Editing Tejanos (section)

==Demographics==
Most Tejanos are concentrated in [[South Texas|southern Texas]], in historic areas of Spanish colonial settlement and closer to the border that developed. The city of [[San Antonio, Texas|San Antonio]] is the historic center of Tejano culture.<ref name="tshaonline.org"/> During the [[Spanish Texas|Spanish colonial period of Texas]], most colonial settlers of northern [[New Spain]] &ndash; including Texas, northern Mexico, and the American Southwest &ndash; were descendants of Spaniards.<ref>''Census and Inspection Report of 1787 of the Colony of Nuevo Santander,'' performed by Dragoon Captain Jose Tienda de Cuervo, Knight of the Order of Santago, with Historical Report by Fray Vicente Santa Maria.</ref>

Although the number of Tejanos whose families have lived in Texas since before 1836 is unknown, it was estimated that 5,000 Tejano descendants of [[Canarian American#Canary Islanders and the founding of San Antonio, Texas|San Antonio's Canarian founders]] lived in the city in 2008.<ref name="Díacanariosentexas">[https://www.cronicasdelaemigracion.com/articulo/canarias/ninos-canarios-tejanos-conoceran-detalles-fundacion-san-antonio-eeuu/20080819111310014150.html Canarias en el Mundo. Niños canarios y tejanos conocerán detalles de la fundación de San Antonio, en EEUU] (In Spanish; "Canarian and Tejano Children Will Know How Some Isleños Founded San Antonio in the U.S.")</ref> The community of Canarian descent still maintains the culture of their ancestors.

Tejanos may identify as being of [[Mexican people|Mexican]], [[Chicano]], [[Mexican American]], [[Spanish people|Spanish]], [[Hispanic|Hispano]], [[Americans|American]] and/or Indigenous ancestry.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.texastejano.com/Webpages.asp?Wpid=34|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080107221247/http://www.texastejano.com/Webpages.asp?Wpid=34|url-status=dead |title=Tejano History<!-- Bot generated title -->|archivedate=January 7, 2008}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2013/10/28/in-texas-its-hispanic-por-favor/|title=Hispanic or Latino? Many don't care, except in Texas|date=28 October 2013 }}</ref> In urban areas, as well as some rural communities, Tejanos tend to be well integrated into both the Hispanic and mainstream American cultures. Especially among younger generations, a number identify more with the mainstream and may understand little or no [[Spanish language|Spanish]].

Most of the people whose ancestors colonized Texas and the northern [[Mexican states]] during the Spanish colonial period identified with the [[Spanish people|Spaniards]], [[Criollo people|Criollos]], or [[Mestizo people|Mestizos]] who were born in the colony.  Many of the latter find their history and identity in the [[history of Spain]], [[Mesoamerica]] and the [[history of the United States]]. [[New Spain|Spain's colonial provinces]] ([[Spanish Texas]] and [[Louisiana (New Spain)|Spanish Louisiana]]) participated on the side of the rebels in the [[American Revolutionary War]].

===Ethnic and national origins===
{{more citations needed section|date=October 2020}}
In the 2007 [[American Community Survey]] (ACS) data,
<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/QTTable?_bm=y&-geo_id=04000US48&-qr_name=DEC_2000_SF1_U_QTP4&-ds_name=DEC_2000_SF1_U&-redoLog=false |title=Hispanics in Texas-Tejanos |access-date=2007-05-05 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20200212042041/http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/QTTable?_bm=y&-geo_id=04000US48&-qr_name=DEC_2000_SF1_U_QTP4&-ds_name=DEC_2000_SF1_U&-redoLog=false |archive-date=2020-02-12 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Tejanos are defined as those Texans descended from colonists of the Spanish colonial period (before 1821), or descended from Indigenous [[Spanish Mexicans]], and indigenous Mexicans.<ref>{{cite book|author=Richard G. Santos|title=Silent Heritage: The Sephardim and the Colonization of the Spanish North American Frontier 1492-1600|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VMLrAAAAMAAJ|date= 2000|publisher=New Sepharad Press|page=385|isbn=9780967472713}}</ref>

Tejanos have a unique cultural identity that is a mixture of Spanish, Indigenous, and African influences. Tejanos have made greatcontributions to the cultural heritage of Texas in terms of [[music]], [[food]], [[language]], and [[tradition]]s. The term "Tejano<ref>{{Cite web |last=Association |first=Texas State Historical |title=Understanding Tejano Identity: History and Cultural Significance |url=https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/tejano?utm_source=chatgpt.com |access-date=2025-04-28 |website=Texas State Historical Association |language=en}}</ref>" has been employed to describe various expressions of culture and as an emblem of the unique heritage of Texans of Mexican descent over time.