Isleños (Louisiana)
Ethnic group in Louisiana, United States / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Isleños (French: Islingues) are a Spanish ethnic group living in the state of Louisiana in the United States, consisting of people primarily from the Canary Islands. Isleños are descendants of colonists who settled in Spanish Louisiana between 1778 and 1783 and intermarried with other communities such as French, Acadians, Creoles, Hispanic Americans, Filipinos, and other groups, mainly through the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.[2][3][4][5]
Regions with significant populations | ||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Many descendants also live within the areas of New Orleans and Baton Rouge | ||||||||||
St. Bernard Parish | under 65,000 (2005)[1] | |||||||||
Ascension Parish | unknown | |||||||||
Assumption Parish | unknown | |||||||||
Plaquemines Parish | unknown | |||||||||
Languages | ||||||||||
Isleño Spanish • English • French • Louisiana Creole • Spanglish • Frespañol | ||||||||||
Religion | ||||||||||
Roman Catholic | ||||||||||
Related ethnic groups | ||||||||||
Isleños (other regions), Cajuns, Canarian Americans, Canary Islanders, Spanish Americans, Louisiana Creoles |
In Louisiana, the Isleños originally settled in four communities which included Galveztown, Valenzuela, Barataria, and San Bernardo.[3][5] Of those settlements, Valenzuela and San Bernardo were the most successful as the other two were plagued with both disease and flooding.[3] The large migration of Acadian refugees to Bayou Lafourche led to the rapid gallicization of the Valenzuela community while San Bernardo was able to preserve much of its unique culture and language into the twenty-first century.[3][5] However, the transmission of Spanish and other customs has completely halted in St. Bernard Parish, with those having competency in Spanish being octogenarians.[2][5]
Regardless, these communities have garnered attention from notable academics like Alcée Fortier, Samuel G. Armistead, and Manuel Alvar.[6][4][7] In recent years, heritage groups have been formed for the Isleños and their descendants to help preserve their ways of life.[8][9] The success of the Isleños in Louisiana in preserving their culture has led some historians and anthropologists to consider the Isleño community as part of the national heritage of the United States and the Canary Islands.[10]