Spain must either have given birth to an aboriginal people, or was peopled by way of the Pyrenees and by emigrants crossing the narrow strait at the columns of Hercules. The Iberian race actually forms the foundation of the populations of Spain. The Basks, or Basques, now confined to a few mountain valleys, formerly occupied the greater portion of the peninsula, as is proved by its geographical nomenclature. Celtic tribes subsequently crossed the Pyrenees, and established themselves in various parts of the country, mixing in many instances with the Iberians, and forming the so-called Celtiberians. This mixed race is met with principally in the two Castiles, whilst Galicia and the larger portion of Portugal appear to be inhabited by pure Celts. The Iberians had their original seat of civilisation in the south; they thence moved northward along the coast of the Mediterranean, penetrating as far as the Alps and the Apennines.
These original elements of the population were joined by colonists from the great commercial peoples of the Mediterranean. Cádiz and Málaga were founded by the Phœnicians, Cartagena by the Carthaginians, Saguntum by immigrants from Zacynthus, Rosas is a Rhodian colony, and the ruins of Ampurias recall the Emporiæ of the Massilians. But it was the Romans who modified the character of the Iberian and Celtic inhabitants of the peninsula, whom they subjected after a hundred years’ war. Italian culture gradually penetrated into every part of the country, and the use of Latin became universal, except in the remote valleys inhabited by the Basques.
After the downfall of the Roman empire Spain was successively invaded by Suevi, Alani, Vandals, and Visigoths, but only the latter have exercised an abiding influence upon the language and manners of the Spaniards, and the pompous gravity of the Castilian appears to be a portion of their heritage.
To these northern invasions succeeded an invasion from the neighbouring continent of Africa. The Arabs and Berbers of Mauritania gained a footing upon the rock of Gibraltar early in the eighth century, and very soon afterwards nearly the whole of Spain had fallen a prey to the Mussulman, who maintained himself here for more than seven centuries. Moors immigrated in large numbers, and they substantially affected the character of the population, more especially in the south. The Inquisition expelled, or reduced to a condition of bondage, hundreds of thousands of these Moors, but its operations only extended to Mussulmans or doubtful converts, whilst Arab and Berber blood had already found its way into the veins of the bulk of the population. Castilian bears witness to the great influence of the Saracens, for it contains many more words of Arabic than of Visigothic origin, and these words designate objects and ideas evidencing a state of progressive civilisation, such as existed when the Arabs of Córdova and Granada inaugurated the modern era of science and industry in Europe. {373}
During the dominion of the Moors the Jews prospered singularly on the soil of Spain, and their number at the time of the first persecution is said to have been 800,000. Supple, like most of their faith, they managed to get a footing in both camps, the Christian and Mohammedan, and enriched themselves at the expense of each. They supplied both sides with money to carry on the war, and, as farmers of taxes, they oppressed the inhabitants. The Christian faith triumphed in the end; the kings, to pay the cost of their wars, proclaimed a crusade against the Jews; and the people threw themselves with fury upon their hated oppressors, sparing neither iron, fire, tortures, nor the stake. A few Jewish families may have escaped destruction by embracing Catholicism, but the bulk of that people perished or were driven into exile.
Far happier has been the lot of the Gipsies, or Gitanos, who are sufficiently numerous in Spain to give a special physiognomy to several large towns. These Gipsies have always conformed outwardly to the national religion, and the Inquisition, which has sent to the stake so many Jews, Moors, and heretics, has never interfered with them. The Gipsies, in many instances, have settled down in the towns, but they all have traditions of a wandering life, and most highly respect those of their kinsmen who still range the woods and plains. These latter are proud of their title of viandantes, or wayfarers, and despise the dwellers in towns. These Spanish Gitanos appear to be the descendants of tribes who sojourned for several generations in the Balkans, for their lingo contains several hundred words of Slav and Greek origin.
M. de Bourgoing has drawn attention to the great diversity existing amongst the population of Spain. A Galician, for instance, is more like an Auvergnat than a Catalonian, and an Andalusian reminds us of a Gascon. Most of the inhabitants, however, have certain general features, derived from a common national history and ancestry.
The average Spaniard is of small stature, but strong, muscular, of surprising agility, an indefatigable walker, and proof against every hardship. The sobriety of Iberia is proverbial. “Olives, salad, and radishes are fit food for a nobleman.” The physical stamina of the Spaniard is extraordinary, and amply explains the ease with which the conquistadores surmounted the fatigues which they were exposed to in the dreaded climate of the New World. These qualities make the Spaniard the best soldier of Europe, for he possesses the fiery temperament of the South joined to the physical strength of the North, without standing in need of abundant nourishment.
The moral qualities of the Spaniard are equally remarkable. Though careless as to every-day matters, he is very resolute, sternly courageous, and of great tenacity. Any cause he takes up he defends to his last breath. The sons always embrace the cause of their fathers, and fight for it with the same resolution. Hence this long series of foreign and civil wars. The recovery of Spain from the Moors took nearly seven centuries; the conquest of Mexico, Peru, and South America was one continued fight lasting throughout a century. The war of independence which freed Spain from the yoke of Napoleon was an almost unexampled {374} effort of patriotism, and the Spaniards may justly boast that the French did not find a single spy amongst them. The two Carlist wars, too, would have been possible nowhere else but in Spain.