosomes in therian mammals and other organisms. Along with the X chromosome, it is part of the XY sex-determination system, in which the Y is the sex-determining chromosome because the presence of the Y ...
conducted by the
University of Leeds
The University of Leeds is a public research university in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It was established in 1874 as the Yorkshire College of Science. In 1884, it merged with the Leeds School of Medicine (established 1831) and was renamed Y ...
in 2008 appear to support the idea that the number of forced conversions have been previously underestimated significantly. They found that twenty percent of Spanish males have Y-chromosomes associated with Sephardic Jewish ancestry. This may imply that there were more forced conversions than was previously thought.
There are also thought to be many Catholic-professing descendants of
marrano
''Marranos'' is a term for Spanish and Portuguese Jews, as well as Navarrese jews, who converted to Christianity, either voluntarily or by Spanish or Portuguese royal coercion, during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, but who continued t ...
s and Spanish-speaking
crypto-Jews
Crypto-Judaism is the secret adherence to Judaism while publicly professing to be of another faith; practitioners are referred to as "crypto-Jews" (origin from Greek ''kryptos'' – , 'hidden').
The term is especially applied historically to Spani ...
in the
Southwestern United States
The Southwestern United States, also known as the American Southwest or simply the Southwest, is a geographic and cultural list of regions of the United States, region of the United States that includes Arizona and New Mexico, along with adjacen ...
and scattered through Hispanic America. Additionally, there are Sephardic Jews who are descendants of those Jews who fled Spain to Turkey,
Syria
Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...
, and North Africa, some of whom have now migrated to Hispanic America, holding on to some Spanish/Sephardic customs, such as the
Ladino
Ladino, derived from Latin, may refer to:
* Judeo-Spanish language (ISO 639–3 lad), spoken by Sephardic Jews
*Ladino people, a socio-ethnic category of Mestizo or Hispanicized people in Central America especially in Guatemala
* Black ladinos, a ...
Spanish language
Spanish () or Castilian () is a Romance languages, Romance language of the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family that evolved from the Vulgar Latin spoken on the Iberian Peninsula of Europe. Today, it is a world language, gl ...
**
Hispanophone
Hispanophone refers to anything related to the Spanish language.
In a cultural, rather than merely linguistic sense, the notion of "Hispanophone" goes further than the above definition. The Hispanic culture is the legacy of the vast and prolonge ...
**
Languages of Spain
The majority of languages of Spain belong to the Romance languages, Romance language family, of which Spanish language, Spanish is the only one with Official languages of Spain, official status in the whole country. Others, including Catalan l ...
**
Spanish language in the Americas
The different dialects of the Spanish language spoken in the Americas are distinct from each other, as well as from those varieties spoken in the Iberian Peninsula and the Spanish Mediterranean islands—collectively known as Peninsular Spanish� ...
**
Spanish language in the United States
Spanish is the second most spoken language in the United States. Over 43.4 million people aged five or older speak Spanish at home (13.7%). Spanish is also the most learned language other than English, with about 8 million students. Estimates ...
**
Chavacano
Chavacano or Chabacano () is a group of Spanish-based creole language varieties spoken in the Philippines. The variety spoken in Zamboanga City, located in the southern Philippine island group of Mindanao, has the highest concentration of spea ...
*
Latin Americans
Latin Americans (; ) are the citizens of Latin American countries (or people with cultural, ancestral or national origins in Latin America).
Latin American countries and their diasporas are multi-ethnic and multi-racial. Latin Americans are ...
Amerindians
In the Americas, Indigenous peoples comprise the two continents' pre-Columbian inhabitants, as well as the ethnic groups that identify with them in the 15th century, as well as the ethnic groups that identify with the pre-Columbian population of ...
**
Asian Latin American
Asian Latin Americans (sometimes '' Asian-Latinos'') are Latin Americans of Asian descent. Asian immigrants to Latin America have largely been from East Asia or West Asia. Historically, Asians in Latin America have a centuries-long history in ...
**
Criollo people
In Hispanic America, criollo () is a term used originally to describe people of full Spaniards, Spanish descent born in the Viceroyalty, viceroyalties. In different Latin American countries, the word has come to have different meanings, mostly ...
**
Mestizo
( , ; fem. , literally 'mixed person') is a term primarily used to denote people of mixed European and Indigenous ancestry in the former Spanish Empire. In certain regions such as Latin America, it may also refer to people who are culturall ...
**
Mulatto
( , ) is a Race (human categorization), racial classification that refers to people of mixed Sub-Saharan African, African and Ethnic groups in Europe, European ancestry only. When speaking or writing about a singular woman in English, the ...
**
White Latin American
White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wavele ...
**
Isleño Americans
Canarian Americans () are Americans whose ancestors came from the Canary Islands, Spain. They can trace their ancestry to settlers and immigrants who have emigrated since the 16th century to the present-day United States. Most of them are desce ...
**
Black Hispanic and Latino Americans
Black Hispanic and Latino Americans, also called Afro-Hispanics, Afro-Latinos, Black Hispanics, or Black Latinos, are classified by the United States Census Bureau, Office of Management and Budget, and other U.S. government agencies as Black ...
**
White Hispanic and Latino Americans
White Hispanic and Latin Americans, also called Euro-Hispanics, Euro-Latinos, White Hispanics, or White Latinos, are Americans who self-identify as White people, white of European emigration, European (diaspora) or West Asian descent with orig ...
**
Hispanic America
Hispanic America ( or ), historically known as Spanish America () or Castile (historical region), Castilian America (), is the Spanish-speaking countries and territories of the Americas. In all of these countries, Spanish language, Spanish is th ...
Lusitanians
The Lusitanians were an Indo-European languages, Indo-European-speaking people living in the far west of the Iberian Peninsula, in present-day central Portugal and Extremadura and Castilla y Leon of Spain. It is uncertain whether the Lusitanians ...
*
Panhispanism
Panhispanism or pan-Hispanism (Spanish: ''panhispanismo''), sometimes just called hispanism (Spanish: ''hispanismo''), is an ideology advocating for social, economic, and political cooperation, as well as often political unification, of the Hispan ...
**
Hispanism
Hispanism (sometimes referred to as Hispanic studies or Spanish studies) is the study of the literature and culture of the Spanish-speaking world, principally that of Spain and Hispanic America. It may also entail studying Spanish language ...