In celebration of National Hispanic Heritage Month (September 15 – October 15), I would like to share with you this essay.
In my personal home library I have a book written by Germán Arciniegas, a Columbian public official and professor, entitled, Latin America: A Cultural History, which I bought over half a century ago. In particular, Chapter Three – What the Spaniards Brought to America – provides elucidating information that supports our Hispanic heritage.
Sometimes, we may take for granted, or may not remember, or may not know all the contributions Spain made to our culture. Starting with the Conquistadors who brought the horse, armor and weapons made of steel, and gunpowder. Later, other Spaniards brought donkeys, bulls, cattle, hens, pigs, and fierce dogs. Credit is given to the men for bringing the dogs and to the Spanish women for bringing the cats to chase the imported mice.
According to Professor Arciniegas, during the times of Hernán Cortés, the silkworm and the mulberry trees were introduced. These items had been brought to Spain by the Moors, who had made Granada the center of the silk industry. At one point, the Spaniards brought the camel to Peru, but unfortunately, this venture did not work out. The last camel died in 1615, leaving no offspring. Other items that the Spaniards brought that came by way of the Moors was sugar cane imported from India. Christopher Columbus had brought sugar-cane seeds to Cuba.
Another food staple that came with Columbus was rice, which the Arabs had also brought from India to Spain. Fruits that came from Spain to New Spain were mangos, the common and red-stone peaches, apricots, apples, pears, figs, pomegranates, and sweet and sour cherries. A Dominican friar by the name of Tomás de Berlanga was credited for introducing bananas.
Let’s not forget cooking staples, like onions and garlic. The Spanish monks specialized in cultivating aromatic herbs like mint, sweet basil, marjoram, thyme, and rosemary. Other food staples New Spain received from the Spaniards were wheat, barley, rye, chickpeas, cabbage, lettuce, endives, asparagus, spinach, celery, parsley, lentils, red beans, almonds, walnuts, chestnuts, flax, hemp, alfalfa, limes, lemons, grapefruit, pears, and plums, and a great variety of flowers.
Credit is given to Bernal Díaz del Castillo, a soldier with Hernán Cortés during the conquest of Tenochtitlán, and who later wrote a book titled, Verdadera Historia de la conquista de la Nueva España, for bringing seven orange seeds from Spain.
In 1520, the mandarin orange came by way of the Philippines. And, three years after the founding of Santiago, Chile, the first grapevine was planted. The olive tree came not too long after, and before the end the sixteenth century, Chile was exporting olive oil to Peru.
In the realm of musical instruments, Professor Arciniegas states that, “The Spaniards brought the harp, which became popular in Paraguay, Peru, Chile, Colombia, and Venezuela. The violin, trumpet, and clarinet also became popular and soon took their place in regular orchestras like those in Mexico City. The guitar, which had come to Spain from the Orient, begat a whole family of instruments both large and small, such as the Mexican guitar, the charango of Argentina and Bolivia, the cuatro of Venezuela, and the tiple and requinto of Colombia. Then the tambourine arrived to play an essential role among the percussions,…In time, the accordion became the people’s instrument in Buenos Aires and on the Guajira Peninsula of Colombia…”
According to my dear friend, Corinne Joy Brown, editor-in-chief of the HALAPID, The Society for Crypto-Judaic Studies, “The harp was brought to Spain by the Jews who settled there; the instrument of King David himself. The Jews, exiled from their homeland, settled Sepharad long before the common era. They had been there for 900 years when the edict of Expulsion destroyed an entrenched culture.
Likewise the pomegranate (a Jewish symbol) and many other things accredited to ‘Spaniards’ were gifts of the Spanish Jews who settled Catelan, Catalonia, and Galicia.”
Ranchers from throughout the Southwest continue to use the legacy of the Hispanic and Mexican influence in words like rodeo, corral, and the phrase, da le vuelta which became “dolly welter.” Chaparreras became chaps, la riata became the lariat, and mesteño became the Texas mustang. The Mexican saddle had its cinchas, which became the saddle cinch.
The religious activities, besides their theological message, also provided entertainment, and especially during the Christmas season. Folk presentations combined with musical productions were evident in the popular Las Posadas and Los Pastores. The Posadas begin on the 16 and end on Christmas Eve. They are called Posadas or lodgings because they commemorate the journey of Mary and Joseph to Bethlehem and their search for a place to stay.
We are proud of our Spanish ancestors and their vital contributions in the winning of the American Revolution. Through clandestine channels in New Spain, Spain sent money, muskets, munitions, medicine, and military supplies in great amounts to aid the American patriots. Spain controlled the Mississippi basin through the port of New Orleans and thus the Spanish merchants provided the American colonies with credits with which supplies, uniforms, shoes, blankets, food, etc. were sent to the forces of George Washington and George Rogers Clark via the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers.
When Spain declared war against Great Britain on June 21, 1779, the King of Spain Carlos III commissioned General Bernardo de Gálvez, Governor of Louisiana, to organize an army and a navy to conduct a military campaign against the British. To feed the Spanish armies, about nine thousand head of cattle from the private and mission ranches in the San Antonio River Valley were sent to feed the troops of General de Gálvez. There is no doubt that Spain deserves a special place in the history of the American Revolution.
In Texas, as well as throughout the Southwest, Spanish influence in place-name geography is evident in markers along the highways: Atascosa County, Borrego Creek, San Cristóbal Creek, San Patricio County, El Paso, San Antonio, Nueces River (Río de las nueces), Medina River (Pedro de Medina), Guadalupe River (Our Lady of Guadalupe), Brazos River (Río de los Brazos de Dios), San Antonio River, Padre Island, Laguna Madre, Trinity River (Río de la Trinidad), Colorado River, Lavaca River, Frio River, Leon Creek (Arroyo de León), Palo Blanco Creek, Hidalgo County (Padre Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla), El Sal del Rey (The salt lake was discovered in 1746 and was claimed for the Spanish King), and many more. The missions in California and Texas are eternal monuments to the legacy of the Spanish cultural and religious life.
It is important to remember and never to forget that our historical heritage and our family history matter. But why? Why do we need to be proud of who we are? And, why do we need to know and appreciate our cultural and historical heritage, which are integral parts of our total self-concept as human beings? We do have a living Hispanic cultural heritage that continues to flourish and connects us to the past and to the present, for example, customs, mores, traditions, values, food, music, dances, art, architecture, Spanish law, religion, ranching, and most importantly, the Spanish language.
We have achieved great success and tremendous accomplishments in all the professional fields, sports, television, movies, businesses, politics, and in all walks of life. It is imperative that we know our past because our roots will give us a sense of historical perspective and identity.
Gilberto Quezada and his wife Jo Emma live in San Antonio, Texas. He is a retired educator and an author, writer, essayist, and poet. Quezada is the author of the award-winning political biography, Border Boss: Manuel B. Bravo and Zapata County, published by Texas A&M University Press. He currently serves on the Editorial Board of Catholic Southwest, A Journal of History and Culture.
