Spanish settlement in Argentina
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| The majority of Argentines have at least partial Spanish ancestry. | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| Throughout Argentina | |
| Languages | |
| Rioplatense Spanish. Minority speaks Galician, Catalan, and Basque. | |
| Religion | |
| Roman Catholicism | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Spaniards, Galicians, Castilians, Catalans, Asturians, Cantabrians, Aragonese, Basque Argentines |
Spanish settlement in Argentina, that is the arrival of Spanish emigrants in Argentina, took place firstly in the period before Argentina's independence from Spain, and again in large numbers during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Between the 15th and 19th centuries, the Spanish Empire was the sole colonial power in the territories that became Argentina after the 1816 Argentine declaration of independence. Thus, before 1850, the vast majority of European settlers in Argentina were from Spain, and they carried the Spanish colonial administration, including religious affairs, government, and commercial business. A substantial Spanish-descended Criollo population gradually built up in the new cities, while some mixed with the indigenous populations (Mestizos), with the Black slave population (Mulattoes), or with other European immigrants.
Since a great part of the immigrants to Argentina before the mid-19th century were of Spanish descent, and the fact that a significative part of the late-19th century/early-20th century immigrants to Argentina were Spaniards, the large majority of Argentines are of at least part Spanish ancestry. Indeed, the 20 most common surnames in Argentina are Spanish. However this prevalence, and the numerous shared cultural aspects between Argentina and Spain (the Spanish language, Roman Catholicism, Criollo/Hispanic traditions) has been mitigated by massive Immigration to Argentina at the turn of the 20th century involving an overall majority of non-Spanish peoples from all over Europe. This has led to a hybrid Argentine culture which is among the most distinct from traditional Spanish culture in Latin America. Furthermore, a large proportion of Spanish immigration to Argentina during the 20th century, was from the North Western region of Galicia, which has a separate language and distinct culture from other parts of Spain.
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