The Cibao , usually referred as El Cibao, is a region of the Dominican Republic located in the northern part of the country. As of 2009, the Cibao region has a population of 5,622,378, making it the most populous region in the country.
96-523: The region constitutes a "developed macro-region"; with a large industrial base and high levels of progress among its inhabitants, it has the highest levels of education and the highest quality of life among the three main regions of the Dominican Republic. Cibao is social-culturally characterized by being the predominant center of the European legacy on the island, and economically for being
192-418: A pigmentocracy . The local-born whites were known as blancos de la tierra ("whites from the land"), in contrast to the blancos de Castilla , "whites from Castile ". The color prejudice between blacks and whites practically disappeared due to the great misery that prevailed in the colony. By the mid-17th century, the overall population decreased to 3,000 inhabitants and it was concentrated in or near
288-522: A Dominican flotilla harassing Haitian coastal villages, and land reinforcements in the south to force Haitian emperor into a one-year truce. In the most thorough and intense encounter of all, Dominicans armed with swords sent Haitian troops into flight on all three fronts in 1855 solidifying the Dominican nation's independence. Due to political instability during the España Boba period, some of
384-603: A considerable number of words from Arabic , as well as a minor influence from the Germanic Gothic language through the period of Visigoth rule in Iberia. In addition, many more words were borrowed from Latin through the influence of written language and the liturgical language of the Church. The loanwords were taken from both Classical Latin and Renaissance Latin , the form of Latin in use at that time. According to
480-522: A dramatic change in the pronunciation of its sibilant consonants , known in Spanish as the reajuste de las sibilantes , which resulted in the distinctive velar [x] pronunciation of the letter ⟨j⟩ and—in a large part of Spain—the characteristic interdental [θ] ("th-sound") for the letter ⟨z⟩ (and for ⟨c⟩ before ⟨e⟩ or ⟨i⟩ ). See History of Spanish (Modern development of
576-482: A first language by Spaniards and educated Filipinos ( Ilustrados ). Despite a public education system set up by the colonial government, by the end of Spanish rule in 1898, only about 10% of the population had knowledge of Spanish, mostly those of Spanish descent or elite standing. Spanish continued to be official and used in Philippine literature and press during the early years of American administration after
672-655: A larger percentage in the Captaincy General of Santo Domingo and for a time were the single largest ethnic group prior to the 19th century. Similar to the rest of the Hispanic Caribbean, the majority of Spaniards who settled the Dominican Republic came from southern Spain, Andalusia and the Canary Islands , the latter of whom are of partial North African Guanche descent. The 1750 estimates show that there were 30,863 whites, or 43.7% out of
768-478: A long history in the territory of the current-day United States dating back to the 16th century. In the wake of the 1848 Guadalupe Hidalgo Treaty , hundreds of thousands of Spanish speakers became a minoritized community in the United States. The 20th century saw further massive growth of Spanish speakers in areas where they had been hitherto scarce. According to the 2020 census, over 60 million people of
864-508: A primarily Hassaniya Arabic -speaking territory, Spanish was officially spoken as the language of the colonial administration during the late 19th and 20th centuries. Today, Spanish is present in the partially-recognized Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic as its secondary official language, and in the Sahrawi refugee camps in Tindouf ( Algeria ), where the Spanish language is still taught as
960-617: A second language features characteristics involving the variability of the vowel system. While far from its heyday during the Spanish protectorate in Morocco , the Spanish language has some presence in northern Morocco , stemming for example from the availability of certain Spanish-language media. According to a 2012 survey by Morocco's Royal Institute for Strategic Studies (IRES), penetration of Spanish in Morocco reaches 4.6% of
1056-531: A second language, largely by Cuban educators. The number of Spanish speakers is unknown. Spanish is also an official language of the African Union . Spanish was an official language of the Philippines from the beginning of Spanish administration in 1565 to a constitutional change in 1973. During Spanish colonization , it was the language of government, trade, and education, and was spoken as
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#17327647679641152-641: A sizeable amount of white and mulatto refugees from both Saint-Domingue ( Haiti ), and the Cibao Valley, the former during the Haitian Revolution and the latter amid the Dominican genocide by the Haitian army in 1805. In the modern era, there are sizeable numbers of immigrants settling in the Dominican Republic from North America and Europe, especially countries like Spain , Italy , France , United States , and Canada , among others. Around
1248-707: A total population of 70,625, in the colony of Santo Domingo. other estimates include 1790 with 40,000 or 32% of the population, and in 1846 with 80,000 or 48.5% of the population. The first census of 1920 reported that 24.9% identified as white. The second census, taken in 1935, covered race, religion, literacy, nationality, labor force, and urban–rural residence. The census bureau continued to gather data on ethnic-racial identification until 1960. and decided to discontinue its use of classifications until 2022. The most recent census in 2022 reported that 1,611,752 or 18.7% of Dominicans 12 years old and above self identify as white . The Dominican identity card (issued by
1344-468: A totalitarian military government took place that forbade the Dominican people by law from taking public office, were on permanent curfew since early dusk and had the public university closed down on the pretext that it was a subversive institution. In 1838 Dominican nationalists Juan Pablo Duarte , Francisco del Rosario Sánchez , Matías Ramón Mella established the Trinitario movement. In 1844,
1440-546: Is Mexico . Spanish is part of the Ibero-Romance language group , in which the language is also known as Castilian ( castellano ). The group evolved from several dialects of Vulgar Latin in Iberia after the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century. The oldest Latin texts with traces of Spanish come from mid-northern Iberia in the 9th century, and the first systematic written use of
1536-416: Is cognate to the root word of satisfacer ("to satisfy"), and hecho ("made") is similarly cognate to the root word of satisfecho ("satisfied"). Compare the examples in the following table: Some consonant clusters of Latin also produced characteristically different results in these languages, as shown in the examples in the following table: In the 15th and 16th centuries, Spanish underwent
1632-413: Is also one of the most taught foreign languages throughout the world. Spanish is well represented in the humanities and social sciences . Spanish is also the third most used language on the internet by number of users after English and Chinese and the second most used language by number of websites after English. Spanish is used as an official language by many international organizations , including
1728-410: Is also true between blacks and darker multiracial people. As race in Dominican Republic acts as continuum of white—mulatto—black and not as clear cut as in places like the United States. And many times in the same family, there can be people of different colors and racial phenotypes who are blood-related, this is due to the large amounts of interracial mixing for hundreds of years in Dominican Republic and
1824-673: Is an accepted version of this page Spanish ( español ) or Castilian ( castellano ) is a Romance language of the Indo-European language family that evolved from the Vulgar Latin spoken on the Iberian Peninsula of Europe . Today, it is a global language with about 500 million native speakers, mainly in the Americas and Spain , and about 600 million when including second language speakers. Spanish
1920-454: Is estimated that about 486 million people speak Spanish as a native language , making it the second most spoken language by number of native speakers . An additional 75 million speak Spanish as a second or foreign language , making it the fourth most spoken language in the world overall after English, Mandarin Chinese, and Hindi with a total number of 538 million speakers. Spanish is also
2016-761: Is heavily influenced by Venezuelan Spanish. In addition to sharing most of its borders with Spanish-speaking countries, the creation of Mercosur in the early 1990s induced a favorable situation for the promotion of Spanish language teaching in Brazil . In 2005, the National Congress of Brazil approved a bill, signed into law by the President , making it mandatory for schools to offer Spanish as an alternative foreign language course in both public and private secondary schools in Brazil. In September 2016 this law
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#17327647679642112-468: Is not only a geographical unit, but also a cultural and linguistic unit. The Cibao region is considered to be the cultural heartland of the Dominican Republic. The typical accent spoken in the Cibao region is a mixture of two dialects: that of the 16th- and 17th-century Portuguese colonists in the Cibao valley, and of the 18th-century Canarian settlers. There is also some influences from African languages in
2208-781: Is spoken by very small communities in Angola due to Cuban influence from the Cold War and in South Sudan among South Sudanese natives that relocated to Cuba during the Sudanese wars and returned for their country's independence. Spanish is also spoken in the integral territories of Spain in Africa, namely the cities of Ceuta and Melilla and the Canary Islands , located in the Atlantic Ocean some 100 km (62 mi) off
2304-813: Is the de facto national language of the country, Spanish is often used in public services and notices at the federal and state levels. Spanish is also used in administration in the state of New Mexico . The language has a strong influence in major metropolitan areas such as those of Los Angeles , Miami , San Antonio , New York , San Francisco , Dallas , Tucson and Phoenix of the Arizona Sun Corridor , as well as more recently, Chicago , Las Vegas , Boston , Denver , Houston , Indianapolis , Philadelphia , Cleveland , Salt Lake City , Atlanta , Nashville , Orlando , Tampa , Raleigh and Baltimore-Washington, D.C. due to 20th- and 21st-century immigration. Although Spanish has no official recognition in
2400-498: Is the official language of 20 countries , as well as one of the six official languages of the United Nations . Spanish is the world's second-most spoken native language after Mandarin Chinese ; the world's fourth-most spoken language overall after English , Mandarin Chinese, and Hindustani ( Hindi - Urdu ); and the world's most widely spoken Romance language. The country with the largest population of native speakers
2496-578: Is usually assumed to be derived from castillo ('castle'). In the Middle Ages , the language spoken in Castile was generically referred to as Romance and later also as Lengua vulgar . Later in the period, it gained geographical specification as Romance castellano ( romanz castellano , romanz de Castiella ), lenguaje de Castiella , and ultimately simply as castellano (noun). Different etymologies have been suggested for
2592-544: The Canary Islands . During that period, Neyba (1733), San Juan de la Maguana (1733), Puerto Plata (1736), Dajabón (1743), Montecristi (1751), Santa Bárbara de Xamaná (1756), San Rafael de la Angostura (1761), Sabana de la Mar (1761), Las Caobas (1763), Baní (1764), Las Matas de Farfán (1767), San Miguel de la Atalaya (1768), Moca (1773), Juana Núñez (1775), San José de los Llanos (1779), San Pedro de Macorís (1779), and San Carlos de Tenerife (1785), were founded. Due to this migration, it decreased
2688-677: The Dominican Republic 's population, according to a 2021 survey by the United Nations Population Fund . The majority of white Dominicans have ancestry from the first European settlers to arrive in Hispaniola in 1492 and are descendants of the Spanish and Portuguese who settled in the island during colonial times , as well as the French who settled in the 17th and 18th centuries. Many whites in
2784-562: The Junta Central Electoral ) used to categorised people as yellow, white, Indian, and black, in 2011 the Junta planned to replace Indian with mulatto in a new ID card with biometric data that was under development, but in 2014 when it released the new ID card, it decided to just drop racial categorisation, the old ID card expired on 10 January 2015. The Ministry of Public Works and Communications uses racial classification in
2880-568: The Spanish as a First Foreign Language (SAFFL) initiative in March 2005. Spanish has historically had a significant presence on the Dutch Caribbean islands of Aruba , Bonaire and Curaçao ( ABC Islands ) throughout the centuries and in present times. The majority of the populations of each island (especially Aruba) speaking Spanish at varying although often high degrees of fluency. The local language Papiamentu (Papiamento on Aruba)
2976-568: The Spanish–American War but was eventually replaced by English as the primary language of administration and education by the 1920s. Nevertheless, despite a significant decrease in influence and speakers, Spanish remained an official language of the Philippines upon independence in 1946, alongside English and Filipino , a standardized version of Tagalog . Spanish was briefly removed from official status in 1973 but reimplemented under
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3072-488: The Taíno , but many of these died of diseases, and those who survived did not make good slaves. In 1510, there were 10,000 Spaniards in the colony of Santo Domingo , and it rose to over 20,000 in 1520. But following the depleting of the gold mines, the island began to depopulate, as most poor Spanish colonists embarked to the newly conquered Mexico or to Venezuela (which was aggravated by the conquest of Peru in 1533). This
3168-649: The Ten Years' War ) and Italians. After the Restoration War there was an inflow of Americans and French. Most immigrants during this period completely assimilated into the local Dominican population. The most prominent migrants' surnames that went to this city were Arzeno , Balaguer , Batlle , Bonarelli, Brugal , Capriles, Demorizi , Ferrari , Imbert , Lithgow , Lockward , McKinney , Paiewonsky , Prud'homme , Puig , Rainiere , Villanueva , Vinelli and Zeller . In 1871, half of Puerto Plata's population
3264-820: The United Nations , European Union , Organization of American States , Union of South American Nations , Community of Latin American and Caribbean States , African Union , among others. In Spain and some other parts of the Spanish-speaking world, Spanish is called not only español but also castellano (Castilian), the language from the Kingdom of Castile , contrasting it with other languages spoken in Spain such as Galician , Basque , Asturian , Catalan/Valencian , Aragonese , Occitan and other minor languages. The Spanish Constitution of 1978 uses
3360-548: The city of Santo Domingo . About one tenth of the colony's population was Portuguese-born ; they were concentrated in the Cibao valley , where they had an influence on the Spanish dialect spoken in that area; another 3% was born in Spain or descended exclusively from Spaniards. During the eighteenth century, there were French colonists that settled in many Spanish towns, particularly in Santiago , by 1730 they totalled 25% of
3456-483: The driver's license , being white, mestizo, mulatto, black, and yellow the categories used. The presence of whites in the Dominican Republic dates back to the founding of La Isabela , one of the first European settlements in the Americas, by Bartholomew Columbus in 1493. The presence of precious metals such as gold boosted migration of thousands of Spaniards to Hispaniola seeking easy wealth. They tried to enslave
3552-1327: The 17th and 18th centuries made subsequently that newly rich families emerged among them, which are: Alfau , De Marchena , Mirabal , Tavárez (and its variants Tavares and Taveras ), Lopez-Penha , Marten-Ellis and Troncoso . And others from the 19th and 20th centuries: Armenteros , Arzeno , Báez , Barceló , Beras , Bermúdez , Bonetti , Brugal , Corripio , Esteva , Goico , Haché , Hoffiz , Lama , León , Morel , Munné , Ottenwalder , Pellerano , Paiewonski , Piantini , Rochet , Rizek , Vicini , Vila , and Vitienes. PUERTO RICO: 17,572 whites; 5,037 slaves; 22,274 freed coloured people; total- 44,883. CUBA: 116,947 whites; 28,760 slaves; 24,293 freed coloured people; total- 170,000. SANTO DOMINGO: 30,863 whites; 8,900 slaves; 30,862 freed coloured people; total- 70,625. TOTAL SPANISH COLONIES: 165,382 whites; 42,967 slaves; 77,429 freed coloured people; total- 285,508. PUERTO RICO: 17,572 whites; 5,037 slaves; 22,274 freed coloured people; total- 44,883. CUBA: 116,947 whites; 28,760 slaves; 24,293 freed coloured people; total- 170,000. SANTO DOMINGO: 30,863 whites; 8,900 slaves; 30,862 freed coloured people; total- 70,625. TOTAL SPANISH COLONIES: 165,382 whites; 42,967 slaves; 77,429 freed coloured people; total- 285,508. Spanish language This
3648-521: The 19th century Puerto Plata was the most important port in the country (and even became provisional capital) and hosted the European and North American migration to the Dominican Republic. The majority were Germans traders and tobacco producers, most of them being from Hamburg and Bremen . There were also Englishmen, Dutch, Spaniards (mainly from Catalonia ), Puerto Ricans (at least 30,000 between 1880 and 1940), Cubans (at least 5,000 immigrated during
3744-404: The 2021–2022 school year alone. The local business process outsourcing industry has also helped boost the language's economic prospects. Today, while the actual number of proficient Spanish speakers is around 400,000, or under 0.5% of the population, a new generation of Spanish speakers in the Philippines has likewise emerged, though speaker estimates vary widely. Aside from standard Spanish,
3840-595: The 20th century, Spanish was introduced to Equatorial Guinea and the Western Sahara , and to areas of the United States that had not been part of the Spanish Empire, such as Spanish Harlem in New York City . For details on borrowed words and other external influences upon Spanish, see Influences on the Spanish language . Spanish is the primary language in 20 countries worldwide. As of 2023, it
3936-400: The Dominican Republic also descend from Italians , Dutchmen , Germans , Hungarians , Scandinavians , Americans and other nationalities who have migrated between the 19th and 20th centuries. About 9.2% of the Dominican population claims a European immigrant background, according to the 2021 Fondo de Población de las Naciones Unidas survey. White Dominicans historically made up
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4032-654: The Equatoguinean education system and is the primary language used in government and business. Whereas it is not the mother tongue of virtually any of its speakers, the vast majority of the population is proficient in Spanish. The Instituto Cervantes estimates that 87.7% of the population is fluent in Spanish. The proportion of proficient Spanish speakers in Equatorial Guinea exceeds the proportion of proficient speakers in other West and Central African nations of their respective colonial languages. Spanish
4128-469: The Haitian domination. After independence and being under Spanish control again in 1863, many families returned to the island including new waves of immigration from Spain occurred. The majority of the immigrants that settled in the Dominican Republic in the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century established their residence in Santo Domingo, Santiago, Moca and Puerto Plata. During
4224-576: The Haitian government. Under the command of Faustin Soulouque Haitian soldiers tried to gain back control of lost territory, but this effort was to no avail as the Dominicans would go on to decisively win every battle henceforth. In March 1844, a 30,000-strong two-pronged attack by Haitians was successfully repelled by an under-equipped Dominican army under the command of the wealthy rancher Gen. Pedro Santana . Four years later, it took
4320-705: The Iberian Peninsula. These languages included Proto-Basque , Iberian , Lusitanian , Celtiberian and Gallaecian . The first documents to show traces of what is today regarded as the precursor of modern Spanish are from the 9th century. Throughout the Middle Ages and into the modern era , the most important influences on the Spanish lexicon came from neighboring Romance languages — Mozarabic ( Andalusi Romance ), Navarro-Aragonese , Leonese , Catalan/Valencian , Portuguese , Galician , Occitan , and later, French and Italian . Spanish also borrowed
4416-526: The North with the exception of the city of Santo Domingo . The Sierra was peopled in the 18th century mostly by ethnic Canarians and French who established a markedly endogamous society where they didn't miscegenate with mulattos or blacks in order to preserve their whiteness; African slaves were negligible except in San José de las Matas , where today there is a large admixed population. The Sierra received
4512-540: The Old Spanish sibilants) for details. The Gramática de la lengua castellana , written in Salamanca in 1492 by Elio Antonio de Nebrija , was the first grammar written for a modern European language. According to a popular anecdote, when Nebrija presented it to Queen Isabella I , she asked him what was the use of such a work, and he answered that language is the instrument of empire. In his introduction to
4608-589: The Royal Spanish Academy) states that, although the Royal Spanish Academy prefers to use the term español in its publications when referring to the Spanish language, both terms— español and castellano —are regarded as synonymous and equally valid. The term castellano is related to Castile ( Castilla or archaically Castiella ), the kingdom where the language was originally spoken. The name Castile , in turn,
4704-745: The Santo Domingo, accused the Cibaenian elite of seeking to annex their province to France. After the failed plans of the Spanish Monarchy to expel the French colonists, the Monarchy decided to actively encourage the mass settlement of Spanish families in order to counteract the Frenchification of the colony. Over the next decades, the Spanish colony of Santo Domingo was the subject of a mass migration of Spaniards, most of whom came from
4800-529: The Spanish Caribbean in general, allowing for high amounts of genetic diversity. The Dominican Republic is similar to other countries in Latin America that were colonized by Europeans, and shows a clear correlation between race and wealth . The upper and upper-middle classes of the Dominican Republic are overwhelmingly of European origin. The middle class , which is the class with
4896-452: The State. ... The other Spanish languages shall also be official in their respective Autonomous Communities... The Royal Spanish Academy ( Real Academia Española ), on the other hand, currently uses the term español in its publications. However, from 1713 to 1923, it called the language castellano . The Diccionario panhispánico de dudas (a language guide published by
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#17327647679644992-502: The U.S. population were of Hispanic or Hispanic American by origin. In turn, 41.8 million people in the United States aged five or older speak Spanish at home, or about 13% of the population. Spanish predominates in the unincorporated territory of Puerto Rico , where it is also an official language along with English. Spanish is by far the most common second language in the country, with over 50 million total speakers if non-native or second-language speakers are included. While English
5088-457: The administration of Ferdinand Marcos two months later. It remained an official language until the ratification of the present constitution in 1987, in which it was re-designated as a voluntary and optional auxiliary language. Additionally, the constitution, in its Article XIV, stipulates that the Government shall provide the people of the Philippines with a Spanish-language translation of
5184-471: The amount of coloreds and blacks: the black population dropped to 12%, the mulatto population to 8%, and the quadroons to 31%. After that peak, the local white population began to migrate (especially towards Puerto Rico , Curaçao and Venezuela ), first with the Haitian rule , and later with the constant political and economic instability after Dominican independence. Historically, migration to Puerto Rico
5280-474: The area. The central mountain range also has important mining activity. Its main mineral resources include gold , iron and nickel , among others. The largest gold mine in the Americas and second largest in the world, the Pueblo Viejo mine , is located in the Cibao region. The internationally known Barrick Gold and Falconbridge are the companies in charge of the extraction of these ores. The valley
5376-508: The broadest colour spectrum, is roughly ⅓ white. Altogether, about 45% of the lower-middle , upper-middle and upper class Dominicans are white, with mixed-race Dominicans reaching a similar proportion. The lower class is overwhelmingly of mixed-race background. Limpieza de sangre ( Spanish: [limˈpjeθa ðe ˈsaŋɡɾe] , meaning literally "cleanliness of blood") was very important in Mediæval Spain , and this system
5472-693: The central and northern part of the Dominican territory. To the north and east of the region lies the Atlantic Ocean ; to its west lies the Republic of Haiti and to the south the Central Range, which separates El Cibao from the other natural regions. The Cordillera Central mountain range is located within El Cibao, containing the highest peak in all of the Caribbean, Pico Duarte . Two of
5568-566: The classic hispanus or hispanicus took the suffix -one from Vulgar Latin , as happened with other words such as bretón (Breton) or sajón (Saxon). Like the other Romance languages , the Spanish language evolved from Vulgar Latin , which was brought to the Iberian Peninsula by the Romans during the Second Punic War , beginning in 210 BC. Several pre-Roman languages (also called Paleohispanic languages )—some distantly related to Latin as Indo-European languages , and some that are not related at all—were previously spoken in
5664-446: The consonant written b (a bilabial with plosive and fricative allophones). In modern Spanish, there is no difference between the pronunciation of orthographic b and v . Typical of Spanish (as also of neighboring Gascon extending as far north as the Gironde estuary , and found in a small area of Calabria ), attributed by some scholars to a Basque substratum was the mutation of Latin initial f into h- whenever it
5760-404: The country's constitution. In recent years changing attitudes among non-Spanish speaking Filipinos have helped spur a revival of the language, and starting in 2009 Spanish was reintroduced as part of the basic education curriculum in a number of public high schools, becoming the largest foreign language program offered by the public school system, with over 7,000 students studying the language in
5856-430: The creation of a caste system , ( casta ), in which Spaniards were at the top, mixed-race people at middle, and Amerindians and black people at the bottom. Endogamy became a norm within the higher classes, in order to maintain their status and remain racially pure especially, specially because only pure whites were able to inherit majorats . As a result, Santo Domingo, like the rest of Hispanic America , became
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#17327647679645952-431: The dialect. Merengue music , played using the güira , tambora and accordion , was originated in El Cibao. The original folk type of merengue is known as perico ripiao or típico , which is played to this day by local musical groups, as a variation of the merengue, with a faster pace. During Late January and through February, several carnivals are held within the region. The most popular of these festivals belongs to
6048-443: The early years working in the United States to retire the later years in Dominican Republic, or frequent relocation between homes in the United States and Dominican Republic, oftentimes a home of a family member. In Dominican Republic and some other Latin American countries, it can sometimes be difficult to determine the exact number of racial groups, because the lines between whites and lighter multiracial people are very blurry, which
6144-445: The economy of the Cibao . Grand Mayor Pichardo was tried and imprisoned in the city of Santo Domingo, but in the next year, the Council of the Indies reasoned in favor of Pichardo and decided a pardon to the French. In 1720–1721, a revolt in Santiago against a new tax on beef exports to the Saint Domingue, arose Frenchification fears in the Santo Domingo elite; Captain-General Fernando Constanzo [ es ] , governor of
6240-450: The following table: Spanish is marked by palatalization of the Latin double consonants ( geminates ) nn and ll (thus Latin annum > Spanish año , and Latin anellum > Spanish anillo ). The consonant written u or v in Latin and pronounced [w] in Classical Latin had probably " fortified " to a bilabial fricative /β/ in Vulgar Latin. In early Spanish (but not in Catalan or Portuguese) it merged with
6336-466: The former British colony of Belize (known until 1973 as British Honduras ) where English is the sole official language, according to the 2022 census, 54% of the total population are able to speak the language. Due to its proximity to Spanish-speaking countries and small existing native Spanish speaking minority, Trinidad and Tobago has implemented Spanish language teaching into its education system. The Trinidadian and Tobagonian government launched
6432-454: The grammar, dated 18 August 1492, Nebrija wrote that "... language was always the companion of empire." From the 16th century onwards, the language was taken to the Spanish-discovered America and the Spanish East Indies via Spanish colonization of America . Miguel de Cervantes , author of Don Quixote , is such a well-known reference in the world that Spanish is often called la lengua de Cervantes ("the language of Cervantes"). In
6528-407: The highest rank who migrated to America in the sixteenth century was the noblewoman Doña María Álvarez de Toledo y Rojas , granddaughter of the 1st Duke of Alba , niece of the 2nd Duke of Alba, and grandniece of King Ferdinand of Aragon ; she was married to Diego Columbus , Admiral and Viceroy of the Indies. Many Criollo families migrated to other Spanish colonies. Further immigration from
6624-448: The language happened in Toledo , a prominent city of the Kingdom of Castile , in the 13th century. Spanish colonialism in the early modern period spurred the introduction of the language to overseas locations, most notably to the Americas. As a Romance language, Spanish is a descendant of Latin. Around 75% of modern Spanish vocabulary is Latin in origin, including Latin borrowings from Ancient Greek. Alongside English and French , it
6720-423: The language's hegemony in an intensely centralising Spanish state were established from the 18th century onward. Other European territories in which it is also widely spoken include Gibraltar and Andorra . Spanish is also spoken by immigrant communities in other European countries, such as the United Kingdom , France , Italy , and Germany . Spanish is an official language of the European Union . Today,
6816-413: The largest rivers of the country are also located inside this region: the Yaque del Norte , the largest river of the Dominican Republic , and the Yuna river . Both of these rivers contain several chains of dams used to provide the region with water for irrigation (since agriculture is the main activity of the area) and hydroelectric energy. Rice , coffee and cacao are the most important crops grown in
6912-694: The majority of the Spanish speakers live in Hispanic America . Nationally, Spanish is the official language—either de facto or de jure —of Argentina , Bolivia (co-official with 36 indigenous languages), Chile , Colombia , Costa Rica , Cuba , Dominican Republic , Ecuador , El Salvador , Guatemala , Honduras , Mexico (co-official with 63 indigenous languages), Nicaragua , Panama , Paraguay (co-official with Guaraní ), Peru (co-official with Quechua , Aymara , and "the other indigenous languages"), Puerto Rico (co-official with English), Uruguay , and Venezuela . Spanish language has
7008-572: The members chose El Conde , the prominent “Gate of the Count” in the old city walls, as a rallying point for their insurrection against the Haitian government. On the morning of 27 February 1844, El Conde rang with the shots of the plotters, who had emerged from their secret meetings to openly challenge the Haitians. Their efforts were successful, and for the next ten years, Dominican military strongmen fought to preserve their country's independence against
7104-574: The more middle and working class whites coming to the country from other parts of Latin America, the former preferring tourist areas like Punta Cana and Sosua, while the latter choosing big cities like Santo Domingo and Santiago de los Caballeros. A large portion of Dominican emigrants and descendants, of all races including White Dominicans, who settled other countries like the United States and Spain, engage in Circular migration , in which they would live
7200-1002: The most benefited of those Spanish who emigrated to America because they received royal properties (such as cattle, lands, and slaves) and tax exemptions. These people achieved a privileged position, and most of them avoided mixing with natives or Africans. This led to certain family names to be related both to whiteness, as with a better social-economic position; these family names were Angulo , Aybar , Bardecí , Bastidas , Benavides , Caballero , Cabral , Camarena , Campusano , Caro , Coca , Coronado , Dávila , De Castro , De la Concha , De la Rocha , Del Monte , Fernández de Castro , Fernández de Fuenmayor , Fernández de Oviedo , Frómesta , Garay , Guzmán , Heredia , Herrera , Jiménez (and its variant Jimenes ), Jover , Landeche , Lora , Leoz y Echálaz , Maldonado , Mieses , Monasterios , Mosquera , Nieto , Ovalle , Palomares , Paredes , Pérez , Pichardo , Pimentel , Quesada , Serrano , Solano , Vega , and Villoria . The Spanish of
7296-464: The most prosperous region in the country. The word Cibao, from Taino Ciba-o 'stone mountain'; from Taino ciba 'rock, stone' and o 'mountain '. Cibao was a native name for the island, although the Spanish used it during the Spanish conquest to refer to the rich and fertile valley between the Central and Septentrional mountain ranges. El Cibao occupies
7392-734: The northwest of the African mainland. The Spanish spoken in the Canary Islands traces its origins back to the Castilian conquest in the 15th century , and, in addition to a resemblance to Western Andalusian speech patterns, it also features strong influence from the Spanish varieties spoken in the Americas, which in turn have also been influenced historically by Canarian Spanish. The Spanish spoken in North Africa by native bilingual speakers of Arabic or Berber who also speak Spanish as
7488-481: The population. Many northern Moroccans have rudimentary knowledge of Spanish, with Spanish being particularly significant in areas adjacent to Ceuta and Melilla. Spanish also has a presence in the education system of the country (through either selected education centers implementing Spain's education system, primarily located in the North, or the availability of Spanish as foreign language subject in secondary education). In Western Sahara , formerly Spanish Sahara ,
7584-495: The population. This was seen as a problem for the Spanish authorities, because if the population became mostly French, there could be problems of loyalty toward Spain. In 1718 a Royal Decree ordered the expulsion of the French people from Santo Domingo. The Grand Mayor of Santiago, Antonio Pichardo Vinuesta, refused to obey the decree arguing that most of the Frenchmen had married local women and that their expulsion would damage
7680-399: The province of La Vega , and dates back to the first European settlements. It began as a religious activity celebrating the pre-Lent season, and the carnival's theme revolves around the victory of good over evil. Many important Dominican patriots were of Cibaenian origin. Among the most important are local generals José Desiderio Valverde and José Antonio Salcedo , who were responsible for
7776-541: The region of Latin America, many whites and European-dominate multiracials are immigrating to the country from places like Venezuela , Puerto Rico , and Cuba , among others. The Puerto Rican population in the Dominican Republic has been steadily climbing recently, and the country now has a large and fast growing Venezuelan population, of which whom make up the second largest immigrant group in Dominican Republic after Haitians. White immigrants from North America and Europe tend to be significantly wealthier in comparison to
7872-603: The regional center and main focus of development of the area. 19°37′37″N 70°16′39″W / 19.6269°N 70.2774°W / 19.6269; -70.2774 White Dominicans White Dominicans ( Spanish : Dominicanos blancos ), also known as Caucasian Dominicans ( Spanish : Dominicanos Caucásicos ), are Dominican people of predominant or total European ancestry. The 2022 Dominican Republic census reported that 1,611,752 people or 18.7% of those 12 years old and above identify as white , 731,855 males and 879,897 females. An estimate put it at 17.8% of
7968-627: The restoration of the Republic in the later decades of the 1800s. During the Trujillo dictatorship, the Mirabal sisters arranged clandestine organizations to rebel against the fascist dictatorship. The sisters were brutally murdered in 1960, and remain today as some of the biggest martyrs on behalf of the Dominican nation. The bulk of the population is mainly concentrated in the center of the region. The city of Santiago de los Caballeros constitutes
8064-415: The term castellano to define the official language of the whole of Spain, in contrast to las demás lenguas españolas (lit. "the other Spanish languages "). Article III reads as follows: El castellano es la lengua española oficial del Estado. ... Las demás lenguas españolas serán también oficiales en las respectivas Comunidades Autónomas... Castilian is the official Spanish language of
8160-537: The term español (Spanish). According to the Royal Spanish Academy, español derives from the Occitan word espaignol and that, in turn, derives from the Vulgar Latin * hispaniolus ('of Hispania'). Hispania was the Roman name for the entire Iberian Peninsula . There are other hypotheses apart from the one suggested by the Royal Spanish Academy. Spanish philologist Ramón Menéndez Pidal suggested that
8256-444: The theories of Ramón Menéndez Pidal , local sociolects of Vulgar Latin evolved into Spanish, in the north of Iberia, in an area centered in the city of Burgos , and this dialect was later brought to the city of Toledo , where the written standard of Spanish was first developed, in the 13th century. In this formative stage, Spanish developed a strongly differing variant from its close cousin, Leonese , and, according to some authors,
8352-640: The third most used language on the Internet , after English and Chinese. Spanish is the official language of Spain . Upon the emergence of the Castilian Crown as the dominant power in the Iberian Peninsula by the end of the Middle Ages, the Romance vernacular associated with this polity became increasingly used in instances of prestige and influence, and the distinction between "Castilian" and "Spanish" started to become blurred. Hard policies imposing
8448-637: The whites in Santo Domingo fled the country between 1795 and 1820, mainly to Venezuela, Puerto Rico, and Cuba. However, many white families stayed on the island. Many whites in Santo Domingo did not consider owning slaves due to the economic crisis in Santo Domingo. But the few rich white elites that did, fled the colony. Many of these white families that stayed on the island settled in the cibao region owning land. Some Dominican historians and intellectuals, such as Américo Lugo , Joaquín Balaguer and Antonio del Monte y Tejada , deplored that "Santo Domingo lost most of its best families" at that era, specially during
8544-575: Was composed of foreigners; and in both the 1888 and 1897 censuses, 30% was foreign born. Most of the offspring of Puerto Plata's immigrants moved to Santiago and Santo Domingo in the 20th century. The distribution of white Dominicans or European descended population is the Cibao or Northern region, particularly the Sierra where according to the 1950 census, six out of ten people identified as white. The Southeastern and Southwestern regions have fairly smaller concentrations of whites in comparison to
8640-544: Was constant (except between 1898 and the 1930s, when there was a wave of Puerto Rican migrants to the Dominican Republic) and it boosted in the 20th century because of the oppressive regimes of Trujillo and Balaguer . Although, the country has received a tiny but steady immigration (from other countries than Haiti), which has partly offset the constant emigration. The Haitian Occupation of Santo Domingo lasted from 1822 until 1844, and sometime during this span,
8736-636: Was developed in the cities of Toledo , in the 13th to 16th centuries, and Madrid , from the 1570s. The development of the Spanish sound system from that of Vulgar Latin exhibits most of the changes that are typical of Western Romance languages , including lenition of intervocalic consonants (thus Latin vīta > Spanish vida ). The diphthongization of Latin stressed short e and o —which occurred in open syllables in French and Italian, but not at all in Catalan or Portuguese—is found in both open and closed syllables in Spanish, as shown in
8832-622: Was distinguished by a heavy Basque influence (see Iberian Romance languages ). This distinctive dialect spread to southern Spain with the advance of the Reconquista , and meanwhile gathered a sizable lexical influence from the Arabic of Al-Andalus , much of it indirectly, through the Romance Mozarabic dialects (some 4,000 Arabic -derived words, make up around 8% of the language today). The written standard for this new language
8928-435: Was followed by a limited Spanish migration toward Hispaniola, composed overwhelmingly by males. In order to counteract the depopulation and impoverishment of the colony, the Spanish Monarchy allowed the importation of African slaves to hew sugar cane . By 1542 there were only few hundred natives. Several epidemics wiped out the remaining natives on the island. The shortage of Spanish females led to miscegenation , that drove
9024-713: Was followed by a vowel that did not diphthongize. The h- , still preserved in spelling, is now silent in most varieties of the language, although in some Andalusian and Caribbean dialects, it is still aspirated in some words. Because of borrowings from Latin and neighboring Romance languages, there are many f -/ h - doublets in modern Spanish: Fernando and Hernando (both Spanish for "Ferdinand"), ferrero and herrero (both Spanish for "smith"), fierro and hierro (both Spanish for "iron"), and fondo and hondo (both words pertaining to depth in Spanish, though fondo means "bottom", while hondo means "deep"); additionally, hacer ("to make")
9120-583: Was replicated on the New World. The highest social class was the Visigothic nobility of Central European origin, commonly known as people of "sangre azul" (Spanish for: "blue blood"), because their skin was so pale that their veins looked blue through it, in comparison with that of a commoner who had olive skin . Those who proved that they were descendants of Visigoths were allowed to use the style of Don and were considered hidalgos . Hidalgos nobles were
9216-462: Was revoked by Michel Temer after the impeachment of Dilma Rousseff . In many border towns and villages along Paraguay and Uruguay, a mixed language known as Portuñol is spoken. Equatorial Guinea is the only Spanish-speaking country located entirely in Africa, with the language introduced during the Spanish colonial period . Enshrined in the constitution as an official language (alongside French and Portuguese), Spanish features prominently in
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