Are Spaniards (Spain´s people) closer to the Portuguese that the Basques?
Well, most Basques are Spanish for one thing, whereas Portuguese are not. It could be argued that the Galicians of northwestern Spain are closer to the Portuguese but, after living in Galicia, I can tell you they don’t really relate to the Portuguese even though galego shares a lot of commonalities with Portuguese. Galegos can understand Portuguese well (not completely, but fairly well enough most of the time), but they’re not kinsmen. Also, I dunno who said this, but Portuguese doesn’t come from galego. Portuguese and Spanish stem from Latin, and galego, while a mix of the two, also has some influence of gaelic (due to the region’s lengthy celtic history).
Culturally and genetically, yes. The two languages also have a lot of similarities. Despite reports to the contrary, the origins of the Basques and their language is not as shrouded in mystery as many believe. Much of it is hype which the Basques themselves promote because they want a separate homeland. However, there is some evidence that their language is derived from an ancient Celtic one, and DNA profiling indicates that their nearest relatives are not the Spanish or French, but the Cornish and Welsh people of Britain, further evidence of an ancient Celtic origin. They are definitely NOT descended from Neanderthal man, nobody is, Neanderthals have been totally extinct for thousands of years and genetic profiling has failed to find the slightest trace of Neanderthal DNA in any modern human. There are several theories, but most evidence suggests that either our ancestors and Neanderthals were incapable of interbreeding, or any offspring were sterile hybrids, in the same way that mule
