Canary Islanders, or Canarians (Spanish: canarios), are the people of the Canary Islands, an autonomous community of Spain near the coast of northwest Africa. They largely descend from a mixture of European settlers and aboriginal Guanche peoples. Genetics shows modern Canarian people to be, on average, a population of mostly European ancestry, with some Northwest African admixture. The distinctive variety of the Spanish language spoken in the region is known as habla canaria (Canary speech) or the (dialecto) canario (Canarian dialect). The Canarians, and their descendants, played a major role during the conquest, colonization, and eventual independence movements of various countries in Latin America. Their ethnic and cultural presence is most palpable in the countries of Uruguay, Venezuela, Cuba and the Dominican Republic as well as the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico.