Hispanic population pockets in regions with no cultural ties to Latin countries (construction, statistics)
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I wanted to open a thread about places that are in regions that have little or no cultural ties to Mexico or Latin American countries, yet have huge Hispanic populations (in number or concentration). For the sake of this conversation, lets define significant as 40% or greater in concentration or over 500,000 in number by either city or metro area.
I got the idea for this thread as I was going through Western Kansas a couple of weeks ago. I went through the towns of Liberal and Dodge City. In both cities it is obvious that Mexican culture is dominant. In the Wal Mart in Liberal the signs are in Spanish first in some cases and English second. Most of the people that I came into contact with were also Hispanic. Im not as familiar with Kansas state history, but I know that most of the state has a fairly low Hispanic concentration.
Being a stickler for data, I looked up the population statistics and my observations seemed right. Below are some examples of what Im talking about. First by city:
The immediate regions of both Houston and Dallas, in reality, had not been culturally tied to Latin America or Spain until recent times, but since Texas was Mexico, at one point in history, it's a common misconception that these two cities have always been Mexican influenced.
Also, Gainesville GA, and northwest AR (both poultry-producing areas). Siler City, NC and to some extent the tobacco belt of eastern NC. Not sure about southern DE ? Possibly the Hormel meat plant in Austin MN ?
I think a fair amount of agricultural areas received Mexican immigrants. Also construction was a big area so maybe places where there are almost more roads or buildings than people fit too. Puerto Ricans and Cubans went to the Northeast a fair amount.
Not sure it relates to that, but Hartford, Connecticut looks to be plurality Hispanic according to City-Data.
I was a little surprised when I moved to Chicago that there were around 2 million hispanics. Chicago isn't near any latin american countries, and historically there wasn't any large tie to latin america until the past few decades. Yes, I know there have been hispanics and populations of people in Chicago for a long time, but not on the level of millions of people. They're responsible for the population growth in the region.
The immediate regions of both Houston and Dallas, in reality, had not been culturally tied to Latin America or Spain until recent times, but since Texas was Mexico, at one point in history, it's a common misconception that these two cities have always been Mexican influenced.
Agree absolutely! Unlike in the interior SW states, a large and influencial hispanic population has not been the rule in most of Texas (save perhaps the far western and far southern parts) until fairly recently in the whole scheme of things.
Quote:
Blkgiraffe wrote: I'd say Dallas; to some extent, Houston area has historical ties with Latin countries.
I had have to take some issue with that one, BlkG. Not saying you are wrong, necessarily, but can you explain a bit more?
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