Hispanic

Hispanic (in Spanish Hispano) is an ethnic group. It refers to the Roman people of the Iberian Peninsula (today Spain), but the term can refer to the Spanish-speaking populations of the Americas and Europe. The term Hispanic has also come to refer to the descendants of both Native American and European ancestry. Ethnicity transcends nationality. Portuguese-speaking people of the Iberian Peninsula and the Americas are Lusitans. Lusitania, or today's Portugal, was conquered by the Roman Empire. Similar names are applied to the people of France, the Gauls, Switzerland, the Helvetii, Britain, the Bretons, Germany and Austria, the Germanic peoples.

Hispanic, in classification by the United States, is any person who describes themselves as of Spanish or mixed Spanish and Native American, Chicano, Mexican, Mexicano, Puerto Rican, Cuban, Central American, South American, or from some other Spanish culture or origin, regardless of race. About 45% of American Hispanics are of European descent; 42% are Mestizo, an archaic term replaced by Chicano denoting mixed race with Native American; 10% are African Americans; and 3% Asians, usually Filipino. Most Black Hispanics are from the Caribbean, with Cuba being the largest population. Haiti, by contrast, is principally Francophone.

See also

• Latinos
• Latino Vote in the United States