TAMPA, Fla. — When Juan Ponce de León landed in what is now St. Augustine in 1513, he named the peninsula “La Florida.” Many historians say that is because he arrived during the Easter season, which the Spanish called “Pascua Florida” or the season of flowers.
Andy Huse, a historian and librarian at the University of South Florida, says the Hispanic community in Tampa Bay began to grow in the late 1800s.
“Up until 1885, we were a typical Florida village, but things change quickly after the establishment in Ybor City,” Huse said.
It all started with Vicente Martinez Ybor, who owned the first cigar company in Tampa, according to Huse. He helped establish northeast Tampa in the mid-1880s.
“The cigar industry kind of provided an early umbrella for a lot of Cubans, Spaniards, etc. Over time that changed with regular immigration," Huse said. "So you have lots more Puerto Ricans coming to Florida, especially central Florida.
"Then, more recently, we’ve had lots and lots of Colombians, Venezuelans, people from all over central and south America. It’s definitely become much more diverse, the Hispanic community, than it was in the earlier days.”
The latest census numbers show that in the bay area, Hillsborough County has the highest number of people who identify as Hispanic or Latino, followed by Polk County and Pinellas County.
Puerto Ricans make up the largest Hispanic group in the Tampa Bay area, followed by Mexicans and Cubans.