Hispanic, Iberian Americans and Latino Americans (Spanish: Estadounidenses hispanos y latinos; Portuguese: Estadunidenses hispânicos e latinos) are Americans of full or partial Spanish and/or Latin American background, culture, or family origin.[3][4][5][6] These demographics include all Americans who identify as Hispanic or Latino regardless of race.[7][8][9][10][11][12] As of 2020, the Census Bureau estimated that there were almost 65.3 million Hispanics and Latinos living in the United States and its territories.
"Origin" can be viewed as the ancestry, nationality group, lineage or country of birth of the person or the person's parents or ancestors before their arrival in the United States of America. People who identify as Hispanic or Latino may be of any race, because similarly to what occurred during the colonization and post-independence of the United States, Latin American countries had their populations made up of descendants of white European colonizers (in this case Portuguese and Spaniards), Native peoples of the Americas, descendants of African slaves, post-independence immigrants coming from Europe, Middle East, and East Asia, as well as descendants of multiracial unions between these different ethnic groups.[13][14][15][16] As one of the only two specifically designated categories of ethnicity in the United States, Hispanics and Latinos form a pan-ethnicity incorporating a diversity of inter-related cultural and linguistic heritages, the use of the Spanish and Portuguese languages being the most important of all. Most Hispanic and Latino Americans are of Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, Salvadoran, Dominican, Colombian, Guatemalan, Honduran, Ecuadorian, Peruvian, Venezuelan, or Nicaraguan origin. The predominant origin of regional Hispanic and Latino populations varies widely in different locations across the country.[14][17][18][19][20] In 2012, Hispanic Americans were the second fastest-growing ethnic group by percentage growth in the United States after Asian Americans.[21]
Multiracial Hispanics (Mestizo) of Indigenous descent and Spanish descent are the second oldest ethnic groups (after the Native Americans) to inhabit much of what is today the United States.[22][23][24][25] Spain colonized large areas of what is today the American Southwest and West Coast, as well as Florida. Its holdings included present-day California, Texas, New Mexico, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, and Florida, all of which constituted part of the Viceroyalty of New Spain, based in Mexico City. Later, this vast territory became part of Mexico after its independence from Spain in 1821 and until the end of the Mexican–American War in 1848. Hispanic immigrants to the New York/New Jersey metropolitan area derive from a broad spectrum of Hispanic countries.[26]
The terms "Hispanic" and "Latino" refer to an ethnicity. "Hispanic" first came into popular use to refer to individuals with origins in Spanish-speaking countries after the Office of Management and Budget created the classification in 1977, as proposed by a subcommittee composed of three government employees, a Cuban, Mexican, and Puerto Rican American.[27] The United States Census Bureau defines being Hispanic as being a member of an ethnicity, rather than being a member of a particular race and thus, people who are members of this group may also be members of any race.[14][28][29] In a 2015 national survey of self-identified Hispanics, 56% said that being Hispanic is part of both their racial and ethnic background, while smaller numbers considered it part of their ethnic background only (19%) or racial background only (11%).[28] Hispanics may be of any linguistic background; in a 2015 survey, 71% of American Hispanics agreed that it "is not necessary for a person to speak Spanish to be considered Hispanic/Latino".[30] Hispanic and Latino people may share some commonalities in their language, culture, history, and heritage. According to the Smithsonian Institution, the term "Latino" includes peoples with Portuguese roots, such as Brazilians, as well as those of Spanish-language origin.[31][32] The difference between the terms Hispanic and Latino is ambiguous to some people.[33] The US Census Bureau equates the two terms and defines them as referring to anyone from Spain or the Spanish- or Portuguese-speaking countries of the Americas. After the Mexican–American War concluded in 1848, term Hispanic or Spanish American was primarily used to describe the Hispanos of New Mexico within the American Southwest. The 1970 United States census controversially broadened the definition to "a person of Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, Dominican, South or Central American, or other Spanish culture or origin, regardless of race". This is now the common formal and colloquial definition of the term within the United States, outside of New Mexico.[34][35] This definition is consistent with the 21st century usage by the US Census Bureau and OMB, as the two agencies use both terms Hispanic and Latino interchangeably. The Pew Research Center believes that the term "Hispanic" is strictly limited to Spain, Puerto Rico, and all countries where Spanish is the only official language whereas "Latino" includes all countries in Latin America (even Brazil regardless of the fact that Portuguese is its only official language), but it does not include Spain and Portugal.[3]
