Castilian people
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| Castilians Castellanos |
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Castile |
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| Spanish language
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| Predominantly Roman Catholic |
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| Andalusians · Catalans · Asturians · Galicians |
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The Castilian people are the inhabitants of those regions in Spain where most people identify themselves as Castilian. They include Castile La Mancha, Madrid and a part of Castile and Leon. However, not all regions in the medieval Kingdom of Castile think of themselves as Castilian. For this reason, the exact limits of what Castile is today are disputed.
Through the Reconquista and other conquests in the Middle Ages, the Kingdom of Castile (later Crown of Castile) spread all over the Iberian Peninsula, especially towards the southern Spanish regions. After this, since the 15th century, through the Spanish conquest of the Americas, the castilians also spread over the New World, bringing with them not only their language, which is called today the Spanish language, but also elements of their culture, traditions and idiosyncrasy.
[edit] The Castilian language
Spanish was originally called Castilian, and it's the native language of the Castilians. It's thought to have originated in the Cordillera Cantábrica and the upper Ebro valley, in northern Spain, around the 8th and 9th centuries AD. After the Reconquista, it was brought to the south and almost entirely replaced the languages that were spoken in the Moorish zone, such as Arabic and Mozarabic. However, in this process it also acquired strong influences from these languages that gradually absorbed and eventually came to be known as Spanish.
During the Spanish conquest of the Americas, Spanish was the dominant language in Spain, and therefore was the language that was transmitted to the New World by the Conquistadores. Due to this gradual process, the Hispanophone world was created.
In Spanish, the word castellano (castilian) is often used to refer to the Spanish language, alongside español (Spanish). See Names given to the Spanish language.
