Yeah, it depends of what part of Spain we're talking about it.
I talked about South Spain.
You can see that difference in Spanish people origin in the language more clearly too.
In Spanish language we have pair of words with exactly same meaning, but different origin: Latin and Arabic.
And in some parts of Spain most people use the word of Arabic origin (South Spain), and in the rest the word of Latin Origin.
e.g of those pair of words:
Olive: Oliva (Latin), Aceituna (Arabic)
Scorpion: Escorpion (Latin), Alacran (Arabic).
Lizard: Lagarto (Latin), Fardacho (Arabic)
And so on.
That is really interesting, now that you mention it. I was aware of all of those words but I did not know that their use (prevalence) was tied to the geographical region of Spain but it makes sense that the Arabic origin word gained a stronger foothold in Southern Spain where the Arab presence was the strongest and longest.
Speaking about Spain, I find it interesting that some of the most popular surnames in Spain, such as García is originally a Basque surname which is a completely unrelated language to Spanish and any other language in the world in fact (language isolate).
Many outsiders also forget about the Germanic (Visigothic) influence in Spain. It was in particular profound in the surnames that people adopted. Some of the most popular Spanish surnames are originally Visigothic.
For example Rodríguez, Fernández, and González are all Visigothic surnames meaning son of Rodri, Fernando, Gonzalo. Like the English Johnson (son of John), Peterson (son of Peter).
In Arabic son of is literally ibn x or y and for women bint.
Anyway the richness of Spain is the fusion of local indigenous Iberian cultures, Phoenician, Carthaginian (Semitic overall), Greek, Roman, Visigoth, Arab etc. fusion. Jewish too. Many layers in other words.
Later that fusion and culture, language, cuisine, people, etc. spread to much of the new world (Latin America) which is why the Arab connection with that part of the world is also so strong with later million big Arab migrations to Latin America in the more modern world.
To the point that mate the drink has spread to in places like Syria, Lebanon etc.
I agree in all, but I have to say something good about that kind of Magreb immigration: Once married, when they create families, they are a lot more stable and civilized than other groups.
Even being a minority I see more structured families among them, than among rest of Spaniards and other migrants groups.
Fertility rates in Europe are really declining and in many universities etc. in much of the larger Western European cities, Arabs and other non-natives almost outnumber the locals, in particular women. It seems that the European elites have done everything in order to make life as hard as possible for young people to marry, start families etc. due to their failed economic and social policies. Many people cannot afford it.
BTW I forgot the Canarians which are actually partially of Berber (Gaunches) ancestry who again are related peoples to Arabs and part of the Afro-Asiatic speaking peoples.
en.wikipedia.org
Many people from the Canary Islands migrated to Cuba (Fidel Castro was half Canarian for example) and other parts of Latin America. Their Spanish accent influenced Colombian, Cuban and Venezuelan Spanish as did Andalusian Spanish. Most Spanish settlers, if I am not wrong, in the Canary Islands, came from Andalusia and southern Spain.
Which is why local Canary people are more darker than regular Spanish people. You can see it in Pedri, Ayoze Pérez, Yéremy Pino etc.
www.bbc.com
