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C Ch ha ap pt te er r 1 11 1 Changing Latino Geographies in the United States MARK E. REISINGER AND EUGENE TETTEY-FIO INTRODUCTION Latino Americans (also referred to as Hispanics) now represent the largest single minority population in 21st century America. Like the Asian American population discussed in the previous section, they constitute many subcultures, including Mexicans, Puerto Ricans, Cubans, Dominicans, Central and South Americans, and native groups such as the Tejanos, Chicanos, and Hispanos (Haverluk, 1997). As a cultural group, however, they are bound together by a set of unifying characteristics, including their language (predominantly Spanish), cultural heritage, history and geography. Latinos were not always welcomed in America, and their numbers were relatively small prior to the 1960s. Although this chapter focuses on the phenomenal growth of Latinos since 1980, it is impossible to fully understand Latino-American geographies without a discussion of the history prior to 1980. Thus, in the section that follows, we briefly review some key historical facts and processes that established early patterns of Latino-American geography. This is followed by an overview of general factors that explain the current patterns. We conclude this chapter with a discussion of the present and future numerical trends and geographies. Included in our discussion are the concerns for emerging inequalities related to the increasing Latino-American population. Segregation appears to contribute to these inequalities between Latino-Americans and non-Hispanic whites. In Census 2000, 35.3 million Hispanic were counted. The groups constitute approximately 12.5 percent of the total U.S. population. Mexicans represented 7.3 percent, Puerto Ricans 1.2 percent, Cubans 0.4 percent, and other Hispanics 3.6 percent of the total population. An additional 3.8 million Hispanics were enumerated in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico (Guzman, 2001). The sheer numbers of Latinos make them an important and visible segment of the U.S. population. Many other factors keep them in the news and high on public policy agendas. Latinos share a common Spanish heritage, an oftentimes-disadvantaged minority status, and a public image as newcomers who are welcomed by some and resented by others. Their socioeconomic and demographic characteristics are transforming America (Pinal and Singer, 1997). Geographically, Latinos are concentrated in a handful of states and cities. The settlement patterns of Latinos have significant historical dimensions and exhibit important spatial patterns. The purpose of this chapter is to examine the past and present spatial patterns of Latino settlement in the United States. The chapter focuses on the three main groups of Latinos in the United States: Mexicans, Puerto Ricans and Cubans. MEXICAN-AMERICANS Haverluk, in documenting the history of Latino settlement geography, reported the importance of the historical legacy between the U.S. and Mexico (1997). The ancestors of Mexican-Americans were the first Europeans to settle in what is now the borderland region of the southwestern United States stretching from 150 Mark E. Reisinger & Eugene Tettey-Fio Texas to California. Four major areas of settlement evolved by the extension of successful colonies in northern Mexico. The initial settlement of the borderlands region was in New Mexico. Santa Fe was founded in 1610 and served as the provincial capital and principal center of the region. Missions and presidios were established between Taos and Socorro and down the Rio Grande River at Paso del Norte near present day El Paso. Albuquerque was founded in 1706 following a Pueblo Indian revolt that temporarily forced the Spanish out of the northern settlements. At the close of the Spanish period in 1821, most of the borderlands population lived in New Mexico (Nostrand, 1979). A second region of Spanish settlement in the borderlands region was southern Arizona. The most successful settlements, the mission at San Xavier del Bac (1700), and the presidios at Tubac (1752) and Tucson (1776), were situated along the Santa Cruz River. Settlements were extended to the San Pedro Valley to the east and for a short time on the Colorado River near Yuma. In both areas, Indian hostilities prohibited successful colonization (Meinig, 1971). Texas was the third area of Spanish settlement in the borderlands. Three major mission/presidio complexes were founded: (1) at Nacogdoches in 1716; (2) San Antonio in 1718; and (3) La Bahia near present day Victoria in 1722. By the late 1700s, San Antonio had become the major provincial settlement in Spanish Texas. Other settlements followed and by 1850, some 14,000 Mexican-Americans lived in the region (Meinig, 1971). California was the last of the borderland...

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