Anglo-America most often refers to a region in the Americas in which English is a main language, and where British culture and the British Empire has had significant historical, ethnic, linguistic, and cultural impact. Anglo-America is distinct from Latin America, a region of the Americas where Romance languages (Spanish, Portuguese and French) are prevalent.
Geographic region
The term Anglo-America frequently refers specifically to the United States and Canada, by far the two most populous English-speaking countries in North America. Other areas composing the Anglophone Caribbean include territories of the former British West Indies, Belize, Bermuda, and Guyana.
Two notable territories with substantial non-Anglophone majorities are nonetheless often included in Anglo-America for linguistical reasons. In Canada, the francophone province of Quebec, Acadia in New Brunswick and a part of Cochrane District are sometimes considered part of Anglo-America for cultural, economic, geographical, historical, and political reasons. Similarly, Spanish-speaking Puerto Rico is considered part of Anglo-America because of its status as an unincorporated territory of the United States. Conversely, Sint Eustatius, Sint Maarten, and Saba are not typically included in Anglo-America, despite their English-speaking majorities, because they are constituent countries or public bodies that form part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
Anglo-American
The adjective Anglo-American is used in the following ways:
- to denote the cultural sphere shared by the United Kingdom, the United States, and English Canada. For example, "Anglo-American culture is different from French culture." Political leaders including Winston Churchill, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Ronald Reagan have used the term to discuss the "Special Relationship" between the U.S. and the U.K.
- to describe relations between Britain and the U.S. For example, "Anglo-American" relations became more relaxed after the War of 1812."
Anglo-American ethnic group
As a noun, Anglo-American is a term occasionally used to refer to an English American and/or an English Canadian.
Anglo, on the other hand, typically refers to an English-speaking American in distinction to Spanish speakers, especially in the Southwestern states and in Mexico. This usage originated in the discussion of the history of English-speaking people of the United States and the Spanish-speaking people residing in the western U.S. during the Mexicanâ€"American War.
Anglo-American, Anglophone American, Anglic, Anglo
While the term Anglo-American used in regard to ethnicity is frequently used only to refer to people of Caucasoid ancestry, it (along with terms like Anglo, Anglic, Anglophone, and Anglophonic) can also be used to denote all English-speaking people and their descendants in the New World, regardless of prior ethnic background, much like Hispanic refers to people of any race. Therefore, a person, for example, of Chinese descent who adopts the U.S. or English Canadian American culture would have English-speaking "Anglo-American", "Anglic", "Anglophone", "Anglo", or "Anglophonic", children (in contrast to Spanish-speaking Chinese descent people living in Hispanic America, who would be "Hispanic"). Thus,"Anglo-American", Anglic-American, Anglophone-American, Anglo, or Anglophonic-American can refer to all those whose families who, regardless of race, have become mainstream English-speaking people in the United States, English Canada, English-speaking areas of the Caribbean, Belize, and Guyana, including African Americans.
Immigration
People from other parts of the world have immigrated to Anglo-America to have a better quality of life, find better employment, and escape famine, poverty, violence and conflict. People from many different ethnic origins in Latin America and more remote places all over the world including the less English-dominant parts of Oceania, continental Europe, Asia and Africa all live in Anglo-America contemporarily.
See also
References
- Notes