The Spanish diaspora consists of Spanish people and their descendants who emigrated from Spain.
In the Americas, the term most often refers to residents with Spanish nationality; this is in contrast to "Hispanic" which in English usually describes Spanish-speaking populations in general.
Spaniards, or Spanish people, are an ethnic group native to Spain. Genetically and ethnolinguistically, Spaniards belong to the broader Southern and Western European populations, exhibiting a high degree of continuity with other Indo-European-derived ethnic groups in the region. Spain is also home to a diverse array of national and regional identities, shaped by its complex history. These include various languages and dialects, many of which are direct descendants of Latin, the language imposed during Roman rule. Among them, Spanish (also known as Castilian) is the most widely spoken and the only official language across the entire country.
Commonly spoken regional languages include, most notably, the sole surviving indigenous language of Iberia, Basque, as well as other Latin-descended Romance languages like Spanish itself, Catalan and Galician. Many populations outside Spain have ancestors who emigrated from Spain and share elements of a Hispanic culture. The most notable of these comprise Hispanic America in the Western Hemisphere.
Latin Americans (Spanish: Latinoamericanos; Portuguese: Latino-americanos; French: Latino-américains) are the citizens of Latin American countries (or people with cultural, ancestral or national origins in Latin America).
Latin American countries and their diasporas are multi-ethnic and multi-racial. Latin Americans are a pan-ethnicity consisting of people of different ethnic and national backgrounds. As a result, many Latin Americans do not take their nationality as an ethnicity, but identify themselves with a combination of their nationality, ethnicity and their ancestral origins. In addition to the indigenous population, Latin Americans include people with Old World ancestors who arrived since 1492. Latin America has the largest diasporas of Spaniards, Portuguese, Africans, Italians, Lebanese and Japanese in the world. The region also has large German (second largest after the United States), French, Palestinian (largest outside the Arab states), Chinese and Jewish diasporas.
Spanish Americans (Spanish: españoles estadounidenses, hispanoestadounidenses, or hispanonorteamericanos) are Americans whose ancestry originates wholly or partly from Spain. They are the longest-established European American group in the modern United States, with a very small group descending from those explorations leaving from Spain and the Viceroyalty of New Spain (modern Mexico), and starting in the early 1500s, of 42 of the future U.S. states from California to Florida; and beginning a continuous presence in Florida since 1565 and New Mexico since 1598.In the 2020 United States census, 978,978 self-identified as "Spaniard" representing (0.4%) of the white alone or in combination population who responded to the question. Other results include 866,356 (0.4%) identifying as "Spanish" and 50,966 who identified with "Spanish American".
Many Hispanic and Latino Americans (the Hispanos of New Mexico being the oldest group) living in the United States have some Spanish ancestral roots due to up to four centuries of Spanish colonial settlement and significant immigration of Spaniards after independence. In terms of ancestry, these groups, and especially white Hispanic and Latino Americans 12,579,626 (white alone, 20.3% of all Hispanics) could be called "Spanish Americans", with the caveat that they can also include European origins other than Spanish, and often Amerindian or African ancestry. A number of communities descended from European Spanish immigrants are elided by the “Hispanic and Latino” ethnic category; these include the descendants of Basques in the western states, Isleños in the gulf coast states, and Andalusians in states like West Virginia, among others.
Spanish Americans (Spanish: españoles estadounidenses, hispanoestadounidenses, or hispanonorteamericanos) are Americans whose ancestry originates wholly or partly from Spain. They are the longest-established European American group in the modern United States, with a very small group descending from those explorations leaving from Spain and the Viceroyalty of New Spain (modern Mexico), and starting in the early 1500s, of 42 of the future U.S. states from California to Florida; and beginning a continuous presence in Florida since 1565 and New Mexico since 1598.In the 2020 United States census, 978,978 self-identified as "Spaniard" representing (0.4%) of the white alone or in combination population who responded to the question. Other results include 866,356 (0.4%) identifying as "Spanish" and 50,966 who identified with "Spanish American".
Many Hispanic and Latino Americans (the Hispanos of New Mexico being the oldest group) living in the United States have some Spanish ancestral roots due to up to four centuries of Spanish colonial settlement and significant immigration of Spaniards after independence. In terms of ancestry, these groups, and especially white Hispanic and Latino Americans 12,579,626 (white alone, 20.3% of all Hispanics) could be called "Spanish Americans", with the caveat that they can also include European origins other than Spanish, and often Amerindian or African ancestry. A number of communities descended from European Spanish immigrants are elided by the “Hispanic and Latino” ethnic category; these include the descendants of Basques in the western states, Isleños in the gulf coast states, and Asturians in states like West Virginia, among others.