Spain

As we know, European countries have had great influence in the Western Hemisphere. England and America/Canada, France and Eastern Canada/The Caribbean, Portugal and Brazil, and of course Spain and Latin America. Spain is in particular one of the most interesting to me. Not because they managed to influence almost two continents, but because there are many cultural differences in the country itself.

Just like in Latin America, there are many types of Spaniards. The Spanish culture was greatly influenced by Muslim culture for a long time, about from 711 AD to the 1400s. There's evidence in the music and dance. Today I was listening to the song "Unidos," which means "United," by a group from Spain called Banghra. It uses the combination of modern day music and cultural Muslim music. The song is in Spanish, but some of the dances are similar to those from Muslim culture.

We seem to think that America is one of the few countries with great diversity in its people. In Spain there is a great diversity as well. There are African-Spaniards, Jewish-Spaniards, Muslim-Spaniards, and old fashioned Spaniards. Even though Spanish is spoken throughout the whole country, each region of the country has it's own language as well. In Brasque Country and Navarre, Euskara is spoken while Catalan is spoken in Catalonia. You know how the English and Americans have different accents? And even Americans have different accents within themselves? In Spain, there was a certain accent called Andaluz which is the most similar to the Spanish in the Western Hemisphere. The accent varies as you travel in Spain. The Spanish spoken in Latin America is called Castilian, but even within the Castilian Spanish there are different accents.

When I asked my father why we didn't speak Mayan, he responded it was because our family was closer to Spanish decent. The Spaniards that came taught the Native Americans in Central and South America their language. But throughout time some Natives weren't so open-minded about Spanish. When you ask a New Yorker "Are you proud to be an American, or more proud of being a New Yorker?" chances are they'll say New Yorker. It was the same situation in Spain. Many were proud of their region.

I'm certain there are many countries around the world that have a great diversity within itself such as China and South Africa. But Spain was the one I could connect with the most.