Spain

Identities

The Spanish Constitution of 1978, in its second article, recognizes historic entities ("nationalities," a carefully chosen word in order to avoid "nations") and regions, inside the unity of the Spanish nation.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

But Spain's identity is sometimes, in fact, an overlap of different regional identities, some of them even conflicting.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Castile is considered by many to be the "core" of Spain. However, this may just be a reflection of the fact that the Castilian national identity was the first one to be quashed by the Spanish Empire in the revolt of the Communards (comuneros).

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The opposite is the case of a large part of Catalans, Basques and, in some measure, Galicians, who quite frequently identify primarily with Galicia, Catalonia and the Basque Country first, with Spain only second, or even third, after Europe. For example, according to the last CIS survey, 44% of Basques identify themselves first as Basques (only 8% first as Spaniards); 40% of Catalans do so with their autonomous community (20% identify firstly with Spain), and 32% Galicians with Galicia (9% with Spain). Even more remarkable, almost all comunities have a majority of people identifying as much with Spain as with the Autonomous Comunity (except Madrid, where Spain is the primary identity, and Catalonia, Basque Country and Balearics, where people tend to identity more with their Autonomous Comunity). Even Castille-Leon has 57% of people regarding themselves as much Spaniards as they are Castillians.

Related Topics:
Galicia - Catalonia - Basque Country

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The situation is even more confusing, since there are regions with ambiguous identities, like Navarre, Valencia, the Balearic Islands, the Canary Islands, etc. There has been a lot of internal migration (rural exodus) from regions like Galicia, Andalusia and Extremadura to Madrid, Catalonia, Basque Country and the islands.

Related Topics:
Navarre - Valencia - Balearic Islands - Canary Islands - Rural exodus

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Spain became a unified crown with the union of Castile and Aragon) in 1492 and the annexation of Navarre in 1515. Until 1714, Spain was a loose confederation of kingdoms and statelets under one king, until King Philip V (Felipe V) removed the autonomous status of the Aragonese crown. Navarre and the Basque Provinces, however, kept a high degree of autonomy within their legal and financial system (Fueros). Moreover, the creation of a unified state in the 19th and 20th centuries has led to the present situation, which is apparently simple, but sometimes extremely confusing. During the Second Spanish Republic (1931–1936), Catalonia and the Basque country were given limited self-government, which was lost after the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939) and restored in 1978 during the transition to democracy.

Related Topics:
Castile - Aragon - Navarre - Philip V - Fueros - Second Spanish Republic - 1931 - 1936 - Spanish Civil War - 1939 - 1978 - Transition to democracy

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Survey of the latest CIS (Centro de Investigaciones Sociológicas) survey from which concrete data of this article have been extracted

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Minority groups

Since the 16th century, the most important minority group in the country have been the Gitanos. Other historical minorities are Mercheros (or Quinquis) and Vaqueiros de alzada. The latter, meaning "Mountain cow-breeders" dwell in mountain ranges in the Principality of Asturias and have kept historically apart from the valley dwellers.

Related Topics:
16th century - Gitanos - Merchero - Quinqui - Vaqueiros de alzada

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The number of immigrants or foreign residents has tripled to 3.69 million in less than five years, according the latest figures (2005) of National Statics Institute. They currently make up around 8.4 percent of the total population. The rise of population in Spain in recent years was largely due to them. Nearly half of all immigrants have neither residence nor work permits.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

According to Imdiversity.com (2003 statistics), the largest foreign minorities are Ecuadorians (375 000), Moroccans (365 846), Argentines (300,000) Colombians (244,000) and British (121 107), followed by other nationalities, as Chinese, Filipinos, Dominicans, Peruvians, Guineans, etc. There is as well an important number of Spanish citizens who descend from these communities.

Related Topics:
Ecuadorian - Moroccans - Argentines - Colombia

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~