Speaking Spanish in the US. Janet M. Fuller
been spoken continuously since that time (Gonzalez, 2011). Advocating for the study of Spanish, Thomas Jefferson referenced the long presence of Spanish in North America, as well as Spanish-speakers’ arrival prior to English-speakers, and observed that ‘the antient [sic] part of American history is written chiefly in Spanish’ (Jefferson, 1787, cited in Boyd, 1955). Jefferson’s remark is even more accurate today than at the time he wrote it because in the following century the US annexed thousands of acres of land that were under Spanish rule in Jefferson’s time. Like Jefferson, we believe that knowing the history of Spanish and Spanish-speakers is crucial for a full understanding of US history. Even more relevant for this book, we argue that it is crucial for the understanding of Spanish in the US, as the sociolinguistics and sociopolitics of Spanish (as well as its linguistic characteristics) are rooted in this history.
The version of history typically taught in US schools frames the development of the US as a westward expansion of English colonial settlers and their descendants, largely downplaying the role, and in some cases even the existence, of Native peoples, enslaved Africans and other European colonists (Taylor, 2002). As a result, many people in the US are unaware that large swaths of North America were claimed by the Spanish long before they became part of the US. For this reason, this chapter gives a brief history of the Spanish colonial possessions that were eventually incorporated into the US. These possessions include essentially all of the present territory of the US west of the Mississippi River, as well as Florida and Puerto Rico (see Figure 3.1). This colonial history is reflected in the names of hundreds of US rivers, mountains, towns and even several states (including Arizona and Colorado), although the Spanish origin of these names is not always recognized by present-day inhabitants (Gonzalez, 2011). The US’ annexation of these lands via military force, as well as the broader intervention in the Caribbean and Central America, are what transformed the US from ‘an isolated yeoman’s democracy into a major world empire’ (Gonzalez, 2011: 28). In this chapter, we explain the Spanish conquest in North America and the subsequent annexation of lands by the US; key moments in this history are shown on the timeline in Figure 3.2.
Figure 3.1 A 1765 map of North America showing British and Spanish colonial possessions
Source: Library of Congress, Geography and Map Division.
Figure 3.2 Timeline of Spanish conquest and US annexation
In the past few decades, historians and other scholars have sought to correct the Eurocentric and Anglocentric triumphalist versions of US history by paying more attention to all that they leave out or downplay. In particular, researchers, educators and activists have forcefully dispelled the myth that European colonists encountered ‘virgin’ lands by pointing to the many millions of Native peoples that lived in North America prior to European arrival. While the exact size of the pre-contact population is a matter of some debate, the prevailing academic view puts it somewhere between 7 and 18 million people (Daniels, 1992; Gonzalez, 2011; Taylor, 2013). The war, slavery, torture, disease, starvation and murder that resulted from European colonization caused the death of 100 million Indigenous people in the Western hemisphere over the next 400 years, which has been called the biggest genocide in the history of the world (Stannard, 1993). Scholars have also brought new attention to the centrality of slavery in the English colonial project and ultimately in the development of US wealth and power (e.g. Baptist, 2016; Beckert & Rockman, 2016). In addition, historians have also sought to include other European colonies in North America, including those of the Dutch, French and Spanish, within accounts of the history of the US (e.g. Taylor, 2002).
Efforts to offer a more complete picture of US history represent a welcome correction to the more traditional whitewashed accounts. However, attention to the Spanish colonial history of the US is not exclusively a recent phenomenon. In fact, since the early 20th century, various social actors have sought to highlight the Spanish history particularly of the Southwest but also of Florida. Later in the chapter we explore this celebration of Spanish colonization, its connection to specific economic and political interests and the ways in which it also glosses over the brutality of European conquest and the subjugation and decimation of Native peoples and cultures. We will also look at protests against the romanticized portrayal of Spanish conquistadors and colonists, drawing parallels to recent challenges to the racist glorification of Confederate leaders. Our discussion emphasizes the continued relevance of history, and of historical representation, to current debates about national identity and belonging.
US intervention in Latin America did not end with the annexation of the lands that now comprise the Southwestern US and Puerto Rico. Instead, the US continued to exert economic, political and military power in the Caribbean as well as Central and South America. Whereas 19th and early 20th century intervention was focused on allowing US businesses to maximize profit, primarily by supporting repressive governments that kept workers in line, in the second half of the 20th century Cold War concerns (i.e. stopping communist movements) also played a crucial role. US policies and involvement have contributed to economic and political instability, as well as social unrest, which in turn have led to increased migration to the US. The need for workers in the US has also attracted immigrants, sometimes as the result of active recruiting efforts by businesses. Thus, despite the long history of Spanish in the US, immigration has been a key factor in its continued presence and strength, given the pattern of language shift that results in the third generation being likely to be predominantly or exclusively English-speaking. For this reason, in the second half of chapter we look at the history of Latin American migration to the US, and we briefly consider current immigration policy.
Spanish Colonization in North America and the Caribbean
With the arrival of Christopher Columbus in the Bahamas in 1492, the Spanish began a centuries-long period of exploration, conquest and colonization in the Caribbean and throughout the Americas. Columbus and his men claimed the islands of Cuba and Hispaniola (shared by the present-day countries of Haiti and the Dominican Republic). After returning to Spain and impressing the Spanish monarchs Isabelle and Ferdinand with tales of gold and riches, Columbus again sailed to the Caribbean, bringing more ships, men, and livestock, as well as plans to create a Spanish empire in the Americas.
In the Caribbean the Spanish colonists enslaved the Indigenous Taíno population, forcing them to work on sugar plantations and ranches as well as in the mines. As a result of the brutal treatment and exploitation they suffered at the hand of the conquerors, together with the devastating effects of exposure to European diseases, hundreds of thousands of Taínos died. According to Taylor (2002), the number of Taínos on Hispaniola dropped from at least 300,000 in 1492 to just 500 in 1548, a 98% reduction in just over 50 years. Others put the original number higher and the speed of the devastation even faster (Gonzalez, 2011). With the decline of the Taínos, their Arawak language was lost. A few Arawak borrowings into Spanish (and English via Spanish) have endured, including huracán, tabaco and guayaba (‘hurricane, tobacco, guava’). And many Puerto Ricans of all ethnoracial backgrounds refer to the island as Boríquen or Borínquen, and to themselves as Boricuas, all of which derive from Arawak terms. In recent years there has been a growing movement to reclaim and reconstruct Taíno identity, and to recognize the endurance of some aspects of Taíno and other Native Caribbean cultures (González, 2018).
Spanish explorers used their Caribbean settlements as the point of departure for expeditions northward up the Atlantic Coast, through the Gulf of Mexico, up the Mississippi River and westward to Central America. In 1513 Ponce de León led the first European expedition to the Florida Peninsula, which was inhabited by the Apalachee, Calusa and Timuca, among other Native groups. In the same year, Vasco Núnez de Balboa crossed Panama and became the first European to see the Pacific Ocean, which he claimed, together with all the lands touching it, for Spain. On their expeditions, Spanish explorers ravaged villages and captured Native peoples to replace