Canary Islanders

The Canarians are an ethnic group or nation living in the archipelago of the Canary Islands (an autonomous community of Spain), near the coast of Western Africa. The language of the region is the Habla Canaria (Castilian for Canary speech) or the Dialecto Canario (Castilian for Canarian dialect), a distinctive dialect of (Castilian spoken in the islands.

The islands were conquered by Castilians at the beginnings of the [15th century]], who subdued the native Guanche population. After subsequent settlement by Spaniards and other other European peoples, mainly Portuguese, the remaining Guanches were gradually absorbed by the settlers and their culture almost totally dissapeared.

Historically, the Canary Islands have been a connection point between Spain and the Americas, and therefore large groups of Canary islanders have emigrated and settled all over the New World as early as the 15th century, mainly in Venezuela, Cuba, Puerto Rico and Uruguay, as well as in parts of what today is the United States, such as Louisiana (former part of the Spanish Empire). For example, settlers from the Canary Islands founded San Antonio, Texas in 1731, when it was still part of the Empire (see Spanish Texas), one hundred years before the first Anglo-Saxon immigrants arrived to the region. Nowadays, these early settlers, still live in Louisiana and still speak the Canarian dialect

See also

Nationalities in Spain Guanches Guanche language Canarian dialect