Quite interesting, Javiero. I think you should have also considered non-Iberian surnames, which are prominent especially in the South Cone (what would be of Uruguay without Italians?, Chile without French and Germans?) but still quite good analysis.
It's interesting how Galicians have been rising in the political (and surely economic) elites. In contrast it seems to me that Basques and Catalans (but also Canarians and Valencians), unlike in Latin America, are very underrepresented in Spanish politics. I made a study years ago using only prime ministers (validos, presidents of the government) and non-monarchic head of states (presidentes of a republic and that pesky "caudillo"): https://forwhatwearetheywillbe.blogspot.com/2012/10/ethnically-speaking-who-rules-spain.html
Interestingly Galicians have also been increasing their political power in Spain but not at all Basques or Catalans, these last are the most discriminated against ethnicity in Spain, except for the First Republic, which lasted just months and tried to be federalist.
"I think you should have also considered non-Iberian surnames,"
I'm thinking of doing that as soon as I have the time. My initial assumption is that surnames of non-Iberian origin will be overrepresented, but it would be interesting to know if there are any differences between countries and between origins. Also whether there are trends in time (does the elite share converge towards the general population share with time?).
I find very interesting what you discovered about Galicians. And about Castilians, do you think that part of the positive discrimination in their favor during the 19th century might arise from the large influence of the army (Espartero, etc.) in politics during that century?
Well, Spain is expanded Castile, Greater Castile, there was no formal Spain until Napoleon's 1808 Charter and the Constitution of Cádiz of 1812. When Navarre was conquered in 1512-21, it was annexed to Castile (even if as a nominal semi-autonomous "kingdom", similar arrangement to the other Basque provinces prior) but even more clearly when the Aragonese Crown's realms were defeated in the War of Spanish Succession (a defeat that is painfully felt especially in Catalonia, which they commemorate as national "diada", i.e. day, every September 11), they were fully annexed to Castile with no autonomy whatsoever (the repression was so brutal in Catalonia that they were forbidden to even have any knife other than one tied to the kitchen's table).
Oddly enough the 19th century Spanish Army was more multiethnic, producing some notable non-Castilian generals like Iturbide (liberator and first Emperor of Mexico, after switching sides) or Zumalakarregi (great commander of the First Carlist War and proposed to become new King of Navarre even, although it seems he was rather republican federalist himself), both Basques, or Enrique Puigmoltó y Mayans, a Valencian general believed to be the biological father of Alfonso XII (there's no real Bourbon ancestry in modern Bourbons, as Godoy was surely the actual father of Fernando VI). It's unclear to me when the Spanish military (officers) became a Castilian-only caste (or almost so) but that's what has been happening since maybe a century ago, as everyone of Basque or Catalan origin is turned down systematically at the selection tests.
I have no idea how Galicians have improved their overall status in Spain other than being more submissive than Basques and Catalans. Plausibly some of them also managed to make fortune in business in Latin America and Philippines, just as those "indianos" (people who migrated to America and returned rich, whose mansions characteristically had palm trees at the entrance) from Cantabria and the Basque Country. All North Spain was historically conductive to migration but in the Basque case this was because only one son (or daughter) inherited the whole farmhouse (caserío or baserria) by peculiar law (of ancient peasant revolt origins), while in Galicia property was and is endlessly divided generation after generation (minifundism), so Galicians tended to emigrate out of poverty, while Basques did so usually with some other inheritance (money typically) they got in compensation for not inheriting the farm, often starting with better odds, be it at home or abroad.
Quite interesting, Javiero. I think you should have also considered non-Iberian surnames, which are prominent especially in the South Cone (what would be of Uruguay without Italians?, Chile without French and Germans?) but still quite good analysis.
It's interesting how Galicians have been rising in the political (and surely economic) elites. In contrast it seems to me that Basques and Catalans (but also Canarians and Valencians), unlike in Latin America, are very underrepresented in Spanish politics. I made a study years ago using only prime ministers (validos, presidents of the government) and non-monarchic head of states (presidentes of a republic and that pesky "caudillo"): https://forwhatwearetheywillbe.blogspot.com/2012/10/ethnically-speaking-who-rules-spain.html
Interestingly Galicians have also been increasing their political power in Spain but not at all Basques or Catalans, these last are the most discriminated against ethnicity in Spain, except for the First Republic, which lasted just months and tried to be federalist.
"I think you should have also considered non-Iberian surnames,"
I'm thinking of doing that as soon as I have the time. My initial assumption is that surnames of non-Iberian origin will be overrepresented, but it would be interesting to know if there are any differences between countries and between origins. Also whether there are trends in time (does the elite share converge towards the general population share with time?).
I find very interesting what you discovered about Galicians. And about Castilians, do you think that part of the positive discrimination in their favor during the 19th century might arise from the large influence of the army (Espartero, etc.) in politics during that century?
Well, Spain is expanded Castile, Greater Castile, there was no formal Spain until Napoleon's 1808 Charter and the Constitution of Cádiz of 1812. When Navarre was conquered in 1512-21, it was annexed to Castile (even if as a nominal semi-autonomous "kingdom", similar arrangement to the other Basque provinces prior) but even more clearly when the Aragonese Crown's realms were defeated in the War of Spanish Succession (a defeat that is painfully felt especially in Catalonia, which they commemorate as national "diada", i.e. day, every September 11), they were fully annexed to Castile with no autonomy whatsoever (the repression was so brutal in Catalonia that they were forbidden to even have any knife other than one tied to the kitchen's table).
Oddly enough the 19th century Spanish Army was more multiethnic, producing some notable non-Castilian generals like Iturbide (liberator and first Emperor of Mexico, after switching sides) or Zumalakarregi (great commander of the First Carlist War and proposed to become new King of Navarre even, although it seems he was rather republican federalist himself), both Basques, or Enrique Puigmoltó y Mayans, a Valencian general believed to be the biological father of Alfonso XII (there's no real Bourbon ancestry in modern Bourbons, as Godoy was surely the actual father of Fernando VI). It's unclear to me when the Spanish military (officers) became a Castilian-only caste (or almost so) but that's what has been happening since maybe a century ago, as everyone of Basque or Catalan origin is turned down systematically at the selection tests.
I have no idea how Galicians have improved their overall status in Spain other than being more submissive than Basques and Catalans. Plausibly some of them also managed to make fortune in business in Latin America and Philippines, just as those "indianos" (people who migrated to America and returned rich, whose mansions characteristically had palm trees at the entrance) from Cantabria and the Basque Country. All North Spain was historically conductive to migration but in the Basque case this was because only one son (or daughter) inherited the whole farmhouse (caserío or baserria) by peculiar law (of ancient peasant revolt origins), while in Galicia property was and is endlessly divided generation after generation (minifundism), so Galicians tended to emigrate out of poverty, while Basques did so usually with some other inheritance (money typically) they got in compensation for not inheriting the farm, often starting with better odds, be it at home or abroad.