More Romanians, Fewer Brits

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That's the title of an article I just read in the Spanish daily, ABC. Basically, it's a review of a Bank of Spain report called, "Foreign Investment in the Spanish Residential Market Between 2007 and 2019." Apparently, foreign buyers of homes and property in Spain rose from  4.2% in 2007 to 10.% in 2019. 

The report highlights that during this period there have also been changes in the habits of these investors, one of them being the decrease in buyers from the UK. It notes that Brexit and the devaluation of the pound contributed to the fact that between 2017 and 2019 the British sold more houses than they bought in Spain. During this period the percentage of foreign purchases by Britons fell by 6 points, and last year represented 8% of transactions by residents of Spain's fellow EU countries. The opposite happened with countries such as Romania and Italy, which increased their participation in the market to 12% and 8% respectively. At the same time, the total of such purchases made by foreigners from countries outside the European Union are also significant (27% in 2019). Among non-EU countries, Morocco and China stand out, with respective percentages of 14% and 6% of purchases by foreigners in 2019.

According to the report, there were other significant changes in property sales to foreigners. Between 2007 and 2010, they barely represented 3.3% of the market, but then grew strongly until reaching the historical maximum of 10.5% in 2014. That year the recovery of the sector began, which caused non-Spaniards to gradually reduce their involvement in the market. In 2019 they represented an average of 7.8% of operations. 

The analysis also reportedly shows that the housing stock held by resident foreigners increased steadily from 2007 on, and then accelerated after 2014. Thus, in 2019, net purchases by foreigners accounted for almost 0.2% of the housing stock, almost three times more than in 2013. 

The report also highlights the interest that these buyers have in Spain's coastal regions, especially the Balearic and Canary Islands. Nineteen percent of housing purchases in Santa Cruz de Tenerife were made by foreigners last year, followed by the Balearic Islands (16%), Alicante (15%) and Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (14%). 

Regarding prices, the report indicates that between 2014 and 2019 the prices foreigners paid was 4% higher than those of domestic buyers, although this percentage rises to 10% when considering purchases in cities such as Tenerife and Palma de Mallorca. 

ABC quoted the report as saying, “These differences are probably a reflection of the different investment profile in different provinces. In those on the Mediterranean coast and on the islands, foreign investors with high incomes, who demand higher quality homes located in better areas, surely have a higher significance."

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In recent years, there has been speculation that the presence of foreigners in certain areas of Spain has caused housing prices in those regions to be more expensive. This theory the Bank of Spain now  corroborates, at least in part.

From the report: "The high correlation between population growth and rising property prices suggests that the increase in the foreign resident population in certain provinces (especially island ones) contributed to increasing house prices through their effect on demand for real estate."

Meanwhile, realty website Idealista reports that Standard & Poors recently carried out an analysis of the consequences of the coronavirus COVID-19 crisis on Europe's housing market. Results indicate that house prices are falling by 3-3.5% in Spain, as well as in the UK, Ireland and Italy. 

That sounds better than the forecast of Bankinter, which predicts that prices will drop by 6% (which Idealista pointed out is in line with the estimates of the Swiss investment bank and financial services company, UBS) and a collapse in sales of up to 35%, after having already fallen 3.3% in 2019. That would bring the volume of operations in 2020 to around 326,000, which would be the lowest level since 2014—the year Spain finally began its recovery from the recession. (You may recall that the main cause of  Spain's 2008-2014 economic crisis was the residential real estate bubble, which saw prices rise 200% from 1996 to 2007.)

It will be interesting to see what changes the pandemic will bring to Spain in so many areas, including in terms of house prices, sales, and the number of foreigners who buy property here.

  Saludos,                                                                                                                                                   

Carlos                                                                                                                                                       

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A GLIMPSE AT SPAIN AND EARLY AMERICAN HISTORY 1493-1795

Did you know...?

• In 1493, Spanish explorers were the first known Europeans to reach what is now the United States of America when Christopher Columbus visited Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. .
  
  
• In 1513, Juan Ponce de León was the first to reach the present-day US mainland, when he disembarked on the northeast coast of a place he named La Florida..
  
  
• From 1528 to 1536, nearly three centuries before Lewis and Clark, Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca and three other Spaniards were the first known humans to cross what would one day be the United States. After surviving a shipwreck in Florida, they set out on foot for New Spain, and eventually reached California and the Pacific Ocean. They then continued down to Mexico City. Cabeza de Vaca and one of the other men eventually returned to Spain, but the other two remained. One of those, a Black man named Estevanico (Esteban), is believed to have later died in what is now New Mexico. He has been referred to as the first African-American.
  
  
• In 1529, cartographer Esteban Gómez drew the first map of the Eastern coast of North America, and did so almost perfectly. He named the river that empties into New York City the San Antonio River, a name it retained for about 80 years. It was not until Englishman Henry Hudson explored the river in 1609 that it was renamed the Hudson River.

• In 1533, the name California was first applied to what is now the west coast of North America, during a Spanish expedition led by Diego de Becerra and Fortun Ximenez. The name California comes from a 16th-century novel, Las Sergas de Esplandián (The Exploits of Esplandian) by Garci Rodríguez de Montalvo. Set on an island populated by Black female warriors who use gold for tools and weapons, and ruled by Queen Calafia, the book describes it as being east of the Asian mainland and “near the side of Terrestrial Paradise.”

• In 1540, Hernando de Soto undertook an extensive exploration of what today are Georgia, The Carolinas, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas and Louisiana.

• In 1540, Francisco Vásquez de Coronado led 2,000 Spaniards and Native Americans across today's Arizona-Mexico border. Coronado traveled as far as central Kansas, close to the exact geographic center of the continental United States. In September of that year, a group dispatched by Coronado, led by García López de Cárdenas and guided by Hopi Indians became the first Europeans to reach the Grand Canyon. The first Europeans to navigate the Colorado River were also on missions of the Coronado expedition, one led by Hernando de Alarcón, the other by Melchior Díaz. Colorado means 'red colored' in Spanish.

• In 1541, Hernando de Soto became the first European to reach the shores of the Mississippi River. This was near the current city of Memphis, Tennessee, an event that is depicted in a painting on display in the US Capitol building in Washington D.C.
  

   
  
•  In 1542, Cabeza de Vaca published the first book about what would one day be the United States, specifically the US Southeast and Southwest. The book, originally titled La relación de Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca (The Account of Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca), details his travels from Florida to California and Mexico.

• In 1542, the first Europeans explored the California coast as far north as what today is Mendocino County. This sailing expedition was led by Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo.

• In 1543, Spaniards were the first Europeans to visit what is today the state of Oregon. The earliest evidence of the etymology of the name Oregon points to Spanish origins. The term "orejón" appears in the 1598 historical chronicle La Relación de la Alta y Baja California (The Account of Upper and Lower California), written by Rodrigo Montezuma, who used the word in reference to the area around the Columbia River.

• In 1565, Pedro de Aviles founded St. Augustine, Florida, the oldest continuously
  

  

  inhabited European-founded city in the 50 United States. The city celebrated its 450^th anniversary in 2016, with the King and Queen of Spain, Felipe and Leticia, as honored guests. (The oldest continuously inhabited European-founded city anywhere in the US is San Juan, Puerto Rico, while the oldest town of any origin anywhere in the US is Acoma Pueblo in New Mexico, which has been inhabited by Native-Americans since 1144. Hilo, Hawaii is also believed to date back to the 1100s, but there is no firm date for its establishment.)

• In 1565, the first documented Christian marriage performed in what is now the US took place in San Augustine. The ceremony joined Miguel Rodríguez, a White man born in Segovia, and Luisa de Abrego, a Black woman originally from Seville.

• Canarian-Americans, also known as Isleños, are Americans with ancestors from the Canary Islands, Spain. Their forbears were among the first settlers of North America. The first of these arrived in Florida in 1569. Over the next 250 years they were followed by thousands of Canarian immigrants, with the biggest wave occurring in the 18^th century. Most settled in what today is Louisiana, but Florida and Texas also had significant Canary Island immigration.

• In 1587, the first known Asians to set foot in North America were Filipino sailors who arrived in Spanish ships at Morro Bay, in what today is San Luis Obispo County, California.

• The modern rodeo (which means 'round up' in Spanish) grew out of the practices of Spanish ranch hands, called vaqueros ('cowboys'). Originally a mixture of cattle wrangling and bullfighting, it dates back to the 16^th century. These events gained popularity throughout the Viceroyalty of New Spain and became even more prevalent after these lands emerged as Mexico and the Western United States.

• In 1602, Sebastián Vizcaíno was sent to map the California coast. Arriving on his flagship San Diego, he surveyed the harbor at what are now Mission Bay and Point Loma. He named the area for Saint Didacus, a Spaniard more commonly known as
  

  San Diego de Alcalá. 

• In 1607, New Mexico's second Spanish governor, Don Pedro de Peralta, founded Santa Fe, originally called La Villa Real de la Santa Fe de San Francisco de Asís ('The Royal Town of the Holy Faith of Saint Francis of Assisi). In 1610, he designated it as the capital of the province, which it has almost constantly remained, making it the oldest state capital in the United States.

• In 1610, the oldest church in the continental US was built in Santa Fe. The original adobe walls and altar of San Miguel Chapel were built by members of the Tlaxcalan tribe. Much of the structure was rebuilt in 1710.

• In 1613, Juan Rodriguez, a native of what today is the Dominican Republic, became the first known immigrant to reach the shores of Manhattan. He was born in the Spanish colony of Santo Domingo to an African mother and a Portuguese father. Rodriguez took it upon himself to gain the friendship of the natives, set up a trading post, and live comfortably on Manhattan Island. He is, therefore, also considered the first person of African heritage, the first person of European heritage, the first Spaniard, the first Latino, the first Dominican, and the first merchant to settle in Manhattan. He arrived there 12 years before the Dutch established the colony of New Amsterdam and 52 years before the British renamed the settlement New York.

• In 1654, the first group of Spanish and Portuguese Jews arrived in New Amsterdam. After being initially rebuffed by the leader of the colony, these 23 individuals were finally given official permission to settle there in 1655 and that year they founded the Congregation Shearith Israel. Although they were not allowed to worship in a public synagogue throughout the time of Dutch rule, nor during the first years of the British period, the Congregation did establish a cemetery in 1656. In 1730, they were finally able to build a synagogue of their own, which resulted in the first synagogue in Manhattan. Shearith Israel is now the oldest Jewish congregation in the United States, although its present building dates from 1897.

• In 1706, Albuquerque was founded as La Villa de Albuquerque in the provincial kingdom of Santa Fe de Nuevo Mexico. It was originally a farming and shepherding community, and a strategically located trading and military outpost along the Camino Real de Tierra Adentro. The Camino Real was a historic 2,560-kilometer-long (1,590 mile) trade route between Mexico City and Ohkay Owingeh, New Mexico from 1598 to 1882. Long before Europeans arrived, the various indigenous tribes and kingdoms had established the route as a major thoroughfare for hunting and trading.

• In 1716, Luis Moises Gomez, a Jewish community leader from New York City, purchased 1,200 acres with river access in what is now Marlborough, NY. Gomez, a Sephardic Jew, had come to America to escape his family's persecution in Spain, France and then England. He and his sons built a home on the Hudson Highlands, where several Indian trails converged, and it served as a frontier trading post. Other pioneers, fleeing tyranny and cruelties in Europe for the promise of a new life, followed his lead to settle in the Hudson Valley. His house was continuously inhabited for 280 years before it was bought by the Gomez Foundation, an organization established by his descendants. It is the earliest known surviving Jewish residence in the country, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and is now a museum.

• In 1718, Father Antonio de San Buenaventura founded the mission of San Antonio de Valero in what was then the Spanish Province of Texas. Today this mission is better known as The Alamo.

• In 1731, sixteen Spanish families (56 people) from the Canary Islands arrived at the Presidio de San Antonio de Bexar fort. Joining a military and religious community that had been in existence since 1718, they established the first regularly organized civil government in Texas, and founded the city of San Antonio. 
  
  

  

   

• In 1738, Francisco Menendez, a slave from a plantation farm in South Carolina, escaped to the Spanish territory of Florida to regain his freedom. He established Fort Mose near St. Augustine, the first settlement for freed African Americans in North America. Today the site is the location of the Fort Mose Historic State Park.

• In 1750, a Spanish galleon sank off the coast of Virginia and Maryland. Some of the horses onboard managed to swim from the shipwreck to the shores of Assateague Island. Their descendants still roam freely there and are known as the Assateague Wild Horses.

• In 1752, the rancher who would become known as the first "Cattle Queen" of Texas was born. After Rosa María Hinojosa de Ballí married, her husband and father applied jointly for a large land grant near what is now La Feria, Texas. Both men had died by the time the grant was approved in 1790, and her husband's will specified that she was to inherit his share of the twelve leagues (55,000 acres). When she took over the estate it was heavily encumbered with debts, but she she skillfully managed her property, made extensive improvements to it, and acquired large herds of cattle, sheep, goats and horses. Taking full advantage of opportunities that widows enjoyed in Spanish society, she continued to apply for additional land grants and to purchase property in order to increase her ranch's size. When she died, she owned more than one million acres of land in what is now the Rio Grande Valley and her holdings extended into the territories of present-day Hidalgo, Cameron, Willacy, Starr, and Kenedy counties.

• In 1759, building commenced on what today is the oldest synagogue in the US: Touro Synagogue in Newport, Rhode Island. The congregation was founded in 1658 by the descendants of Jewish families who had fled persecution in Spain and Portugal, and who themselves later left the Caribbean seeking the greater religious tolerance of Rhode Island. Services in the current building began in 1763.

• In 1762, in order to pay a war debt, France transferred possession of Louisiana to Spain through the Treaty of Fontainebleau. After this, significant Spanish immigration into the territory began. Among many traditions Spain brought to Louisiana, one had to do with commemorating the arrival of the Three Kings in Jerusalem. To this day, Louisianians and Spaniards alike enjoy a festive-looking pastry on the Epiphany: a circular cake with a small gift inside. What Americans call a King Cake is known as a Roscón de Reyes in Spain. (Roscón means 'ring shaped cake' and Reyes means 'kings.')

• Although early European residents of New Orleans were mostly from France, the architecture of the French Quarter is actually Spanish. During Spain's rule of Louisiana (1762-1801), fires and hurricanes destroyed most of the city's original structures and, therefore, much of the trademark charm of the area can be credited to the Spanish rebuilding effort. The flat-tiled roofs, tropical colors, and ornate ironwork of the French Quarter are all Hispanic. To prevent fires, the new government mandated that stucco replace wood as the major construction material. It also required buildings to be placed closer together and nearer the street. Under French rule there were yards and open spaces around buildings, but the Spanish made the Quarter more intimate, with continuous facades, arched passageways, and patios hidden from passersby.

• In 1763, Filipino Americans established their first recorded North American settlement in St. Malo, Louisiana after jumping ship to escape the forced labor and enslavement of the Spanish galleon trade. Other settlements appeared throughout the Louisiana bayous, with St Malo on Lake Borgne and Manila Village on Barataria Bay being the largest. In 1870, the Spanish-speaking residents of St. Malo founded the first Filipino social club, called Sociedad de Beneficencia de los Hispano Filipinos. Saint Malo was destroyed by the 1915 New Orleans hurricane, while Manila Village was leveled by Hurricane Betsy in 1965. The Town Hall of Jean Lafitte, Louisiana is located on Manila Plaza, which has historical markers acknowledging the area's Filipino-American history. Part of this community's legacy is the production of dried shrimp. In Louisiana today, dried shrimp are often added to gumbo, to add an intense salty flavor. They can also be eaten as a snack by themselves, and are commonly found in snack-size portions in South Louisiana's stores.

• In 1768, Eulalia Perez de Guillen was born a Spanish citizen in Loreto, Baja California. A Californio (Hispanics native to California), the Los Angles Times has described her as “an extraordinary woman with stubborn faith who survived a major earthquake and carved out a niche as the mother of California’s soft drink industry.” When her soldier-husband was transferred north in the early 1790s, they moved to Mission San Juan Capistrano where they survived a massive earthquake on Dec. 8, 1812 that killed 40 people. They eventually moved north again, and she ended up working at Mission San Gabriel, initially as a cook and eventually as the manager of the mission, supervising the nursing, soap & candle making, kitchen, winery, and olive oil presses. While there, Eulalia concocted a tasty beverage from the lemons growing in the area. Demand was so great that she began bottling it for the friars to sell. Soon they were shipping it to Spain. It became one of Los Angeles’ first exports, and an enterprise that helped fill the mission’s coffers. The padres deeded her 15,400 acres of what is now Pasadena, California, but the widow's second husband petitioned the governor for the land and was granted it. Objecting to that, Eulalia left him and moved into a small adobe house. She died in 1878 at the age of 110. She is one of only two non-clergy buried with the priests in the San Gabriel Mission courtyard cemetery. In Catholic tradition, burials closest to the most sacred areas of the church are reserved for individuals of stature, usually clergy. A woman being honored in this way was a highly unusual thing at that time. A marble bench inscribed with her name marks the spot. Her numerous descendants married into many other founding families of California.

• In 1772, Manuel de Lisa was born a Spanish citizen in New Orleans. He later became a US citizen, land owner, merchant, fur trader, Indian Agent, and explorer, who was among the founders of the Missouri Fur Company, an early fur trading company. Lisa gained respect through his trading among Native American tribes of the upper Missouri River region. He established Fort Lisa, in what is now Omaha, becoming the first known United States settler of Nebraska. The outpost became one of the most important in the region, and the basis for the development of the major city of Nebraska. Although already married to a European-American in St. Louis, where he kept a residence, he later married Mitane, a daughter of Big Elk, the chief of the Omaha people. (Bigamy was not outlawed in the US until 1862.) They had two children together, whom Lisa provided for equally in his will with his children by his other marriage.
  
  
  
  

• In 1775, an expedition led by Juan Francisco de la Bodega y Quadra, a Spanish navigator and naval officer born in Peru, reached Alaska. Going as far as 59° latitude north, near what today is the town of Sitka, he made sure to go ashore to claim the coast for Spain. This journey resulted in the first reasonably accurate map of the North American West Coast.

• In 1775, the Continental Congress elected to denominate the money of the United States in Spanish dollars, rather than English pounds. The Spanish dollar, also known as the Piece of Eight (in Spanish Pieza de Ocho or Peso), was a silver coin first minted in the 15^th century. Widely used by many countries as the first international currency, it was prevalent throughout the Thirteen Colonies at the time of the decision. The symbol for the US dollar is thought to have come from an emblem consisting of two columns draped with an s-shaped banner which appeared on the coin. A similar symbol is used on the modern flag of Spain.

• In 1775, some of the first settlers of California embarked on a colonization expedition from what is today the Mexican state of Sonora. One of the colonists was Maria Feliciana Arballo. Of “pure” Spanish ancestry, her parents disapproved of her marriage
  

  

  to a mestizo soldier. The couple decided to join the expedition, but her husband died before it began. Rather than remain behind, Arballo convinced Captain Juan Bautista de Anza to make an exception to his policy that all women must be accompanied by a male family member. With one of her young daughters riding in front and the other in back, the three traveled on horseback to California. The expedition's priest, Father Pedro Font, was said to have been repeatedly annoyed with her and with Anza, who had ignored his adamant opposition to her participation. After successfully crossing the treacherous Colorado River, Font wrote of her in his diary, “At night, with the joy at the arrival of all the people, they held a fandango here. It was somewhat discordant, and a very bold widow who came with the expedition sang some verses which were not at all nice, applauded and cheered by all the crowd.” She left the group in San Gabriel, California, married another mestizo soldier, and had seven more children. Several of her descendants became important figures in California history, including two governors: Pío Pico, the last governor of California before it became part of the US in 1850, and Romualdo Pacheco, the state of California's 12^th governor.

• In 1776, Juan Bautista de Anza founded the Presidio de San Francisco fort. Later that same year, the Mission San Francisco de Asís was founded by Francisco Palóu. The Mission is the oldest surviving structure in the city of San Francisco. Though most of the complex was either altered or demolished outright, the facade of the chapel has remained largely unchanged since its construction in 1782–1791.

• In 1776, Spain joined France in funding Roderigue Hortalez and Company, a trading company which provided critical military supplies to the American Revolution's Continental Army. Around this time, Spanish Prime Minister, José Moñino y Redondo wrote, “the fate of the colonies interests us very much, and we shall do for them everything that circumstances permit.”

• 1776 was also the year that a Spaniard named Jordi 'George' Farragut Mesquida arrived in Charleston, South Carolina, where he joined the American Revolution in service as a sailor. Captured by the British in 1780, Farragut's left arm was permanently injured by a cannonball. Released as part of a prisoner exchange, he joined a US rifle militia and, despite his disability, fought on until the end of the war. Afterwards, he continued to serve the nation he helped create, first as sailing master of a gun boat in New Orleans, and later fighting the British again in the War of 1812. Rejected from further service in the navy after that war, he enlisted as a volunteer companion to Gen. Andrew Jackson’s troops, defending the coast around New Orleans from any possible British incursion. Farragut also started a family in his adopted homeland. He had 5 children, including a son who fought on the side of the Union in the US Civil War: Admiral David Farragut, of 'Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead' fame.

• Bernardo de Gálvez was another Spaniard who helped the newly-formed United States of America. As Governor of Louisiana from 1777-1783, he allowed shipments 
  

  of weapons, medicine and other vital goods to the Continental Army via the Mississippi. When Spain declared war on England in 1779, Gálvez was given an additional title: Field Marshal of the Spanish colonial army in North America. He put together an army of Creoles, Acadians (Cajuns), Isleños, free Blacks, German immigrants, Native Americans, Puerto Ricans, Cubans, Mexicans and at least one Irish immigrant (Oliver Pollock) to march with his Spanish regulars. In March 1780, this interracial force besieged Mobile and seized it after a four-day battle. Following their next big victory, at the Siege of Pensacola in 1781, the English left Florida, never to return. This not only removed a threat to the US from the south, it deprived Britain of troops that could have been deployed to the war’s final battle at Yorktown later that same year. Instead, Spain was able to permit France to use its waters in the Atlantic to send naval forces to battle the British at Chesapeake and Yorktown. Gálvez, who had been wounded during his service, had his governorship expanded to include Spanish Florida, which at the time reached from the Atlantic to the Mississippi River. He was among those who drafted the Peace of Paris of 1783, which formally ended the Revolutionary War and gave Florida to Spain. His contributions to the American victory have been recognized in the United States: Galveston, Texas, and St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana were both named in his honor, and in 2014 President Barack Obama granted Gálvez honorary US Citizenship—only the eighth person in history to have been given the honor. 
  
  

  

   

• In 1779, the first long-range Texas cattle drive occurred when Juan María Vicencio de Ripperdá, provincial governor of Texas, had a group of vaqueros herd 2,000 Texas longhorns to Louisiana in order to supply Bernardo de Gálvez’ troops.

• Between November 1778 and July 1779, around 1600 Canary Islander colonists sailed into New Orleans. By 1780, four different Isleño communities had been founded in different parts of Southwestern Louisiana. Many of these immigrants participated in the three major military campaigns of Baton Rouge, Mobile, and Pensacola, which expelled the British from the Gulf Coast. In 1783, another 300 Canary Islanders arrived to settle in Louisiana.

• In August 1781, the fleet of French Admiral François Joseph Paul de Grasse arrived in Chesapeake Bay carrying 500,000 Spanish dollars (or silver pesos) collected from the citizens of Havana, Cuba, to fund supplies for the Siege of Yorktown and to pay the Continental Army. The culmination of the Yorktown campaign, the siege proved to be the last major battle of the American Revolutionary War.

• In September 1781, a group of forty-eight people founded a colony on the coast of California. The settlement was originally named El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Ángeles, or 'The Town of Our Lady the Queen of the Angels.' Two-thirds of these original settlers of Los Angeles were mixed-race individuals, of African, European and Native ancestry. Today, the site is the El Pueblo de Los Ángeles Historical Monument, a 44-acre park.

• On March 17, 1783, Spain formally recognized the United States of America. Diego de Gardoqui was appointed as Spain's first ambassador to the new country in 1784. He became well acquainted with George Washington, and marched in the newly elected President's inaugural parade.

• In 1785, King Carlos III of Spain sent a donkey named Royal Gift to President Washington, at his request. The President crossed the donkey with mares to raise mules which became very popular in the new nation.

• In 1791, Spanish naval officer Francisco de Eliza named a group of islands in the Pacific Northwest Isla y Archipiélago de San Juan. Today the San Juan Islands are part of the state of Washington. In 1841, British explorer Charles Wilkes renamed San Juan Island as Rodgers Island, but the Anglo name never took.

• On October 12, 1792, the 300th anniversary of Christopher Columbus landing in the Americas, Pedro Pablo Casanave laid the cornerstone to the White House. Having emigrated from Spain in 1785, Casanave arrived in the Port of Georgetown, Maryland barely able to speak English and with only 200 pounds to his name. He later managed to open a store, followed by several other successful businesses. (It probably helped that he was the nephew of Juan de Miralles, a Spanish trader, supporter of the American Revolution, Spanish agent to the Continental Congress, and personal friend of George Washington.) Casanave rose to become the fifth mayor of Georgetown, which today is a neighborhood in Washington, D.C.

• In 1795, Pinckney's Treaty, also known as the Treaty of San Lorenzo or the Treaty of 
  

  

  Madrid, was signed in San Lorenzo de El Escorial, Spain. It established intentions of friendship between the United States and Spain. It also defined boundaries between the US and Spain's territories, while guaranteeing the new nation navigation rights on the Mississippi River.

• Today, 25 of the 50 states that make up the United States of America were at one time completely or partially Spanish territory, i.e., Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, California, Iowa, Kansas, Florida, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oregon, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming. The same is true of three of the four US Territories, i.e., the US Virgin Islands, Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico—which, by the way, also has an official Spanish name: Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, meaning Freely Associated State of Puerto Rico.

And that's only a portion of US Spanish/Hispanic/Latino heritage.

MY SOURCES INCLUDE:

America’s Spanish Savior: Bernardo de Gálvez, History.net, Barbara A. Mitchell

Assateague's Wild Horses, National Park Service

Isabel la Católica a través de los tesoros de la Biblioteca Capitular Colombina, ABC de Sevilla, Andrés González-Barba, Dec. 23, 2013 Fort Mose Historical Society

The Handbook of Texas, Texas State Historical Association

Filipino American Immigration History, Stanford School of Medicine, Ethnogeriatrics

Journal of the American Revolution

KonwGalvez.com

Latinas in the United States: A Historical Encyclopedia, edited by Vicki L. Ruiz, Virginia Sánchez Korrol, 2006

LindaCovella.com

A Long, Rich Life and a Tasty Claim to Fame, Los Angeles Times, Cecilia Rasmussen, Sept. 6, 1998

The Power of a Dream: Maria Feliciana Arballo: Latina Pioneer, Linda Covella, 2019

La relación de Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca, 1542

The Mexican Contribution to American Independence, Raoul Lowery Contreras and Frank D. Gomez, Times of San Diego, July 3, 2018

The Migration of Canary Islanders to the Americas: An Unbroken Current Since Columbus by James J. Parsons, 1983

MountVernon.org

Netstate.com

NewOrleans.com

The Red Indian: A Study in the Perpetuation of Error by Douglas Leachman, 1941

Smithsonian Magazine

Touro Synagogue, National Park Service

United Empire Loyalist's Association of Canada

Wikipedia

Women On The Move: Overland Journeys to California, Library of Congress American Women Series, Patricia Molen van Ee, 2001

How many public holidays does Spain have?

Today is a public holiday in Madrid. (Or as my British friends say, a 'bank' holiday.)

It's Father's Day and Saint Joseph's Day. (Or as my Spanish neighbors say, Día del Padre / Día de San Jose.)

This is a regional holiday, not a national one.

A family member back in Louisiana commented recently that Spain sure had a lot more holidays than the USA. It seemed that way to me, too, so I thought I'd tally them up and compare. Well, it turns out that this year there are 10 federal holidays in the USA, but only 8 national holidays in Spain.

Still, that doesn't quite tell the whole story.

First of all, here are the US federal holidays for 2015:

Thursday, January 1	New Year’s Day
Monday, January 19	Birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Monday, February 16	George Washington’s Birthday / Presidents' Day
Monday, May 25	Memorial Day
Saturday, July 4	Independence Day (Observed on Friday, July 3 this year)
Monday, September 7	Labor Day (Always on the first Monday in September)
Monday, October 12	Columbus Day
Wednesday, November 11	Veterans Day
Thursday, November 26	Thanksgiving Day (Always on the 4th Thursday of November)
Friday, December 25	Christmas Day

Now here is the list of national holidays in Spain for 2015:

Thursday, January 1	New Year’s Day
Tuesday, January 6	Kings Day / Epiphany
Friday, April 3	Good Friday
Friday, May1	Labor Day
Saturday, August 15	Assumption of Mother Mary
Monday, October 12	Spanish National Day
Tuesday, December 8	The Day of the Immaculate Conception
Friday, December 25	Christmas Day

Notice that because the USA's July 4th holiday falls on a Saturday this year, it will be observed on Friday July 3rd, but that in Spain there is no such compensation for the holiday that falls on Saturday August 15th. This is because Spain actually considers Saturday a work day. Thus, people like me who work Monday through Friday won't get that holiday off this year.

This year we in Spain are also missing a holiday that falls on a Sunday: Constitution Day, December 6th. When a holiday falls on a Sunday, the Spanish sometimes do what the Yanks do, and observe the holiday on the subsequent Monday. Although Spain is not doing that with this year's Constitution Day, some of the country's Regions have come to the rescue and christened the Monday a holiday. 

Therefore, it looks like the USA actually has more public holidays than Spain – especially when you consider that in the USA both Saturday and Sunday holidays are always compensated for.

Wait, though—there is another factor to consider. Each of Spain's 17 Regions have their own holidays. For example, there are four Regional holidays for the Community of Madrid this year:

Thursday March 19 - Saint Joseph's Day
Thursday April 2 - Holy Thursday
Saturday May 2 - Community of Madrid Day
Thursday June 4 - Corpus Christi Day

And the other Regions are just as  generous, with almost all having four other public holidays falling Monday through Friday. (Only the Canary Islands Region has fewer: three.) In fact, this year several of the Regions have elected to give their citizens back the Constitution Day some in Spain are missing by observing it on the Monday. (Scroll down below for a list of all the Regional holidays in Spain.)

Now back in the USSA, many states also observe their own holidays, but most have only one or two of these. Nevertheless, only two of the 50 states seem to have matched the Spanish regional norm of four: Indiana, which observes Good Friday, Primary Election Day, General Election Day and Lincoln's Birthday and North Carolina, with Good Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve and the day after Christmas.

So, if we consider the fact that added to the 8 (usually 9) national holidays there are four regional holidays almost everywhere in the country, it looks like overall Spain pulls ahead on the total number per year.

Then we can throw city and town holidays into the mix. In Spain most of these have multiple local holidays and even small towns and villages often have one or two. For example, in the City of Madrid there are 3 in 2015:

Friday, May 15 - Saint Isidro Day (Patron Saint of the City)
Wednesday, September 9 - Santa Maria de la Cabeza Day (Saint Isidro's wife)
Monday, November 9 - The Virgin of Almudena Day - (Patroness of the City)

Barcelona has two:

June 1 - Saint John's Night
September 24 - Día de la Merced

Valencia also has two:

January 22 - Saint Vincent The Martyr's Day
April 13 - Saint Vincent Ferrer's Day

And Seville has two, too:

Wednesday April 22- Wednesday of the Spring Fair (Replaces the usual May 30th Saint Fernando holiday, which falls on a Saturday this year)
Thursday June 4 - Corpus Christi Day

Now, I don't know of too many American cities that have two or three local public holidays.

Conclusion: I think we can safely say that, yes, Spain does have more public / bank holidays than the United States.

Or to put it in sports terms: Spain 14, USA 10.

Happy holidays!

Carlos

Here are the 2015 public holidays in Spain's Autonomous Regions.
Andalusia
February 28th: Andalusia Day
April 2nd: Holy Thursday
November 2nd: Monday after All Saints Day
December 7th: Monday after Constitution Day
Aragon
April 2nd: Holy Thursday
April 23rd: Saint George’s Day
November 2nd: Monday after All Saints Day
December 7th: Monday after Constitution Day
Asturias
April 2nd: Holy Thursday
September 8th: Asturian Regional Day
November 2nd: Monday after All Saints Day
December 7th: Monday after Constitution Day
Balearic Islands
April 2nd: Holy Thursday
April 6th: Easter Monday
November 2nd: Monday after All Saints Day
December 7th: Monday after Constitution Day
Basque Country
March 19th: Saint Joseph
April 2nd: Holy Thursday
April 6th: Easter Monday
July 25th: Saint James
Canary Islands (Only 3 holidays regional holidays in the Canaries!) 
April 2nd: Holy Thursday
May 30th: Canary Islands Day
November 2nd: Monday after All Saints Day
Cantabria
April 2nd: Holy Thursday
April 6th: Easter Monday
September 15th: Patron Saint of Cantabria (Virgen de la Bien Aparecida)
November 2nd: Monday after All Saints Day
Castilla-La Mancha
April 2nd: Holy Thursday
April 6th: Easter Monday
June 4th: Corpus Christi
December 7th: Monday after Constitution Day
Castilla y León
April 2nd: Holy Thursday
April 23rd: Castile and León Day
November 2nd: Monday after All Saints Day
December 7th: Monday after Constitution Day
Cataluña
April 6th: Easter Monday
June 24th: Saint John's Day
September 11th: The Diada, Catalonia Regional Day
December 26th: Saint Stephen's Day
Ceuta
April 2nd: Holy Thursday
September 25th: Festival of Abraham’s Sacrifice
November 2nd: Monday after All Saints Day
December 7th: Monday after Constitution Day
Extremadura
April 2nd: Holy Thursday
September 8th: Extremadura Regional Day
November 2nd: Monday after All Saints Day
December 7th: Monday after Constitution Day
Galicia
March 20th: Day after Saint Joseph's Day
April 2nd: Holy Thursday
July 25th: Saint James, Galician Regional Day
November 2nd: Monday after All Saints Day
La Rioja
April 2nd: Holy Thursday
April 6th: Easter Monday
June 9th: La Rioja Regional Day
December 7th: Monday after Constitution Day
Comunidad de Madrid
March 19th: Saint Joseph's Day
April 2nd: Holy Thursday
May 2nd: Community of Madrid Day
June 4th: Corpus Christi Day
Melilla
March 19th: Saint Joseph's Day
April 2nd: Holy Thursday
September 25th: Festival of Abraham’s Sacrifice
December 7th: Monday after Constitution Day
Murcia
March 19th: Saint Joseph's Day
April 2nd: Holy Thursday
June 9th: Murcia Regional Day
December 7th: Monday after Constitution Day
Navarre
March 19th: Saint Joseph's Day
April 2nd: Holy Thursday
April 6th: Easter Monday
July 25th: Saint James
Valencia
March 19th: Saint Joseph's Day
April 6th: Easter Monday
October 9th: Valencian Regional Day
December 7th: Monday after Constitution Day

Spain's Intangible Cultural Heritage

UNESCO has been keeping track of the world's tangible, or physical, patrimony through its World Heritage Site list since 1972. Then in 2003 the Convention for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage was signed, which authorized UNESCO to identify non-physical cultural expressions, too. This was to include such things as music, drama, arts, crafts and more. On this 10th anniversary of the convention, the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity has a total of 257 'cultural practices and expressions' on it, 13 of which are in Spain. These join the 44 physical places on the World Heritage Site list as globally recognized masterpieces of humanity.

Below are Spain's treasured thirteen:

Cant de la Sibil · la - Majorca, The Balearic Islands

The Song of the Sibyl is a musical liturgical drama with roots in Gregorian chants that was widespread in Europe in the Middle Ages. The Apocalyptic piece was banned by the 16th century Council of Trent, but continued to be performed in Majorca. It is performed during Christmas midnight masses in Catholic churches throughout the island.

• Mallorca Tourism
• www.lluc.net

Castellars - Catalonia 

These human towers, which range from six to ten 'stories' tall, from the pinya at the bottom to the l'anxeneta at the top, can be seen at events all over the region of Catalonia. Each is a collective effort of solidarity, often 'built' as part of a passionate competition among castellar groups. 

• Sixty groups operate throughout the region all year long, but most frequently from April to November. 
• The Casteller competitions held during the Festa Major de Sant Felix in Vilafranca del Penedès every August 30 and at the festival of Santa Ursula in Valls, observed on the Sunday following October 21, are the events with the deepest roots.
• www.castellersdevilafranca.cat
• www.castellersdebarcelona.cat
• Coordinadora de Colles Castelleres de Catalunya 

Center for Traditional Culture – a Pedagogic Project of The School Museum of Pusol - Elche, Valencia

Stared at the one-teacher rural public school of Pusol in 1968, the project has successfully integrated heritage into formal education by using teachers and external collaborators to guide children to explore, in a play atmosphere, Elche's rich heritage. The children do fieldwork data collection, museography, and they teach one another and visitors not only about heritage, but about studying and exploring heritage. The project has trained almost 500 schoolchildren and has resulted in a school museum with more than 61,000 inventory entries and 770 oral files, preserving everyday life heritage and promoting the cultural mapping of local heritage resources. Between 1968 and the mid 1980s, the project remained within the boundaries of the rural district of Pusol, where the school was based, but as knowledge of the project’s values and achievements spread, the project’s operational scope grew larger, first involving the remaining rural districts of Elche’s countryside (mid 1980s) and later the city of Elche (1990s).

• www.museopusol.com

Cultural Association of the Lime Kilns of Morón - Morón de la Frontera, Andalusia

The traditional practice of lime-making was a source of employment for Morón de la Frontera and a marker of its identity. When production was eclipsed by industrial lime, kilns fell into disuse and transmission of knowledge ceased. The project’s primary goals are to raise awareness of the practice and importance of lime-making and to improve living conditions for craftspeople. To this end, the Cultural Association of the Lime Kilns of Morón was established, and gave birth to an ethnographic centre and a living museum that displays the craft process in situ. Kilns have been restored and the project actively promotes transmission of techniques to new generations. Outreach activities in cooperation with lime craftspeople focus on recovering expertise and techniques for use in sustainable construction.

• museocaldemoron.com

Festival de los Patios - Cordoba, Andalusia

Every year in May fifty-five homes located in the historic center of Cordoba opens their doors to every traveler who wishes to enjoy the floral splendor of their courtyards.

• Competition for best patio, concerts and flamenco performances. From 8 to 19 May 2013.
• www.patiosdecordoba.es
• www.amigosdelospatioscordobeses.es

Falconry - Spain

Spain is the ideal destination to observe or participate in this traditional activity, which involves breeding and training falcons and/or other birds of prey to hunt in their natural environment.

• SpainInfo.com
• AECCA - Spain's Falconry Association
• Cetrero.com

Flamenco (Andalusia, Extremadura and Murcia)

¡Flamenco! Flamenco is an artistic expression fusing song, dance and musicianship. Although Andalusia is the heartland of Flamenco, it also has roots in the regions of Murcia and Extremadura. 

• The Badasom Festival in Badajoz (Extremadura) from 10 to 13 July, with flamenco as well as Portuguese fado.
• Festival Internacional del Cante de las Minas in La Unión (Murcia), the first week of August, .
• And November 16th is the Day of Flamenco in Andalusia.
• www.fundacioncantedelasminas.org

Irrigators' Tribunals of the Spanish Mediterranean

Traditional tribunals dealing with local irrigation matters. The Council of Wise Men of the Plain of Murcia, dates back to the 9th century, while the Water Tribunal of the Plain of Valencia is the oldest institution of justice in Europe. Their oral proceedings are fast, transparent and impartial. Their decision is final. In addition to their legal roles, these courts contribute to the oral transmission of knowledge derived from centuries-old cultural exchanges. They have their own specialist vocabulary peppered with Arabic borrowings. In short, the courts are long-standing repositories of local and regional identity and are of special significance to local inhabitants -- and they are something to see.

• Can be seen on Thursdays at Murcia City Hall and at the Gate of the Apostles entrance to the Cathedral of Valencia, respectively.
• www.tribunaldelasaguas.com
• www.juntadehacendados.es 

La Patum - Berga, Catalonia

During the holy week of Corpus Christi, townspeople dress as mystical and symbolical figures and dance through the streets to the beat of a kettledrum called a tabal. Among the things to be seen are turcs i cavallets (Turks and knights), maces (hell), guites (mules), àligas (eagles) vells nans i nans nous (old dwarfs and new dwarfs), gegants (paper mache  giants) and plens (with burning fuets on). This event has origins in pre-Christian summer solstice celebrations of the, which were adapted by the Catholic Church. Today it is not religious, but rather more a bit of popular street theater. 

• From May 29 to June 2 2013
• www.lapatum.cat

Mare de Deu de la Salut - Algemesi, Valencia

The Festival of Our Lady of Health dates back to the 13th century and involves theatre, dance, music and street processions. Three processions are held, one on 7 September and two on the 8th. They include Muixeranga, which are human towers similar to the Castellers but which include the performance of a dance. There are seven dance events, 63 musical compositions, street depictions of historical and biblical characters, scenes of martyrdoms, living tableaus, etc.

• www.museuvalenciadelafesta.com

Mediterranean Diet - Spain

The main ingredients of the Mediterranean diet include olive oil, cereals, fruits, vegetables, a moderate amount of meat, fish and dairy products, seasoning and spices, accompanied by wine or infusions.  UNESCO mentions Soria, in Castile-León, as a prime example of a city that is committed to the Mediterranean diet, but this glorious food can be enjoyed all over Spain.

• SpainInfo.com - Soria
• TastingSpain.es 

Misteri d'Elx - Elche, Valencia

A two-part liturgical drama dating from the Middle Ages commemorating the Dormition, Assumption and Heavenly Coronation of the Virgin Mary. It is sung in Valencian and Latin and performed in the Basilica de Santa María. Dress rehearsals can be seen on some days before the events, with part one performed on August 14th and part two on the Feast of the Assumption, August 15th.

• www.misteridelx.com
• www.visitelche.com

Whistled Language of La Gomera - La Gomera Island, Canary Islands

The Silbo Gomero replicates the islanders’ vocal language (Castilian Spanish) with whistling. Handed down over centuries from master to pupil, it is the only whistled language in the world that is fully developed and practised by a large community -- more than 22,000 inhabitants. The whistled language replaces each vowel or consonant with a whistling sound: two distinct whistles replace the five Spanish vowels, and there are four whistles for consonants. The whistles can be distinguished according to pitch and whether they are interrupted or continuous. With practice, whistlers can convey any message. The language takes advantage of the peculiar topography of the island, reverberating across its deep ravines and narrow valleys. Messages can be heard up to five miles away.

• Demonstrations can be easily be observed on a visit to the island.
• The Whistle
• www.silbogomero.com.es

Just in time for summer, Barcelona bans bikini wearers, shirtless men and nudists from its streets

Make sure to wear a shirt if you want to walk around in the stifling heat of Barcelona this summer, or you may pay dearly for it -- up to 300 euros!

Just in time for the tourist rush, the Spanish city known for its beaches and relaxed lifestyle has prohibited not only public nudity, but also the wearing of bathing suits away from swimming areas.

Beset by the hotelier and merchant lobby, who have protested for years that tourists walking around town with exposed torsos give Barcelona a bad image, the city council on Friday approved new legislation to prohibit and punish those who go down the street naked, bare-chested or in a bikini. The measure, which goes into effect next month, was approved just four weeks before municipal elections.

How the law will work

Complete nudity will only be allowed on Barcelona's officially recognized nude beach, Mar Bella, which is the only one in the city that has sand dunes, making it a somewhat secluded spot. Going shirtless or wearing swim-suits will be allowed only at pools, beaches and surrounding areas, such as the Paseo Maritimo stretching along the Mediterranean. Doing so anywhere else in the  city, including while strolling along the emblematic Las Ramblas boulevard or having refreshments at a sidewalk cafe, could result in a fine larger than the 200 euros one has to pay for running a red light: between 300 and 500 euros for going naked, and 120 to 300 for not wearing a shirt. In practice, local police will not fine transgressors immediately: nudes and semi-nudes alike will first receive a warning and an invitation to cover up. Fines will only be given to those who refuse to cooperate or who are caught again for the same violation.

Barcelona's police officers will probably easily recognize nudity when they see it, but how will they determine semi-nudity and its appropriateness? What is the difference between a woman wearing a bikini bathing suit and one wearing a pair of skimpy shorts with a bikini halter top? How far can a shirtless guy walk from the beach before being considered indecent? What happens if while a police officer is fining a bikini-wearing, shirtless couple who wander into a neighborhood near a beach, a sweaty construction worker without a shirt carries a heavy object out of building-site onto the street?

Barcelona on the cutting edge

While at least two other Spanish municipalities have passed legislation banning nudity, none have gone so far as to outlaw semi-nudity. In 2008 Alicante established fines ranging from 751 to 1500 euros for pubic nudity. The city of Las Palmas published an edict in 2004 stating that "nudity, when practiced in places of public transit, practiced en masse, or improperly, is no longer natural and becomes exhibitionism forced on others." Since there was apparently no fine or other punishment prescribed, I'm not sure how nude-free Las Palmas is today. But Barcelona's streets may soon be free of bikinis, swimming trunks and a few tourists.

Maybe next the city council will spend some time and money cracking down on another worrisome group of people who tend to freely wander Barcelona's streets, as well as its beaches: pick-pockets and purse-snatchers.

Cross posted on Newsvine.

Sources:
El destape urbano, non grato (Urban nudity, non grata) - La Razón (with video report)
No es un biquini, es un 'top' (It's not a bikini, it's a 'top') - El País

Spain's Monday News: Goya and the Great Canarian Telescope ; Woody Allen & Scarlett Johansson in Barceloneta ; Spain is number 1 in...

Star Gazing with the Great Canarian Telescope - El Gran Telescopio Canarias will give a star gazing preview this Friday at the Roque de Los Muchachos Observatory on the island of La Palma. Although only partially complete, enough of it has been assembled to allow telescope operators to make initial test runs. So, at 10 p.m. Canary Island time Crown Prince Felipe will fix the telescope on Polaris, the North Star, for a “first light” ceremonial observation.

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The rest of the telescope will be completed over the next year, with a grand opening presided over by King Juan Carlos I next summer. At that point the installation will be fully operational.

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One of the its first projects will be an investigation into the origin of galaxies. A team of 40 astronomers from Spain, France, the UK and the US, referred to collectively as the Galaxy Origins and Young Assembly, or GOYA, will conduct the study.

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The facilitywill have taken 7 years to build and will be the largest segmented mirror telescope in the world. The lens alone will weigh almost 17 tons and measure 10.4 meters (34.1 feet) across. It will reportedly have vision equivalent to four million human eyes.

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Star Gazing in Barceloneta - Today Woody Allen started filming his new movie in my neighborhood. Security was strong to keep him and Scarlett Johansson away from curious folks like me. Apparently Johansson plays a tourist in the film. Well, they're definitely in the right neighborhood! Click here for a photo and article.

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Spain is Number 1 - when speaking of cosmetic surgery in Europe, that is.

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Spain has more "esthetic interventions" annually than any other European country, with some 400,000 last year at an average cost of 2,000 euros. And the number in increasing between 8 and 10% each year, according to the Sociedad Española de Cirugía Plástica, Reparadora y Estética. (SECPRE - the Spanish Society for Plastic, Reparatory and Esthetic Surgery.)

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As a matter of fact, plastic surgery has become a common enough expense in the family budget to be included in Spain's official Consumer Price Index, which is used to calculate inflation!

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SECPRE reports that men, who make up 20% of patients, most often have surgery on the eyelids, abdomen and liposuction. Breast augmentation and liposuction are the most popular procedures for women.