Spanish art, toponymy and symbols in the U.S.

Versión en español

A quarter of a millennium before the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, the Spanish were already exploring and attempting to colonize parts of North America. By the time the Myflower reached the east coast in 1620, St. Augustine had been founded 55 years earlier and Santa Fe 10. Most of the coasts were charted and numerous expeditions had traversed those lands, from Florida to the Gulf of California, from the Rio Grande to Nebraska. Geographical features such as the Mississippi River or the Grand Canyon of the Colorado were now known to Europeans.

Cities, roads, language, religion, legislation, agriculture, livestock, Hispanic culture, all were part of the United States before they even existed as a concept. Its independence also owes a debt to Spain and to the Hispanics who contributed so much with their blood, their farms and their efforts to the birth of this great nation.

Therefore, it is not surprising that frequent Spanish influences can be found in art, place names and symbols in the United States.

In the Capitol in Washington, references to more than 300 years of Hispanic presence are numerous. In the Central Rotunda, the true heart of the building, there are eight large historical paintings. One of them is dedicated to the discovery of the Mississippi by Hernando de Soto and another to the arrival of Christopher Columbus in America in 1492. Also in the Rotunda, but higher up, is the frieze of American history that depicts 19 major events. Four of them refer to Spanish figures: Christopher Columbus and Hernando de Soto reappear and now Hernán Cortés and Francisco Pizarro appear as well.

The National Statuary Hall was intended to be a hall in which to exhibit the statues of the two most important figures of the history of each state of the Union. As there already are 100 statues, they have had to be distributed to various places of the Capitol. Two have close ties with Spain: that of Franciscan Friar Junípero Serra, representing California, and that of Jesuit Eusebio Kino, representing Arizona.

At the House of Representatives, there are 23 marble portraits of as many figures noted for their contributions to the establishment of the principles underlying American law. One of these portraits is that of King Alfonso X the Wise. The reason for including him is the legal legacy that Spain left in many territories of the country. During his reign, the body of laws known as the Siete Partidas [Seven-Part Code] was drafted, which was also observed in the American territories, making adaptations as needed over time. After independence, Spanish regulations did not disappear and numerous rulings citing the Siete Partidas can be found in the Supreme Courts of Louisiana, Texas, Arizona, New Mexico and California.

In addition to all of the above, the Capitol contains other paintings that evoke the arrival of Christopher Columbus, the city of St. Augustine, the missions and the entrance into Monterey of Gaspar de Portolá’s and friar Junípero Serra’s expedition. Columbus reappears in the Columbus Doors, doors that depict nine scenes of his life.

Portrait of Bernardo de Gálvez in the Capitol in Washington.
The painting is a copy by Carlos Monserrate of the original by Mariano Salvador Maella.

Lastly, there is the portrait of Bernardo de Gálvez, which hangs in a hall of honor of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and a painting of Dominican friar Bartolomé de las Casas with the title “Bartolomé de las Casas, the apostle of the natives".

The writings of Fray Bartolomé de las Casas were not rigorous and exaggerated facts so as to be emotionally moving, which gave rise to a Black Legend that was spread for centuries for exclusively political motivations. A prejudice against the Spanish presence in America was thus created and spread, deeply entrenched in the historiography, which remains today and ignores all Spanish legislation and the Valladolid Debate.

The efforts to make known Spain’s contribution to the American Revolution led to Bernardo de Gálvez having been declared Honorary Citizen of the United States. There is equestrian statue of him in Bernardo de Gálvez Memorial Park, near the White House.

There is another prominent painting of him at a capitol, but in this case, it is the Utah State Capitol. There is a mural on a pendentive dedicated to the expedition of Fathers Domínguez and Escalante, the first Europeans to arrive at Lake Utah and to learn of the existence of the Great Salt Lake. At the Colorado State Capitol, a stained-glass window commemorates cartographer Bernardo de Miera and other participants in the expedition, who are also represented

Paintings of the rotunda of the Utah State Capitol in Salt Lake City.
Fathers Escalante and Dominguez can be seen at lower right.
Photo by Dick Ebert

In many places in the United States, there are plaques that evoke events and important figures from Hispanic North American history. This is the case of the victory of Juan Bautista de Anza over Comanche Cuerno Verde in Colorado in 1779, the Jornada del Muerto (Dead Man’s Journey) on the Camino Real de Tierra Adentro, Los Adaes, Gálvez, Villasur, the Royal Presidio of Santa Cruz de Terrenate, that of Tucson, or the trips of Franciscan friar Francisco Garcés.

Plaques in memory of Juan Bautista de Anza’s victory over Comanche Chief Greenhorn in Colorado and of the Camino Real de los Tejas.

There are numerous statues too. In Pennsylvania, there is one of Diego de Gardoqui; and in Florida, plaques of Ponce de León, Pedro Menéndez de Avilés, Tristán de Luna, Hernando de Soto and Bernardo de Gálvez can be found. In Texas, there are plaques of Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca, Juan de Oñate, José de Escandón, (who introduced cattle farms into that state) Franciscan missionary Friar Antonio Margil de Jesús, and a monument to the Spanish pioneers. In New Mexico, we have statues of Juan de Oñate, Pedro de Peralta and Diego de Vargas, reconqueror of the province after the Pueblo Revolt of 1680. In Arizona, there is a statue of Hugo O’Conor, the naturalized-Spanish Irishman who founded Tucson. In Presidio Plaza of that same city, there is a monument to soldados de cuera. In Utah, in the city of Spanish Fork, there is a sculpture of Fathers Domínguez and Escalante and of Joaquín the Indian, who accompanied them on their expedition. In California, there are many statues and monuments dedicated to Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo, Friar Junípero Serra, Gaspar de Portolá, Juan Bautista de Anza, Felipe de Neve, founder of Los Ángeles, and missionary and explorer Friar Francisco Garcés. In Kansas, Francisco Vázquez de Coronado is remembered, in Georgia, Hernando de Soto and in Alabama, Bernardo de Gálvez. This list is not exhaustive, but it is useful for showing that the Spanish presence is remembered in many parts of the United States

Monument to the Spanish Settlers. Cathedral Park. Santa Fe.

The states of California, Colorado, Florida, Montana, Nevada and New Mexico have names in Spanish. Texas and Yuta (turned into “Utah” by English speakers) are terms adapted and adopted by Hispanics. Territories such as Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands or the Northern Mariana Islands keep their Spanish names

A great number of counties with names related to the Hispanic legacy can be found throughout the United States, especially in the south, from California to Florida. In the cases of California, Arizona and New Mexico, this applies to over 50% of counties. The same goes for municipalities, especially in the southwestern states, where Hispanic place names are frequent.

As for flags, those of the states of Alabama, Arizona, Montana, New Mexico, Florida and Arkansas include references to Spain. These also appear on the coats of arms and/or seals of the states of Alabama, Montana, Texas, and Puerto Rico, and on the flags, coats of arms and seals of cities such as Los Angeles, Santa Fe, Saint Louis, San Diego, Baton Rouge, Columbus, Riverside, Pensacola, Cupertino and St. Augustine.

Coats of arms of St. Augustine and of Puerto Rico.

Seals of the cities of Los Ángeles and Santa Fe, and seal of Texas.

Flags of Cupertino, Florida and Pensacola.

All of the above has attempted to show us that the United States and Spain have a shared history and that a significant share of the roots of the United States can be traced to a group of peoples who were subjects of the Hispanic Monarchy and that we know today as the Hispanic World or Hispanidad. The oldest history of North America is written in Spanish, the language of a diverse and mestizo community whose members share many cultural traits and who represent 20% of the population. There is much that unites us, but for it to be valued, first it has to be known.

Text extracted and adapted from The Hispanic Roots of the United States by courtesy of Héroes de Cavite Cultural Association.