Hispanic America (Spanish: Hispanoamérica or América Hispana), refers to the Spanish territories in the Americas, historically known as Spanish America (Spanish: América Española) or Castilian America (Spanish: América Castellana), part of the Spanish overseas territories officially known as "the Indies" (Sp. las Indias), and consisting of the modern Spanish-speaking countries of the Americas that are its successor states or inheritors of its territory. In all of these countries, Spanish is the main language—sometimes sharing official status with one or more indigenous languages (such as Guaraní, Quechua, Aymara or Mayan) or English (in Puerto Rico), and Latin Catholicism is the predominant religion. Hispanic America is sometimes grouped together with Brazil under the term Ibero-America, meaning those countries in the Americas with cultural roots in the Iberian Peninsula. Hispanic America also contrasts with Latin America, which includes not only Hispanic America, but also Brazil (the former Portuguese America), and by few definitions, the former French colonies in the Western Hemisphere (areas that are now in either the United States or Canada are usually excluded).
History
The Spanish conquest of the Americas began in 1492, up until 1531, during the reign of the catholic crown King Fernando V and Queen Isabella. Christopher Columbus landed in the Caribbean islands during one of his expeditions with the Spanish crew looking for Asia. Once established in the "New World" the desire of the Spaniards to acquire wealth quickly developed into conquest, the idea of goods and wealth drew more Spaniards' attention to the new land. Conquerors like Hernan Cortes motivated the Spanish to conquer lands and establish their living in this 'New World' and ultimately was part of a larger historical process of world discovery, through which various European powers colonized a considerable amount of territory and peoples in the Americas, Asia, and Africa between the 15th and 20th centuries. Hispanic America became the main part of the vast Spanish Empire. Napoleon's intervention in Spain in 1808 and the consequent chaos initiated the dismemberment of the Spanish Empire, as the Hispanic American territories began their struggle for emancipation. By 1830, the only remaining Spanish American territories were the islands of Cuba and Puerto Rico, until the 1898 Spanish–American War.
Impact
In general, Spanish colonies allowed mostly flexibility as long as people followed specific obligations and respected hierarchies and within these limits, Hispanic Americans were able to negotiate certain aspects of their living. In the early 1540s, once most of the territories were conquered, a lot of Spanish established themselves there for a living, and they also brought with them many African slaves and even free Africans to build on the economy of the 'New World'. They created two separate Republics; Republica de Españoles and Republica de Indios. One was composed of the Spanish and their African slaves, and the other was composed of indigenous peoples. There are theories that there were various Republics, others say there were none, however, these two existed and inside the Republica de Indios there were lots of villages that created their own too. Both 'Republica de Indios' and 'Republica de Españoles' lived apart from each other but did not have problems between them, it was just a way to separate hierarchies due to race and ethnicity. Spaniards created this separation as a similar government behaviour as the one back in their country, where only the top of the hierarchy didn't work or pay. In this case, the 'Republica de Españoles' was the top of the hierarchy and most took advantage of it to gain wealth without working just because of their ethnicity. Later on, in the later 1550s the Spaniards would send some churchmen and officials to incorporate into the 'Republica de Indios' so that Christianity remained regardless of the ethnicity. This idea of the two republics isolated the Hispanic people due to their race. It gave Spanish people wealth and power only because of their ethnicity, generating a social hierarchy that left Hispanic Americans in the lowest position at the level of the African slaves Spanish brought with them through the Atlantic slave trade, and them in the highest position. Spanish were always considered at the top of the hierarchy and both Indigenous Americans and Africans at the bottom. However, sexual relations between these groups developed into mixed raced populations called Castas. This partially threatened the hierarchy, but the Spanish maintained themselves at the top and maintained Hispanic Americans and Africans at the bottom, while allowing Castas to position themselves somewhere in the middle. However, people were often judged and categorised by their level of Spanish, their clothing and their diet as well as their relationship circles. This system entrenched racial inequalities that persisted long after the colonial period. The independence of Hispanic American countries consisted mainly between 1808 and 1826, and was a fruit of the Spanish elites fighting for their territory as they saw an opportunity after the Spanish Independence War (1808-1814) against Napoleon. The wars for territories consisted of many battles that were generally violent but ended up being effective for the new local bourgeoisie to gain their independence. However, it took long for some of the countries to re-establish economic stability in their territories since most of the wealth had been acquired by the Spanish and was no longer there.
Demographics
Countries and territories
Largest cities
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