Spanish diaspora

Spanish diaspora

Total population
Spanish nationals abroad 1,816,835 (of which 654,395 were born in Spain) (2012)[1] Total people with claimed Spanish ancestry c. 100 million
Regions with significant populations
Number of Spanish citizens by country
Argentina	367,939[2]
France	215,183[3]
Venezuela	179,035[2]
Germany	146,846[4]
Brazil	100,622[2]
Switzerland	96,403[2]
Mexico	94,617[2]
Cuba	89,323[2]
United States	86,626[2]
United Kingdom	69,097[2]
Uruguay	60,046[2]
Belgium	47,618[2]
Chile	44,468[2]
Colombia	27,000<[5]
Andorra	23,995[2]
Netherlands	20,128[2]
Sweden	15,390[6]
Peru	15,214[2]
Dominican Republic	6,842
Philippines	3,110[7]
Guatemala	2,500[8]
Qatar	2,500[9]
Ukraine	965[10]
Languages
Spanish languages (mainly Spanish, also Basque, Catalan, Galician, etc.), French, Portuguese, English, German, and others.
Religion
Predominantly Roman Catholicism
Related ethnic groups
Portuguese • French • Italians other Western Europeans · Hispanics • Sephardi Jews • Afro-Spanish • Sino-Spanish

The Spanish diaspora consists of Spanish people and their descendants who emigrated from Spain. The diaspora is concentrated in countries such as Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, Mexico, Peru, Uruguay, Venezuela and other parts of Latin America, and to a lesser extent, the United States, Canada and continental Europe.

Origins (1402–1521)

Castile, under the reign of Henry III began the colonization of the Canary Islands in 1402, authorizing under feudal agreement to Norman noblemen Jean de Béthencourt. The conquest of the Canary Islands, inhabited by Guanche people, was only finished when the armies of the Crown of Castille won, in long and bloody wars, the islands of Gran Canaria (1478–1483), La Palma (1492–1493) and Tenerife (1494–1496).

The marriage of the Reyes Católicos (Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile) created a confederation of reigns, each with their own administrations, but ruled by a common monarchy. According to Henry Kamen, it was only after centuries of a common rule that this separated realms formed a fully unificated state.

In 1492, Spain drove out the last Moorish king of Granada. After their victory, the Catholic monarchs negotiated with Christopher Columbus, a Genoese sailor attempting to reach Cipangu by sailing west. Castile was already engaged in a race of exploration with Portugal to reach the Far East by sea when Columbus made his bold proposal to Isabella. Columbus instead "inadvertently" discovered the Americas, inaugurating the Spanish colonization of the continent. The Indies were reserved for Castile.

Age of Discovery

After the Age of Discovery the Spanish were the earliest and one of the largest communities to emigrate out of Europe, and the Spanish Empire's expansion during the first half of the 16th century saw an "extraordinary dispersion of the Spanish people", with particular concentrations "in North and South America".

The Spanish Empire was "built on waves of migration overseas by Spanish people", who left Spain and "reached across the globe and permanently affected population structures in the American continent". As a result of the Spanish colonization of the Americas, what became the Latin America was "easily the greatest single destination of emigrant Spanish".

List of countries by population of Spanish heritage

Country	Population	% of country	Reference	Criterion
Spanish Argentine	25,000,000	60	[11]	undefined
Spanish Mexican	94,720,000 +	80 +	[12][13]	estimated: 20% as whites and 75-80% as mestizos.
Spanish Chilean	8,500,000	52.7	[14]	self-description
Spanish Brazilian	8,000,000–20,000,000	4.2–8	[15][16]
Spanish Colombian	39,000,000	86	[17]	36% as white and 50% as mestizos.
Spanish Cuban	10,050,849	88.9	[18]	self-description as white, mulatto and mestizo
Spanish Filipino	2,700,000	3.5	[19]	self-description, 625,562 (0.2%) identified as Spaniard
Spanish Peruvian	10,800,000	30	[20]	self-description
Spanish Guatemalan	8,507,511	55	[21]	41% of mestizos and 14% of direct descendants
Spanish Puerto Rican	3,064,862	80.5	[22][23] [24][25] [26][27]	self-description as white, 83,879 (2.1%) identified as Spaniard
Spanish American	2,389,841–3,500,000	0.8–1.1	[27][28]	self-description, 625,562 (0.2%) identified as Spaniard
Spanish Bolivian	1,300,000	13	[29]	White Spanish Descent.
Spanish Uruguayan	~1,000,000	~30	[30]	undefined
Spanish Venezuelan	25,079,923	90.1	[31]	42.2% as white and 50% as mestizos.
Total in Diaspora	~231,000,000–244,500,000
Spaniards	44,000,000	81	[32]	undefined
Total Worldwide	~275,000,000–288,000,000

Africa

Conquest of the Canary Islands

The first period of the conquest of the Canaries was carried out by the Norman nobles Jean de Bethencourt and Gadifer de la Salle. Their motives were basically economic: Bethencourt possessed textile factories and dye works and the Canaries offered a source of dyes such as the orchil lichen. The treaty settled disputes between Castile and Portugal over the control of the Atlantic, in which Castilian control of the Canary islands was recognized but which also confirmed Portuguese possession of the Azores, Madeira, the Cape Verde islands and gave them rights to lands discovered and to be discovered...and any other island which might be found and conquered from the Canary islands beyond toward Guinea.

The Castilians continued to dominate the islands, but due to the topography and the resistance of the native Guanches, complete pacification was not achieved until 1495, when Tenerife and La Palma were finally subdued by Alonso Fernández de Lugo. After that, the Canaries were incorporated into the Kingdom of Castile.

The islands were conquered by mostly Andalusians and some Castilians at the beginnings of the 15th century. In 1402, they began to subdue the native Guanche population and the Guanches were initially enslaved and gradually absorbed by the Spanish colonizers.

After subsequent settlement by Spaniards and other European peoples, mainly Portuguese, the remaining Guanches were gradually diluted by the settlers and their culture largely vanished. Alonso Fernández de Lugo, conqueror of Tenerife and La Palma, oversaw extensive immigration to these islands during a short period from the late 1490s to the 1520s from mainland Europe, and immigrants included Galicians, Castilians, Portuguese, Italians, Catalans, Basques, and Flemings. At subsequent judicial enquiries, Fernández de Lugo was accused of favoring Genoese and Portuguese immigrants over Castilians.^[33]

Americas

Argentina

Spanish settlement in Argentina, that is the arrival of Spanish emigrants in Argentina, took place firstly in the period before Argentina's independence from Spain, and again in large numbers during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Between the 15th and 19th centuries, the Spanish Empire was the sole colonial power in the territories that became Argentina after the 1816 Argentine declaration of independence. Thus, before 1816, a great part of the European settlers in Argentina were from Spain, and they carried the Spanish colonial administration, including religious affairs, government, and commercial business. A substantial Spanish-descended Criollo population gradually built up in the new cities, while some mixed with the indigenous populations (Mestizos), with the Black slave population (Mulattoes), or with other European immigrants. Since a great part of the immigrants to Argentina before the mid-19th century were of Spanish descent, and the fact that a significative part of the late-19th century/early-20th century immigrants to Argentina were Spaniards, the vast majority of Argentinians are of mostly Spanish ancestry. However this prevalence, and the numerous shared cultural aspects between Argentina and Spain (the Spanish language, Roman Catholicism, Criollo/Hispanic traditions), massive Immigration to Argentina at the turn of the 20th century involved a majority of non-Spanish peoples from all over Europe,

Brazil

Spanish immigration was the third largest among immigrant groups in Brazil; about 750,000 immigrants entered Brazil from Spanish ports (a number smaller only than that of Argentina and Cuba after the independence of Latin American countreis).^[34] Numbers of Spaniards coming to Brazil before independence are unknown, but they had a presence, particularly more significant during the Iberian Union period and in São Paulo state. During the dynastic union between Portugal and Spain (1580–1640), many Spaniards settled in Brazil, particularly in São Paulo. As a consequence, there is a large number of Brazilian descendants of these early settlers, especially since the early inhabitants of São Paulo explored and settled in other parts of Brazil. The descendants of Bartolomeu Bueno de Ribeira, born in Seville around 1555, who settled in São Paulo around 1583, marrying Maria Pires, are an example of it.^[35] Afonso Taunay, in his book dealing with early São Paulo, São Paulo in the XVI century, mentions also Baltazar de Godoy, Francisco de Saavedra, Jusepe de Camargo, Martin Fernandes Tenório de Aguilar, Bartolomeu de Quadros, among others. In his genealogical account of the settling of São Paulo, Pedro Taques de Almeida Paes Leme, also mentions the three Rendon brothers, Juan Matheus Rendon, Francisco Rendon de Quebedo and Pedro Matheus Rendon Cabeza de Vaca, as well as Diogo Lara, form Zamora. Spaniards from Galicia also settled in Brazil during that time, like Jorge de Barros, for example.^[36] The family names Bueno, Godoy, Lara, Saavedra, Camargo, etc., tracing back to these early settlers, are quite popular throughout Southeast Brazil, Southern Brazil and the Center-West. Silva Leme, in his work Genealogia Paulistana ("Paulistana Genealogy"), addresses several of these families.^[37] Brazilian censuses do not research "ethnic origins" or ancestry, which makes it very difficult to give accurate numbers of Brazilians of Spanish descent. The only reliable research available is the 1998 July PME, the scope of which, however, is limited (it covers only six metropolitan regions), resulting in probably skewed results, as it includes the metropolitan regions of São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Porto Alegre, and Salvador, probably the most important concentrations of Brazilians of Spanish descent.^[38] In the 1998 PME, Brazilians of Spanish descent were 4.4% ^[39] of the analysed populations. If the same proportion would be found in all territory, this would mean about 8,400,000 Brazilians of Spanish descent, but such extrapolation is problematic, and quite certainly results in an overestimate, due to the issues pointed above.

Chile

The earliest European immigrants were Spanish colonisers who arrived in the 16th century. They came to form the majority of the population by the time of Chilean independence.^[41] They came mainly from Castile and Andalusia and formed the majority population. In the 18th and 19th centuries, many Basques from both Spain and France came to Chile were they integrated into the existing elites of Castilian origin.^{[42][43][44][45][46][47][48][49]} Other European nationalities then followed and also became rich and fused with each other and the Basque-Castilian elite to create modern Chilean culture. In the 20th century, there was an influx of refugees of the Spanish Civil War and Franco's regime.(see Winnipeg ship) They have kepted their Spanish national identity and set up Spanish clubs throughout the country. The Spanish culture of the original settlers slowly evolved into Chilean folk culture, especially the huaso one, and at the time of independence had abandoned national affiliation with Spain.

Colombia

Spanish immigration to Colombia began in the early 16th century and continues to the present day. There are currently over 27,000 Spanish immigrants in Colombia.

Cuba

Spanish immigration to Cuba began in 1492, when Christopher Columbus first landed on the island, and continues to the present day. The first sighting of a Spanish boat approaching the island was on 28 October 1492, probably at Baracoa on the eastern point of the island. Christopher Columbus, on his first voyage to the Americas, sailed south from what is now The Bahamas to explore the northeast coast of Cuba and the northern coast of Hispaniola. Columbus discovered the island believing it to be a peninsula of the Asian mainland.^[50][51] In 1511, Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar set out with three ships and an army of 300 men from Santo Domingo to form the first Spanish settlement in Cuba, with orders from Spain to conquer the island.

Guatemala

The arrival of the Spaniards in Guatemala began in 1524 with the conquest of the territory under the command of Pedro de Alvarado. After the conquest and the colonial era, more people came to the country not as conquerors, but to do business or daily activities.^[52] The Spanish embassy in Guatemala City reports some 2,500 Spaniards living in Guatemala in 2006.^[8] Early European immigrants from Guatemala were Spaniards who conquered the indigenous Mayan population in 1524. They ruled for almost 300 years. Although the Spanish conquest of Guatemala was primarily the result of its technical superiority, the Spaniards were helped by the Mayans who were already involved in a bitter internal struggle. After a period of political instability exacerbated by the collapse of the world market for indigo, main exporter in the region of Europe, each province seceded from the federation, starting with Costa Rica. The federation collapsed between 1838 and 1840, when Guatemala became an independent nation.^[53]

Mexico

Spanish immigration to Mexico began in 1519 and spans to the present day.^[54] The first Spanish settlement was established in February 1519, as a result of the landing of Hernán Cortés in the Yucatan Peninsula, accompanied by about 11 ships, 500 men, 13 horses and a small number of cannons.^[55] In March 1519, Cortés formally claimed the land for the Spanish crown, and the conquest of the Aztec Empire, a key event in the Spanish conquest of modern-day Mexico in general, was completed in 1521.

Peru

The regions from which most Spanish immigrants originated were those of Extremadura, Castile, Galicia, Catalonia and Andalucía. Most of the colonial immigrants, in consequence, went from the southern regions of Spain to what now is considered the coastal Peruvian region. These immigrants generally departed from the ports of Cadiz or Sevilla and arrived in the ports of Callao, Mollendo and Pimentel. Many of these immigrants made a stopover in a Caribbean port before arriving in Peru. Before the development of the Panama Canal ships would forced to go around Cape Horn to reach Peruvian ports. Although not many, a few travelers made their way from Europe to Peru via the Amazon River. These immigrants would seek passage on the many commercial ships going to retrieve rubber in Peru to bring back to Europe. These immigrants would arrive at the river port of Iquitos. Almost all of them stayed there. These immigrants numbered no more than a few thousand.

Puerto Rico

Spanish immigration to Puerto Rico began in 1493 (continuing to 1898 as a part of the Spanish Empire) and continues to the present day. On 25 September 1493, Christopher Columbus set sail on his second voyage with 17 ships and 1,200–1,500 men from Cádiz, Spain.^[56] On 19 November 1493 he landed on the island, naming it San Juan Bautista in honor of Saint John the Baptist.

The first Spanish settlement, Caparra, was founded on 8 August 1508 by Juan Ponce de León, born in Valladolid, Spain, a lieutenant under Columbus, who later became the first governor of the island.^[57]

From the start of the conquest of Puerto Rico, Castilians ruled over the religious (Roman Catholicism) and political life. Some came to the island for just a few years and then returned to Spain, however many stayed.

Puerto Rico's founding family were Castilians (Ponce de León family). Their home was built in 1521 by Ponce de León but he died in the same year, leaving "Casa Blanca" to his young son Luis Ponce de León. The original structure didn't last long; two years after its construction, a hurricane destroyed it, and it was rebuilt by Ponce de León's son-in-law Juan Garcia Troche. The southern city of Ponce is named after Juan Ponce de León y Loayza, the great-grandson of the island's discoverer.^[58]

Immigration to the island caused the population to grow rapidly during the 19th century. In 1800 the population was 155,426 and ended the century with almost a million inhabitants (953,243), multiplying the population by about six times. The main component responsible was the Royal Decree of Graces of 1815 which led to immigrants from some 74 countries arriving. Included were hundreds of Corsican, French, Irish, German, Lebanese, Maltese and Portuguese families moving to the island. Some countries were represented by only a few (51 Chinese individuals for example). The country that still sent the most people was Spain.

From the start of colonization other groups from Catalonia, Asturias, Galicia, and Majorca had also immigrated, although the Canarian people formed the basis. Once the 19th century came, things changed drastically. According to Puerto Rican authors such as Cifre de Loubriel who researched the immigration wave patterns made to the island, during the 19th century the greatest number of Spaniards that came to the island with their families were Catalans and Mallorcans from the nearby Mediterranean regions.

The second most common Spanish region with the largest numbers were the Galicians and Asturians, and the third regions were Canary Islanders, Basques and Andalusians. The Catalans, Galicians, Majorcans and Asturians would come with whole families most of the time. There were regions of the island that attracted some immigrants more than others which was mainly for political or economic reasons.

United States

Immigration to the United States [59]
Years	Arrivals	Years	Arrivals
1820–1830	2,688	1891–1900	6,662
1831–1840	2,004	1901–1910	48,944
1841–1850	2,091	1911–1920	102,954
1851–1860	9,038	1921–1930	41,954
1861–1870	6,390	1931–1940	4,945
1871–1880	5,266	1941–1949	3,287
1881–1890	4,419	Total (129 yrs)	240,642

Spanish immigration to the United States began with the colonization of the Americas. Spanish Americans are the earliest European American group, with a continuous presence since 1565.^[60] These figures show there was never the mass emigration from Iberia as there was from Latin America. It is evident in the figures that Spanish immigration peaked in the 1910s and 1920s. The majority settled in Florida and New York, although there was also a sizable Spanish influx to West Virginia at the turn of the 20th century, mostly from Asturias.

Venezuela

Spanish immigration to Venezuela began with the Spanish colonization of the Americas, and continued during Colonial Venezuela and, after independence in 1830, during the nineteenth century. Further immigration took place particularly following World War II.

Asia-Pacific

Australia

There are approximately 78,271 Australians of Spanish descent, most of which reside within the major cities of Sydney and Melbourne, with lesser numbers in Brisbane and Perth. Of these, according to the 2006 Australian census, 12,276 were born in Spain.^[61]

Philippines

Spanish Filipinos population living in the Philippines trace part of their ancestry to Spain. Spanish Filipinos are mostly descendants of the migrants to the Philippines during the colonial period. The official percentage of Filipinos with Spanish ancestry is unknown.

Between 1565 and 1815, Mexicans and Spaniards sailed to and from the Philippines as government officials, soldiers, priests, settlers, traders, sailors and adventurers in the Manila-Acapulco Galleon, assisting Spain in its trade between Europe and Latin America (Spanish America) and Latin America and China.

Today, the official percentage of Filipinos with Spanish ancestry is unknown. The Philippine Statistics Department does not account for the racial background or ancestry of an individual. The official population of all types of mestizos (Asian, American, Hispanic, etc.) that reside inside and outside of the Philippines remains unknown. Although a study provided by Stanford University^[62] claimed that around 3.6% of the population have White or Caucasian ancestries from both Spanish and American colonization, it only genotyped 28 individuals from the Philippines, a sample size far too small to draw conclusions on a population of over 90 million people.

Europe

France

French of Spanish descent is any citizen or resident of France who is of Spanish ancestral origin. Famous Spaniards in France: Louis de Funès, Eric Cantona, Anne Hidalgo, Diego Buñuel, Luis Fernández, Jean Reno, Olivier Martinez, Paco Rabanne, Mathieu Valbuena, Manuel Amoros, Raymond Domenech, Albert Camus, Manuel Valls.

Germany

Germans of Spanish descent is any citizen or resident of Germany who is of Spanish ancestral origin. Between 1960-1973 up to 600,000 Spaniards emigrated to Germany.^[63] Famous Spaniards in Germany: Mario Gomez, Heinz Harald Frentzen, Gonzalo Castro, Francisco Copado, Curro Torres, Enrique Sánchez Lansch, Eduardo Garcia, company Garmo AG, Joachim Llambi, Marc Gallego, Stefan Ortega, Joselu, Daniel Brühl, Oscar Corrochano, Cristian Fiel, Oscar Ortega Sánchez.

Switzerland

Swiss of Spanish descent is any citizen or resident of Switzerland who is of Spanish ancestral origin. Famous Spaniards in Siwtzerland: Ricardo Cabanas, Ricardo Rodríguez, Philippe Senderos, Luis Cembranos, Gerardo Seoane, Riccardo Meili, Raphael Diaz, Vincent Perez.

United Kingdom

British of Spanish descent is any citizen or resident of the United Kingdom who is of Spanish ancestral origin. Famous Spaniards in the United Kingdom: John Galliano, Patrick Murray, Geri Halliwell, John Garcia Thompson, Roland Orzabal, Michael Portillo, Lita Roza, Mary I, Edward II, Jay Rodriguez.

References

European diasporas Central Europe Czechs Germans Hungarians Poles Kashubians Slovaks Slovenes Swiss Eastern Europe Armenians5 Azerbaijanis3 Belarusians Georgians3 Moldovans Russians1 Chechens1 Ukrainians Northern Europe British English Scottish Welsh Cornish Danes Estonians Finns Icelanders Irish Latvian Lithuanians Norwegians Sami Swedes Southeast Europe Albanians Bosnians Bulgarians Croats Greeks Greek Cypriots5 Macedonians Montenegrins Romanians Serbs Turkish2 Turkish Cypriots5 Southern Europe Italians Maltese Portuguese Spaniards Basques Isleño Western Europe Belgians Flanders Dutch French Basques Other Europeans Ashkenazi Jews/Sephardi Jews6 Romani7 1 Russia is a transcontinental country in Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. The vast majority of its population (80%) lives in European Russia, therefore Russia as a whole is included as a European country here. 2 Turkey is a transcontinental country in the Middle East and Southeast Europe. Has a small part of its territory (3%) in Southeast Europe called Turkish Thrace. 3 Azerbaijan and Georgia are transcontinental countries. Both have a small part of their territories in the European part of the Caucasus. 4 Kazakhstan is a transcontinental country. Has a small part of its territories located west of the Urals in Eastern Europe. 5 Armenia and Cyprus(Northern Cyprus) are entirely in Southwest Asia but having socio-political connections with Europe. 6 European and Middle Eastern mixed populations. 7 European and South Asian mixed populations.

Spanish diaspora By Country Africa Equatorial Guinea Asia Philippines Europe France Germany Sweden United Kingdom North America Canada Costa Rica Cuba Guatemala Jamaica Mexico Puerto Rico United States Oceania Australia South America Argentina Brazil Chile Colombia Peru Uruguay See also Conquest of the Canary Islands Isleño