Andalusians

Andalusians
Andaluces
Total population
(c. 10–11 million)
Regions with significant populations

 Spain:

 Andalusia: 7,561,298 (2013)[1]
 Catalonia: 754,174 (2006)[2]
 Madrid: 285,164 (2006)[3]
 Valencia: 218,440 (2006)[3]
 Basque Country: 46,441 (1991)[4]
 Balearic Islands: 71,940 (1991)[5]
 Murcia: 36,278 (1991)[5]

Rest of Spain: 162,333 (1991)[5]

 Brazil: 923,775 (2006)[6]
 France: 31,516 (2006)[6]
 Cuba: 23,185 (2006)[6]
 Germany: 22,784 (2006)[6]
 Puerto Rico: 15,253 (2006)[6]
 Argentina: 20,385 (2006)[6]

Rest of the world: 50,000 (est)[7]
Languages
Modern vernacular:
Andalusian Spanish
Historical:
Andalusi Arabic, Berber Language, Mozarabic, Latin, Greek, Phoenician/Punic, Tartessian Language
Religion
Modern:
Roman Catholicism (79%)[8]
Historical:
Sunni Islam
Sephardic Judaism

The Andalusians (Spanish: andaluces) is a Spanish ethnic group that live in the southern region in Spain approximated by what is now called Andalusia. The Spanish Language Academy recognizes Andalusian Spanish as a distinct dialect. Andalusian culture has its roots in the different cultures which have populated the region over the past centuries. Both history and geography have greatly contributed to modern day culture and identity.

The genesis of modern Andalusian culture can be traced to the last phase of the Reconquista and the two centuries that followed (13th to 17th century) which brought about the adoption of Catholicism and, more specifically various Marian cults, as the sole substitute for other religions which had dominated the region during eight prior centuries (notably Sunni Islam). It also coincides with the arrival of the Romani people in the mid 15th century, who contributed significantly to the development of modern Andalusian identity. The degree to which the region's particularly long Islamic history is central to Andalusia's modern singularity is controversial and largely a matter of ideology, particularly considering Andalusia is perhaps Spain's most fervently Catholic region.

Blas Infante, the father of Andalusian regionalism and nationalism, drew heavily from Islamic heritage as a defining element of Andalusian identity. Nevertheless, local Catholic cults act as the primary vehicle of Andalusian cultural cohesion and identity. This, together with a very rich and markedly Hispanic local culture, makes the region particularly impervious to Islamophilia, despite an undeniable pride from the cultural legacy inherited from the Muslim period.[9] Paradoxically, religious fervor in Andalusia seems not to clash with the region being among the most left-leaning and anti-clerical in the entire country, with below average levels of mass attendance and very little interest in orthodox Catholic doctrine.[10] The peculiar form and role of religion in Andalusia has been subject to significant ethnographic and anthropological study.

Not all Andalusians agree with the existence of a single Andalusian identity or ethnicity. A strong cultural divide exists between what is known as "high Andalusia" (what used to be the Kingdom of Granada") and Low or Western Andalusia (the heavily populated Guadalquivir valley). Significant differences exist between the culture and even the accents of all of eight provinces of Andalusia, but the widest difference is between these two regions. Some Andalusians of High Andalusia (notably Granada and Almería) complain that since the beginning of democracy and Andalusia's autonomy, Andalusian political power has been heavily centred around Seville and, as a result, Andalusian culture and identity has been built around this region, ignoring the unique culture and traditions of other parts of Andalusia. Calls for a separate Autonomy for eastern Andalusia have been made since the advent of democracy, yet have never attracted enough to support to endanger Andalusia's integrity.[11]

The Andalusians have a rich culture which includes the Semana Santa (see Holy Week in Spain) and the famous flamenco style of music and dance. Andalusia's own statute of autonomy identifies the region as an "historic nationality" and grants it a high level of devolved political power. The people of Ceuta and Melilla are considered to be Andalusian people, since they have characteristics similar to that of Andalusia, as Andalusian dialect and related traditions. Nevertheless, from the Spanish transition, Ceuta and Melilla were separated from Andalusia. Additionally, a significant minority (roughly 25%) of Ceuta and Melilla's Christian population is of Catalan descent.

Geographical location and population

Andalusian people live mainly in Spain's eight southernmost provinces: Almería, Cádiz, Córdoba, Granada, Huelva, Jaén, Málaga, and Sevilla, which all are part of the region and modern Autonomous Community of Andalucía. In January 2006 the total population of this region stood at 7,849,799; Andalucía is the most populous region of Spain.[12] In comparison with the rest of Spain, Andalusia population growth has been slower and it continues to be sparsely populated in some rural areas (averaging just 84 inh. per km²). Since 1960, the region's share of total population has declined, despite birth rates being about 40 percent higher than the Spanish average during past decades (currently it is only a 13% higher[3]). Between 1951 and 1975, over 1.7 million Andalusian people emigrated out of Andalusia to other areas of Spain.[13] This figure was approximately a 24% of the population of Andalusia as a whole, mostly hitting the countryside areas. The main recipients of this migration were Catalonia (989,256 people of Andalusian origin in 1975), Madrid (330,479) and Valencia (217,636), and to a lesser level, the Basque Country and Balearics.

During 1962 to 1974, around 700,000 Andalusians —almost all of them male— moved abroad for economic reasons, mainly originating from the provinces of Granada, Jaén and Córdoba. Their preferred destination were France, West Germany and Switzerland, followed by the United Kingdom, Netherlands and Belgium. There are no official recorded figures for previous decades.[14]

In South America in the last twenty years of 19th century, over 150,000 Andalusians emigrated to the Americas as a result of crop failures caused by the Phylloxera plague.[15] Many Andalusian peasants moved to Brazil to work in the coffee plantations, mainly in rural areas of São Paulo State. Spanish immigrants to Hawai'i who were solicited to work in the sugar industry, arrived in October 1898, numbering 7,735 men, women and children by 1913. Most of them came from Andalusia, home of Don Marin. However, unlike other plantation immigrant groups, the Spanish moved on, and by 1930 only 1,219 remained, including a scant eight children born in Hawai'i. Most Spanish left for the promising fields of California to make higher wages and live among relatives and friends who had settled in greater numbers there.

Additionally, Andalusians formed the major component of Spanish colonial immigration to certain parts of Spain's American and Asian empire and the largest group to participate in the colonisation of the Canary Islands. Principally, Andalusians and their descendants predominate in the Canary Islands(Spain), the Caribbean islands (Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, and Cuba), and the circum-Caribbean area (Guatemala, Costa Rica, Panama, the Caribbean coast of Colombia, and in Venezuela). They were also predominant in the Rio de la Plata region of Argentina and Uruguay and in the coastal areas of Chile, Peru, and Ecuador. In Asia, Andalusians predominated in the Spanish population of the Philippines as evidenced by the strong Andalusian character of the former Spanish in the Philippines and Spanish-based creoles, despite the fact that the Philippines were under the colonial supervision of the Vice-royalty of New Spain (Mexico).

Rationale

Most descriptions of Andalusia begin with the landownership system, as the most powerful forces in the region have for centuries been the owners of the large estates, called latifundios. These wide expanses of land have their origins in landowning patterns that stretch back to Roman times; in grants of land made to the nobility, to the military orders, and to the church during the Reconquest (Reconquista); and in laws of the nineteenth century by which church and common lands were sold in large tracts to the urban upper middle class. The workers of this land, called jornaleros (peasants without land), were themselves landless.

This economic and cultural system produced a distinctive perspective, involving class consciousness and class conflicts as well as significant emigration. In contrast to the much smaller farm towns and villages of northern Spain, where the land was worked by its owners, class distinctions in the agro-towns of Andalusia stood out. The families of the landless farmers lived at, or near, the poverty level, and their relations with the landed gentry were marked by conflict, aggression, and hostility. The two main forces that kept Andalusia's rural society from flying apart were external. The first was the coercive power of the state, as exemplified by Spain's rural constabulary, the Civil Guard (Guardia Civil). The second was the opportunities to migrate to other parts of Spain, or to other countries in Western Europe. Some of this migration was seasonal; in 1972, for example, 80,000 farmers, mostly Andalusians, migrated to France for the wine harvest. Part of the migration consisted of entire families who intended to remain in their new home for longer periods, once the head of the family group had settled down.

Economic growth and social mobility, although dispersed and not homogeneous in the region, fundamentally start in the nineteen seventies, coincides with the arrival of the democracy, and are intensified by the development of agroindustrial, tourism, and services sectors. In 1981 the Statute of Autonomy is approved after the Andalusian movement of autonomy. Since 1990 Andalusia follows a dynamic convergence process and is moving closer in development to the most advanced regions in Europe; more and more it comes closer to overcome the average of European living standards.

Notable Andalusians

Leaders and politicians

Philosophers and theologians

Historians, philologists and writers

Military commanders

Poets, Novelists and playwrights

Catholic saints and martyrs

Explorers, navigators and missionaries

Scientists and physicians

Classical composers and opera singers

Painters and sculptors

Artisans

Bullfighters

Actors, comedians and entertainers

Film directors

Journalists

Footballers and football coaches

Other athletes

Singers and musicians

See also

References

  1. ↑ Instituto Nacional de Estadística (2013). Población residente por fecha, sexo. Resultados por comunidades y ciudades autónomas. Retrieved from "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2016-03-03. Retrieved 2014-03-23.
  2. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2011-07-21. Retrieved 2006-10-13. Source: Consejería de Gobernación, Junta de Andalucía (Andalusian Autonomous Government)
  3. 1 2 3 Ibid
  4. ↑ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 2009-03-27. Retrieved 2006-10-13. Recaño Valverde, Joaquín (1998): "La emigración andaluza en España" in Boletín Económico de Andalucía, issue 24
  5. 1 2 3 Recaño Valverde, Joaquín: Ibid
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Consejería de Gobernación
  7. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2006-10-07. Retrieved 2006-10-13. Dirección General de Andaluces en el Exterior, Junta de Andalucía
  8. ↑ Interactivo: Creencias y prácticas religiosas en España
  9. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2016-10-04. Retrieved 2016-04-13.
  10. ↑ http://www.lavanguardia.com/vangdata/20150402/54429637154/interactivo-creencias-y-practicas-religiosas-en-espana.html%5B%5D
  11. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2016-04-22. Retrieved 2016-04-13.
  12. ↑ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2007-09-30. Retrieved 2006-10-13. INSTITUTO DE ESTADÍSTICA DE ANDALUCÍA (2006): Andalucía. Datos básicos 2006. Consejería de Economía y Hacienda, Junta de Andalucía. Page 13
  13. ↑ Recaño Valverde, Joaquín: Ibid
  14. ↑ http://www.ahimsav.com/149-nov_archivos/page0006.htm%5B%5D "El boom migratorio exterior"
  15. ↑ De Mateo Aviles, Elias (1993): La Emigración Andaluza a América (1850–1936). Editorial Arguval. Málaga, Spain
  16. ↑ Albert, Manuel J. (11 July 2011). "El pintor amigo de Flash Gordon" [The painter friend of Flash Gordon]. El País. Retrieved 11 July 2014.
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