Misplaced Pages

Hispanic and Latino New Mexicans are residents of the state of New Mexico who are of Hispanic or Latino ancestry. As of the 2020 U.S. Census, Hispanics and Latinos of any race were 49.3% of the state's population.

New Mexico's Hispanic population is largely Indigenous. Out of these, known as Hispanos, many are descended from early Spanish-speaking colonists, and form a distinct cultural group.

History

The Spanish settlement began on July 11, 1598 when the explorer Don Juan de Oñate came north from Mexico City to New Mexico with 500 Spanish settlers and soldiers and a livestock of 7,000 animals. They founded San Juan de los Caballeros, the first Spanish settlement in what was called the Kingdom of New Mexico, after the Valley of Mexico. The colony grew steadily, although it was diminished by the Pueblo revolt in 1680, which led to the murder of many Spaniards and Nuevomexicanos. Comanches frequently attacked Spanish and other Native American settlements. The only colonial governor of New Mexico to achieve peace with the Comanches was Tomás Vélez Cachupín, who adminitered the province from 1749 to 1754 and 1762 to 1767. On the other hand, under several colonial governments of New Mexico, including Cachupin's, the appropriation of Amerindian lands by Spaniards or Nuevomexicanos was prohibited under penalty of imprisonment or fine.

The mainland part of New Spain won independence from Spain in 1821 and New Mexico became part of the new nation of Mexico. The new 'Mexican' elite attempted to create a common identity out of all the classes and different ethnicities. Nationalists attempted to establish equality, if only legally, between these different groups. The Spanish settlers of New Mexico and their descendants adapted to Mexican citizenship somewhat even though there was a great deal of tension during this period--as was the case in many places in early Mexico. In 1836, after the Republic of Texas gained independence, Texas claimed part of the Province of New Mexico, which was disputed by Mexico. In 1841, the Texans sent an expedition to occupy the area, but the expedition was captured by Mexican troops. Despite this, western Spanish New Mexico was eventually annexed by Texas.

The U.S. won the Mexican–American War (1846–1848) and in the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (1848), Mexico ceded to the U.S. the northwestern Mexico (present-day southwestern USA), including most of present-day New Mexico. On June 8, 1854 the United States bought 29,670-square-mile of land from Mexico. This purchase, called Gadsden Purchase, consisted of the present-day southern Arizona and southwestern New Mexico. Since its incorporation into the US, many Hispanics, mostly Mexicans, have migrated to New Mexico to improve their social conditions and provide better education for their children.

In January 1912, after decades of colonial status, New Mexico became an American state, and Anglophones eventually became the majority population but census documents indicate that Spanish and English remained about equal in usage through the 1960s. The state today still has the highest percentage of Spanish-speakers of any state.

The Nuevomexicanos became an economically disadvantaged population in the state, becoming virtual second-class citizens compared with the Anglos. The Nuevomexicanos suffered discrimination from Anglophone Americans, who also questioned the loyalty of these new American citizens. The cultures of Nuevomexicanos and immigrant Anglophones eventually mixed to some degree, as was the case with immigrants in other parts of the United States.

Demographics

Among U.S. states, New Mexico has the highest percentage of Hispanic ancestry, at 47 percent (as of July 1, 2012), including descendants of Spanish colonists and recent immigrants from Hispanic America.

Women make up approximately 51% of the population. 83% of New Mexico's Hispanics were native-born and 17% foreign-born. Many Hispanics in New Mexico claim a Spanish ancestry, especially in the northern part of the state. These people are the descendants of Spanish-speaking colonists who arrived during the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries, often referred to as Hispanos.

According to the 2000 U.S. Census, 28.76% of the population aged 5 and older speak Spanish at home. Speakers of Traditional New Mexican Spanish dialect are mainly descendants of Spanish-speaking colonists who arrived in New Mexico in the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries.

Ancestries

According to the 2000 United States Census, two of the top five most commonly claimed ancestry groups in New Mexico were:,

• Mexican (16.3%)
• Spanish (9.3%)

New Mexican Spanish

The original state constitution of 1912 provided for a bilingual government with laws being published in both English and Spanish; this requirement was renewed twice, in 1931 and 1943. Nonetheless, the constitution does not declare any language as "official." While Spanish was permitted in the legislature until 1935, all state officials are required to have a good knowledge of English. Cobarrubias and Fishman therefore argue that New Mexico cannot be considered a bilingual state as not all laws are published in both languages. Others, such as Juan Perea, claim that the state was officially bilingual until 1953.

With regard to the judiciary, witnesses have the right to testify in either of the two languages, and monolingual speakers of Spanish have the same right to be considered for jury-duty as do speakers of English. In public education, the state has the constitutional obligation to provide for bilingual education and Spanish-speaking instructors in school districts where the majority of students are hispanophone.

In 1995, the state adopted a State Bilingual Song, New Mexico – Mi Lindo Nuevo México.

New Mexico is commonly thought to have Spanish as an official language alongside English because of its wide usage and legal promotion of Spanish in the state; however, the state has no official language. New Mexico's laws are promulgated bilingually in Spanish and English.

Because of its relative isolation from other Spanish speaking areas over most of its 400-year existence, New Mexico Spanish, and in particular the Spanish of northern New Mexico and Colorado has retained many elements of 16th- and 17th-century Spanish and has developed its own vocabulary. In addition, it contains many words from Nahuatl. New Mexican Spanish also contains loan words from the Pueblo languages of the upper Rio Grande Valley, Mexican-Spanish words (mexicanismos), and borrowings from English. Grammatical changes include changes in verb endings, particularly in the preterite, and partial merging of the second and third conjugations.

Historic Hispanic/Latino population

Colonial and Mexican era

New Mexico as part of the United States

New Mexico	Number of people of Mexican Origin (1900–1930) and of Hispanic/Latino Origin (1940–2020) in New Mexico	+% of Population of Mexican Origin (1900–1930) and of Hispanic/Latino Origin (1940–2020) in New Mexico
1850	Variable estimates: 47,000 - 52,930 - 60,000 (Spanish-speaking)	86%
1860	84,164	90%
1870	N/A	N/A
1880	N/A	N/A
1890	N/A	N/A
1900	117,186	60%
1910	225,837	6.9%
1920	353,014	9.8%
1930	643,044	15.2%
1940	221 881	41.7%
1950	248,633	36.5%
1960	269,139	28.3%
1970	379,723 (15% sample)	37.4%
1980	477 222	36.6%
1990	579 224	38.2%
2000	765,386	42.1%
2010	953,403	46.3%
2020	1,010,811	47.7%

See also

• Hispanos of New Mexico

Notes

1. 421 Spanish were murders by Pueblo Amerindians during their revolt. After making peace with the Pueblo, Diego de Vargas took 800 people to New Mexico (including soldiers, their families and servants).

References

1. "U.S. Census Bureau QuickFacts: New Mexico". www.census.gov. Retrieved 2021-09-09.
2. Simmons, Marc, The Last Conquistador Norman: U of OK Press, 1992, pp.96, 111
3. Pedro Ponce, "Trouble for the Spanish, the Pueblo Revolt of 1680" Humanities, November/December 2002, Volume 23/Number 6 Archived 2008-09-16 at the Wayback Machine
4. New Mexico Archives. Office of the State Historian: Cachupín, Tomás Vélez. Posted by Suzanne Stamatov between 2004 and 2010. Retrieved April 4, 2011.
5. Ebrightm, Malcolm (2014). Pages 219 - 230.
6. Carroll, H. Bailey. "Texan Santa Fe Expedition". Handbook of Texas Online. Texas State Historical Association. Retrieved May 29, 2011.
7. Phillip Gonzales and Ann Massmann, "Loyalty Questioned: Neomexicanos in the Great War." Pacific Historical Review, Nov 2006, Vol. 75 Issue 4, pp 629-666
8. Phillip B. Gonzales, "Spanish Heritage and Ethnic Protest in New Mexico: The Anti-Fraternity Bill of 1933," New Mexico Historical Review, Fall 1986, Vol. 61 Issue 4, pp 281-299
9. "New Mexico QuickFacts from the US Census Bureau". United States Census Bureau. Archived from the original on February 11, 2010. Retrieved March 28, 2010.
10. Demographic Profile of Hispanics in New Mexico, 2007. Pew Hispanic Center.
11. "MLA Language Map Data Center: Most spoken languages in New Mexico". Mla.org. July 17, 2007. Retrieved July 31, 2010.
12. "The Spanish language in New Mexico and southern Colorado". Retrieved July 31, 2010.
13. Brittingham, Angela; G. Patricia de la Cruz (June 2004). "Table 3. Largest Ancestries for the United States, Regions, States, and for Puerto Rico: 2000" (PDF). Ancestry: 2000; Census 2000 Brief. US Census Bureau. Archived from the original (PDF) on December 4, 2004. Retrieved November 8, 2008.
14. "Hispanic or Latino Origin by Specific Origin: 2019 American Community Survey 1-Year Estimates". United States Census Bureau. 2019.
15. US Census Bureau: "Redistricting Data, First Look at Local 2010 Census Results" Archived 2013-10-20 at the Wayback Machine
16. US Census Bureau, Systems Support Division. "Population by Race and Hispanic or Latino Origin for the United States: 1990 and 2000 (PHC-T-1)". Census.gov. Archived from the original on 20 January 2012. Retrieved 16 January 2018.
17. Crawford, John (1992). Language loyalties: a source book on the official English controversy. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. p. 62.
18. ^ Cobarrubias, Juan; Fishman, Joshua A (1983). Progress in Language Planning: International Perspectives. Walter de Gruyter. p. 195.
19. ^ Constitution of the State of New Mexico. Archived 2014-01-02 at the Wayback Machine Adopted January 21, 1911.
20. Perea, Juan F. Los Olvidados: On the Making of Invisible People. New York University Law Review, 70(4), 965-990.
21. Roberts, Calvin A. (2006). Our New Mexico: A Twentieth Century History. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press. p. 23.
22. "State Symbols". New Mexico Blue Book 2007–2008. New Mexico Secretary of State. Archived from the original (PDF) on November 29, 2008. Retrieved January 3, 2009.
23. ^ Cobos, Rubén (2003) "Introduction" A Dictionary of New Mexico & Southern Colorado Spanish (2nd ed.) Museum of New Mexico Press, Santa Fe, N.M., p. ix, ISBN 0-89013-452-9
24. Cobos, Rubén, op. cit., pp. x-xi.
25. Simmons, Marc, The Last Conquistador Norman: U of OK Press, 1992, pp.96, 111
26. ^ David P. Coulson; Linda Joyce (August 2003). "United States state-level population estimates: Colonization to 1999" (PDF). USDA. p. 41. The data were estimated by Coulson and Joyce.
27. Antonio de Otermin (1680). "Resistance and Accommodation in New Mexico".
28. ^ Isabel Hannigan (April 20, 2018). ""Overrun All This Country…" Two New Mexican Lives Through theNineteenth Century". pp. 12, 34. Archived from the original on October 7, 2021. Retrieved October 7, 2021.
29. ^ Fowler, Don D. (2000). A Laboratory for Anthropology. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press. ISBN 0-8263-2036-8.
30. "New Spain (Mexico), 1790 Statistics Charts". 24 December 2013. Archived from the original on 24 December 2013. Retrieved 23 December 2017.
31. Spanish and Mexican rule. Published on Britannica.
32. Enrique Rajchenberg S.; Catherine Héau-Lambert. "El desierto como representación del territorio septentrional de México" (PDF). p. 7. Retrieved 6 October 2021.
33. ^ "Historical Census Statistics on Population Totals By Race, 1790 to 1990, and By Hispanic Origin, 1970 to 1990, For The United States, Regions, Divisions, and States" (PDF). Census.gov. p. 64. Retrieved 2015-07-30.
34. ^ "U.S. Census of Population: 1960" (PDF). Www2.census.gov. Retrieved 2012-09-30.
35. ^ "The Hispanic Population: 2000" (PDF). US Census Bureau. Retrieved 2015-07-30.
36. ^ "The Hispanic Population: 2010" (PDF). US Census Bureau. Retrieved 2015-07-30.
37. Suzanne Forrest (1998). The Preservation of the Village: New Mexico's Hispanics and the New Deal. New Mexico Land Grant Series, University of New Mexico. p. 9. ISBN 9780826319739.
38. Garland D. Bills; Neddy A. Vigil (2008). The Spanish Language of New Mexico and Southern Colorado: A Linguistic Atlas. The University of New Mexico Press. p. 24. ISBN 9780826345493.
39. Jens Manuel Krogstad; Mark Hugo Lopez (June 10, 2014). "For three states, share of Hispanic population returns to the past". Pew Research Center.

• Hispanic and Latino American culture in New Mexico
• Hispanic and Latino American history by state