page_title: Isleños (Louisiana)
section_title: San Bernardo
hierarchical_section_title: Isleños (Louisiana) / Ethnic and national origins / San Bernardo
caption_attribution_description: English: St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana. Aftermath of the Hurricane Katrina storm surge flooding along Bayou Ysclosky.
context_page_description: Isleños are an ethnic group living in the state of Louisiana in the United States, consisting of people primarily from the Canary Islands. Isleños are descendants of colonists who settled in Spanish Louisiana between 1778 and 1783 and intermarried with other communities such as Frenchmen, Acadians, Creoles, Spaniards, Latin Americans, and other groups, mainly through the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
  In Louisiana, the Isleños originally settled in four communities which included Galveztown, Valenzuela, Barataria, and San Bernardo. Of those settlements, Valenzuela and San Bernardo were the most successful as the other two were plagued with both disease and flooding. The large migration of Acadian refugees to Bayou Lafourche led to the rapid gallicization of the Valenzuela community while San Bernardo was able to preserve much of its unique culture and language into the twenty-first century. This being said, the transmission of Spanish and other customs has completely halted in St. Bernard Parish with those having competency in Spanish being octogenarians.
  Regardless, these communities have garnered attention from notable academics like Alcée Fortier, Samuel G.
context_section_description: The settlement along Bayou Terre-aux-Boeufs was rather isolated, with the Isleño population being larger than any other community. The original Canary Islander recruits came mainly from the islands of Tenerife and Gran Canaria with the remainder from Lanzarote, La Gomera, and La Palma. St. Bernard Parish Historian William de Marigny Hyland has located the origin of many of many descendants to the single location of Icod de los Vinos on the island of Tenerife. 
  Early in the establishment of this community, a minority of Acadians were present as well as Filipinos from Saint Malo which intermarried with the Canarian colonists. In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, the community was reinforced by immigration from Spanish regions such as Andalusia, Austurias, Catalonia, Galicia, Santander, and Valencia, but also from the Canary Islands and other Spanish-speaking countries. A survey conducted in 1850 found at least 63 natives of Spain, 7 Canary Islanders, 7 Cubans, and 7 Mexicans in the community. Individuals from other countries including France, Germany, and Ireland also emigrated and intermarried with the community during this period.
  In 2005, Hurricane Katrina displaced many Isleños from their original communities. Those who returned to St. Bernard Parish have retreated behind the St. Bernard Flood Wall and now live in the unincorporated communities of Toca, Saint Bernard, Poydras, and into New Orleans.
caption: The fishing village of Yscloskey following the devastation of Hurricane Katrina.
exif: {"Image Make": "Canon", "Image Model": "Canon PowerShot SD450", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "QuickTime 7.1.5", "Image DateTime": "2007:03:27 10:41:58", "Image HostComputer": "Mac OS X 10.3.9", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Centered", "Image ExifOffset": "254", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "2382", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "3640", "Thumbnail YCbCrPositioning": "Centered", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/500", "EXIF FNumber": "28/5", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2006:04:03 14:49:41", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2006:04:03 14:49:41", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "3", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "287/32", "EXIF ApertureValue": "159/32", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "95/32", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF Flash": "88", "EXIF FocalLength": "29/5", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "2592", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "1944", "EXIF FocalPlaneXResolution": "11520", "EXIF FocalPlaneYResolution": "81000/7", "EXIF FocalPlaneResolutionUnit": "2", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "1", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard"}