Hispanic Heritage Month begins on September 15, the anniversary of independence for five Latin American countries—Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua. In addition, Mexico declared its independence on September 16, and Chile on September 18.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, “Hispanic” refers to people in the United States of any race who trace their origin to Mexico, Puerto Rico, and other Spanish-speaking countries in Central and South America and the Caribbean. More than 44.3 million people identified themselves as Hispanic in the Census’ 2006 population estimate – approximately 15 percent of the population of the United States. People of Hispanic origin are the nation’s largest ethnic or race minority. As the Census chart below indicates, the Hispanic population has almost doubled since 1990.