Spanish ethnicity

Spanish ethnicity relates to people who are of Spanish ethnic origins both at home in the Iberian Peninsula and further afield throughout the lands of the formerly vast Spanish Empire in the Americas and the Philippines. While Spanish national identity emerged out of the Middle Ages as being derived from the people of the medieval Christian kingdoms there such as Castile, Leon and Aragon, in reality Spanish ethnicity is complex, involving descent from the Celtic people of pre-Roman Hispania, the Romans themselves, the Visigoths and other Germanic people who conquered Iberia at the start of the medieval period and Muslim peoples from North Africa who colonized much of southern Iberia between the eighth and twelfth centuries.

Spanish history

Spain is a country with a long history. There were developed cultures here as early as the third millennium BCE when the Corded Ware Culture conquered the peninsula. Later the Celts and Lusitanians amongst others arrived. At this early date there was no distinction between Portugal and Spain. Instead the region was all known as Hispania, but there was a difference between the less developed inland and northern regions and the coastal regions of the south and east, the latter of which had contact with the trading civilizations of the Mediterranean such as the Phoenicians and Greeks. The Romans began conquering Hispania in the late third century BCE, but it took two centuries to complete the process, following which it became one of the most Romanized parts of the empire, with large colonies of Latin people planted in various regions. As such the ethnic landscape of the peninsula was profoundly changed by the Romans. 

Map of Spain in the thirteenth century showing the various Spanish kingdoms and the extent of Muslim rule at that time

Further changes were soon to come. At the time of the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the fifth century CE, the Iberian Peninsula was overrun by a number of Germanic and Asiatic tribes such as the Visigoths and the Suebi, introducing new ethnic components to the mix in Hispania. For a time at the very outset of the Middle Ages, between the fifth and early eighth centuries, the Visigothic kingdom of Spain was the most advanced of the successor states to the Western Roman Empire under rulers like King Chindaswinth. But it was quickly conquered by the Muslims of North Africa in the 710s CE as the Arab Conquests spread to the far end of the Mediterranean and over the Straits of Gibraltar to Europe. The Iberian Peninsula would remain divided for the next seven centuries between Christian kingdoms in the north such as Portugal, Leon, Castile and Aragon and a Muslim emirate in the south centered on Granada, Cordoba and Andalusia. By the time the Christian Reconquista of the country from the Muslims was completed in 1492 the ethnic landscape of the south of Spain had been altered dramatically by settlement of Berbers and other people there from North Africa.

The late fifteenth century was also significant in that this period witnessed the union of the kingdoms of Castile and Aragon to form the modern state of Spain, as well as the discovery of the Americas. These developments paved the way for Spain to become the world’s first superpower, ruling an empire which ranged around the globe in the late sixteenth century. The Spanish crown became vastly wealthy based on the silver and gold bullion which it received as part of annual ‘treasure fleets’ from the Americas. These were so vast that they created a period of global inflation called the Price Revolution. Yet ultimately Spain’s time in the sun was fleeting. By the seventeenth century it was declining as a power as the bullion deliveries from the Americas dried up and by the eighteenth century it was a second-tier state in Europe, eclipsed by Britain, France and others. In the early nineteenth century it lost most of its empire as nations like Mexico, Peru and Argentina established their independence. Reform seemed to be impossible to achieve at home and Spain struggled for the remainder of the nineteenth century and early twentieth, eventually ending up under the dictatorship of General Francisco Franco following the Spanish Civil War (1936–9). However, in the aftermath of Franco’s dictatorship, Spain has emerged as a modern, liberal state, a member of the European Union and one of the wealthiest countries in Europe owing to its thriving tourism sector.

The Spanish diaspora

The greatest extent of the Spanish Empire (in blue) during the eighteenth century

The Spanish diaspora is enormous as a result of the Spanish colonization of the Americas from the late fifteenth century onwards. Spain’s empire here included much of the Caribbean and all of Central and South America other than Brazil. Spain also colonized the Philippines in Southeast Asia. All of these areas drew significant amounts of Spanish colonization and as a result the populations of countries such as Mexico, Chile, Peru, Colombia and Argentina are made up to a significant degree today of people of Spanish ethnicity. Yet these are generally people of mixed blood as the Spanish, unlike the English in North America, intermarried with the natives of Central and South America to form a mestizo or ‘mixed’ population.

Spanish culture

The Museo del Prado in Madrid

Spanish culture today is reflective of the very varied traditions which have impacted on it, be they Celtic, Lusitanian, Basque, Roman, Germanic or Arab. For instance, Spanish music and flamenco dancing have their major roots in the eighteenth century, by which time Spain was a united, largely Christian country, but the instruments and music involved owe a debt to the cultures of North Africa which so profoundly impacted on the south of Spain in medieval times. Similarly, the architecture of southern Spain owes much to the Arab and Muslim worlds. Tapas (which literally means ‘to cover’) are central to Spanish cuisine and culture and have evolved gradually since Roman times, many of the core ingredients involved in such dishes having been introduced to Hispania in ancient times. The dishes themselves, though, are, according to legend, said to have first been made for King Alfonso X of Castile in the thirteenth century. Christianity is still central to Spanish culture today, with over half of Spaniards identifying as Roman Catholics, while religious holidays are widely celebrated. Elsewhere Spain is known for the siesta, a more relaxed pace of life and emphasis on the family. There are many famous sites to see in Spain today, from the medieval Muslim mosques of the south to the Sagrada Família in Barcelona and the Museo del Prado in Madrid.

Spanish languages

Spanish is the official language of Spain today. It is a Romance language which is derived from Latin, but is the version of the tongue of the Romans which evolved in Spain following the conquest of the region by the Visigoths in the fifth century CE. Because of the fragmentary nature of Spain’s political history during the Middle Ages, there were numerous dialects of Spanish spoken here in medieval times, notably Castilian, Aragonese and Asturian. Modern vernacular Spanish evolved from Castilian Spanish. The publication of Antonia de Nebrija’s Arte de la Lengua Castellana (The Art of the Castilian Language) in 1492 did much to establish Castilian as the national tongue. However, a number of dialects remain prominent even today, with Catalan very common in the north-east of the country and in the Balearic Islands and Galician spoken in the north-western corner to the north of Portugal. Basque, which is a different Non-Romance language which originated in pre-Roman times, is spoken widely in the north-east along the southern extremities of the Pyrenees. Both it and regional dialects such as Catalan and Galician have co-official status in certain parts of Spain. English is widely spoken as a second language, particular so in the south of the country where tourism is so preponderant. Because of the extent of the Spanish diaspora, Spanish is one of the most widely spoken languages on earth today, with approximately half a billion native speakers, the majority in South and Central America.

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

References

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