AESTHETIC OF THE WORLD’S ETHNIES : Mediterranean ethnies part 2 !
The Catalans are a Romance european people inhabitants of the region of Catalonia, officially in Spain and France. They speak catalan, and most of them also speak spanish due to opression by the Spanish. Much of the Pyrenees mountains was inhabited in the Ancien Times by peoples related to modern Basques, and today many town names in the western Catalan Pyrenees can be linked to Basque etymologies. These groups came under the rule of various invading groups starting with the Greeks that founded Empúries and the Phoenicians and Carthaginians, who set up colonies along the coast, including Barcino (present-day Barcelona). Following the Punic Wars, the Romans replaced the Carthaginians as the dominant power in the Iberian eastern coast, including parts of Catalonia, by 206 BCE. In 1137, the County of Barcelona entered a dynastic union with the kingdom of Aragon to form what modern historians call the Crown of Aragon. This allowed the reclaim of the kingdoms of Valencia and Majorca (the Balearic Islands). From the 14th century, the territory of the Catalan counties started to be called the Principality of Catalonia. There are about 8.4 millions of them. They have their own culture, and expressed a desire to get independance from Spain. The Basque are a european people inhabitants of the region of the “Basque Country”, officially in Spain and France. They speak Basque, one of the only language isolate of Europe, and most of them also speak spanish or french, due to opression by both countries. A comprehensive analysis of Basque genetic patterns has shown that Basque genetic uniqueness predates the arrival of agriculture in the Iberian Peninsula, about 7,000 years ago. It is thought that Basques are a remnant of the early inhabitants of Western Europe, specifically those of the Franco-Cantabrian region, and there are about 3 millions of them. They have their own vivid culture and traditions. The Corsicans are a Romance european people inhabitants of the island of Corsica, officially in France. They speak corsicans and french, due to opression by the French. The island was populated since the Mesolithic (Dame de Bonifacio) and the Neolithic by people who came from the Italian peninsula, especially the modern regions of Tuscany and Liguria. The modern Corsicans are named after an ancient people known by the Romans as Corsi. The Corsi, who gave their name to the island, actually originated from the Northeastern part of Nuragic Sardinia (Gallura). Further research is still needed to answer the question of the origin of the Corsi and their alleged relation with today's Corsicans. According to several scholars, they may have been a group of tribes affiliated to the ancient Ligures, like the Ilvates in the neighboring Ilva island (today's Elba in Italy), and may have spoken the old Ligurian language. Corsica was later colonized by Etruscans from what is modern Tuscany, and there are around 320 000 of them. They have their own culture and traditions, and have expressed a desire for independance from France.
The Sardinians are a Romance european people inhabitants of the island of Sardinia, officially in Italy. They speak Sardinian, but mostly italian. Sardinia was first colonized in a stable manner during the Upper Paleolithic and the Mesolithic by people from the Iberian and the Italian peninsula. During the Neolithic period and the Early Eneolithic, people from Italy, Spain and the Aegean area settled in Sardinia. During the Roman rule, there was a considerable immigration flow from the Italian peninsula into the island; ancient sources mention several populations of Italic origin settling down in Sardinia, like the Patulcenses Campani (from Campania), the Falisci (from southern Etruria), the Buduntini (from Apulia) and the Siculenses (from Sicily); Roman colonies were also established in Porto Torres (Turris Libisonis) and Uselis. They are 1,661,521 of them. They have their own culture and traditions. The Occitans are Romance european people inhabitants of the region of Occitania, officially in France, Spain and Italy. They speak occitan, but mostly french, spanish and italian, due to opression. Occitania was populated since the paleolithic, and the Occitans were a distinct people from those that occupied the north of France. Invaded by the Romans, Occitania became one the Septem Provinciae. They never got independance since, but they are today around 16 millions of them. They have their own culture. This is part of a serie I’m doing for fun of the world ethnies. I will cover some of the biggest ethnies in the world.
