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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) in 1518–1520. The opposite is the case of a large part of Catalans, Basques and, in some measure, Galicians, who quite frequently identify, respectively, primarily with Catalonia, the Basque Country, and Galicia 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 Catalonia (20% identify firstly with Spain), and 32% Galicians with Galicia (9% with Spain). Other regional groups, such as the Andalusians have identities which, for a number of reasons, has not led to the development of a strong political nationalist movement. Almost all communities have a majority of people identifying as much with Spain as with the Autonomous Community (except Madrid, where Spain is the primary identity, and Catalonia, Basque Country, Galicia, and the Balearics, where people tend to identify more with their Autonomous Community). Even Castille-Leon has 57% of people regarding themselves as much Spaniards as they are Castilians. 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. Spain became a unified crown with the union of Castile and Aragon and the conquest of Granada in January 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, the Basque country and Galicia were given limited self-government, which was lost after the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939) and restored in 1978 during the transition to democracy. Minority groups There's also a very reduced number of guanche people, the original natives of the Canary Islands (a Spaniard insular region located off the northwestern African coast). The number of immigrants or foreign residents has tripled to 3,691,547 (not including the 2nd nor 3rd generations of descendents of these immigrants, who were already born in Spain and are holders of Spanish nationality) in less than ten years, according the latest figures (2005) of National Statics Institute. They currently make up around 8.5% of the official 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. As of October 2005, and according to official Ministry for Employment and Social Affairs data, there are 2,597,014 foreigners with valid residence permits, of which the largest are 552,694 EU citizens (including 144,283 Britons), with also 473,048 Moroccans, 333,251 Ecuadorians, 192,965 Colombians, 174,590 Romanians and around 100,000 Chinese. Spain has also a number of black African-blooded people — first, descendants of slaves who were brought to the country before bringing them to its possessions in the Americas (genuine descendants are a small minority as the Portuguese and British traders usually shipped slaves directly to the Americas from Africa); second, descendants of the settlers from former colonies (including Equatorial Guinea) who chose to be in Spanish guidance; and third, children of immigrants from several African and Caribbean countries who settled in Spain. There are also important numbers of Asian-Spaniards, most of whom are from Chinese, Vietnamese, Filipino, Middle Eastern and Indian origins and Spaniards of Latin American and American Native origins. It's also remarkably important the small portion of Spaniards of Flemish and Dutch origins. A sizeable and increasing number of Spanish citizens also descend from these communities, as Spain applies jus soli and provides special measures for immigrants from Spanish-speaking countries to obtain Spanish citizenship. |
Spain Information: Inside
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