Romani people in Spain
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| (Estimated 720,000-1,500,000) | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
 Spain
|
|
| Languages | |
| Caló · Spanish · Catalan · Basque (Erromintxela) · Galician · Asturian · Aragonese · Roma | |
| Religion | |
|
Predominantly Evangelicalism , Roman Catholicism |
|
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Other Romani people |
The Romani people in Spain, generally known as gitanos (Spanish pronunciation: [xiˈtanos]), belong to the Iberian Kale group, with smaller populations in Portugal (known as ciganos) and in southern France. They tend to speak Caló, which basically encompasses a range of regional dialects of Spanish with numerous Romani loan words and mannerisms. Nevertheless, to varying degrees, they identify with Andalusian culture and music due to the large and culturally significant gitano population present in that region. Data on ethnicity is not collected in Spain, although the Government's statistical agency CIS estimated in 2007 that the number of Gitanos present in Spain is probably around one million.
The term "gitano" comes from "egipcio", a Spanish term for "Egyptian" as the English word "Gypsy" comes from "Egyptian". Both terms are due to Romanis claiming to be from Egypt during their first arrivals to Europe in the 14th and 15th centuries.
Gitano identity is particularly complex in Spain for a variety of reasons which are examined below. Nevertheless, it can be safely said that both from the perspective of gitano and non-gitano (payo) Spaniards, individuals generally considered to belong to this ethnicity are those of full or near-full gitano descent and who also self-identify as such.
A confusing element is the thorough hybridization of Andalusian and Roma culture (and some would say identity) at a popular level. This has occurred to the point where Spaniards from other regions of Spain can commonly mistake elements of one for the other. The clearest example of this is flamenco music and Sevillanas, art forms that are Andalusian rather than gitano in origin but, having been strongly marked by gitanos in interpretative style, is now commonly associated to this ethnicity by many Spaniards. The fact that the largest population of gitanos being concentrated in Southern Spain has even led to a confusion between gitano accents and those typical of Southern Spain even though many Kale populations in the northern half of Spain (such as Galicia) do not speak Andalusian Spanish.
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Wikipedia