Isleños (french: Islingues) are a
Spanish
Spanish might refer to:
* Items from or related to Spain:
**Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain
**Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries
**Spanish cuisine
Other places
* Spanish, Ontario, Cana ...
ethnic group
An ethnic group or an ethnicity is a grouping of people who identify with each other on the basis of shared attributes that distinguish them from other groups. Those attributes can include common sets of traditions, ancestry, language, history, ...
living in the state of
Louisiana
Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...
in the United States, consisting of people primarily from the
Canary Island
The Canary Islands (; es, Canarias, ), also known informally as the Canaries, are a Spanish autonomous community and archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean, in Macaronesia. At their closest point to the African mainland, they are west of Morocco ...
s. Isleños are descendants of colonists who settled in
Spanish Louisiana
Spanish Louisiana ( es, link=no, la Luisiana) was a governorate and administrative district of the Viceroyalty of New Spain from 1762 to 1801 that consisted of a vast territory in the center of North America encompassing the western basin of t ...
between 1778 and 1783 and intermarried with other communities such as
Frenchmen
The French people (french: Français) are an ethnic group and nation primarily located in Western Europe that share a common French culture, history, and language, identified with the country of France.
The French people, especially the nati ...
,
Acadians
The Acadians (french: Acadiens , ) are an ethnic group descended from the French who settled in the New France colony of Acadia during the 17th and 18th centuries. Most Acadians live in the region of Acadia, as it is the region where the des ...
,
Creoles,
Hispanic Americans
Hispanic and Latino Americans ( es, Estadounidenses hispanos y latinos; pt, Estadunidenses hispânicos e latinos) are Americans of Spaniards, Spanish and/or Latin Americans, Latin American ancestry. More broadly, these demographics include a ...
,
Filipinos
Filipinos ( tl, Mga Pilipino) are the people who are citizens of or native to the Philippines. The majority of Filipinos today come from various Austronesian ethnolinguistic groups, all typically speaking either Filipino, English and/or othe ...
, and other groups, mainly through the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
In Louisiana, the Isleños originally settled in four communities which included Galveztown, Valenzuela, Barataria, and San Bernardo.
Of those settlements, Valenzuela and San Bernardo were the most successful as the other two were plagued with both disease and flooding.
The large migration of Acadian refugees to
Bayou Lafourche
Bayou Lafourche ( ), originally called Chetimachas River or La Fourche des Chetimaches, (the fork of the Chitimacha), is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed June 20, 2011 b ...
led to the rapid
gallicization
Francization (in American English, Canadian English, and Oxford English) or Francisation (in other British English), Frenchification, or Gallicization is the expansion of French language use—either through willful adoption or coercion—by more ...
of the Valenzuela community while San Bernardo was able to preserve much of its unique culture and language into the twenty-first century.
However, the transmission of Spanish and other customs has completely halted in St. Bernard Parish, with those having competency in
Spanish
Spanish might refer to:
* Items from or related to Spain:
**Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain
**Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries
**Spanish cuisine
Other places
* Spanish, Ontario, Cana ...
being octogenarians.
Regardless, these communities have garnered attention from notable academics like
Alcée Fortier
Alcée Fortier (June 5, 1856 – February 14, 1914) was a renowned Professor of Romance Languages at Tulane University in New Orleans. In the late 19th and early 20th century, he published numerous works on language, literature, Louisiana histor ...
,
Samuel G. Armistead
Samuel Gordon Armistead (August 21, 1927 – August 7, 2013) was an American ethnographer, linguist, folklorist, historian, literary critic and professor of Spanish. He is considered one of the most notable Hispanist scholars of the second hal ...
, and
Manuel Alvar
Manuel Alvar (July 8, 1923 - August 13, 2001) was a Spanish linguist, historian, and university professor who specialized in the study of dialectology and philology of the Spanish language. Throughout his career, Alvar oversaw and influenced the ...
.
In recent years, heritage groups have been formed for the Isleños and their descendants to help preserve their ways of life. The success of the Isleños in Louisiana in preserving their culture has led some historians and anthropologists to consider the Isleño community as part of the national heritage of the United States and the Canary Islands.
Names and etymology
In general, individuals belonging to the community are referred to with the meaning 'Islanders', an archaic term for a person from the Canary Islands.
Other terms include ''Canarian'', ''Canary Islander'', ''Canarian descendant'', or ''Canary Islander descendant''.
In
St. Bernard Parish
St. Bernard Parish (french: Paroisse de Saint-Bernard; es, Parroquia de San Bernardo) is a parish in the U.S. state of Louisiana. The parish seat and largest community is Chalmette. The parish was formed in 1807. St. Bernard Parish is part of ...
, the Canary Islanders were referred to as both by themselves and others into the modern day.
Occasionally, this term was also translated into the .
Prior to the
American Civil War
The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...
, the Canary Islanders and their descendants in
Ascension and
Assumption Parishes sold their properties and moved into interior marsh.
The local francophone population began referring to them as the ''dwellers'' (sometimes represented by Spanish pronunciation ) due to their practice of clearing land with fire.
This term originates from the meaning 'to burn'.
Ethnic and national origins
Isleños are descendants of emigrants from the
Canary Islands
The Canary Islands (; es, Canarias, ), also known informally as the Canaries, are a Spanish autonomous community and archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean, in Macaronesia. At their closest point to the African mainland, they are west of Morocc ...
who arrived in Louisiana between 1778 and 1783.
The exact number of
Canary Islander
Canary Islanders, or Canarians ( es, canarios), are a Romance people and ethnic group. They reside on the Canary Islands, an autonomous community of Spain near the coast of northwest Africa, and descend from a mixture of European settlers and ab ...
s that were settled in the territory is unknown but it estimated to be about 2,000 individuals.
Since settling in Louisiana, the communities have developed independently with two of the original communities falling into ruin not long after their establishment. Following significant flooding of the
Mississippi River
The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it f ...
in 1782, the
Barataria settlement was abandoned and the survivors were relocated to San Bernardo and Valenzuela with some settling in
West Florida
West Florida ( es, Florida Occidental) was a region on the northern coast of the Gulf of Mexico that underwent several boundary and sovereignty changes during its history. As its name suggests, it was formed out of the western part of former S ...
.
Galveztown suffered similarly with repeated floods of the
Amite River
The Amite River (french: Rivière Amite) is a tributary of Lake Maurepas in Mississippi and Louisiana in the United States. It is about long. It starts as two forks in southwestern Mississippi and flows south through Louisiana, passing Greater ...
and deplorable conditions.
It was not long after the beginning of the 19th century that the settlement was abandoned.
San Bernardo
![YscloskyBayou2](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/49/YscloskyBayou2.jpg)
The settlement along Bayou Terre-aux-Boeufs was rather isolated, with the Isleño population being larger than any other community.
The original Canary Islander recruits came mainly from the islands of
Tenerife
Tenerife (; ; formerly spelled ''Teneriffe'') is the largest and most populous island of the Canary Islands. It is home to 43% of the total population of the archipelago. With a land area of and a population of 978,100 inhabitants as of Janu ...
and
Gran Canaria
Gran Canaria (, ; ), also Grand Canary Island, is the third-largest and second-most-populous island of the Canary Islands, an archipelago off the Atlantic coast of Northwest Africa which is part of Spain. the island had a population of that co ...
with the remainder from
Lanzarote
Lanzarote (, , ) is a Spanish island, the easternmost of the Canary Islands in the Atlantic Ocean. It is located approximately off the north coast of Africa and from the Iberian Peninsula. Covering , Lanzarote is the fourth-largest of the i ...
,
La Gomera
La Gomera () is one of Spain's Canary Islands, located in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Africa. With an area of , it is the third smallest of the eight main islands of this archipelago. It belongs to the province of Santa Cruz de Tene ...
, and
La Palma
La Palma (, ), also known as ''La isla bonita'' () and officially San Miguel de La Palma, is the most north-westerly island of the Canary Islands, Spain. La Palma has an area of making it the fifth largest of the eight main Canary Islands. The ...
.
St. Bernard Parish Historian William de Marigny Hyland has located the origin of many descendants to the single location of
Icod de los Vinos
Icod de los Vinos is a municipality in the province of Santa Cruz de Tenerife (province), Santa Cruz de Tenerife on the island of Tenerife, in the Canary Islands (Spain), located in the northwestern part of the island. Inhabitants of Icod are know ...
on the island of Tenerife.
Early in the establishment of this community, a minority of Acadians were present as well as
Filipinos
Filipinos ( tl, Mga Pilipino) are the people who are citizens of or native to the Philippines. The majority of Filipinos today come from various Austronesian ethnolinguistic groups, all typically speaking either Filipino, English and/or othe ...
from
Saint Malo
Saint-Malo (, , ; Gallo: ; ) is a historic French port in Ille-et-Vilaine, Brittany, on the English Channel coast.
The walled city had a long history of piracy, earning much wealth from local extortion and overseas adventures. In 1944, the Alli ...
which intermarried with the Canarian colonists.
In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, the community was reinforced by immigration from Spanish regions such as
Andalusia
Andalusia (, ; es, Andalucía ) is the southernmost Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in Peninsular Spain. It is the most populous and the second-largest autonomous community in the country. It is officially recognised as a ...
,
Austurias,
Catalonia
Catalonia (; ca, Catalunya ; Aranese Occitan: ''Catalonha'' ; es, Cataluña ) is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy.
Most of the territory (except the Val d'Aran) lies on the north ...
,
Galicia,
Santander
Santander may refer to:
Places
* Santander, Spain, a port city and capital of the autonomous community of Cantabria, Spain
* Santander Department, a department of Colombia
* Santander State, former state of Colombia
* Santander de Quilichao, a m ...
, and
Valencia
Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, Valencia and the Municipalities of Spain, third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is ...
, and from the Canary Islands and other Spanish-speaking countries.
A survey conducted in 1850 found at least 63 natives of Spain, 7 Canary Islanders, 7 Cubans, and 7 Mexicans in the community.
Individuals from other countries, including France, Germany, and Ireland also emigrated and intermarried with the community during this period.
In 2005,
Hurricane Katrina
Hurricane Katrina was a destructive Category 5 Atlantic hurricane that caused over 1,800 fatalities and $125 billion in damage in late August 2005, especially in the city of New Orleans and the surrounding areas. It was at the time the cost ...
displaced many Isleños from their original communities.
Those who returned to St. Bernard Parish have retreated behind the
St. Bernard Flood Wall and now live in the
unincorporated communities
An unincorporated area is a region that is not governed by a local municipal corporation. Widespread unincorporated communities and areas are a distinguishing feature of the United States and Canada. Most other countries of the world either have ...
of Toca,
Saint Bernard,
Poydras
Poydras is a census-designated place (CDP) in St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 3,886 at the 2000 census and 2,536 in 2020. It is part of the New Orleans– Metairie–Kenner Metropolitan Statistical Area. P ...
, and into
.
Valenzuela
Originally, the Canary Islanders were settled along land grants with frontage to
Bayou Lafourche
Bayou Lafourche ( ), originally called Chetimachas River or La Fourche des Chetimaches, (the fork of the Chitimacha), is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed June 20, 2011 b ...
, near to what is today
Donaldsonville
Donaldsonville (historically french: Lafourche-des-Chitimachas) is a city in, and the parish seat of Ascension Parish in the U.S. state of Louisiana. Located along the River Road of the west bank of the Mississippi River, it is a part of the Bat ...
.
A census performed in 1784 found that 174 individuals belonging to 46 families were living along Bayou Lafourche, of which 154 were Isleños in 40 families.
In the following two years, more than 800
Acadians
The Acadians (french: Acadiens , ) are an ethnic group descended from the French who settled in the New France colony of Acadia during the 17th and 18th centuries. Most Acadians live in the region of Acadia, as it is the region where the des ...
were settled in the area with the population of region reaching 1,500 in 1788.
Many of the Isleño families intermarried with the Acadians, gallicized their names, and assimilated into the larger Acadian community.
Following the
Louisiana Purchase
The Louisiana Purchase (french: Vente de la Louisiane, translation=Sale of Louisiana) was the acquisition of the territory of Louisiana by the United States from the French First Republic in 1803. In return for fifteen million dollars, or app ...
, many Isleños sold their land grants and moved into inland swamps and woods which they burned to create farmland.
In this isolation, the community preserved its language and other customs into the late twentieth century before it was eventually absorbed into the larger
Cajun
The Cajuns (; French: ''les Cadjins'' or ''les Cadiens'' ), also known as Louisiana ''Acadians'' (French: ''les Acadiens''), are a Louisiana French ethnicity mainly found in the U.S. state of Louisiana.
While Cajuns are usually described as ...
and ultimately American cultural identity.
Isleños and their descendants can still be found in the Donaldsonville area and along Bayou Lafourche into Palo Alto, McCall,
Plattenville,
Belle Alliance,
Labadieville,
Napoleonville
Napoleonville is a village and the parish seat of Assumption Parish, in the U.S. state of Louisiana. The population was 660 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Pierre Part Micropolitan Statistical Area. The village is best known as the loca ...
, and
Paincourtville
Paincourtville is a census-designated place (CDP) in Assumption Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 911 at the 2010 census.
History
Legend says an early traveler, unable to buy a single loaf of bread there, facetiously called th ...
.
History
Prior to
European colonization
The historical phenomenon of colonization is one that stretches around the globe and across time. Ancient and medieval colonialism was practiced by the Phoenicians, the Greeks, the Turks, and the Arabs.
Colonialism in the modern sense began ...
, the Canary Islands were populated by the native
Guanches
The Guanches were the indigenous inhabitants of the Canary Islands in the Atlantic Ocean some west of Africa.
It is believed that they may have arrived on the archipelago some time in the first millennium BCE. The Guanches were the only nativ ...
which are thought to be distant relatives to the
Berbers
, image = File:Berber_flag.svg
, caption = The Berber ethnic flag
, population = 36 million
, region1 = Morocco
, pop1 = 14 million to 18 million
, region2 = Algeria
, pop2 ...
of North Africa. At the start of the 15th century, the Guanches faced conquest by the
Normans
The Normans (Norman language, Norman: ''Normaunds''; french: Normands; la, Nortmanni/Normanni) were a population arising in the medieval Duchy of Normandy from the intermingling between Norsemen, Norse Viking settlers and indigenous West Fran ...
, Portuguese, and
Castilians
Castilians (Spanish: ''castellanos'') are those people who live in certain former areas of the historical Kingdom of Castile, but the region's exact limits are disputed. A broader definition is to consider as Castilians the population belonging ...
, and were pressed into slavery. By the end of the century, the Canarian Archipelago had become part of the newly emerging Spanish Empire. During the 1490s to 1520s, immigrants from
Galicia,
Castile,
Catalonia
Catalonia (; ca, Catalunya ; Aranese Occitan: ''Catalonha'' ; es, Cataluña ) is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy.
Most of the territory (except the Val d'Aran) lies on the north ...
,
Basque Country, Portugal, and Italy helped to populate the Canary Islands. By the late 16th century, the island of
Tenerife
Tenerife (; ; formerly spelled ''Teneriffe'') is the largest and most populous island of the Canary Islands. It is home to 43% of the total population of the archipelago. With a land area of and a population of 978,100 inhabitants as of Janu ...
was covered in vineyards, and already by the mid-17th century, export of its wines to England (including its colonies in North America) and Spanish America had become crucial to the economy of the Canary Islands.
Crisis tended to occasion the Canarians as in the 18th century the collapse of the ''
malvasia
Malvasia (, also known as Malvazia) is a group of wine grape varieties grown historically in the Mediterranean region, Balearic Islands, Canary Islands and the island of Madeira, but now grown in many of the winemaking regions of the world. I ...
'' wine trade created significant poverty.
Most of the affected people were farmers and laborers who were forced to marginal occupations like selling coal, mining, begging, etc. The lack of employment opportunities and a policy of inadequate land distribution led to popular uprisings. The mobilization of the
Spanish Army
The Spanish Army ( es, Ejército de Tierra, lit=Land Army) is the terrestrial army of the Spanish Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is one of the oldest active armies — dating back to the late 15th century.
The ...
for service in Europe and America impinged negatively on the Canary Islanders as well.
Governor Bernardo de Gálvez, desiring to populate the newly acquired territory of
Louisiana
Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...
as a means to defend against an English invasion, sought recruits from the Canary Islands with families to join the Army and be sent to Louisiana. Recruits were offered an opportunity to escape mere subsistence and improve their situation with grants of land, rations, and supplies in the New World.
Colonization
At the request of Governor Gálvez, the Spanish authorities authorized the transportation of Canary Islander soldiers and their families to the colony in 1778. Between November 1778 and July 1779, around 1600 Isleños arrived in New Orleans, and another group of about 300 came in 1783. By 1780, the four Isleño communities were already founded. About four hundred of the immigrants were sent to the new settlement of Galveztown, two hundred other colonists were settled at Valenzuela, and a third group settled in . This colony was augmented by the 300 settlers who arrived in 1783.
In 1782, during the
American Revolution
The American Revolution was an ideological and political revolution that occurred in British America between 1765 and 1791. The Americans in the Thirteen Colonies formed independent states that defeated the British in the American Revolut ...
, Bernardo de Gálvez recruited Isleños from these settlements to join the war. They participated in the three major military campaigns of Baton Rouge, Mobile, and Pensacola, which expelled the British from the Gulf Coast.
War of 1812
Even before the arrival of the Isleños, the various administrations of Louisiana always feared an invasion by the British. It seems that this invasion came to pass the morning of December 23rd, 1814 as the British landed downriver from New Orleans at the plantation of
Jacques Villeré
Jacques Philippe Villeré (April 28, 1761 – March 7, 1830) was the second Governor of Louisiana after it became a state. He was the first Creole and the first native of Louisiana to hold that office.
Early life
He was born in 1761 near pres ...
. Previously, forces were ready to meet the British invasion, and that night, the Isleños and other soldiers engaged the British. The shocked British hesitated and regrouped the following day, allowing
Major General Andrew Jackson to develop his line of defense at the Chalmette plantation. The British retreated through the Isleño settlement along Bayou Terre-aux-Boeufs in January 1815, and the community sustained perhaps the greatest losses of property and hardships resulting from the British invasion.
Settlements
San Bernardo (Bayou Terre-aux-Boeufs)
The settlement, which founded what is today
St. Bernard Parish
St. Bernard Parish (french: Paroisse de Saint-Bernard; es, Parroquia de San Bernardo) is a parish in the U.S. state of Louisiana. The parish seat and largest community is Chalmette. The parish was formed in 1807. St. Bernard Parish is part of ...
, was referred to by many names near its inception. The first name under the Spanish reign was simply ''Tierra de Bueyes'' or 'Land of Oxen' as a direct translation from its French designation. This began a long string of names for the settlement starting with ''(La) Concepción'', then ''Nueva Gálvez'', ''San Bernardo de Nueva Gálvez'', and ''San Bernardo del Torno''. By the end of the 1780s, the simple name ''San Bernardo'' or 'Saint Bernard', the patron saint of
Bernardo de Gálvez
Bernardo Vicente de Gálvez y Madrid, 1st Count of Gálvez (23 July 1746 – 30 November 1786) was a Spanish military leader and government official who served as colonial governor of Spanish Louisiana and Cuba, and later as Viceroy of New Spa ...
, was being used for the settlement in documents describing the area.
The entire settlement was referred to as the ''Población de San Bernardo'', eventually as the ''Parroquia de San Bernardo'', and was composed of various ''establecimientos'' (establishments) or ''puestos'' (posts), which were smaller communities. These ''establecimientos'' ran along Bayou Terre-aux-Boeufs starting just past the western limit of
Saint Bernard and extending to
Delacroix Island. One of the larger communities was the ''Quinto Establecimiento'', which was called "Bencheque" after the Montaña de Bencheque near
Icod de los Vinos
Icod de los Vinos is a municipality in the province of Santa Cruz de Tenerife (province), Santa Cruz de Tenerife on the island of Tenerife, in the Canary Islands (Spain), located in the northwestern part of the island. Inhabitants of Icod are know ...
. The name "
Reggio" is a more recent colloquialism that refers to a much larger area. The origin of this name comes from the Reggio plantation that was just north of this settlement. Original land records still show that properties in this area are part of Bencheque; likewise, those who still know Spanish refer to the community as Bencheque. This makes the community perhaps the only one in the United States that carries a name of Guanche origin.
![Delacroix drinking 1941](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1d/Delacroix_drinking_1941.jpg)
Upon the colonists' arrival, the Spanish government gave land to each family according to their size, and a four-room house insulated by
bousillage
Bousillage (bouzillage,McDermott, John Francis. "bousillage, bouzillage, n. m.". ''A Glossary of Mississippi Valley French, 1673-1850''. St. Louis: , 1941. 34. Print. bousille, bouzille) is a mixture of clay and grass or other fibrous substances us ...
. The Spanish Crown supplied money, food, tools, and clothing annually to the Isleños until 1785, when the settlement was declared to be self-sufficient. The Isleños were almost entirely farmers who harvested vegetables for subsistence and for sale in New Orleans.
The colonists from Tenerife brought with them their tradition of cattle training, their expertise in which was highly valued. It was not uncommon for ranchers from Louisiana and eastern Texas to bring their herds to St. Bernard to be domesticated by the Isleños living there.
[Balbuena Castellano, José Manuel. "La odisea de los canarios en Texas y Luisiana" (The Odyssey of the Canarians in Texas and Louisiana). Pages 137, 138, 150 and 152. (ed) 2007, editorial: Anroart Ediciones.]
By 1790, sugarcane had replaced indigo as the most profitable crop in Louisiana. Wealthy planters purchased the Isleños' land, many of whom were left with little choice but to work on the plantations consolidated from their small farms. While many worked on the sugarcane plantations in the 19th century, hunting,
Spanish moss
Spanish moss (''Tillandsia usneoides'') is an epiphytic flowering plant that often grows upon large trees in tropical and subtropical climates. It is native to much of Mexico, Bermuda, the Bahamas, Central America, South America, the Southern Uni ...
gathering, agriculture, cattle breeding and carpentry were other occupations.
It was during this period as well that Isleño fishermen developed an important commerce in the fish and seafood they caught, selling their catch to New Orleans restaurants. Isleños began to move to the outer reaches of St. Bernard Parish, which led to the development of the various fishing communities at
Delacroix Island, Yscloskey, and
Shell Beach. After the end of the
Civil War
A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country).
The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...
, food shortages throughout the South, including St. Bernard Parish, made foraging and hunting crucial to the survival of the Isleños. The Borgnemouth Community was established in 1904 at the mouth of the Violet Canal. The canal connected the Mississippi River to
Lake Borgne
Lake Borgne (french: Lac Borgne, es, Lago Borgne) is a lagoon of the Gulf of Mexico in southeastern Louisiana. Although early maps show it as a lake surrounded by land, coastal erosion has made it an arm of the Gulf of Mexico. Its name comes fro ...
, and soon became another settlement inhabited by Isleño trappers, commercial fishermen and farmers. During the first part of the 20th century, St. Bernard Parish became well known for its valuable animal pelts, including otter, nutria, mink, and muskrat.
Not all was positive for the Isleños of San Bernardo. On September 29, 1915, a
hurricane
A tropical cyclone is a rapidly rotating storm system characterized by a low-pressure center, a closed low-level atmospheric circulation, strong winds, and a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms that produce heavy rain and squalls. Depend ...
devastated St. Bernard Parish, leaving almost three hundred dead, many of them Isleño fishermen, hunters and trappers. The
Spanish flu
The 1918–1920 influenza pandemic, commonly known by the misnomer Spanish flu or as the Great Influenza epidemic, was an exceptionally deadly global influenza pandemic caused by the H1N1 influenza A virus. The earliest documented case was ...
then spread among the survivors and decimated the population. A little more than a decade later, the
Great Mississippi Flood of 1927
The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 was the most destructive river flood in the history of the United States, with inundated in depths of up to over the course of several months in early 1927. The uninflated cost of the damage has been estimat ...
in combination with some of rain that fell on New Orleans on April 15, left the city covered in more than of water. Local politicians, pressured by the bankers of the city, took the drastic step of opening holes in the dike on the west side of Lake Borgne without evacuating the local population. St. Bernard Parish was flooded and hundreds drowned, leaving the survivors without homes or livelihoods. Afterwards, it was discovered that removal of the levee was unnecessary and that the Mississippi River did not reach a high enough level to flood New Orleans, but the damage was done and many Isleños and black
sharecroppers
Sharecropping is a legal arrangement with regard to agricultural land in which a landowner allows a tenant to use the land in return for a share of the crops produced on that land.
Sharecropping has a long history and there are a wide range ...
suffered the consequences.
![El Museo de los Isleños](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3a/El_Museo_de_los_Isle%C3%B1os.jpg)
After World War II, returning Isleño servicemen looked for work in the suburban areas of New Orleans that had developed along the Mississippi River, and many left their communities in search of employment. Their children were raised in predominantly English-speaking areas and consequently did not learn to speak Spanish and were not exposed to the native culture of the community. At the same time, public schooling in St. Bernard Parish forced all students to speak only English. Teachers punished anyone who spoke the native Spanish dialect. As a result, knowledge of Spanish and previous customs dropped precipitously among the younger people of the St. Bernard community. Today, the transmission of the Spanish language has halted completely along with the preservation of many traditions; this has been supplanted by English and mainstream American culture. That being said, many of the older generation remember the customs of their ancestors, and those born during the mid-20th century often speak Spanish as their native language.
In 2005,
Hurricane Katrina
Hurricane Katrina was a destructive Category 5 Atlantic hurricane that caused over 1,800 fatalities and $125 billion in damage in late August 2005, especially in the city of New Orleans and the surrounding areas. It was at the time the cost ...
damaged or destroyed the homes of the Isleños and neighboring communities. The hurricane left 164 dead in the parish, of which only a handful were Isleños, with three dying at St. Rita's Nursing Home at the time of the hurricane's landfall. The results of Katrina has left the Isleños displaced throughout Louisiana and the rest of United States. Those who returned to the parish have retreated to behind the
St. Bernard Flood Wall with only a fraction returning to traditionally Isleño communities.
= Communities
=
By the twentieth century, the Isleño communities of St. Bernard Parish included:
* (
Violet
Violet may refer to:
Common meanings
* Violet (color), a spectral color with wavelengths shorter than blue
* One of a list of plants known as violet, particularly:
** ''Viola'' (plant), a genus of flowering plants
Places United States
* Viol ...
)
* (
Poydras
Poydras is a census-designated place (CDP) in St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 3,886 at the 2000 census and 2,536 in 2020. It is part of the New Orleans– Metairie–Kenner Metropolitan Statistical Area. P ...
,
Saint Bernard, Toca)
** (
Saint Bernard)
* (
Reggio, sometimes still
Bencheque)
*Alluvial City
*/Yscloskey (Yscloskey)
*
Shell Beach
* (
Hopedale)
* (Wood Lake)
* (
Delacroix Island)
Valenzuela (Bayou Lafourche)
![Donaldsonville Louisiana House](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/16/Donaldsonville_Louisiana_House.jpg)
Governor Gálvez had chosen the site for the original settlement, referred to as ''Valenzuela dans La Fourche'', to be along the eastern bank of
Bayou Lafourche
Bayou Lafourche ( ), originally called Chetimachas River or La Fourche des Chetimaches, (the fork of the Chitimacha), is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed June 20, 2011 b ...
just south of
Donaldsonville
Donaldsonville (historically french: Lafourche-des-Chitimachas) is a city in, and the parish seat of Ascension Parish in the U.S. state of Louisiana. Located along the River Road of the west bank of the Mississippi River, it is a part of the Bat ...
extending into what is now the
Belle Alliance Plantation
Belle Alliance is an Italianate and Greek Revival plantation house in Assumption Parish, Louisiana, U.S.A. It is the namesake of the unincorporated community of Belle Alliance. With .
The town and the plantation are located on the east bank of ...
. Not long after its establishment in 1779, a large group of
Acadian
The Acadians (french: Acadiens , ) are an ethnic group descended from the French who settled in the New France colony of Acadia during the 17th and 18th centuries. Most Acadians live in the region of Acadia, as it is the region where the de ...
refugees settled in the community. The census of 1784 indicated that Valenzuela had a population of 174 people, of whom 154 were Isleños. By 1785, more than 800 Acadians settled along Bayou Lafourche and by 1788 there were over 1,500 people living in the area. The Isleños of Valenzuela were strongly influenced by the Acadians who surrounded their community. Many families intermarried, adopted French as their everyday language, and their surnames were gallicized.
After the
Louisiana Purchase
The Louisiana Purchase (french: Vente de la Louisiane, translation=Sale of Louisiana) was the acquisition of the territory of Louisiana by the United States from the French First Republic in 1803. In return for fifteen million dollars, or app ...
, many Isleños sold their tracts of land and moved to Baton Rouge or farther inland. It was those who moved to the interior swampland that continued to maintain the Spanish language and customs of their ancestors. These Isleños maintained farms growing corn, beans, melons, and squash, as well as various livestock. Many, just as those in San Bernardo, also found work on the sugar plantations that were established along the Mississippi River during the 19th century. It was at this time that their francophone neighbors began referring to the group as the ''brule/bruli'' people or ''brule dwellers'' due to their practice of clearing land with fire. Some improvements to infrastructure, communication, and infrastructure were made with the turn of the century but many of the Brulis maintained their traditional ways of life.
Life was difficult for the Brulis and negative perceptions plagued the community. For example, a visitor to the community writing in 1924 described them as "half-savage, ignominiously poor, and until the beginning of the present century, absolutely illiterate" as well as "a people of inferior calibre".
It was not long that "Spanish" became synonymous with poverty, a lack of education, and lower class. By the 1990s,
Samuel G. Armistead
Samuel Gordon Armistead (August 21, 1927 – August 7, 2013) was an American ethnographer, linguist, folklorist, historian, literary critic and professor of Spanish. He is considered one of the most notable Hispanist scholars of the second hal ...
found that the use of Spanish and the prevalence of Spanish traditions nearly vanished with only a handful of octogenarians having any fluency in the language. The influence of the greater French community, along with the negative perceptions of their own group, led to the community's forgetting their origins entirely.
= Communities
=
Traditionally Spanish/Bruli communities during the first half of the 20th century included:
*Ascension Parish
**Bruly Capite
**Bruly Sacramento
**Bruly McCall
*Assumption Parish
**Brulie Maurin
**Brulie St. Martin
**Brulie St. Vincent
**
Pierre Part
**Brulie Lower Texas
**Brulie Labadie
**Brulie Chene Vert
**Brulie Sec
Culture
Through the centuries, the various Isleño communities of Louisiana have kept alive different elements of their Canary Islander heritage while also adopting and building upon the customs and traditions of the communities that surround them. Although today, many of the descendants have been assimilated into mainstream American culture, the presence and value of their native traditions has not yet vanished.
Music
Probably the most famous cultural heritage of the Isleños are the
décimas, which carry back to the varied origins of the community. These songs, unlike the ten-line Spanish décima of the 16th century, a form widespread throughout Latin America, usually are composed in couplets using four
half-lines of verse, the even verses being
assonant rhymes. They have been composed as recently as during the first half of the 20th century and feature themes relating to local history, the hazards encountered while fishing or trapping, the misadventures of local personalities, and humorously exaggerated tales of fishing exploits. The Isleños of St. Bernard Parish, sing both traditional ''décimas'' and improvised ''décimas'' that are composed whilst singing. The ''cantate''
Irván "Puco" Pérez was one of the most famous ''décima'' singers of the community and one of the last.
![Fiesta de los Isleños 2018](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7c/Fiesta_de_los_Isle%C3%B1os_2018.jpg)
The rich musical tradition of the Isleños is exhibited in just how many types of songs have been recorded.
Romances,
ballads
A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads derive from the medieval French ''chanson balladée'' or ''ballade'', which were originally "dance songs". Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and ...
, and Latin American cantos, some of which originated in
medieval times
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...
, have been recorded along with versions of the Mexican
corrido
The corrido () is a popular narrative metrical tale and poetry that forms a ballad. The songs are often about oppression, history, daily life for criminals, the vaquero lifestyle, and other socially relevant topics. Corridos were widely popular ...
. Indeed, many of the
coplas of the St. Bernard community have been transmitted, more or less unaltered, from the time of the original emigrants from the Canary Islands. It is likely that these ''coplas'' were reinvigorated with the arrival of Spaniards from
Andalusia
Andalusia (, ; es, Andalucía ) is the southernmost Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in Peninsular Spain. It is the most populous and the second-largest autonomous community in the country. It is officially recognised as a ...
in the early 19th century.
Folklore
The Isleños have traditionally celebrated a vernacular culture with often witty and memorable humor. It is no surprise that the communities maintained a wealth of stories and oral traditions through the generations. As such, the riddles of St. Bernard Parish tended to be composed in descriptive, narrative, mathematical, or interrogative forms, usually with unexpected answers. Stories tended to reflect the spirit of the community they were in and the hardships it faced. One of the more famous elements of folklore are the c''uentos de Quevedo'' which pay homage to the Spanish writer
Francisco de Quevedo
Francisco Gómez de Quevedo y Santibáñez Villegas, Knight of the Order of Santiago (; 14 September 1580 – 8 September 1645) was a Spanish nobleman, politician and writer of the Baroque era. Along with his lifelong rival, Luis de Góngora, ...
, turning him into a trickster and folk character. Other ''cuentos'' told stories of everyday life, often in the ''campas'' tapping animals or fishing.
In these isolated communities,
folk healers
Folk or Folks may refer to:
Sociology
*Nation
*People
* Folklore
** Folk art
** Folk dance
** Folk hero
** Folk music
*** Folk metal
*** Folk punk
*** Folk rock
** Folk religion
* Folk taxonomy
Arts, entertainment, and media
* Folk Plus or Folk ...
were an important part of the community as they provided remedies based on herbs but also Catholic prayers. One well known remedy for combating a fever was to place sliced potatoes and onions on the soles of the afflicted person's feet. As a highly superstitious community, talk of
witchcraft
Witchcraft traditionally means the use of magic or supernatural powers to harm others. A practitioner is a witch. In medieval and early modern Europe, where the term originated, accused witches were usually women who were believed to have us ...
was not uncommon just like in rural Spain and Latin America. At times, it was necessary to rely on these beliefs where explanations were not available. Proverbs were common within both communities as a dichete found both in St. Bernard and Ascension Parishes was roughly of the form meaning 'On a Tuesday, don't get married, nor get on a boat, nor leave your family', which follows the Spanish superstition of Tuesday being an ill omen.
Cuisine
Much of the cuisine of both communities can be seen as traditionally Spanish but with substantial influences from both Cajun and Creole dishes. Caldo has been popular in St. Bernard with most families having their own recipes, not to mention the consumption of
caldo gallego
Caldo galego or simply ''caldo'' (in Galician), also known as ''caldo gallego'' (in Spanish), meaning literally “Galician broth”, is a traditional soup dish from Galicia. It is essentially a regional derivative (with added beans and turnip ...
. A local favorite called
ropa vieja
Ropa vieja (; "old clothes") is a dish with regional variations in Latin America, the Philippines, and Spain. It normally includes some form of stewed beef and tomatoes with a sofrito base. , translated as old clothes, is a dish composed mainly of shredded meat, chickpeas, and other vegetables. While hosting guests, it is traditional for one to expect a café and perhaps pan criollo.
Even today, it is not uncommon to find fish in a tomato sauce in communities like
Labadieville, which is of Spanish origin.
Language
The original source of the Isleño/Bruli Spanish dialect is
el habla canaria, but of the late 18th century. Those who were recruited were often poor, living in rural areas, and not extremely well educated. Upon their arrival to Louisiana, much of the language of the communities was influenced by
Louisiana French
Louisiana French ( frc, français de la Louisiane; lou, françé la lwizyàn) is an umbrella term for the dialects and varieties of the French language spoken traditionally by French Louisianians in colonial Lower Louisiana. As of today Louisia ...
and perhaps
Louisiana Creole
Louisiana Creole ( lou, Kréyòl Lalwizyàn, links=no) is a French-based creole language spoken by fewer than 10,000 people, mostly in the state of Louisiana. It is spoken today by people who may racially identify as White, Black, mixed, and N ...
. In St. Bernard, maritime contact with Cubans and other Spanish speakers, as well as the emigration of various groups from the
Iberian Peninsula
The Iberian Peninsula (),
**
* Aragonese and Occitan: ''Peninsula Iberica''
**
**
* french: Péninsule Ibérique
* mwl, Península Eibérica
* eu, Iberiar penintsula also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in southwestern Europe, defi ...
, left their marks on the dialect. Only until the United States gained control of Louisiana did the dialect begin adopting English terms into its lexicon. The complete isolation of the San Bernardo and Valenzuela communities from each other has affected the
mutual intelligibility
In linguistics, mutual intelligibility is a relationship between languages or dialects in which speakers of different but related varieties can readily understand each other without prior familiarity or special effort. It is sometimes used as an ...
between the two groups to some extent. That said, many of the characteristics of these dialects resembles that of the various Caribbean Spanish dialects and rural Spain.
Today, the Spanish language spoken among the Isleños of Louisiana gradually is disappearing.
The descendants of the original Valenzuela community suffered great hardships with their language and identity on the decline since at least the turn of the 20th century. In 1993, the last researcher to study the Bruli community found only two bilingual octogenarians along with a series of three semi-speakers of similar age.
Perhaps the last of the Spanish speakers of the Valenzuela settlement have already disappeared. Those of St. Bernard Parish have fared better, but similarly faced hardships of their own being, mainly natural disasters and education policies. The remaining Spanish speakers of the community are generally octogenarians from
Delacroix Island or other fishing communities.
Associations
In recent decades, greater cultural awareness and fears about the disappearance of this unique identity has pushed Isleños and their descendants in both communities to organize themselves. Los Isleños Heritage and Cultural Society of St. Bernard was established in 1976 with the goal "to preserve, interpret and promote the language, heritage and cultural traditions of colonists from the Canary Islands who settled in Louisiana between 1778 and 1783". The Society maintains and develops Los Isleños Museum Complex which is composed of nine buildings including a historic village, two museums and a research library, a gathering hall, and nature trail. Events are held regularly on the property including the
Fiesta de los Isleños which celebrates the culture of the local community. The other communities have followed suit like the Canary Islanders Heritage Society of Louisiana which formed in 1996 and is "dedicated to preserving and promoting the culture of the Canary Islanders descendants in Louisiana, with a focus on the 18th century settlements of Valenzuela and Galveztown".
Notable people
*
Page Cortez
Patrick Page Cortez is an American politician and businessman from the state of Louisiana. A Republican, he has represented the Louisiana State Senate's 23rd district, based in southern Lafayette, since 2012. In 2020, Cortez was unanimously elec ...
*
Albert Estopinal
Albert Estopinal (January 30, 1845 – April 28, 1919) was an American Civil War veteran who served seven terms as a U.S. Representative from Louisiana from 1908 to 1919.
Biography
Albert Estopinal was born in St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana, o ...
* Albert Estopinal, Jr.
*
Joe Falcón
*
Frank Micheal Fernández, Jr.
*
Joachim O. Fernández, Sr.
*
Tee Joe Gonzáles
*
Louis H. Marrero
*
Alcide Núñez
* Robert Núñez
*
Samuel B. Núñez, Jr.
*
Darrell Ourso
*
Irván "Puco" Pérez
*
Leander Pérez
*
Matthew Randazzo V
*
Henry "Junior" Rodríguez
*
Paul Sanchez
Paul Sanchez is a New Orleans-born and based American guitarist and a singer-songwriter. Sanchez was a founding member of the New Orleans band Cowboy Mouth. He was a guitarist and one of the primary singers and songwriters for the band from 19 ...
* Sidney Torres III
* Sidney Torres IV
* Daniel Morales
* Merrill V. Pérez
* Brian Knighten
See also
*
Spanish Louisiana
Spanish Louisiana ( es, link=no, la Luisiana) was a governorate and administrative district of the Viceroyalty of New Spain from 1762 to 1801 that consisted of a vast territory in the center of North America encompassing the western basin of t ...
*
Criollo people
In Hispanic America, criollo () is a term used originally to describe people of Spanish descent born in the colonies. In different Latin American countries the word has come to have different meanings, sometimes referring to the local-born majo ...
*
Canarian Americans
Canarian Americans ( es, Americanos Canarios) are Americans whose ancestors came from the Canary Islands, Spain. They can trace their ancestry to settlers and immigrants who have emigrated since the 16th century to the present-day United States ...
*
Isleño Spanish
Isleño Spanish (Spanish: , french: espagnol islingue) is a dialect of the Spanish language spoken by the descendants of Canary Islanders who settled in St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana, United States, during the late 18th century. It has been great ...
*
Hispanics
The term ''Hispanic'' ( es, hispano) refers to people, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or Hispanidad.
The term commonly applies to countries with a cultural and historical link to Spain and to viceroyalties former ...
*
Spanish language in the United States
Spanish is the second most spoken language in the United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of ...
*
Fiesta de los Isleños
References
External links
Los Isleños Heritage and Cultural Society of St. BernardCanary Islanders Heritage Society of Louisiana
{{DEFAULTSORT:Isleno American
Hispanic and Latino American
Ethnic groups in Louisiana
Spanish American
North Africans in the United States