History

Spanish language in the Unites States

In 1565 Spanish conquerors and explorers established the settlement of Saint Augustine in what is now Florida. It was the first permanent European settlement in what is now the United States. In the 1600s and 1700s Spanish explorations and settlements extended the Spanish language North from Mexico into present-day Arizona, California, Southern Colorado, New Mexico, and Texas. When the United States annexed these areas following the Mexican War (1846-1848), many of the region's Spanish-speaking inhabitants remained, creating a distinct linguistic and cultural population in the Southwestern United States.

Spanish culture