Hispanicization

Hispanicization (hispanización) refers to the process by which a place or person becomes influenced by Hispanic culture or a process of cultural and/or linguistic change in which something non-Hispanic becomes Hispanic. Hispanicization is illustrated by spoken Spanish, production and consumption of Hispanic food, Spanish language music, and participation in Hispanic festivals and holidays. In the former Spanish colonies, the term is also used in the narrow linguistic sense of the Spanish language replacing indigenous languages. Within Spain, the term "Hispanicization" can refer to the cultural and linguistic absorption of the ethnically Berber Guanches, the indigenous people of the Canary Islands in the century following their subjugation in the 15th century. It is relatively rarely used as a synonym for Castilianization (castellanización) i.e. the historical process whereby speakers of minority Spanish languages such as Catalan, Basque, Galician, Astur-Leonese or Aragonese are linguistically assimilated and progressively abandon their language for Spanish. Since all of the aforementioned languages are co-official languages together with Castilian Spanish, the term castilianization is preferred. The Moriscos (Muslims who had converted to Christianity but continued to live in distinct communities) had undergone an intensive, forced Hispanicization. Upon conversion, they were all given Spanish names by which they were known in all official documents (though in private, they probably often continued to use their original Arabic names). In 1567, Philip II of Spain issued a royal decree forbidding Moriscos from the use of Arabic on all occasions, formal and informal, speaking and writing. Using Arabic in any sense of the word would be regarded as a crime. They were given three years to learn a "Christian" language, after which they would have to get rid of all Arabic written material. It is unknown how many of the Moriscos complied with the decree and destroyed their own Arabic books and how many kept them in defiance of the King's decree; the decree is known to have triggered one of the largest Morisco Revolts.