The immigration explosion of the Hispanic/Latino community in Alaska parallels that in the Western U.S. making the ethnic group the second largest minority group in the state. Spanish is the common language which binds the dispirit cultures represented in this group. It is also the Spanish language that ties them historically to some of the very earliest Spanish explorers of the "Great Land."

The Spanish, through the viceroy of Mexico sent expeditions to Alaska in 1774, 1777, 1778, and 1790 to assess the Russian activity in the area but the Spanish never held any territory in Alaska. Among the explorers was Salvador Fidalgo who named Puerto Cordova (in Prince William Sound) after the Captain General, the great Don Luis De Cordova y Cordova, and Valdes (now Valdez), named after the Minister of the Spanish Navy, Don Antonia Valdes. The early Spanish legacy is in other place names such as Bucareli, Revillagigedo, and Malaspina. (Captain Alessandro Malaspina was an Italian navigator in the service of Spain.)

NUMBER OF HISPANICS OR LATINOS IN ALASKA BY ETHNICITY

HISPANIC OR LATINO ETHNIC ORIGIN	NUMBER OF INDIVIDUALS
Central American	1,201
Chilean	124
Colombian	440
Cuban	553
Dominican	877
Guatemalan	181
Honduran	143
Mexican	13,334
Panamanian	235
Peruvian	278
Puerto Rican	2,649
Salvadoran	477
South American	1,145
Spanish	174
Other	5,919

Data from the United States Census 2000 as reported in "Guide to Alaska's Cultures," by the Alaska Conservation Foundation, 2004, p. 82.