Hispano VIP / Hispanic VIP

the countries of Latin America and Spain. More generally it includes all persons in the United States who self-identify as Hispanic or Latino whether fully or partially. Hispanics form an ethnicity sharing a language (Spanish) and cultural heritage, rather than a race. American Hispanics are predominantly of Mexican, and to a lesser extent, Puerto Rican, Cuban, Salvadoran, Dominican, Guatemalan, and Colombian ancestry. Hispanic Americans are the second fastest-growing ethnic group in the United States after Asian Americans. As of 2012, Hispanics constitute 17% of the United States population, or 53 million people. This figure includes 38 million Hispanophone Americans, making the US home to the largest community of Spanish speakers outside of Mexico, having surpassed Argentina, Colombia, and Spain within the last decade. Latinos overall are the second largest ethnic group in the United States, after non-Hispanic Whites (a group composed of dozens of sub-groups, like Hispanics and Latinos). Hispanics have been in the territory of present-day United States continuously since the sixteenth century founding of Saint Augustine, Florida, by the Spanish. After Native Americans, Hispanics are the oldest ethnic group to inhabit what is today the United States. Spain colonized large areas of the Southwest and West Coast, including present-day California, New Mexico, Arizona, and Texas, all of which were also under the Republic of Mexico after its independence in the 19th century.