[History] Origin and influences

Localization of Sardinia

The Sardinian people are originally from the island of Sardinia, which was populated in waves of emigration from the Paleolithic period until recent times. 

Prehistory

Sardinia was first colonized in a stable manner during the Upper Paleolithic by people from the Iberian peninsula and the Italian peninsula. During the Neolithic period, people from Italy, Spain and the Aegean area settled in Sardinia. In the Eneolithic-Early Bronze age the "Beaker folk" from the Franco-Iberian area and from Central Europe settled on the island, bringing new metallurgical techniques and ceramic styles and probably some kind of Indo-European speech.

The Nuragic civilization arose during the Middle Bronze Age. At that time the island was divided into three or more major ethnic groups, the most important being the ''Ilienses'', the ''Balares'' and the ''Corsi''. 

The language (or the languages) spoken in Sardinia during the bronze age is unknown . According with some reconstructions the "Proto-Sardinian language" was a derivate of the Basque language with similarities with the ancient Iberian language . Other scholars believe that there were various linguistic areas (two or more), possibly pre-indoeuropeans and indoeuropeans.  

Ancient history

In the 10th century BC, the Phoenician (followed by carthaginians) founded colonies along the south-west coast of the island, such as Caralis, Bithia, Sulki and Tharros, to improve their trade with mediterranean populations, without attempt to enter into competition with the native sardinians. 

In the 6th century BC Sardinia was conquered by the Ancient Romans, with the exception of the central mountainous area, still today called as Barbagia, that means Land of the Barbarians.

Middle age

After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, the island was ruled in rapid succession by the east germanic tribe of the the Vandals, the Byzantine Empire, the Ostrogoths  and again by the Byzantines (East Roman Empire).

During the Middle Ages, the island was divided into four "Giudicati" (Kingdoms) that later came under the political influences of the Republic of Genoa and the Republic of Pisa. Genoa founded the cities of Alghero and Castelgenovese (Castelsardo) while the Pisans founded ''Castel di Castro'' (Cagliari) and ''Villa di Chiesa'' (Iglesias), who become with Sassari a City Republic. From the 12th century in the northwestern Sardinia, mainly in Nurra and Anglona, trades and immigration from Tuscany, Corsica and Liguria led to the birth of Sassarese language, still spoken in many centers.

From 1324 to 1420, Sardinia came under the rule of Kingdom of Aragon who repopulated the cities of Castel di Castro and Alghero with colonists, mainly Catalan people. Catalan is still spoken today in the city of Alghero. 

Modern and Contemporary history

The Spanish era ended in 1713 when the whole island came under the control of the Austrian House of Habsburg, followed in 1718 by the Dukes of Savoy, who assumed the title of "''Kings of Sardinia''". During this period Ligurian and Piedmontese families settled on the island of San Pietro Island and Sant'Antioco, in the south-west area of Sardinia, bringing with them a Ligurian dialect called "Tabarchino", spoken today in that area. The Kingdom of Sardinia annexed the whole peninsula and Sicily in 1861 after the Kingdom of Italy.

Since 1850 limited groups of specialised workers from Styria, Austria , followed by German miners from Freiburg began to settled in the Iglesiente in particular in the mining areas of Monte Vecchio , Guspini and Ingurtosu . Some german influenced building and toponym is still visible in this area. The contemporaneous migration flow from the Italian peninsula towards the sardinian mining areas of Iglesiente was more considerable and more stable ; these miners came mostly from Lombardy , Piedmont, Tuscany and Romagna.

According to a 1882 census realised by the french engineer Leon Goüine , in the south-western Sardinian mines worked 9.780 miners , 3.571 of which were of stranger origin. 

At the end of XIX century communities of fishermen from Sicily , Torre del Greco (Campania) and Ponza (Lazio) migrated on the east coasts of the island, in the towns of Arbatax/Tortolì, Siniscola and La Maddalena. 

In the XX century there was extensive emigration from the mainland during the Fascist government when people from Veneto but also from Marche, Abruzzo and Sicily came to Sardinia to populate the new mining town of Carbonia and the villages of Mussolinia (now Arborea) and Fertilia. Venetian language and Friulan are still spoken today in Arborea by the elderly.

After WWII Istrian refugees relocated in the north-west coast of Sardinia in the Nurra region , today Istriot language and Venetian  are spoken in Fertilia, Santa Maria La Palma, Maristella. In the same period few Italian Tunisian families settled in the sparsely populated area of Castiadas , east of Cagliari.