Spaniards

This article is about ethnic Spaniards. For information on the ethnic make-up of people in Spain, see Demographics of Spain.

"Spaniard" redirects here. For other uses, see Spaniard (disambiguation).

Spaniards · Españoles

Total population
(Spain Nationals 41,539,400 (for a total population of 47,059,533) Nationals Abroad : 2,183,043 Total abroad: 2,183,043, which of them: 733,387 are born in Spain 1,303,043 are born in the country of residence 137,391 others)
Regions with significant populations
Argentina	404,111 (92,610 born in Spain)
France	215,183 (124,153 born in Spain)
Venezuela	188,585 (56,167 born in Spain)
Germany	146,846 (61,881 born in Spain)
Brazil	117,523 (29,848 born in Spain)
Cuba	108,858 (2,114 born in Spain)
Mexico	108,314 (17,485 born in Spain)
United States (including Puerto Rico)	103,474 (48,546 born in Spain)
Switzerland	103,247 (48,546 born in Spain)
United Kingdom	81,519 (54,418 born in Spain)
Uruguay	63,827 (12,023 born in Spain)
Chile	56,104 (9,669 born in Spain)
Belgium	53,212 (26,616 born in Spain)
Colombia	26,749 (7,049 born in Spain)
Andorra	24,485 (17,771 born in Spain)
Netherlands	21,974 (12,406 born in Spain)
Italy	20,898 (11,734 born in Spain)
Peru	19,668 (4,028 born in Spain)
Dominican Republic	18,928 (3,622 born in Spain)
Australia	18,353 (10,506 born in Spain)
Languages
Languages of Spain (Spanish, Basque, Catalan, Galician and others)
Religion
Christian (Mostly Roman Catholicism 73.4%) Atheism 24% other faith 2.1% incl. Jewish Muslim Buddhist Hinduism
Related ethnic groups
Sephardic Jews HispanicsPortuguese French Italians other Europeans

Spaniards (Spanish: españoles [espaˈɲoles]) are a nation and ethnic group native to Spain that share a common Spanish culture and speak the Spanish language as a mother tongue. Within Spain there are a number of nationalisms and regionalisms, reflecting the country's complex history and diverse culture. The official language of Spain is Spanish (also known as Castilian), a standard language based on the mediaeval dialect of the Castilians of north-central Spain. There are several commonly spoken regional languages (mainly Basque, Catalan and Galician). There are substantial populations outside Spain with ancestors who emigrated from Spain; most notably in Hispanic America.

The Roman Republic conquered Iberia during the 2nd and 1st centuries BC. As a result of Roman colonization, the majority of local languages, with the exception of Basque, stem from the Vulgar Latin. The Germanic Vandals and Suebi, with part of the Iranian Alans under King Respendial conquered the peninsula in 409 AD. The Iberian Peninsula was conquered by the Arab Umayyads in 711 and by North African dynasties in the 11th and 12th centuries. Following the eight century Reconquista, the modern Spanish state was formed with the union of the Kingdoms of Castille and Aragon and the conquest of the last Muslim kingdom of Granada in the late 15th century. Religious minorities were either converted or expelled and the Catholic church fiercely persecuted heresy during a period known as the Spanish inquisition. In the 16th century, a wave of emigration began, with 240,000 Spaniards voyaging to the Americas. They were joined by 450,000 in the next century. Since the conquest of Mexico and Peru these two regions became the principal destinations of Spanish colonial settlers in the 16th century. In the period 1850–1950, 3.5 million Spanish left for the Americas, particularly Argentina, Uruguay, Mexico, Brazil, Chile, Venezuela, and Cuba.

Spain is home to one of the largest communities of Romani people (commonly known by the English exonym "gypsies", Spanish: gitanos). The Spanish Roma, which belong to the Iberian Kale subgroup (calé), are a formerly-nomadic community, which spread across Western Asia, North Africa, and Europe, first reaching Spain in the 15th century. The population of Spain is becoming increasingly diverse due to recent immigration. From 2000 to 2010, Spain had among the highest per capita immigration rates in the world and the second highest absolute net migration in the World (after the USA) and immigrants now make up about 10% of the population.

Historical background

Early populations

Lady of Elche, a piece of Iberian sculpture from the 4th century BC

A young Hispano-Roman nobleman from the 1st century BC

The earliest modern humans inhabiting Spain are believed to have been Neolithic peoples who may have arrived in the Iberian Peninsula as early as 35,000–40,000 years ago. In more recent times the Iberians are believed to have arrived or developed in the region between the 4th millennium BC and the 3rd millennium BC, initially settling along the Mediterranean coast. Celts settled in Spain during the Iron Age. Some of those tribes in North-central Spain, which had cultural contact with the Iberians, are called Celtiberians. In addition, a group known as the Tartessians and later Turdetanians inhabited southwestern Spain and who are believed to have developed a separate civilization of Phoenician influence. The seafaring Phoenicians, Greeks, and Carthaginians successively founded trading colonies along the Mediterranean coast over a period of several centuries. The Second Punic War between the Carthaginians and Romans was fought mainly in what is now Spain and Portugal.

The Roman Republic conquered Iberia during the 2nd and 1st centuries BC transformed most of the region into a series of Latin-speaking provinces. As a result of Roman colonization, the majority of local languages, with the exception of Basque, stem from the Vulgar Latin that was spoken in Hispania (Roman Iberia), which evolved into the modern languages of the Iberian Peninsula, including Castilian, which became the main lingua franca of Spain, and is now known in most countries as Spanish. Hispania emerged as an important part of the Roman Empire and produced notable historical figures such as Trajan, Hadrian, Seneca and Quintilian.

The Germanic Vandals and Suebi, with part of the Iranian Alans under King Respendial, arrived in the peninsula in 409 AD. Part of the Vandals with the remaining Alans, now under Geiseric in personal union removed themselves to North Africa after a few conflicts with another Germanic tribe, the Visigoths, who established in Toulouse supported Roman campaigns against the Vandals and Alans in 415–19 AD and became the dominant power in Iberia for three centuries. The Visigoths were highly romanized in the eastern Empire and already Christians, so their integration within the late Iberian-Roman culture was full; they accepted the laws and structures of the late Roman World with little change, more than any other successor barbarian state in the West after the Ostrogoths, and all the more so after converting away from Arianism. The other Germanic tribe remaining in the peninsula, the Suebi (including the Buri), became established according to sources as federates of the Roman Empire in the old North western Roman province of Gallaecia, but in fact largely independent and predatory on neighboring provinces to stretch their political control over ever-larger portions of the southwest after the Vandals and Alans left, creating a totally independent Suebic Kingdom. After being checked and reduced in 456 AD by the Visigoths moving to settle in the peninsula, it survived until 585 AD, when it was annihilated as an independent political unit by the Visigoths, after involvement in the internal affairs of the kingdom, supporting Catholic rebellions and sedition within the Royal family. The Suebi became the first Germanic kingdom to convert officially to Roman Catholicism in 447 AD. under king Rechiar.

Middle Ages

After two centuries of domination by the Visigothic Kingdom, the Iberian Peninsula was invaded by Muslim armies in 711. These armies consisted mainly of Berbers with prominent Arab tribal leaders amongst them. They conquered nearly all of the peninsula except for the Christian Kingdom of Asturias in the far north. Muslim controlled areas of Iberia became known as Al-Andalus. The duration of Muslim rule varied greatly, from as little as twenty two years in the Northwest of the peninsula to 781 years in the far south. For the first three centuries of Muslim rule, the peninsula's Christian kingdoms in the north were very much on the defensive. Eventually after the break-up of Muslim unity in the 11th century, Muslim lands were conquered in a long process that historians term the Reconquista, which ended with the final capitulation of the kingdom of Granada in 1492. In the first two centuries of Al-Andalus, Muslims formed a ruling minority. In the 10th century a massive conversion of the population from Christianity to Islam took place, so that Muslims comprised the majority of the population of the Iberian peninsula by the century's end. This was reinforced by the invasion of Al Andalus by the Almohads in the 11th century and the Almoravids in the 12th century. The process of Islamization began to reverse as the southward Christian reconquest gathered pace. The union of the Christian kingdoms of Castile and Aragon and the conquest of Granada led to the formation of the Spanish state as known today and thus to the development of Spanish identity, largely centred around the Spanish language and Catholic religion. The Canary Islands were conquered in the late 15th century and their indigenous Berber populations, the Guanches, were gradually absorbed by Spanish settlers. Jews either converted to Catholicism or were expelled from Spain in 1492 and 1502 and the open practice of Islam by Spain's sizeable Mudejar population was outlawed. Between 1609 and 1614, a significant number of Moriscos—new Christians were expelled by royal decree. Although initial estimates of the number expelled such as those of Henri Lapeyre reach 300,000 moriscos (or 4% of the total Spanish population), the extent and severity of the expulsion in much of Spain has been increasingly challenged by modern historians. Nevertheless, the eastern region of Valencia, where ethnic tensions were high, was particularly affected by the expulsion, suffering economic collapse and depopulation of much of its territory.

People of Granada

Colonialism and emigration

In the 16th century, following the military conquest of most of the new continent, perhaps 240,000 Spaniards entered American ports. They were joined by 450,000 in the next century. Since the conquest of Mexico and Peru these two regions became the principal destinations of Spanish colonial settlers in the 16th century. In the period 1850–1950, 3.5 million Spanish left for the Americas, particularly Argentina, Uruguay, Mexico, Brazil, Chile, Venezuela, and Cuba. From 1840 to 1890, as many as 40,000 Canary Islanders emigrated to Venezuela. 94,000 Spaniards chose to go to Algeria in the last years of the 19th century, and 250,000 Spaniards lived in Morocco at the beginning of the 20th century.

By the end of the Spanish Civil War, some 500,000 Spanish Republican refugees had crossed the border into France. From 1961 to 1974, at the height of the guest worker in Western Europe, about 100,000 Spaniards emigrated each year.

The peoples of Spain

Nationalisms and regionalisms

Main articles: Nationalisms and regionalisms of Spain and Nationalities and regions of Spain

Within Spain, there are various regional populations including the Andalusians, Castilians, the Catalans, Valencians and Balearics (who speak Catalan, a distinct Romance language in eastern Spain), the Basques (who live in the Basque country and speak Basque, a non-Indo-European language), and the Galicians (who speak Galician, a descendant of old Galician-Portuguese).

Respect to the existing cultural pluralism is important to many Spaniards. In many regions there exist strong regional identities such as Asturias, Aragon, the Canary Islands, León, and Andalusia, while in others (like Catalonia, Basque Country or Galicia) there are stronger national sentiments. Some of them refuse to identify themselves with the Spanish ethnic group and prefer some of the following:

Regional ethnic groups

3

The Roma

Main article: Romani people in Spain

"Marta and María, gypsies of El Albayzín" by Ramón Carazo (1896-1936), Biblioteca Provincial de Granada.

Spain is home to one of the largest communities of Romani people (commonly known by the English exonym "gypsies", Spanish: gitanos). The Spanish Roma, which belong to the Iberian Kale subgroup (calé), are a formerly-nomadic community, which spread across Western Asia, North Africa, and Europe, first reaching Spain in the 15th century.

Data on ethnicity is not collected in Spain, although the Government's statistical agency CIS estimated in 2007 that the number of Gitanos present in Spain is probably around one million. Most Spanish Roma live in the autonomous community of Andalusia, where they have traditionally enjoyed a higher degree of integration than in the rest of the country. A number of Spanish Calé also live in Southern France, especially in the region of Perpignan.

Modern immigration

Main article: Immigration to Spain

The population of Spain is becoming increasingly diverse due to recent immigration. From 2000 to 2010, Spain had among the highest per capita immigration rates in the world and the second highest absolute net migration in the World (after the USA) and immigrants now make up about 10% of the population. Since 2000, Spain has absorbed more than 3 million immigrants, with thousands more arriving each year. Immigrant population now tops over 4.5 million. They come mainly from Europe, Latin America, China, the Philippines, North Africa, and West Africa.

Languages

The vernacular languages of Spain (simplified)

Spanish official; spoken all over the country   Catalan/Valencian, co-official   Basque, co-official   Galician, co-official

Aranese, co-official (dialect of Occitan)   Asturian, recognised   Aragonese, recognised   Leonese, recognised   Extremaduran, unofficial   Fala, unofficial

Main article: Languages of Spain

Languages spoken in Spain include Spanish (castellano or español) (74%), Catalan (català, called valencià in the Valencian Community) (17%), Galician (galego) (7%), and Basque (euskara) (2%). Other languages are Asturian (asturianu), Aranese Gascon (aranés), Aragonese (aragonés), and Leonese, each with their own various dialects. Spanish is the official state language, although the other languages are co-official in a number of autonomous communities.

Peninsular Spanish is largely considered to be divided into two main dialects: Castilian Spanish (spoken in the northern half of the country) and Andalusian Spanish (spoken mainly in Andalusia). However, a large part of Spain, including Madrid, Extremadura, Murcia, and Castile–La Mancha, speak local dialects known as "transitional dialects" between Andalusian and Castilian Spanish. The Canary Islands also have a distinct dialect of Castilian Spanish which is very close to Caribbean Spanish. Linguistically, the Spanish language is a Romance language and is one of the aspects (including laws and general "ways of life") that causes Spaniards to be labelled a Latin people. The strong Arabic influence on the language (nearly 4,000 words are of Arabic origin, many nouns and few verbs) and the independent evolution of the language itself through history, most notably the Basque influence at the formative stage of Castilian Romance, partially explain its difference from other Romance languages. The Basque language left a strong imprint on Spanish both linguistically and phonetically. Other changes in Spanish have come from borrowings from English and French, although English influence is stronger in Latin America than in Spain.

The number of speakers of Spanish as a mother tongue is roughly 35.6 million, while the vast majority of other groups in Spain such as the Galicians, Catalans, and Basques also speak Spanish as a first or second language, which boosts the number of Spanish speakers to the overwhelming majority of Spain's population of 46 million.

Spanish was exported to the Americas due to over three centuries of Spanish colonial rule starting with the arrival of Christopher Columbus to Santo Domingo in 1492. Spanish is spoken natively by over 400 million people and spans across most countries of the Americas; from the Southwestern United States in North America down to Tierra del Fuego, the southernmost region of South America in Chile and Argentina. A variety of the language, known as Judaeo-Spanish or Ladino (or Haketia in Morocco), is still spoken by descendants of Sephardim (Spanish and Portuguese Jews) who fled Spain following a decree of expulsion of Muslims and Jews in 1492. Also, a Spanish creole language known as Chabacano, which developed by the mixing of Spanish and native Tagalog and Cebuano languages during Spain's rule of the country through Mexico from 1565 to 1898, is spoken in the Philippines (by fewer than 1 million people).

Anti-Franco political dissidents from Spain who moved to Russia during World War II speak a mix of Russian and Spanish, while some speak Catalan and Basque. In Montreal (Quebec, Canada), many Spanish-speaking immigrants relocated in the city adapted a mixed language Franspanol, while they're able to speak French and in addition, English. The Spanish language is also found in small communities of Africa, Australia and New Zealand.

Religion

Religious affiliation in Spain in (2013) according to Centro de Investigaciones Sociológicas.
Religion			Percent
Roman Catholic			71%
Not stated			2%
Non-religious			25%
Other religions			2%

Main article: Religion in Spain

Roman Catholicism is by far the largest denomination present in Spain. According to a study by the Spanish Centre for Sociological Research in 2013 about 71% of Spaniards self-identify as Catholics, 2% other faith, and about 25% identify as atheists or declare they have no religion.

Emigration from Spain

Main article: Spanish diaspora

Outside of Europe, Latin America has the largest population of people with ancestors from Spain. These include people of full or partial Spanish ancestry.

People with presumed Spanish ancestry

Country	Population (% of country)	Reference	Criterion
Spanish Mexican	94,720,000 (80%)		estimated: 20% as Whites 75-80% as Mestizos.
Spanish American	50,000,000 (16%)		10,017,244 Americans who identify themselves with Spanish ancestry. 26,735,713 (53.0%) (8.7% of total U.S. population) Hispanics in USA are white (also mixed with other European origins), others are different mixes or races but with spaniard ancestry.
Spanish Venezuelan	25,079,923 (90%)		42% as white and 50% as mestizos.
Spanish Argentine	15,000,000 (37%)		undefined
Spanish Brazilian	15,000,000 (8%)		estimate by Bruno Ayllón.
Spanish Colombian	39,000,000 (86%)		Self-description as "Mestizo, white and mulatto"
Spanish Cuban	10,050,849 (89%)		Self-description as white, mulatto and mestizo
Spanish Puerto Rican	3,064,862 (80.5%)		Self-description as white 83,879 (2%) identified as Spaniard
Spanish Canadian	325,730 (1%)		Self-description
Spanish Australian	58,271 (0.3%)		Self-description

The listings above shows the ten countries with known collected data on people with ancestors from Spain, although the definitions of each of these are somewhat different and the numbers cannot really be compared. Spanish Chilean of Chile and Spanish Uruguayan of Uruguay could be included by percentage (each at above 40%) instead of numeral size.

See also

• Hispanosphere
• Genetic history of the Iberian Peninsula
• Nationalisms and regionalisms of Spain
• Nationalities and regions of Spain
• Spanish regional identities
  • Andalusian people
  • Aragonese people
  • Asturian people
  • Balearic people
  • Basque people
  • Canarian people
  • Cantabrian people
  • Castilian people
  • Catalan people
  • Extremaduran people
  • Galician people
  • Leonese people
  • Valencian people

• Languages of Spain
  • Spanish (see also dialects and varieties)
  • Catalan/Valencian
  • Basque
  • Galician
  • Aranese
  • Aragonese
  • Asturian
  • Judaeo-Spanish
  • Leonese
  • Murcian language

• Ancient Spanish peoples
  • Pre-Roman peoples of the Iberian Peninsula
    • Iberians
    • Celtiberians
    • Gallaeci, Lusitanians, Cantabrians, Vascones
  • Greeks and Punics (Phoenicians and Carthaginians)
  • Guanches (in the Canary Islands)
  • Romans
  • Suebi
  • Vandals and Alans
  • Visigoths
  • Moors of the Al-Andalus (Arabs/Berbers)
  • History of the Jews in Spain

• Peoples with Spanish ancestry
  • Afro-Spaniards
  • Criollos
  • Emancipados
  • Fernandinos
  • Hispanic Americans
  • Isleños
  • Louisiana Creole people
  • Spanish Americans
  • Spanish Argentinians
  • Spanish Australians
  • Spanish Brazilians
  • Spanish Britons
  • Spanish Canadians
  • Spanish Central Americans
  • Spanish Chileans
  • Spanish Equatoguineans
  • Spanish Filipinos
  • Spanish Mexican
  • Spanish Peruvians
  • Spanish Puerto Ricans
  • Spanish Uruguayans
  • Spanish Colombians
  • White Hispanic Americans

References

• Castro, Americo. Willard F. King and Selma Margaretten, trans. The Spaniards: An Introduction to Their History. Berkeley, California: University of California Press, 1980. ISBN 0-520-04177-1.
• Chapman, Robert. Emerging Complexity: The Later Pre-History of South-East Spain, Iberia, and the West Mediterranean. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990. ISBN 0-521-23207-4.
• Goodwin, Godfrey. Islamic Spain. San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 1990. ISBN 0-87701-692-5.
• Harrison, Richard. Spain at the Dawn of History: Iberians, Phoenicians, and Greeks. New York: Thames & Hudson, 1988. ISBN 0-500-02111-2.
• James, Edward (ed.). Visigothic Spain: New Approaches. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1980. ISBN 0-19-822543-1.
• Thomas, Hugh. The Slave Trade: The History of the Atlantic Slave Trade 1440–1870. London: Picador, 1997. ISBN 0-330-35437-X.