Those whom we call “Hispanics” or “Latinos” - terms deriving from “hispanoamericano” and “latinoamericano” - are United States residents with roots in Hispanic America. While “Latino” is often used interchangeably with “Hispanic,” the nineteenth-century concept of “Latin America” from which “Latino” derives, broadly referred to the peoples emerging from Spain, Portugal, and France's colonies, whereas “Hispanoamérica” referred solely to the Spanish-speaking peoples formerly residing in the Spanish colonies. In common usage today, both terms refer to the US residents of diverse racial and historical backgrounds in the Spanish-speaking countries of the Americas, including the United States. The vast majority of them are of Mexican, Puerto Rican, or Cuban origin, and the presence of their ancestors in North America predates the arrival of English colonists. In fact, western civilization was introduced to North America and the lands that eventually would belong to the United States first by Hispanics. Many of the institutions and values that have become identified as “American” were really first introduced by Hispanic peoples - Spaniards, Hispanicized Africans and Amerindians, mestizos and mulattoes - during the exploration and settlement of these lands. Not only were advanced technologies, such as those essential to ranching, farming, and mining, introduced by the Hispanics but also all of the values and perspectives inherent in western intellectual culture. The Spanish and their mixed breed children continued to blend western culture with that of the indigenous peoples of the Americas and the peoples imported from Africa for five hundred years.