Hispanic and Latino Americans (Spanish: Estadounidenses hispanos y latinos; Portuguese: Estadunidenses hispânicos e latinos) are Americans of Spanish and/or Latin American background, culture, or family origin.[3][4][5][6] These demographics include all Americans who identify as Hispanic or Latino regardless of race or ancestry.[7][8][9][10][11] As of 2020, the Census Bureau estimated that there were almost 65.3 million Hispanics and Latinos living in the United States and its territories.[1]
Multiracial Hispanics (Mestizo) of Indigenous descent and Spanish descent are the second oldest ethnic groups (after the Native Americans) to inhabit much of what is today the United States.[21][22][23][24] Spain colonized large areas of what is today the American Southwest and West Coast, as well as Florida. Its holdings included present-day California, Texas, New Mexico, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, and Florida, all of which constituted part of the Viceroyalty of New Spain, based in Mexico City. Later, this vast territory became part of Mexico after its independence from Spain in 1821 and until the end of the Mexican–American War in 1848. Hispanic immigrants to the New York/New Jersey metropolitan area derive from a broad spectrum of Hispanic countries.[25]
^"49 CFR Part 26". Federal Highway Administration. Retrieved October 22, 2012. 'Hispanic Americans,' which includes Spanish, other European or Middle Eastern-descended persons of Mexican-, Puerto Rican-, Cuban, Dominican-, Central or South American.
^Humes, Karen R.; Jones, Nicholas A.; Ramirez, Roberto R. "Overview of Race and Hispanic Origin: 2010"(PDF). U.S. Census Bureau. Archived from the original(PDF) on April 29, 2011. Retrieved March 28, 2011. "Hispanic or Latino" refers to a person of Cuban, Mexican, Puerto Rican, South or Central American, or other Spanish culture or origin regardless of race.