: ''
Tejano or Tex-Mex music is also a kind of music originating in Texas.''
group | Tejanos |
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pop | Tejanos6,669,666 Americansup to 32.0% of the total Texan population in 2000 |
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regions | Texas |
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langs | American English, Spanish language, American Spanish, Spanglish, Indigenous languages of Mexico, Ladino |
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rels | Predominantly Roman Catholic, Protestant, and Jewish |
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related | Californios, Hispanos, Mexicans, Spaniards, Basques, Canarians, Texians, German Texan
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''Tejano'' or ''Texano'' (Spanish for "Texan") is a term used to identify a Texan of Mexican heritage.
Historically, the Spanish term ''Tejano'' has been used to identify different groups of people. During the Spanish Colonial times and pre-Anglo colonization, the term primarily applied to Spanish settlers of the region now known as Texas (first as part of the New Spain and then in 1821 as part of Mexico). During the times of independent south Texas, the term also applied to Spanish-speaking Texans and Hispanicized Germans and other Europeans. In modern times, the term is more broadly used to identify a Texan of Mexican descent.
People
History
In 1821 at the end of the
Mexican War of Independence, there were about 4,000 Tejanos living in what is now the state of Texas alongside a lesser number of immigrants. In the 1820s many settlers from the United States and other nations moved to Texas from the United States. By 1830, the 30,000 settlers in Texas outnumbered the Tejanos six to one. The
Texians and Tejanos alike rebelled against the attempts of centralist authority of
Mexico City and the measures implemented by
Santa Anna. Tensions between the central Mexican government and the settlers eventually led to the
Texas Revolution. After the revolution, many were dismayed by the treatments they received at the hands of Texians/Anglos, who suspected and accused the Tejanos of sabotage and of aiding Santa Anna.
When immigrants first arrived in Texas, Tejano settlements arose in three separate regions. The Northern Nacogdoches region, the Bexar–Goliad region along the San Antonio River, and the Rio Grande ranching frontier between the Nueces River and the Rio Grande River. These populations shared certain characteristics yet they were also independent from one another. The main unifying factor for these separate regions was their shared responsibility of defending the Tejas frontier. Some of the first Tejano settlers were from the Canary Islands. Their family units were among the first to settle at the Presidio of San Antonio de Béjar in 1731 (Modern-day San Antonio, Texas). Soon after, they established the first civil government in Texas at La Villa de San Fernando.
Ranching was a major activity in the Bexar-Goliad settlement, which consisted of a belt of ranches that extended along the San Antonio river between Bexar and Goliad. The Nacogdoches settlement was located in the North Texas region. Tejanos from Nacogdoches traded with the French and Anglo residents of Louisiana, and were culturally influenced by them. The third settlement was located North of the Rio Grande toward the Nueces River. These Southern ranchers were citizens of Spanish origin from Tamaulipas and Northern Mexico, and identified with both Spanish and Mexican culture. They were of the same stock as the original Tejano settlers. The Northern Mexican states of Nuevo León, Coahuila, and Tamaulipas seceded from Mexico in 1840 to establish ''la República del Río Grande'' (the Rio Grande Republic) with its capital in what is now Laredo, Texas. However, their much anticipated political marriage with their Tejano kin did not come to fruition.
Etymology and usage
In the Spanish language, the term "''tejano''" is simply the term to identify an individual from Texas regardless of race or ethnic background. During the Spanish Colonial Period of Texas, before Texas became a part of
independent Mexico in 1821, many (but not all) colonial settlers of Northern
New Spain, including Northern Mexico, Texas and the American Southwest, understood themselves to be and called themselves descendants of Spaniards,.
Tejanos may variously consider themselves to be Mexican, Chicano, Spanish and Hispano in ancestral heritage. In urban areas, as well as some rural communities, Tejanos tend to be well integrated into both Hispanic and mainstream American cultures, and a number of them, especially among younger generations, identify more with the mainstream and may understand little or no Spanish.
While a large number of the people who have come mostly from Central and Southern Mexico since the Mexican Revolution up until the present have drawn their identity from the mestizo culture (a mix of indigenous and Spanish cultures) and had their history and identity in the history of Mexico, a portion of the people whose ancestors colonized Texas as well as most of the present-day Northern Mexican states in the Spanish Colonial Period were and drew their identity from the Spaniards, or criollos, or the local populations such as the genizaros. Many of these have had their history and identity in the history of Spain and of the United States as a consequence of the participation of Spain and its colonial provinces of Texas and Louisiana in the American Revolution.
Regional difference have caused the people of Texas, the colonial Tejanos or Tejano Texians, to identify more with the people of Louisiana, which was a Spanish colony, and of the U.S., rather than with the people of Central and Southern Mexico.
Ethnic and national origins
In the 2007 ACS, consist mostly of
Mexican Americans whose ancestors arrived in Texas prior to and during the Mexican Revolution. Colonial Tejanos, who can be correctly identified as Tejano Texians, are descended from the colonists who pioneered Texas as citizens of the Kingdom of Spain through the Spanish Colonial Period starting in the 17th century through the 19th century up to the Texas Revolution, and who were generally of only Spanish heritage, or Hispanicized European heritage, including
Frenchmen like
Juan Seguin,
Italian like
Jose Cassiano, or
Corsican like
Antonio Navarro. Spanish post-colonial settlers stayed in Texas as refugees fleeing
Spanish Civil War, and their descendants were even added to the Tejano population. Also represented are
Germans, who were heavily concentrated in the Edwards Plateau. The region's
Poles,
Czechs,
Slovaks,
Danes,
Dutch,
Swedes,
Irish (''see also''
Irish Mexican),
Scots,
Welsh, and
Anglo Americans - who arrived in the 19th century – were also considered Tejanos, as they were Hispanicized. The former two ethnicities (with Germans) would contribute greatly to
Tex-Mex music. Some Arabs are also considered Tejanos after
Arab Mexicans settled Texas during the Mexican Revolution. Natives of Texas with Spanish surnames and with Native American Hispanic, and non-Spanish white American blood may be considered Tejanos as well.
Culture
Music
In direct relation to this distinction, genuine Tejano music is related to, and sounds more like, the folk music of Louisiana, known as "
Cajun music", blended with the sounds of Rock and Roll, R&B;, Pop, and Country, with Mexican influences such as
Mariachi. The American Cowboy culture and music was born from the meeting of the Anglo-American Texians who were colonists from the American South and the original Tejano Texian pioneers and their "vaquero" or "cow man" culture.
Food
The cuisine that would come to be "Tex-Mex" originated with the Tejanos as a hybrid of Spanish and North American indigenous commodities with influences of the Mexican cuisine.
Tex-Mex cuisine is characterized by its heavy use of melted cheese, meat (particularly beef), beans, and spices, in addition to corn or flour tortillas. Chili con carne, crispy chalupas, chili con queso, enchiladas, and fajitas are all Tex-Mex inventions. A common feature of Tex-Mex is the combination plate, with several of the above on one large platter. Serving tortilla chips and a hot sauce or salsa as an appetizer is also an original Tex-Mex invention. ''Cabrito'', ''barbacoa'', ''carne seca'', and other products of cattle culture have been common in the ranching cultures of South Texas and Northern Mexico. In the 20th century, Tex-Mex took on Americanized elements such as yellow cheese, as goods from the United States became cheap and readily available. Moreover, Tex-Mex has imported flavors from other spicy cuisines, such as the use of cumin.
Daniel D. Arreola states that there is a line of demarcation in the "South Texas Mexican" food region, including Tejano, using a "taco-burrito" and "taco-barbecue" line of demarcation. To the west of this line, Mexican food served in a flour tortilla is often called a burrito, due to the influence of the Mexican state of Chihuahua. To the south and east of this line, the same food may be simply called a taco, showing a Tex-Mex influence. To the north, the food gives way to barbecue sandwiches reflecting the influx of European, Southern Anglo, and African Americans.
Geography
The majority of Tejanos of both first generation (the first settlers) and those who descend from recent early and mid-20th century Mexican immigrants are concentrated in Southern Texas.
Bexar County, especially
San Antonio, is the historic center of Tejano culture.
Duval County has one of the highest concentrations of Tejanos.
Famous Tejanos
Selena
Chris Pérez
Natalie
DJ Kane
Carlos Coy (South Park Mexican)
Chingo Bling
La Mafia
Gaspar Flores de Abrego
Arturo Alvarez
Simón de Arocha
Linda Arsenio
Tony Ayala, Jr.
Paulie Ayala
Devendra Banhart
Santos Benavides
Roy Benavidez
Alexis Bledel
Vikki Carr
Ryan Cabrera
Elsa Salazar Cade
Henri Castro
Jason Castro
Richard E. Cavazos
Rudolph B. Davila
Paula DeAnda
Jacob De Cordova
Jade Esteban Estrada
Blas María de la Garza Falcón
José Antonio de la Garza
Madison De La Garza
Adina Emilia De Zavala
Freddy Fender
Manuel N. Flores
Salvador Flores
Hector P. Garcia
Selena Gomez
Alberto Gonzales
Henry B. Gonzalez
Nicholas Gonzalez
Pedro Gonzalez-Gonzalez
Eddie Guerrero
Roland Gutierrez
Laura Harring
Flaco Jiménez
Juan Leal
Armando Lichtenberger Jr.
Sebastián Ligarde
Eva Longoria
Felix Longoria
Diana López
Jose M. Lopez
Trini Lopez
Los Lonely Boys
Demi Lovato
Susana Martinez
Lydia Mendoza
Nina Mercedez
Juan Moya
Ramón Músquiz
Jose Antonio Navarro
Ramón Núñez
Antonio de Olivares
Lupe Ontiveros
Federico Peña
Jennifer Peña
Bobby Pulido
John Quiñones
Abraham Quintanilla III
D'Nika Romero
Raini Rodriguez
Rico Rodriguez II
Robert Rodriguez
Francisco Antonio Ruiz
José Francisco Ruiz
Efren Saldivar
Don Tomás Sánchez
Juan Seguín
Erasmo Seguín
Sarah Shahi
Abel Talamantez
Vicente Álvarez Travieso
Lee Trevino
Jose Francisco Torres
José de Urrutia
Jaci Velasquez
Juan Martin de Veramendi
Marcos Witt
Ignacio Zaragoza
Lorenzo de Zavala
Luis Silva
Jesse Borrego
Gustavo Sorola
Patricia Vonne
See also
Texian
References
Category:Texas society
Tejano
Category:American regional nicknames
es:Tejano
ko:테하노
it:Tejanos
ja:テハーノ
pl:Tejano
pt:Tejano