ABSTRACT
Spanish settlers in the Americas before and after 1898, particularly in Cuba and Puerto Rico, but also in Argentina, Mexico, and Uruguay, developed a strong sense of national identity. While adapting themselves to the hostile environment conditioned by the anti-Spanish nature of Latin American nationalisms and Cuban separatism, they also reproduced many of the internal tensions that emerged in the metropolis. The reinforcement of regional identity among several Iberian groups of settlers and/or migrants, particularly among Basques, Catalans, and Galicians, followed a pace parallel to that of their respective regionalist and, later on, ethnonationalist movements in the metropolis. However, they also attempted to adapt their discourses and strategies to the cultural environment of their host countries, and were to some extent influenced by Latin American nationalisms as well. Therefore, in the discourse of migrant associations, their leaders and periodicals before the end of the Spanish overseas empire oscillated between regionalized Spanish nationalism, radicalized versions of metropolitan regionalisms, and some examples of early ethnonationalist radicalization. In this chapter, the origins and evolution of those discourses and representations among Iberian settlers will be analyzed.
