Hispano Homeland

By Richard L. Nostrand

Book Overview

Richard L. Nostrand interprets the Hispanos' experience in geographical terms. He demonstrates that their unique intermixture with Pueblo Indians, nomad Indians, Anglos, and Mexican Americans, combined with isolation in their particular natural and cultural environments, have given them a unique sense of place - a sense of homeland.

Several processes shaped and reshaped the Hispano Homeland. Initial colonization left the Hispanos relatively isolated from cultural changes in the rest of New Spain, and gradual intermarriage with Pueblo and nomad Indians gave them new cultural features. As their numbers increased in the eighteenth century, they began to expand their Stronghold outward from the original colonies.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0806128895
• ISBN13: 9780806128894
• Release Date: September 1996
• Publisher: University of Oklahoma Press
• Length: 296 Pages
• Weight: 0.15 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.9" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

A must for New Mexico and Southern Colorado Genealogy

Reviewer: A reader from Southern Colorado - Northern New Mexico. An excellent aid for those of us researching our family roots in New Mexico. This book does much to explain and date the migration of our Hispanic/Indian ancestors in and from the Rio Grande Valley during the past 400 years.

Excellent depiction of the Hispano subculture

In this book Nostrand describes the cultural geography and history of the "Hispano homeland" -- a region in northern New Mexico and southern Colorado with a distinct and interesting history and culture. He also traces the connections between this region and outside influences, from the early Spanish settlers, to the Pueblo Indians and Anglos, to relations with other Mexican Americans in the U.S. today. This book is useful in understanding borderland influences further away from the more often represented U.S./Mexico border. Covering over 400 years of history, it shows how border influences change and last through time. It's well written, extremely thorough with good maps tracing "intrusions" of other cultures into the region, and good tabular information, too. I found this book invaluable for my own work in northern New Mexico, but this book may also be useful for those interested in rural development, community studies, and sense of place, as Nostrand articulates well what the Hispano Homeland means to the people who live there and why it becomes necessary for some to leave. It is a good complement to Carlos Velez-Ibanez' Border Visions, which is less geographically based and focuses more on cultural place closer to the U.S. - Mexico border.