June 12, 2007

Hispanic Cultures of The World. What does this encompass culturally ?


Hispanic culture, From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Hispanic culture is a term used to identify the cultural production found in Spain and in the countries that were part of the Spanish Empire, including Mexico, Peru and other countries that were formerly part of New Spain and the Vice royalty of Peru.

In Latin America, portions of the Caribbean, the Philippines and Equatorial Guinea, Spanish cultural influences are significant. This includes to some extent those parts of the United States (the Southwest and Florida) that were also originally colonized by the Spanish. Hispanic nations share many of the same customs, traditions, language, food, art, and religion, though each country has its own unique culture and particularities.

Moreover, with globalization and migration, elements of Hispanic culture are now found more widely dispersed still: there are size able Hispanic communities in most major cities in North America (including New York, Chicago, Toronto) and Europe. Hispanic food, music, and dance are also increasingly popular outside the Hispanic world.

Hispanic.


Hispanic
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Countries where Spanish has official status.

Situation in the United States of America:

States of the U.S. where Spanish has no official status but is spoken by 25% or more of the population. States of the U.S. where Spanish has no official status but is spoken by 10-20% of the population. States of the U.S. where Spanish has no official status but is spoken by 5-9.9% of the population. Countries and regions where the Spanish language is spoken without official recognition, or where Spanish-based créole languages (Chamorro, Chavacano, Papiamento, Portuñol, etc) are spoken with or without official recognition, and areas with a strong Hispanic influence.


Hispanic (Castilian Hispano, Portuguese Hispânico, Catalan: Hispà, from Latin Hispānus, adjective from Hispānia, the Roman name for the Iberian Peninsula) is a term that historically denoted relation to the ancient Hispania and its peoples. However, when the modern day country of Spain was created in the 15th century, it inherited the term, and thus, since then, 'Hispanic' is also related to Spain, its people and its culture. In this process, Portugal was excluded from the term, despite the fact that the territory that it nowadays covers was also in the former Hispania[1]. Instead of Hispanic, Portugal adopted the word Lusitanic for the same purposes (in reference to the former Roman province of Lusitania, which was a part Hispania; ultimately, pertaining to the Lusitanians, one of the first Indo-European tribes to settle Europe). With the expansion of the Spanish Empire, the peoples from Spain spread all over the world, creating new colonies and giving rise to the Hispanophone. This expansion was mainly concentrated in the Americas, especially in what is called Hispanic America, which comprises all those countries from the Americas that once belonged to the Spanish Empire and where the Spanish influence is still present.

These countries, inherited the cultural and ancestral legacy of the Spaniards, and in consequence, their peoples and their cultures are also considered as Hispanic. Nowadays, the peoples from Hispanic America who live in the United States have developed their own identity with an Hispanic substrate, and are also considered Hispanic[2]