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For other senses of this word, see Reconquista (disambiguation).
U.S. Mexican and Central American population, according to data from the 2000 Census (current Census data is unavailable until 2010)
U.S. Mexican and Central American population, according to data from the 2000 Census (current Census data is unavailable until 2010)

Reconquista was coined as a facetious term, popularized by Mexican writers Carlos Fuentes and Elena Poniatowska, to describe the demographic and cultural reemergence of Mexicans in the Southwestern United States.

The term is employed almost exclusively by pro-immigration enforcement groups to describe what they perceive as a concerted attempt by Mexicans and Mexican-Americans to wrest away control of United States territory. The premise of this reconquest is an historical claim to the land prior to the presence of European-Americans. The term does not make a claim for Spaniard-Europeans, but rather, for Mexicans, the majority of whom are mixed-blood and full-blood indigenous-blooded people.
Contents
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* 1 Historical usage
* 2 Modern usage
* 3 See also
* 4 External links
* 5 References

[edit] Historical usage

It was originally a jocular analogy to the Spanish Reconquista of Moorish Iberia, since the areas of greatest Mexican immigration and cultural diffusion are conterminous with northern New Spain and former Mexican territories.

Since then, the term has been adopted by immigration reform groups to characterize the irredentism of certain Mexicans and Mexican-Americans. [1]

The concept has also been advanced by Chicano nationalists of the 1970's to describe plans for the restoration of the vaguely-defined Aztec homeland called Aztlán. These groups do not generally use the word "reconquista". The word does not properly apply to immigration outside territories lost by Mexico in the Mexican-American War following the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo.[2]

[edit] Modern usage
North America, or Anahuac {ah-NAW-wahk}, the future "Indigenous" nation as described by the Mexica Movement.
North America, or Anahuac {ah-NAW-wahk}, the future "Indigenous" nation as described by the Mexica Movement.

In more recent times, the notion of Indigenous liberation has become popularized by the Mexica Movement, which the Minuteman Project credits as being central to the modern reconquista ideology [1]. Whereas previous groups have advanced the notion of reclaiming only the U.S. Southwest, the Mexica Movement goes further by demanding that the entire North American continent be reclaimed by Mexicans, Central Americans, Native Americans, and Canadian First Nations.[2]

This non-violent Indigenous liberation of the continent would remove all colonial borders and weld North and Central America into a single super-state called Anahuac. This continental notion far exceeds the Aztlan demands of previous generations.

The Mexica Movement regards the Aztlan concept as error-filled and inadequate. The group seeks to remove all borders imposed since 1492, replacing them instead with continental borders, from Canada to Costa Rica. The organization regards Spanish-imposed borders as "colonial", and hence, irrelevant.

The organization regards this "liberation" as a long-term project, involving several generations. The group supports the preservation of the United States Constitution as a transitional legal framework to accomplish their liberation through democratic (and demographic) processes.

This process will require a majority-status population of Mexicans and Central Americans, which the U.S. Census Bureau projects will become a reality sometime around the end of this century. [3] It is for this reason that the Mexica Movement encourages Mexican and Central American population expansion, both by migration and through high fertility rates.

The organization also demands the "reverse immigration" of European-descent people "back to Europe."[4]

[edit] See