Hispanics spoke Spanish in the home — even many Hispanics who can trace their ancestry to the original Spanish settlement of the U.S. Southwest between 1598 and 1769. Spanish language retention rates vary geographically; parts of Texas and New Mexico have language retention rates over 90 percent, whereas parts of Colorado and California have retention rates lower than 30 percent.
Hispanic retention rates are so high in parts of Texas and New Mexico and along the border because the percentage of Hispanics living there is also very high. Laredo, Texas; Chimayo, New Mexico; Nogales, Arizona and Coachella, California, for example, all have Hispanic populations greater than 90 percent. In these pockets, Hispanics have always been the majority population. These communities are known within the Hispanic community as "continuous communities" because Hispanics have continuously been the majority population since they were settled in the 16th or 17th centuries. Interestingly, Anglo Americans moving into these communities often Hispanicize, creating a situation where assimilation and Hispanization are one and the same.
Spanish Speaking Countries and Regions
|During the Spanish colonial period between 1492 to 1898, many people migrated from Spain to the new lands they conquered. The Spaniards brought with them their language, culture and religion, seeking to assimilate the peoples they had conquered and enslaved, and in the process, created a large empire that spanned the globe while producing several multiracial populations. Unfortunately, they also brought disease and genocide to the indigenous populations; however, the diaspora of survivors are reflected through the descendants of those that were colonized by the Spanish, and in addition to the motherland of Spain, are found throughout their former colonies in the continents and countries shown in the table below.||
|Continent/Region||Country/Territory||Languages Spoken ||Ethnic Groups ||Picture||Statistics References|
|Europe||Spain||Spanish (official) 74%, Catalan 17%, Galician 7%, Basque 2%, are official regionally||composite of Mediterranean and Nordic types||100px|||
|Central America||Belize||Spanish 43%, Creole 37%, Mayan dialects 7.8%, English 5.6% (official), German 3.2%, Garifuna 2%, other 1.5%||mestizo 34%, Creole 25%, Spanish 15%, Maya 10.6%, Garifuna 6.1%, other 11% (2000 census)||100px|||
|Costa Rica||Spanish (official), English||white (including mestizo) 94%, black 3%, Amerindian 1%, Chinese 1%, other 1%||100px|||
|El Salvador||Spanish, Nahua (among some Amerindians)||mestizo 90%, white 9%, Amerindian 1%||100px|||
|Guatemala||Spanish 70%, Amerindian languages 30% (23 officially recognized Amerindian languages, including Quiche, Cakchiquel, Kekchi, Mam, Garifuna, and Xinca)||Mestizo (mixed Amerindian-Spanish - in local Spanish called Ladino) and European 59.4%, K'iche 9.1%, Kaqchikel 8.4%, Mam 7.9%, Q'eqchi 6.3%, other Mayan 8.6%, indigenous non-Mayan 0.2%, other 0.1% (2001 census)||100px|||
|Honduras||Spanish, Amerindian dialects||mestizo (mixed Amerindian and European) 90%, Amerindian 7%, black 2%, white 1%||100px|||
|Nicaragua|| Spanish 97.5% (official), Miskito 1.7%, other 0.8% (1995 census)
Note: English and indigenous languages on Atlantic coast
|mestizo (mixed Amerindian and white) 69%, white 17%, black 9%, Amerindian 5%||100px|||
|Panama||Spanish (official), English 14%; note - many Panamanians bilingual||mestizo (mixed Amerindian and white) 70%, Amerindian and mixed (West Indian) 14%, white 10%, Amerindian 6%||100px|||
|South America||Argentina||Spanish (official), Italian, English, German, French||white (mostly Spanish and Italian) 97%, mestizo (mixed white and Amerindian ancestry), Amerindian, or other non-white groups 3%||100px|||
|Bolivia||Spanish 60.7% (official), Quechua 21.2% (official), Aymara 14.6% (official), foreign languages 2.4%, other 1.2% (2001 census)||Quechua 30%, mestizo (mixed white and Amerindian ancestry) 30%, Aymara 25%, white 15%||100px|||
|Chile||Spanish (official), Mapudungun, German, English||white and white-Amerindian 95.4%, Mapuch