Galego
Galician
- Global speakers: 2,372,000
- Glottocode: gali1258
- ISO 639-3: glg
Natives of Galicia, from northwestern Spain, first arrived in New York as the largest wave of Spaniards in the late 19th century. "Pequeña España" (Little Spain) consequently grew along the Hudson River from Christopher Street to 23rd Street, and became home to over 15,000 Spanish immigrants. This multicultural Spanish community established La Nacional in 1868, whose primary goal was to promote friendship amongst Spaniards in New York, but also many specifically Galician institutions. Spain's languages (including Galician) could be heard spoken across Chelsea and the West Village for decades, with many refugees from the Spanish Civil War joining the community in the 1930s. Galician-owned restaurants and businesses opened to sell familiar foods and housewares to the community, like Casa Moneo, which drew in the growing community of Caribbean Spanish speakers, selling chorizo, gallon cans of olive oil, and other staples. Many Galicians have since moved out of Manhattan's Little Spain to Queens (home to Casa Galicia) and the Ironbound District of Newark, New Jersey, where institutions like the Centro Ourensano (a social club for those from Ourense, an area in Galicia) and Casa d'Paco keep Galician cuisine and traditions alive.
Sites
NYC neighborhoods or towns in the metro region where the language community has a significant site, marked by a point on the map: