Iberian ethnicity indicates genetic origins in the Iberian Peninsula located in the southwestern corner of Europe and encompasses what are today Spain, Portugal, and Andorra. The name Iberia derives from Ibēros, the Greek name for the river Ebro which runs through the peninsula. A plethora of peoples inhabited, conquered, or migrated to the peninsula: ethnic Iberians today boast a rich mixture of pre-Indo-European, Celtic, Latin, Germanic, and Arab heritage. Over the past centuries, Iberian explorers dispersed across the Americas, parts of Africa, the Indian subcontinent, the islands of Azores and Madeira, and the Canary Islands, leaving their genetic mark on these areas.
Iberian history
In the middle of the first century B.C.E., the peninsula was inhabited by Iberians — a pre-Indo-European cultural group — in its southern part, and Celts — an Indo-European cultural group — in its northern and western regions. In 236 B.C.E., the Phoenicians led an expedition to Iberia seeking to compensate for territories that it had lost in recent conflicts with Rome. Roman armies invaded the Iberian Peninsula in 218 B.C.E., mounting campaigns against the Phoenicians, the Iberians, the Lusitanians, the Gallaecians, and other Celts, but it was not until 19 B.C.E. that Roman emperor Augustus was able to complete the conquest of the peninsula. Over the next 500 years, Iberia — called Hispania by the Romans — was part of a cosmopolitan world empire bound together by law, language, and the Roman road. In the fifth century C.E., Germanic tribes invaded Iberia, triggering the collapse of Roman Hispania and the establishment of autonomous Germanic kingdoms in the peninsula.
In the early eighth century, Muslim armies of the Damascus-based Umayyad Caliphate swept through North Africa. In 711, a combined Arab-Berber force conquered vast swaths of the peninsula, establishing al-Andalus: Muslim Iberia. Al-Andalus was a beacon of learning, pioneering or driving forward fields such as trigonometry, astronomy, surgery, pharmacology, agronomy, and more. For much of its history, al-Andalus existed in conflict with Christian kingdoms to the north — which by the eleventh century began to unite and successfully push back the Muslim states. In 1492, the last Muslim stronghold surrendered, and the Christian “Reconquista” (reconquering) of the peninsula was complete. The Reconquista precipitated some of the darker episodes in Iberian history, including the notorious Spanish Inquisition, established in 1478, intended to maintain Catholic orthodoxy in the peninsula, and the Alhambra Decree, an edict issued in 1492 which ordered the expulsion of Jews from Spain. The fifteenth century saw the ascent of the Spanish Empire as a major naval power: following Vasco da Gama’s successful navigation to India and Christopher Columbus’ famously fortuitous “discovery” of America, Iberian explorers enriched the imperial coffer by bringing back luxury goods, such as spices, precious metals, gems, textiles, and porcelain. The Spanish defeated the Aztec and Inca Empires, turning much of Central and South America into Spanish dominions. Spaniards extracted incredible amounts of silver and gold from the mines of Bolivia and Mexico, constituting one of the greatest transfers of wealth in world history. However, Spain squandered much of its New World treasure on wars; its failure to develop an advanced merchant fleet led to its bankruptcy and subsequent eclipse by the Dutch and later British Empires. In 1668, the Treaty of Lisbon granted Portugal independence from Spain. The Spanish - American wars of independence (1808–1826) resulted in the loss of Spain’s most valuable colonies.
In the early nineteenth century, Spain was destabilized as different political parties vied with each other for control. A tenuous balance between liberal and conservative forces was struck in the establishment of a constitutional monarchy during the Restoration period, but internal discord between a baroque set of competing factions ultimately led to the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939) and the ascent of a fascist dictatorship under Generalissimo Francisco Franco. Concomitant to Franco’s reign, Portugal saw the rise of António de Oliveira Salazar’s authoritarian regime. Following Franco’s death in 1975, Spain underwent a process of democratic restoration. A year prior, the Carnation Revolution in 1974 initiated a process of democratization in Portugal.
Iberian culture
Spain is renowned for its traditions of music and dance, evoking passion, temperament, and energy. Rooted in Andalusian Romani culture, flamenco — combining music and dance — is the most identifiable Spanish art form. The history of art would not be the same without the likes of Diego Velázquez and Francisco Goya, while Pablo Picasso and Salvador Dalí were some of the most influential artists of the twentieth century. Don Quixote, the iconic work of Spanish writer Miguel de Cervantes, is a classic of Western literature and is considered by many to be the first modern novel. Food plays a massive role in Spanish culture, with famous dishes including paella (a rice dish with chicken, rabbit, or seafood), jamón Ibérico (cured ham), and gazpacho (chilled soup). In terms of global appeal, tapas — an assortment of small dishes featuring a variety of foods, served like appetizers or snacks — arguably represents Spain’s most famous culinary tradition. The football clubs of Madrid and Barcelona are two of the most celebrated in the world.
To the southwest, fado is Portugal’s most important form of musical expression. Literally meaning “destiny” or “fate,” fado is characterized by mournful tunes and lyrics, often about the sea, deeply connected to the notions of homesickness, longing, and nostalgia. Throughout Portugal, people celebrate a wide variety of festivals which form a significant part of Portuguese culture. Carnaval, celebrated on Ash Wednesday, is the biggest festival of the year, drawing crowds from all over the world. However, the festival is better known as a Portuguese export to its former American dominions, namely to Brazil, where carnaval is among the most famous festive celebrations in the world.
Other prominent cultural groups in the Iberian peninsula include the Basques, the Catalans, and the Galicians, each with its unique language, cuisine, and cultural traditions. The Basque language (Euskara) is unusual in that it is a language isolate, unrelated to any of the languages spoken around it. Marmakito, a hearty potato and tuna stew, is a classic Basque dish, and Basque folk music is distinguished by its marches and dance rhythms inspired by the music of nearby France. Catalan culture includes unique traditions such as castells, human towers, and dishes such as pà amb tomaquet (bread with tomato) and crema catalana (the Catalan answer to crême brulée); the singular modernist architecture of Antoni Gaudí adorns the Catalan capital of Barcelona, exemplified by the iconic Basílica de la Sagrada Família. Galicia, located in the northwest of Spain, was strongly influenced by the Celtic cultures to the north — an influence that can be heard in traditional Galician music. Typical dishes from Galicia include empanadas, octopus, and shellfish.
Iberian languages
The dominant languages of the Iberian Peninsula are Spanish and Portuguese. The Spanish language, also called Castilian, is a Romance language that evolved from the dialects of Roman Vulgar Latin. The Muslim conquest introduced Arabic into the peninsula, birthing Mozarabic, a string of closely related Romano-Arab dialects which heavily influenced Castilian. Words of Arabic origin are common in most varieties of Modern Spanish. Portuguese, also derived from Vulgar Latin, began to diverge from other Romance languages after the fall of the Western Roman Empire, emerging by the thirteenth century as a mature language with its own literature. The Iberian Peninsula contains within it a wealth of distinct cultures, heritages, and languages, including Aragonese, Asturian, Basque, Catalan, Galician, and Leonese, among many others.
Explore more about ethnicity estimates
- MyHeritage DNA at MyHeritage
- Ethnicities around the world at MyHeritage
- What Is My Ethnicity? How MyHeritage Estimates Ethnicities at MyHeritage Knowledge Base
- Where's My Ethnicity?!: Why An Ethnicity Might Not Show Up In Your DNA (and How To Find Evidence Of It Anyway) at MyHeritage Knowledge Base