Isleños ( meaning "Islanders" in English) are the descendants of Canarian settlers and immigrants to present-day Louisiana, Puerto Rico, Texas, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Venezuela, and other parts of the Americas. In these places, the name isleño (Spanish for 'islander') was applied to the Canary Islanders to distinguish them from Spanish mainlanders known as "peninsulars" (). Formerly used for the general category of people, it now refers to the specific cultural identity of Canary Islanders or their descendants throughout Latin America and in Louisiana, where they are still called isleños. Another name for Canary Islander in English is "Canarian." In Spanish, an alternative is canario or isleño canario.
The term isleño is still used in Hispanic America, at least in those countries which had large Canarian populations, to distinguish a Canary Islander from a peninsular (continental Spaniard). By the early 19th century there were more people of Canarian extraction in the Americas than in the Canary Islands themselves, and the number of descendants of those first immigrants is exponentially larger than the number who originally migrated. The Americas were the destination of most Canarian immigrants, from their discovery by Europeans in the 15th century until the 20th century, when substantial numbers went to the Spanish colonies of Ifni, Western Sahara and Equatorial Guinea in Africa during the first half of the century. Beginning in the 1970s, they began to immigrate to other European countries, although immigration to the Americas did not end until the early 1980s.
The cultures of Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Venezuela, and Uruguay partially have all been influenced by Canarian culture, as have the dialects of Spanish spoken in all but Uruguay. Although almost all descendants of Canary Islanders who immigrated to the Americas from the 16th to the 20th century are incorporated socially and culturally within the larger populations, there remain a few communities that have preserved at least some of their ancestors' Canarian culture, as in Louisiana, San Antonio in Texas, Hatillo, Puerto Rico, and San Carlos de Tenerife (now a neighborhood of Santo Domingo) in the Dominican Republic
General history
The Canary Islander immigration to the Americas began as early as 1492, with the first voyage of Columbus, and did not end until the early 1980s. The Spanish conquest of the Canary Islands had only recently occurred (1402–1496), when Columbus made a stopover in the Canary Islands for supplies in 1501. Also in 1501 (possibly 1502), Nicolás de Ovando left the Canary Islands with a group of people heading to the island of Hispaniola.
In the first half of the 16th century, Spanish conquistadors, some of whom settled permanently in the Americas themselves, organized several groups of people chosen in the Canary Islands to colonize parts of Latin America including Mexico, Buenos Aires, Peru, New Granada and La Florida. There followed other groups who settled in Santo Domingo and Cuba in the second half of the 16th century. In 1611, about 10 Canarian families were sent to Santiago del Prado, Cuba, and by the Royal Decree of May 6, 1663, 800 Canarian families were sent to settle in Santo Domingo; it is assumed this was to avert the danger that the French might seize it, since they already had occupied what is now Haiti.
In 1678, the Spanish crown enacted the so-called Tributo de Sangre (Blood Tribute); this was a Spanish law stipulating that for every thousand tons of cargo shipped from Spanish America to Spain, 50 Canarian families would be sent to the Americas to populate regions having low populations of Peninsulares, or Spanish-born Spaniards. Consequently, during the late 17th and 18th century, hundreds of Canarian families moved to Venezuela, Cuba, the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico, with others going to places like Uruguay, Mexico, Argentina or the south of the present United States. These families were sent to populate various parts of Latin America.
The Tributo de Sangre was finally abolished in 1764. Despite that, many Canarians continued to migrate to the Americas to escape grinding poverty at home. After the liberation of the Latin American countries from Spanish rule (1811–1825), Spain retained only Cuba and Puerto Rico as colonies in the Americas. It abolished slavery in those colonies, and encouraged Canarian immigration. Most Canarian immigrants then immigrated to the two islands in the Caribbean, where their labor was exploited and they were paid very little. There were, however, also thousands of Canarians who immigrated to other countries including Venezuela, Uruguay and Argentina. After the annexation of Cuba and Puerto Rico to the United States and the prohibition of Canarian immigration to Puerto Rico in 1898, immigration was directed primarily to Cuba, with certain flows to other countries (especially Argentina and Uruguay). After 1936, most Canarian immigrants went to Cuba and Venezuela until 1948, after which most of the islanders began immigrating to Venezuela. Since the 1970s Canarian emigration has decreased and from the early 1980s, with the improvement of the Canary Islands' economy (and Spain's in general, until the economic crisis of 2008), Canarian emigration has diminished.
Reasons for emigration After a century and a half of growth, the economy of the Canary Islands was in crisis. The diminished output of vidueño canario (an internationally traded white table wine) after the 1640 emancipation from Spanish rule of Portugal, whose colonies were its preferred market, put thousands of Canarians out of work, causing many of them to immigrate to the Americas with their families. There was discussion in governmental circles of the islands being overpopulated, and the Spanish crown decided to institute the "El Tributo de Sangre (the tribute of blood). For every hundred tons of cargo that a Spanish colony in the Americas sent to Spain, five Canarian families would be sent there. The number of families actually sent, however, usually exceeded ten.
The occupation of Jamaica by the English and of the western half of Santo Domingo and the Guianas by the French made the Spanish Crown consider wanting to avoid the occupation of part of Venezuela and the Greater Antilles. Commerce in cochineal dye expanded in the Canary Islands during the 19th century well into the 1880s, when trade in this product plummeted, which, together with the coffee boom and the war crisis in Cuba, depressed the economy. It also spurred Canarian immigration to the Americas. After 1893, Canarians continued to immigrate to Venezuela to escape Spanish military service.
During the Ten Years' War (1868–1878) in Cuba, Cuban separatists made a distinction between Canary Islander immigrants and those from peninsular Spain, leading them to promote Canarian immigration to Cuba. The usual form of administration to manage the emigration from the islands prevailed, with corruption and fraud governing the actions of the Canarian ruling classes. In the 20th century poverty, the Spanish Civil War, and the actions of Francoist Spain also drove Canarian immigration to the Americas.La emigracion canaria.
For the reasons already mentioned, there were specific problems on some islands that also boosted Canarian emigration. In Lanzarote, from the 16th to the 20th century, the people experienced terrible drought (1626–1632), epidemics, house and tithe taxes, invasions of locusts, and several volcanic eruptions in 1730, affecting over half the population, causing many of them to migrate, pirate attacks (Lanzarote suffered more pirate invasions than the other islands) and harsh weather conditions. Consequently, many people on Lanzarote migrated to other Canary Islands including (Tenerife, Gran Canaria and Fuerteventura) as well as to the Americas, including Uruguay, Argentina, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Venezuela and the southern United States.
United States
During the 18th century, the Spanish crown sent several groups of Canary Islanders to their colonies in New Spain. Spain's goal was to colonize certain regions with Spanish settlers, and between 1731 and 1783, several Canarian communities were established in what is now the Southern United States. In 1731, 16 Canarian families arrived in San Antonio, Spanish Texas. Between 1757 and 1759, 154 families were sent to Spanish Florida.
Between 1778 and 1783 another 2,100 Canarians arrived in Spanish Louisiana and founded the four communities of Galveztown, Valenzuela, Barataria, and San Bernardo. Of those settlements, Valenzuela and San Bernardo were the most successful as the other two were plagued with both disease and flooding. The large migration of Acadian refugees to Bayou Lafourche led to the rapid gallicization of the Valenzuela community while the community of San Bernardo (Saint Bernard) was able to preserve much of its unique culture and language into the 21st century.
Many Isleños fought in the American Revolutionary War and the Battle of the Alamo. After the incorporation of Louisiana and Texas into the United States, they fought in the Civil War and both World Wars. The Isleños have been able to preserve some features of their culture except in Florida, where they had made improvements in its agriculture, but most of the Canarian settlers immigrated to Cuba when Florida was ceded to Great Britain in 1763 and still more left when, after being recovered by Spain, Florida was ceded to the United States in 1819. The dialect of Spanish spoken in the Canary Islands during the 18th century was still spoken by older Isleños until the 1950s in San Antonio but is still spoken in St. Bernard Parish.
Hispanic Antilles Louisiana's Isleños have shared some aspects of Canarian culture for over 200 years with the Cuban, Puerto Rican and Dominican peoples in those Caribbean countries influenced by earlier waves of settlers from the Canary Islands, who first arrived in the Americas in the late 16th century.
Cuba
Of the Latin American countries, Cuba was most affected by the immigration of Canary Islanders, and their presence influenced the development of the Cuban dialect and accent. Many words in traditional Cuban Spanish can be traced to the dialect spoken in the Canary Islands. Cuban Spanish is very close to Canarian Spanish, as Canarians have been immigrating to Cuba since the 16th century, especially during the 19th and (early) 20th centuries.
Through cross-immigration by Canarians and Cubans, many Canarian customs have become Cuban traditions and vice versa. Cuban music has been integrated into Canarian culture as well, including mambo, son, and punto Cubano. Cuban immigration to the Canary Islands has introduced, for example, the dish "moros y cristianos" (or simply "moros"), to the cuisine of the Canary Islands; especially on the island of La Palma. Canary Islanders were the driving force in the cigar industry in Cuba, where they were called "Vegueros." Many of the big cigar factories in Cuba were owned by Canary Islanders. After the Castro revolution, many Cubans and returning Canarians settled in the Canary Islands, among them cigar factory owners such as the Garcias. Through them the cigar industry made its way to the Canary Islands from Cuba, and it is now well-established there. The island of La Palma has had the most Cuban influence out of the seven islands, and its accent is the closest of the island accents to the Cuban accent.