Hispanidad
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Countries traditionally considered as the core of the Hispanidad.
NOTE: For a detailed list of the countries that appear in the map, Hispanicness.png#List_of_countries see its description page |
Hispanidad (literally Hispanicness) is the community formed by all the people and nations that share Spanish language and culture. The 25 nations included are all Spanish-speaking except Guam, and can be classified in four geographic areas: Spain, Hispanoamerica, Hispanoafrica and the Hispanopacific. Every October 12 Hispanic Day is celebrated. Hispanidad or Spanish linguistic and cultural diffusion began when the 12 October 1492 Christopher Columbus sighted America and initiated the European colonization in the name of the Catholic Monarchs of Spain. The kingdom of Castile (Castilla) built a global empire, spreading their culture and language in the Americas and biologically and culturally mixing with the indigenous peoples, altering the composition of the hemisphere. The penetration and reach of Spain at this time also extended into other European nations.
The Hispanics in the world
[change | change source]The Spanish is the mother tongue that spoken by more than 333 million people (in second place after Chinese). The total number of Spanish-speakers is more than 395 million people.
Europe
[change | change source]In Europe, Hispanics are mainly confined to Spain. There are more than 30 million of them.
America
[change | change source]Most Hispanics are in Hispanic America . There are more than 300 million. Countries like Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Puerto Rico, United States, Uruguay and Venezuela .
Africa
[change | change source]Hispanics in the African continent are mostly in overseas territories of Spain (Canary Islands, Ceuta, Melilla and Plazas de Soberanía) and in the nation of Equatorial Guinea. In Western Sahara some people maintain Hispanic characteristics. Altogether in Africa two million speak Spanish.
Asia-Pacific
[change | change source]The Philippines does not identify as Hispanic nor is Spanish the official language, but conserves some identifiably Hispanic influences in its culture. It is sometimes included in Hispanidad. Other countries in the Asia-Pacific region that maintain a similar degree of Hispanic influence as the Philippines are:
- Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands, where Chamorro, a language with a lot of Spanish loanwords is spoken.
- Caroline Islands, which nowadays are divided between the Federated States of Micronesia in the eastern part, and Palau.
- Easter Island, nowadays an overseas territory of Chile. Spanish is the official language of the island.