Following linguistic criteria, modern Spanish citizens could be divided into Castilian, Catalan, Galician-Portuguese, Basque, Asturian-Leonese and Aragonese ethnic groups.

Castilians

The largest ethnic group in Spain. The Spanish capital of Madrid is located in the historical region of New Castile, and what the Castilian language (castellano) is also known as Spanish (español). The Kingdom of Castile was the principle actor in the unification of Spain.

The original Castilian nucleus was around the modern day autonomous communities of Cantabria and part of Castile-León (around the city of Burgos). In the Christian reconquista("reconquering") of Al-Andalus (Muslim Arab-dominated kingdoms in most of the Iberian Peninsula), Castilians settled and became the dominant population in Castile-La Mancha, Madrid, most of Extremadura, Andalucia, and Murcia.

In the last century, many Castilian-speakers from Andalucia and Extremadura emigrated to urban centres to the Basque Country and the Catalan-speaking areas. This has changed the demographic balance in those areas, which along with the dictator Francisco Franco's oppressive policy towards minority languages has made Spanish (i.e Castilian) the dominant language throughout Spain.

Catalans

Historically confined to a small Pyrenean area between the far south-east of what is now France and the far north-east of what is now Spain, the Catalans spread (as did other Iberian Christian ethnic groups) towards the south and east in the Reconquista. They colonized the rest of the modern autonomous area of Catalonia, most of the Valencian Country, the Balearic Islands and the eastern strip of Aragon. They also settled the Sardinian city of Alguer, and conquered but did not colonize many other areas of the Mediterranean in the Crown of Aragon. They also conquered and settled Murcia, but the Crown of Aragon gave this region to the Kingdom of Castile, so the main language of this area ended up being Castillian albeit with some Catalan influence. There are around 6-7 million speakers of Catalan in Spain, in a historical area of around 13 million people.

Galicians and Portuguese

Galicians inhabit the western part of the Iberian Peninsula, and despite their Romance language they got their name from a Celtic people that predated Roman settlement. In the Reconquestathey conquered what is now Portugal, spreading their language throughout the western part of the peninsula. Galicia was then annexed by Spain but Portugal gained independence, which has lead to the curious situation where nowadays the Galician language is more internationally known under the name "Portuguese". In Galicia, the urban areas have become largely Castilianized, and the Galician-speaking areas have become depopulated because of emigration to the Americas. Even today in Hispano-American slang, the word "Galician" (gallego) is used to refer to all Spaniards.

A historical part of Portugal, Olivenza, also became part of Spain through annexation, and El Bierzo was added to the Castile-Leon autonomous area despite it's Galician ethnolinguistic affiliation. Furthermore, the Eo-Nava region of Asturias represents a transition between Asturian and Galician cultures.

Basques

The Basques are the only non-Indo-European ethnic group in Western Europe, meaning the ancestor of their language was spoken in Europe before the ancestors of modern Romance, Germanic and Celtic groups arrived. Their kingdom in the medieval period was the kingdom of Navarre. Their language did not spread during the Reconquesta, unlike those of the other Spanish ethnolinguistic groups. Nowadays their urban areas are very Castilian-speaking, both because of Andalucian and Extremaduran immigration and the Castilianization of ethnic Basques. Their country, known in their language as Euskal Herria is made up of the Basque Autonomous Community and Navarre in Spain, as well as the areas of Lapurdi, Zuberoa and Lower Navarre in southwestern France.

Asturians

Asturias was the first Christian in Spain to pursue the Reconquesta, and indeed it and its sucessor state Leon conquered large areas of western Spain. Asturian-Leonese people inhabited what are today the autonomous community of Asturias, the provinces of Leon, Zamorra and Salamanca in the autonomous community of Castile-Leon, and the western areas of Extremadura. However, in Extremadura there are only a few villages which still speak anything close to Asturian-Leonese, in Salamanca there are no speakers left, and in Leon and Zamorra the speakers are left in some western villages. In Asturias most people have some knowledge of the language -- but it is far from dominant, and it has no official status. There is no Asturian nationalist or secessionist party with parliamentary representation in Asturias, Castile-Leon or Extremadura, in contrast with the Catalans, Basques, Aragonese and Galicians.

Aragonese

The Aragonese inhabited primarily Aragon (the central and southern areas being fruit of the Reconquesta) as well as the churro areas of Valencia (the rest of the region is historically dominated by Catalans). They gave their name to the Crown of Aragon which was a major playor in the Mediterranean, but its centre was Barcelona and it spread Catalan language and culture. Furthermore, eastern Aragon was settled by Catalans, and now western dialects of Catalan are predominantly spoken in that sparsely populated area. Other parts of Aragon rapidly became Castilian-speaking -- this was both due to Castilian resettlement of areas depopulated by plagues and the Castilianization of the ethnic Aragonese due to the lack of prestige given to their language. By the 20th century the Aragonese language was mainly spoken in mountain areas of the Huescaprovince.

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