Florida Hispanic Heritage Facts
- Heritage Facts
- Florida Place Names
- Florida's International Trade Highlights
- Important Dates
- Spanish, Latin American Writers and Nobel Prize Winners
Día de la Raza, or Columbus Day is a holiday marking the arrival of navigator Christopher Columbus in the Americas on October 12, 1492. Columbus' voyage was funded by Queen Isabella I of Castile and led to the Spanish colonization of the New World.
Written records about life in Florida began with the arrival of the Spanish explorer and adventurer Juan Ponce de León in 1513. Sometime between April 2 and April 8, Ponce de León waded ashore on the northeast coast of Florida, possibly near present-day St. Augustine. He called the area la Florida, in honor of Pascua florida ("feast of the flowers"), Spain's Eastertime celebration.
Pánfilo de Narváez led a fateful mission into Florida in 1528. Marching northward from the Tampa Bay area, he and his soldiers lost contact with the supply ships. Facing attacks from native tribes and diminishing rations, Narváez and his men built five barges using pine trees to set sail for a Spanish settlement in Mexico. A storm in the Gulf of Mexico destroyed the barges and most men perished, including Narváez. Only four survivors made it to Mexico.
In 1539, Hernando de Soto arrived in the Tampa Bay area to begin an expedition in search of gold and silver. His exploration took him on a long trek through Florida and what is now the southeastern United States. For four years, de Soto's expedition wandered, in hopes of finding the fabled wealth of the Indian people. De Soto and his soldiers camped for five months in the area now known as Tallahassee, celebrating the first Christmas in America. De Soto died near the Mississippi River in 1542. Survivors of his expedition eventually reached Mexico.
In 1559 Tristán de Luna y Arellano led another attempt by Europeans to colonize Florida. He established a settlement at Pensacola Bay, but a series of misfortunes caused his efforts to be abandoned after two years.
Pedro Menéndez de Avilés traveled to Florida with his sights set on creating a Spanish settlement. Menéndez arrived in 1565 at a place he called San Augustín (St. Augustine) and established the first permanent European settlement in what is now the United States.
In 1566, Menéndez de Avilés and Father Francisco Villareal arrive in present-day Miami to found a Jesuit mission, which was completed in 1567.
Construction of the Castillo de San Marcosin St. Augustine began on October 2, 1672, which was essentially completed by 1695. The fortification was designed by Ignacio Daza, a Spanish engineer living in Cuba. Castillo de San Marcos is made out of coquina stone (a sedimentary rock composed of seashells and coral) mined from nearby deposits. It is the oldest stone fort in the United States.
In 1821, Spain ceded Florida to the United States in accordance with the Adams-Onís Treaty. Florida was purchased for $5 million.
Joseph Marion Hernández became the first Hispanic-American ever to serve in Congress after his election as a territorial delegate in 1822.
Florida is admitted into the Union as the twenty-seventh state on March 3, 1845.
Vicente Martinez Ybor opened his cigar factory just outside Tampa in 1886. The forty-acre tract where the factory was located included housing and other amenities for its workers. Thousands of immigrant workers, many of them Cuban, Italian, and Spanish, inhabited the town that came to be known as Ybor City. Cuban independence activist José Martí addressed some of these workers at Ybor's factory, encouraging them to take part in the fight for an independent Cuba.
The port city of Tampa served as the primary staging area during the Spanish-American War in 1898 for U.S. troops on the way to battle in Cuba. Many Floridians supported the Cuban peoples' desire to be free of Spanish colonial rule.
Pan Am Airways began regular flights in 1931 between the cities of Miamiand Havana. The duration of the trip was two and a half hours.
On January 1, 1959, the Cuban Revolution led by Fidel Castro culminated in the overthrow of Fulgencio Batista's government. Over 155,000 people fled Cuba from 1959 to 1962, many of them finding exile in Miami.
The Freedom Tower in Miami earned its name because it served as a government reception facility for Cubans fleeing Castro's regime. Hundreds of thousands received services and were documented at this building from 1962 through the early 1970's.
Florida has the third largest population of Hispanics in the nation, with more than 4 million residing in the state. Twenty-three percent of Florida's population is Hispanic.
At least 60% of Hispanics reside in Palm Beach, Broward, Miami-Dade, and Monroe counties.
The majority of Florida's Hispanics trace their heritage to Cuba, Puerto Rico, or Mexico. In addition, the percentage of individuals from Colombia, Venezuela, Nicaragua, and Dominican Republic is growing.
U.S Hispanic Chamber of Commerce estimates more than 266,000 Hispanic businesses operating in Florida, ranking the Sunshine State third behind California and Texas.
Goods produced in Florida account for 23% of all U.S. exports to Latin American and the Caribbean - higher than any other state.
Fifty-three percent (53%) of all Florida-origin exports go to the Latin America/Caribbean region.
In 2013, over 6.3 million travelers visited Florida from Mexico, the Caribbean, Central and South America.
Florida Place Names
Altamonte Springs, Seminole County -- Altamonte is Spanish for "high hill".
Anna Maria Island, Manatee County -- Ponce de Leon was said to have named the island for the queen of King Charles II, the sponsor of his expedition. Pronunciation is often disputed, most prefer Anna Mar-EE-a, but the old timers like Anna Mar-EYE-a.
Boca Ciega, Pinellas County -- Named for Boca Ciega Bay, Boca Ciega literally means Blind Mouth in Spanish. This may have been a reference to what it looked like at the entrance of the river.
Boca Raton, Palm Beach County -- The Spanish "Boca de Ratones" means rat's mouth, a term used by seamen to describe a hidden rock which a ship's cable might rub against.
Cape Canaveral, Brevard County -- Canaveral is the Spanish word for "a place of reeds or cane."
Colombia County (1832) -- Named after Christopher Columbus.
De Soto County (1887) -- Named after Hernando de Soto, Spanish explorer.
Escambia County (1821) -- Escambia River and derived from the Spanish word for "barter" or "exchange."
Fernandina Beach, Nassau County -- Fernandina was the early name of Cuba. Fernandina claims to be the oldest city in the United States.
Hernando County (1843) -- (was Benton, 1844-1850) Named after Hernando de Soto, Spanish explorer.
Islamorada, Monroe County -- It is Spanish for "purple island."
Key West, Monroe County -- It is the westernmost island extending from the Florida peninsula. Key West was originally called Cayo Hueso (Bone Island) by the early Spanish explorers because they found large quantities of human bones there.
Largo, Pinellas County -- Largo is the Spanish word for "big" or "long." Lake Largo is nearby.
Leon County (1824) -- Juan Ponce de Leon, first European to reach Florida.
Madeira Beach, Pinellas County -- Madeira Beach is named for Portugal's wine producing island, Madeira, located just off the coast of Africa. The word means "wood."
Panama City, Bay County -- George West, the original developer of the town, named it Panama City because it is in a direct line between Chicago and Panama City, Panama.
Ponte Vedra, St. Johns County -- This is named for the city in Spain.
Punta Gorda, Charlotte County -- The Spanish words for "wide point" or "fat point" refer to the arm of land jutting into Charlotte Bay near the city of Punta Gorda.
St. Augustine, St. Johns County -- The oldest continuously inhabited city in the United State, St. Augustine was named by its founder, Pedro Menendez de Aviles, for St. Augustine, the Bishop of Hippo.
Santa Rosa County (1842) -- Rosa de Viterbo, Roman Catholic Saint.
Valparaiso, Okaloosa County -- This name was taken from the city in Indiana, which in turn was named for the famous Chilean port. The word is Spanish for "valley of paradise."
Florida's International Trade Highlights
Trade with the Americas
- Florida is known as the Gateway to Latin America and that distinction brings opportunities for international trade along with improvements in transportation infrastructure, as well as job creation.
- The state is a major transshipment and distribution base for goods moving between Latin America, the Caribbean and the rest of the world.
- South America is the most critical component of the state's export base—accounting for 49% of the state's exports in 2013. Imports from South America accounted for 27% of the state's imports globally.
- This model of two-way trade supports and sustains the state's economic growth.
- As evidence of the state's long-time position as a global hub, 13 of Florida's top 20 trade partners are located in Latin America and the Caribbean.
- Florida accounts for:
- 28% of total U.S. trade with Latin America and the Caribbean.
- 25% of total U.S. trade with South America.
- 37% of total trade with Central America.
- 37% with the Caribbean.
- 33% of all U.S. merchandise exports to Latin America and the Caribbean and
- 23% of all merchandise imports from the region.
- Trade with the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean surpassed $97.2 billion in 2013, growing 107% since 2000.
- With $21 billion in two-way trade, Brazil has remained the state's largest trade partner for decades, with trade growing by 105% since 2000.
- Florida's trade with Colombia reached $10 billion in 2013, a growth of205% since 2000. Colombia has ranked as Florida's second-largest two-way trade partner since 2009.
Free Trade Agreements
- Free Trade Agreements have proven to be one of the best ways to open up foreign markets to U.S. trade.
- The U.S. has implemented trade agreements with several of Florida's key trading partners.
- Prior to the global economic downturn, these agreements were beginning to show positive results in the state's two-way trade and continue to offer promising examples of what free-trade agreements can mean to Florida.
- Current agreements with the most significance for Florida include NAFTA, CAFTA-DR, Chile, Colombia, Panama, and Peru.
- Signed in 1994, the North America Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), the world's largest free-trade area, is now 20 years old.
- In 2013, Florida's trade with its NAFTA partners, Mexico and Canada, totaled $5.8 billion, a 189% increase over the $2 billion in 2000.
- More than $4 billion of the $5.8 billion in total was trade with Mexico.
- The vast majority of U.S. trade among NAFTA partners moves by land.
- As shippers seek to avoid the congestion and delays of overland truck movements waterborne trade between Mexico and Florida's Gulf ports is increasing.
CAFTA-DR (Dominican Republic-Central America FTA)
- The U.S. signed the DR-CAFTA Agreement with Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and the Dominican Republic in 2005; but the effects of its implementation have been slow, not only because of the complexities of the agreement, but also because of the effects on the region's apparel trade by the elimination of World Trade Organization quotas.
- Florida trade with the six countries of the Dominican Republic-Central America Free Trade Agreement (DR-CAFTA) reached $25 billion in 2013, an increase of 48.5% since it was implemented by the U.S. in 2005.
- Florida’s two-way trade with Chile has grown by nearly $5.4 billion or254% since implementation in 2004.
- With a 11.7% increase in 2012 and another 2.3% in 2013, Chile's two-way trade with Florida stands at $7.5 billion. The country ranks in fifth position among the state's trading partners in Latin America and the Caribbean.
- Colombia has been Florida's second largest two-way trade partner since 2009.
- As of 2013, two-way trade between Florida and Colombia reached$10 billion and has grown by 156% since 2000.
- The passage of the U.S.-Colombia Trade Promotion Agreement in May 2012 is expected to support an additional $345 million in annual Florida-origin exports to Colombia.
- Panama is Florida's 22nd largest two-way trade partner as of 2013 with $2.3 billion in trade and growth of 194% since 2000.
- Florida can expect to see exports to Panama increase by roughly $125 million per year due to the implementation of the U.S.-Panama Trade Promotion Agreement.
- Over the next few years we will be able to expand our existing relationships and forge new ones with the opening of the Panama Canal's larger locks.
- The opening will provide expanded commodity flows from Southeast Asia, offering new global opportunities through Florida's sea and air gateways.
- Florida’s two-way trade with Peru has expanded by 120% since the free trade agreement was implemented in 2009, rising by $3.0 billion.
- As of 2013, Peru is Florida's 8th largest two-way trade partner with$5.4 billion in trade and growth of 417% since 2000.
Florida's Ties to Spain
- Florida has a deep, historic relationship with Spain that is as strong as ever. Cultural and business connections continue to attract Spanish companies to locate operations in our state.
- Florida provides a home to over 470 Spanish companies covering a range of industry sectors. The size and breadth of Spanish investment in Florida demonstrates what an attractive business destination Florida has become for Spanish business.
- Examples of Spanish companies in Florida include: Telefónica, Indra, Mapfre, Grupo Eulen, Grupo Julia, ACS-Dragados, FCC, OHL, Iecisa, Areas, and several well-known banks such as Banco Popular, Banco Sabadell, Banco Santander, and BBVA.
- Spain is also Florida's 39th largest trade partner as of 2013 with$674.3 million in two-way merchandise trade.
Telemundo, a U.S. Spanish-language television network is the essential entertainment, news, and sports source for Hispanics and a leading international player in the entertainment industry with presence in more than 100 countries worldwide. Broadcasting unique national and local programming for the fastest-growing segment of the U.S. population, Telemundo reaches 93% of U.S. Hispanic viewers in 210 markets through its 16 owned-and-operated stations, 45 broadcast affiliates, and 800 cable affiliates. Telemundo is wholly owned by NBC Universal, one of the world's leading media and entertainment companies.
Univision is a Spanish-language television network in the United States and Puerto Rico. It has the largest Latin American audience, largely due to repurposed telenovelas and other Mexican programs produced by Grupo Televisa. Joe Uva is the CEO of Univision Communications, Inc.
Univision is headquartered now in New York City, after years of being in Los Angeles, and its major production facilities/operations are in Miami. It is available on cable in most of the country, with local stations in over 50 markets with sizeable Latino populations. Most of these stations air full local news and programming in addition to network shows. Univision's major programming is closed-captioned in Spanish, but unlike main competitor Telemundo, it almost never provides English subtitles.
Benicio Monserrate Rafael del Toro Sánchez (born in Puerto Rico) is an Academy Award-, Golden Globe-, Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Award- and British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) Award-winning Puerto Rican actor and film producer. He is known for his roles as Fred Fenster inThe Usual Suspects, Javier Rodríguez Rodríguez in Traffic, Jack 'Jackie Boy' Rafferty in Sin City, Dr Gonzo in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, and Franky Four Fingers in Snatch. Many have claimed that he is "one of the greatest Actors to grace the big screen".
Salma Hayek Jiménez (born September 2, 1966) is a Mexican actress, director, television and film producer. Hayek has appeared in more than thirty films and performed as an actress outside of Hollywood in Mexico and Spain. Hayek's charitable work includes increasing awareness on violence against women and discrimination against immigrants.
Hayek is the first Mexican national to be nominated for a Best Actress Oscar. She is also, after Fernanda Montenegro, the second of four Latinas to achieve a Best Actress Oscar nomination.
In July 2007, The Hollywood Reporter ranked Hayek fourth in their inaugural Latino Power 50, a list of the most powerful members of the Hollywood Latino community.
Oscar de la Renta (born Oscar Aristides Renta Fiallo) was born in the Dominican Republic At the age of 18, he moved to Spain, where he studied painting at the Academy of San Fernando in Madrid. He quickly changed his focus to fashion. While living in Spain, he became interested in the world of design and began sketching for leading Spanish fashion houses, which soon led to an apprenticeship with Spain's most renowned couturier, Cristóbal Balenciaga. Later, de la Renta left Spain to join Antonio Castillo as a couture assistant at Lanvin in Paris.
Carolina Herrera (born María Carolina Josefina Pacanins y Niño is a fashion designer and entrepreneur who founded her eponymous company in 1980.
Herrera was born in Caracas, Venezuela. Based in New York City since 1981, throughout the 1970s and 1980s she was named one of the best dressed women in the world. Her empire grew rapidly and steadily and she went on to dress Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis for the last 12 years of her life.
Herrera is married to Reinaldo Herrera Guevara, Marqués de Torre Casa, an editor at Vanity Fair magazine, with whom she had two daughters. She was previously married to Guillermo Behrens Tello, with whom she had two daughters as well.
Carolina Herrera is a Goodwill Ambassador and Facilitator for the Intergovernmental Institution for the use of Micro-algae Spirulina Against Malnutrition, IIMSAM, and its affirmative action programme, The Right to Food Campaign Initiative Against Malnutrition and Fashion United Against Malnutrition. IIMSAM works to promote the use of micro-algae Spirulina(Spirulina Platensis) to counter malnutrition and its severe negative impacts especially in the Developing and Least Developed Countries (LDC).
Ms. Herrera is a recipient of The International Center in New York's Award of Excellence.
Narciso Rodríguez is the eldest child and only son of Cuban immigrants Narciso Rodríguez II, a longshoreman, and Rawedia María Rodríguez. He grew up in Newark, New Jersey. His parents were against Narciso entering fashion: "They wanted me to be a doctor or a lawyer or a dentist. So when I dared to tell them, the shit hit the fan. It was crazy. But no matter how many times I heard 'No,' I just kept going. I never thought about 'no'. 'No' wasn't an option."
Rodríguez worked at Cerruti, Donna Karan and Calvin Klein before launching his own label in 1998. In 1996, he gained attention when he made the wedding dress his friend Carolyn Bessette wore when she married John F. Kennedy, Jr.
In 2005, he became the first American to win the Council of Fashion Designers of America Womenswear Designer of the Year Award two years in a row.
Luis W. Alvarez (June 13, 1911, San Francisco, California - September 1, 1988) was an American physicist and inventor, who spent nearly all of his long professional career on the faculty of the University of California, Berkeley. He won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1968. During World War II, Alvarez's work on military technology was of the highest importance. He was a key participant in the Manhattan Project, including Project Alberta, the actual dropping of the atom bomb. He was on board The Great Artiste, the observation plane for the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, as a scientific observer.
Alfredo Cuaron, MD, (1933-2002) a pioneer of nuclear medicine in Mexico and former director of the nuclear medicine program at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Cuaron was a dedicated teacher, a respected researcher and innovator, and an influential figure in a number of nuclear medicine organizations.
Franklin Ramón Chang-Díaz (born 5 April 1950) is a Costa Rican-American physicist and former NASA astronaut. He is a veteran of seven space shuttle missions, making him the record holder for most spaceflights by an astronaut (a record he shares with Jerry L. Ross). He is one of the first American citizens of Latin American descent to go into space.
Manuel Elkin Patarroyo (born November 3, 1946) is a Colombian pathologist who developed the world's first synthetic vaccine for malaria, a disease transmitted by mosquitos that affects millions of people in the Third World every year. The vaccine was evaluated in clinical trials carried out by the WHO in Gambia, Tanzania and Thailand, and had mixed results. However, the vaccine has been proven effective at around 30 percent of the times and could save an estimated 1 million lives out of an annual death toll of 3 million; which is the most effective vaccine against malaria to this day.
Mario Molina (born Mexico City,1943), along with Sherwood Rowland and Paul Crutzen, have all made pioneering contributions to explaining how ozone is formed and decomposes through chemical processes in the atmosphere. Most importantly, they have in this way showed how sensitive the ozone layer is to the influence of anthropogenic emissions of certain compounds. The thin ozone layer has proved to be an Achilles heel that may be seriously injured by apparently moderate changes in the composition of the atmosphere. By explaining the chemical mechanisms that affect the thickness of the ozone layer, the three researchers have contributed to our salvation from a global environmental problem that could have catastrophic consequences.
Ellen Lauri Ochoa (born May 10, 1958) is a former astronaut and current director of flight crew operations for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. After STS-120 she will take over as Deputy Director of the Johnson Space Center.
Ochoa is a co-inventor on three patents for an optical inspection system, an optical object recognition method, and a method for noise removal in images. As Chief of the Intelligent Systems Technology Branch at Ames, she supervised the 35 engineers scientists in the research and development of computational systems for aerospace missions. Ochoa has presented numerous papers at technical conferences and in scientific journals.
Ochoa became the first Hispanic woman in space when she served on a nine-day mission aboard the shuttle Discovery in 1993. The astronauts were studying the earth's ozone layer.
Ochoa was selected by NASA in January 1990 and became an astronaut in July 1991. Her technical assignments in the Astronaut Office includes serving as the crew representative for flight software, computer hardware and robotics, Assistant for Space Station to the Chief of the Astronaut Office, lead spacecraft communicator(CAPCOM) in Mission Control, and as acting as Deputy Chief of the Astronaut Office.
Important Dates During Hispanic Heritage Month
- Sept. 15: 1821
Costa Rica's, El Salvador's, Guatemala's, Honduras' and Nicaragua's Independence Day.
- Sept. 16: 1810
Mexico's Independence Day.
- Sept. 17: 1766
Founding of the presidio in San Francisco, at that time the most northern point under Spain's control. Presidio of San Francisco. The Moret Law in Puerto Rico passes and frees all child and elderly slaves.
- Sept. 18: 1810
Chile's Independence Day.
- Sept. 19 Armed Forces Day, Chile
- Sept. 20: 1596
Founding of the city of Monterrey, Mexico.
- Sept. 21: 1971
Bernardo Houssay, the first Latin American scientist to be awarded a Nobel Prize in Medicine, dies.
- Sept. 22: 1868
Argentine medical pioneer Luis Agote, who was one of the first to perform a successful blood transfusion using an anticoagulant, was born.
- Sept. 23: 1947
Women are granted the right to vote in Argentina.
- Sept. 25: 1513
Spanish conquistador and explorer Vasco Núñez de Balboa discovers the "Mar del Sur" (South Sea), which was later named the Pacific Ocean by Ferdinand Magellan.
- Sept. 26: 1512
The first school of advanced studies was established by Bishop Alonso Manso.
- Sept. 27: 1821
Mexico gains its independence from Spain.
- Sept. 28: 1542
Spanish missionaries introduce a new fruit to California, the grape.
- Sept. 29: 1538
Founding of the city of Sucre, Bolivia.
- Sept. 30: 1765
Mexican activist José Morelos y Pavón, who joined Hidalgo in Mexico's independence movement and became known as a great social thinker and strategist, is born.
- Oct. 1: 1805
The first issue of the Mexican newspaper "El Diario de México" is published.
- Oct. 2: 1535
The first viceroy of Mexico (then, a Spanish colony), Antonio de Mendoza, arrives from Europe at the port in Veracruz.
- Oct. 3: 1714
The "Real Academia Española" (Royal Spanish Language Academy) is created, which sets standards for the development of the Spanish language.
- Oct. 4: 1824
The proclamation of Mexico's first constitution - making it a federal republic, much like the United States - takes place.
- Oct.5: 1582
Due to the implementation of the Gregorian calendar this day does not exist in this year in Italy, Poland, Portugal and Spain.
- Oct. 6: 1896
Eloy Gonzalo García, a Spanish hero in the war against Cuba, risks his life on a dangerous mission in Cascorro, in the province of Camagüey.
Navy Day (Peru)
- Oct.7: 1886
Spain abolishes slavery in Cuba.
- Oct. 9: 1820
Guayaquil's (Ecuador) Independence Day.
- Oct. 10: 1868
Carlos Manuel de Céspedes frees his slaves and begins the first war of Cuban independence against Spain, known as the "Grito de Yara".
- Oct. 11: 1979
Cuban lyricist Joselito Fernández, who wrote the famous "La Guantanamera," dies.
- Oct. 12: 1492
Spanish conquistadors arrive on an island, which they named San Salvador.
- Oct. 12: 1492
Day of the Race ("Día de la Raza", in Spanish) is a celebration of Hispanic heritage of Latin America.
- Oct. 13: 1987
Costa Rica's president, Oscar Arias Sánchez, receives the Nobel Peace Prize for his plan to end the regional crisis in Central America.
- Oct. 14: 1526 Mexico celebrates the first Catholic marriage between natives.
- Oct. 15: 1984
Argentine biochemist César Milstein receives the Nobel Prize in Medicine for his studies relating to the immune system
Spanish, Latin American Writers and Nobel Prize Winners
- 1904 - José Echegaray, Spain
- 1922 - Jacinto Benavente, Spain
- 1945 - Gabriela Mistral, Chile
- 1956 - Juan Ramón Jiménez, Spain
- 1967 - Miguel ángel Asturias, Guatemala
- 1971 - Pablo Neruda, Chile
- 1977 - Vicente Aleixandre, Spain
- 1982 - Gabriel García Márquez, Colombia
- 1989 - Camilo José Cela, Spain
- 1990 - Octavio Paz, Mexico
- 1998 - José Saramago, Portugal
- 2010 - Mario Vargas Llosa, Peru/Spain