sardinians

File:SardusPaterBabai.jpg (59 B.C.)]]

Not much can be gathered from the classical literature about the origins of the Sardinian people.<> Sanna, Natale (1986). Il cammino dei Sardi: storia, economia, letteratura ed arte di Sardegna, I, Ed.Sardegna, Cagliari, p.19 The ethnonym "S(a)rd" may belong to the Pre-Indo-European (or Indo-European{{Citation|title=Unveiling the Enigmatic Origins of Sardinian Toponyms|date=2022 |doi=10.3390/languages7020131 |doi-access=free |last1=Ong |first1=Brenda Man Qing |last2=Perono Cacciafoco |first2=Francesco |journal=Languages |volume=7 |issue=2 |page=131 |hdl=10356/159558 |hdl-access=free }}) linguistic substratum, and whilst they might have derived from the Iberians, the accounts of the old authors differ greatly in this respect. The oldest written attestation of the ethnonym is on the Nora stone, where the word Šrdn (ShardanI.E.S. Edwards, C.J. Gadd, N.G.L. Hammond, E.Sollberger (edited by). 1970. The Cambridge Ancient History, Volume II, Part 2, Cambridge University Press, p.369) bears witness to its original existence by the time the Phoenician merchants first arrived on Sardinian shores.

According to Timaeus, one of Plato's dialogues, Sardinia and its people as well, the "Sardonioi" or "Sardianoi" (Σαρδονιοί or Σαρδιανοί), might have been named after "Sardò" (Σαρδώ), a legendary Lydian woman from Sardis (Σάρδεις), in the region of western Anatolia (now Turkey).Platonis dialogi, scholia in Timaeum (edit. C. F. Hermann, Lipsia 1877), 25 B, pag. 368Pittau, Massimo (1981). La Lingua dei Sardi Nuragici e degli Etruschi, Sassari, p. 57Sanna, Emanuele (2009). Nella preistoria le origini dei sardi, CUEC, Cagliari, p.76

Some other authors, like Pausanias and Sallust, reported instead that the Sardinians traced their descent back to a mythical ancestor, a Libyan son of Hercules or Makeris"Sardus, ut inquit Pausanias, filius fuit Maceridis, qui apud Aegyptios et Libyes, Libyes Hercules dicebatur, et Delphos aliquando petiit." Fara, Francesco Giovanni (1580). De Rebus Sardois, Libri quatuor, 1835 - 1580, Turin, p.106 (related either to the Berber verb Imɣur "to grow",Lipiński, Edward (1995). Dieux et déesses de l'univers phénicien et punique, Peeters Publishers, p. 368 to the specific Kabyle word Maqqur "He is the greatest", or also associated with the figure of Melqart{{cite web|url=http://www.attiliomastino.it/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=251:liscrizione-latina-del-restauro-del-tempio-del-sardus-pater-ad-antas-e-la-problematica-istituzionale&catid=41:archivio&Itemid=64#_ftn121|title=L'iscrizione latina del restauro del tempio del Sardus Pater ad Antas e la problematica istituzionale|author=Attilio Mastino|year=2015}}) revered as a deity going by Sardus Pater BabaiCasula, Francesco Cèsare (2017). La storia di Sardegna, I, Evo Antico Sardo : Dalla Sardegna Medio-Nuragica (100 a.C. c.) alla Sardegna Bizantina (900 d.C. c.), p.92Bartoloni, Piero (2009). I Fenici e i Cartaginesi in Sardegna, C. Delfino, Sassari, p.130 ("Sardinian Father" or "Father of the Sardinians"), who gave the island its name.Sallust, Historiae, II, fr.4Pausanias, Ελλάδοσ περιήγησισ, X, 17Silius Italicus, Punica, XII, 360Gaius Julius Solinus, Collectanea rerum memorabilium, IV, 1Isidore of Seville, XIV, Etymologiae, Thapsumque iacentem, 39 It has also been claimed that the ancient Nuragic Sards were associated with the Sherden (šrdn in Egyptian), one of the Sea Peoples."I monumenti dell'Egitto che hanno di già sparsa tanta luce sulla storia dell'antico oriente, sarebbero quelli i quali, secondo un'opinione recentemente emessa da più di un dotto, farebbero anche il più antico ricordo dei Sardi." Pais, Ettore (1881). Sardegna prima del dominio romano: studio storico archeologico, Coi tipi del Salviucci, Roma, p.261{{Cite web|url=https://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/sardi_res-c8fc02e8-8bb6-11dc-8e9d-0016357eee51_(Enciclopedia-Italiana)/|title=Sardi - Enciclopedia|website=Treccani}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.sardiniapost.it/culture/nuovo-studio-dellarcheologo-ugas-e-certo-i-nuragici-erano-gli-shardana/|title=ARCHIVIO. Nuovo studio dell'archeologo Ugas: "È certo, i nuragici erano gli Shardana"|first=Francesca|last=Mulas|date=3 February 2017|website=sardiniapost}}{{Cite web |url=http://www.sardiniapoint.it/5085.html |title=Shardana, sardi nuragici: erano lo stesso popolo?, Interview with Giovanni Ugas (in Italian) |access-date=8 June 2010 |archive-date=5 April 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200405144452/http://www.sardiniapoint.it/5085.html |url-status=dead }}{{cite web|url=https://www.sardiniapost.it/culture/la-certezza-degli-accademici-egiziani-gli-shardana-erano-i-nuragici-sardi/|title=La certezza degli accademici egiziani: "Gli shardana erano i nuragici sardi"|date=25 January 2019|publisher=SardiniaPost}} The ethnonym was then romanised, with regard for the singular masculine and feminine form, as sardus and sarda.

{{See also|History of Sardinia}}

{{See also|Pre-Nuragic Sardinia}}

File:Neolitico, cultura di ozieri, frammento di vaso con figurette umane, 3500-2700 ac ca. 02.JPG]]

Sardinia was first settled by modern humans from continental Europe during the Upper Paleolithic and the Mesolithic; at the time Sardinia and Corsica formed a single island, the largest in the Mediterranean, separated from the Italian peninsula by a short stretch of sea.{{Citation |url=https://www.sardegnacultura.it/documenti/7_93_20070719122533.pdf |title=I primi abitanti della Sardegna |language=Italian|access-date=3 July 2023}} During the Neolithic, Early European Farmers settled in Sardinia. According to modern archaeogenetic investigations, the Neolithic Sardinians showed a greater affinity with the Cardial populations of Iberia and Southern France, furthermore mitochondrial haplogroups of the ancient Mesolithic inhabitants would survive in today's Sardinians.{{cite web|url=https://www.uniss.it/uniss-comunica/unisspress/il-dna-dei-sardi-svela-lorigine-genetica-di-un-popolo-antichissimo|title=IL DNA DEI SARDI SVELA L'ORIGINE GENETICA DI UN POPOLO ANTICHISSIMO|language=Italian|access-date=24 August 2023|archive-date=24 August 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230824064256/https://www.uniss.it/uniss-comunica/unisspress/il-dna-dei-sardi-svela-lorigine-genetica-di-un-popolo-antichissimo|url-status=dead}}

File:Sassari - Complesso prenuragico di Monte d'Accoddi (04).JPG, erected by the Pre-Nuragic Sardinians from the Ozieri and Abealzu-Filigosa culture.{{cite web|url=https://www.sardegnaturismo.it/en/explore/tempio-altare-di-monte-daccoddi|title=Tempio-Altare di monte d'Accoddi|date=4 July 2017|publisher=SardegnaTurismo}}]]

In the Late Chalcolithic to the Early Bronze Age, the Bell Beaker culture from Southern France, Northeastern Spain, and then Central EuropeManlio Brigaglia – Storia della Sardegna, pg. 48-49-50 entered the island, bringing new metallurgical techniques and ceramic styles and probably Indo-European languages.Giovanni Ugas – L'alba dei Nuraghi, pg.22-23-24 An early modest gene flow of the Western Steppe Herders has been dated to about this period (~2600 BCE).Manjusha Chintalapati, Nick Patterson, Priya Moorjani (2022) The spatiotemporal patterns of major human admixture events during the European Holocene eLife 11:e77625 https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.77625

File:I popoli della Sardegna Romana.png

{{See also|Nuragic civilization|Paleo-Sardinian language}}

The Nuragic civilization arose in the Middle Bronze Age, during the Late Bonnanaro culture, which showed connections with the previous Beaker culture and the Polada culture of northern Italy.{{Citation|title=Technological insights on the Early-Middle Bronze Age pottery of Monte Meana cave (Sardinia, Italy)|year=2022|doi=10.1016/j.heliyon.2022.e09171 |doi-access=free |last1=Paglietti |first1=Giacomo |last2=Tanda |first2=Giuseppa |last3=Melis |first3=Rita Teresa |last4=Musinu |first4=Anna |last5=Cruciani |first5=Gabriele |last6=Franceschelli |first6=Marcello |last7=Cannas |first7=Carla |last8=Mameli |first8=Valentina |last9=Casu |first9=Mariano |journal=Heliyon |volume=8 |issue=3 |pages=e09171 |pmid=35368527 |pmc=8971581 |bibcode=2022Heliy...809171P |hdl=11584/332042 |hdl-access=free }} Although the Sardinians were considered to have acquired a sense of national identity,Lilliu, Giovanni; Alberto Moravetti (edited by). Cultura & culture : storia e problemi della Sardegna negli scritti giornalistici di Giovanni Lilliu, v.1, 1995, Delfino, Sassari, p.18-19 at that time, the grand tribal identities of the Nuragic Sardinians were said to be three (roughly from the South to the North): the Iolei/Ilienses, inhabiting the area from the southernmost plains to the mountainous zone of eastern Sardinia (later part of what would be called by the Romans Barbaria);{{Cite web|url=https://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/iliensi_(Enciclopedia-Italiana)/|title=Iliensi - Enciclopedia|website=Treccani}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/iliensi/|title=Iliensi - Enciclopedia|website=Treccani}} the Balares, living in the North-West corner;{{Cite web|url=https://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/balari_(Enciclopedia-Italiana)/|title=Balari - Enciclopedia|website=Treccani}} and finally the Corsi stationed in today's Gallura and the island to which they gave the name, Corsica.Giovanni Ugas – L'alba dei Nuraghi, p. 241 Nuragic Sardinians have been connected by some scholars to the Sherden, a tribe of the so-called Sea Peoples, whose presence is registered several times in ancient Egyptian records.{{Cite web|url=http://www.sardiniapoint.it/5085.html|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20200405144452/http://www.sardiniapoint.it/5085.html|url-status=dead|title=SardiniaPoint.it – Interview with Giovanni Ugas, archaeologist and professor of the University of Cagliari|archivedate=5 April 2020}}

The language or languages spoken in Sardinia during the Bronze Age is unknown since there are no written records of such period. According to Eduardo Blasco Ferrer, the Paleo-Sardinian language was akin to Proto-Basque and the ancient Iberian. In contrast, others believe it was related to Etruscan. Other scholars theorize that there were various linguistic areas (two or more) in Nuraghic Sardinia, possibly Pre-Indo-European and Indo-European.Giovanni Ugas - L'Alba dei Nuraghi pg.241,254 - Cagliari, 2005

{{See also|Sardinia and Corsica}}

File:Limes Sardegna Punica.png, with the red dots being their most notable settlements.]]

In the 8th century BCE, Phoenicia founded colonies and ports along the southern and western coast, such as Karalis, Bithia, Sulki and Tharros;Casula, Francesco Cèsare (2017). La storia di Sardegna, I, Evo Antico Sardo : Dalla Sardegna Medio-Nuragica (100 a.C. c.) alla Sardegna Bizantina (900 d.C. c.), p.110, 137-151 starting from the same areas, where the relations between the indigenous Sardinians and the descendants of Phoenician settlers, the Punic people, had been so far peaceful,E. Matisoo-Smith et al., {{cite journal|title=Ancient mitogenomes of Phoenicians from Sardinia and Lebanon: A story of settlement, integration, and female mobility|journal = PLOS ONE|volume = 13|issue = 1|pages = e0190169|pmc = 5761892|year = 2018|last1 = Matisoo-Smith|first1 = E.|last2 = Gosling|first2 = A. L.|last3 = Platt|first3 = D.|last4 = Kardailsky|first4 = O.|last5 = Prost|first5 = S.|last6 = Cameron-Christie|first6 = S.|last7 = Collins|first7 = C. J.|last8 = Boocock|first8 = J.|last9 = Kurumilian|first9 = Y.|last10 = Guirguis|first10 = M.|last11 = Pla Orquín|first11 = R.|last12 = Khalil|first12 = W.|last13 = Genz|first13 = H.|last14 = Abou Diwan|first14 = G.|last15 = Nassar|first15 = J.|last16 = Zalloua|first16 = P.|pmid = 29320542|doi = 10.1371/journal.pone.0190169|bibcode = 2018PLoSO..1390169M|doi-access = free}} the Carthaginians proceeded to annex the southern and western part of Sardinia in the late 6th century BC. Well into the 1st century BCE, native Sardinians were said to have preserved many cultural affinities with the Punic people of North Africa.[https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/11691083.pdf Manlio Brigaglia, Attilio Mastino, Gian Giacomo Ortu (edited by). Storia della Sardegna, dalle Origini al Settecento], p. 41

After the First Punic War, the whole island was conquered by the Romans in the 3rd century BC. Sardinia and Corsica were then made into a single province;Casula, Francesco Cèsare (2017). La storia di Sardegna, I, Evo Antico Sardo : Dalla Sardegna Medio-Nuragica (100 a.C. c.) alla Sardegna Bizantina (900 d.C. c.), p.184 however, it took the Romans more than another 150 years to manage to subdue the more belligerent Nuragic tribes of the interior,Emmanuel Anati (ed. by). I sardi : la Sardegna dal paleolitico all'eta romana, Editrice Mediterranea, Cagliari, p.21 and after 184 years since the Sardinians fell under Roman sway, Cicero noted how there was still not on the island a single community which had had friendly intercourse with the Roman people.[44] Neque ego, cum de vitiis gentis loquor, neminem excipio; sed a me est de universo genere dicendum, in quo fortasse aliqui suis moribus et humanitate stirpis ipsius et gentis vitia vicerunt. Magnam quidem esse partem sine fide, sine societate et coniunctione nominis nostri res ipsa declarat. Quae est enim praeter Sardiniam provincia quae nullam habeat amicam populo Romano ac liberam civitatem? . [http://www.thelatinlibrary.com/cicero/scauro.shtml Cicero, Pro Scauro]Casula, Francesco Cèsare (2017). La storia di Sardegna, I, Evo Antico Sardo : Dalla Sardegna Medio-Nuragica (100 a.C. c.) alla Sardegna Bizantina (900 d.C. c.), p.186 Even from the former Sardo-Carthaginian settlements, with which the Sardinian mountaineers had formed an alliance in a common struggle against the Romans,«..Nello stesso tempo i Sardi rimasti indipendenti sulle montagne smisero il loro iniziale atteggiamento ostile nei confronti dei Cartaginesi, dei quali divennero federati, come dimostra il fatto che essi non si sollevarono contro i Punici nel momento in cui Scipione prese Olbia (259 a.C.), ma anzi fecero causa comune con quelli. Ne sono indizio le numerose menzioni di trionfi romani su Cartaginesi e Sardi.» {{cite book|author=Gennaro Pesce|title=La vita quotidiana durante il periodo punico, in La società in Sardegna nei secoli|page=52}} indigenous attempts emerged aimed at resisting cultural and political assimilation: inscriptions in Bithia dating to the period of Marcus Aurelius were found, and they still followed the old Punic script at a time when even in North Africa the script was neo-Punic; Punic-style magistrates called sufetes wielded local control in Nora and Tharros through the end of the first century B.C., although two sufetes existed in Bithia as late as the mid-second century CE.{{cite book |last1=Roppa |first1=Andrea |author-link1=Connectivity, Trade and Punic persistence: Insularity and Identity in Late Punic to Roman Republican Sardinia (3rd–1st century BC) |editor1-last=Kouremenos |editor1-first=Anna |title=Insularity and identity in the Roman Mediterranean |date=2018 |publisher=Oxbow Books |pages=144–164}} Overall, Sardinia was quite disliked by the Romans and, as isolated as it was kept, Romanization proceeded at a relatively slow pace.

File:Sardegna Barbaria.png

During the Roman rule, there was a considerable immigration flow from the Italian peninsula into the island; ancient sources mention several populations of Italic origin settling down in Sardinia, like the Patulcenses Campani (from Campania), the Falisci (from southern Etruria), the Buduntini (from Apulia) and the Siculenses (from Sicily); Roman colonies were also established in Porto Torres (Turris Libisonis) and Uselis.A. Mastino, Storia della Sardegna antica, p.173 The Italic immigrants were confronted with a difficult coexistence with the natives,[https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/11691083.pdf Manlio Brigaglia, Attilio Mastino, Gian Giacomo Ortu (edited by). Storia della Sardegna, dalle Origini al Settecento], p. 42 who were reluctant to assimilate to the language and customs of the colonists; many aspects of the ancient Sardo-Punic culture are documented to have persisted well into Imperial times, and the mostly mountainous innerlands came to earn the name of Barbaria ("Land of the Barbarians", similar in origin to the word Barbary) as a testament of the fiercely independent spirit of the tribes who dwelled therein (in fact, they would continue to practice their indigenous prehistoric religion up until the age of Pope Gregory I).[https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/11691083.pdf Manlio Brigaglia, Attilio Mastino, Gian Giacomo Ortu (edited by). Storia della Sardegna, dalle Origini al Settecento], pp. 41, 43-45

{{blockquote|Therefore, at the beginning of the imperial age, the Sardinian population appears remarkably composite: the coexistence between the natives and the Italic immigrants was not easy; the integration turned out to be slow, different from region to region and, in the inland areas, firmly closed to confrontation with the Romans, only superficial and not irreversible..|

Attilio Mastino, Storia della Sardegna antica p.173}}

Nevertheless, Sardinia would eventually undergo cultural Romanization, the modern Sardinian language being one of the most evident cultural developments thereof.Contini & Tuttle, 1982: 171; Blasco Ferrer, 1989: 14.Story of Language, Mario Pei, 1949Romance Languages: A Historical Introduction, Cambridge University Press Strabo gave a brief summary about the Mountaineer tribes,[https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/11691083.pdf Manlio Brigaglia, Attilio Mastino, Gian Giacomo Ortu (edited by). Storia della Sardegna, dalle Origini al Settecento], p. 44 living in what would be called civitates Barbariae, Geographica V ch.2:

There are four nations of mountaineers, the Parati, Sossinati, Balari, and the Aconites. These people dwell in caverns. Although they have some arable land, they neglect its cultivation, preferring rather to plunder what they find cultivated by others, whether on the island or on the continent, where they make descents, especially upon the Pisatæ. The prefects sent [into Sardinia] sometimes resist them, but at other times leave them alone, since it would cost too dear to maintain an army always on foot in an unhealthy place.

Like any other subjects of the Empire, Sardinians too would be granted Roman citizenship in 212 AD with the Constitutio Antoniniana by Caracalla.{{cite book|title=Storia della Sardegna antica|author=Attilio Mastino|page=546|publisher=Edizioni Il Maestrale|isbn=88-86109-98-9|year=2005}}

After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, Sardinia was ruled in rapid succession by the Vandals,Casula, Francesco Cèsare (2017). La storia di Sardegna, I, Evo Antico Sardo : Dalla Sardegna Medio-Nuragica (100 a.C. c.) alla Sardegna Bizantina (900 d.C. c.), pp. 255-269 the Byzantines, the OstrogothsFrancesco Cesare Casula – La Storia di Sardegna, pg.141 and again by the Byzantines, when the island was, once again in its history, joined to North Africa as part of the Exarchate of Africa.

During the Middle Ages, the "Sardinian Nation" (Nació Sarda or Sardesca, as reported from the native and Aragonese dispatchesCasula, Francesco Cèsare (1982). Profilo storico della Sardegna catalano-aragonese, Edizioni della Torre, Cagliari, pp.8-10; Casula, Francesco Cèsare (1985). La Sardenya catalano-aragonesa : perfil historic, Dalmau, Barcelona, p.14) was juridically divided into four kingdoms, known collectively in Sardinian as Judicadu, Giudicau or simply Logu "Place";Cèsare, Francesco Cèsare (1985). La Sardenya catalano-aragonesa : perfil historic, Dalmau, Barcelona, p.19 in {{langx|it|Giudicato}});Casula, Francesco Cèsare (1990). La Sardegna aragonese, 6.2 La nazione sarda, Sassari, Chiarella all of them, except for the Judicate of Arborea, fell under the influence of the maritime republics of Genoa and Pisa, as well as some noble families from the two cities, like the Doria family, the Della Gherardesca family, and the Malaspina family. The Dorias founded the cities of Alghero and Castelgenovese (today Castelsardo), while the Pisans founded Castel di Castro (today Cagliari) and Terranova (today Olbia); the famous count Ugolino della Gherardesca, quoted by Dante Alighieri in his Divine Comedy, favored the birth of the mining town of Villa di Chiesa (today Iglesias), which became an Italian medieval commune along with Sassari and Castel di Castro. These new cities attracted migrants from the Italian peninsula, Corsica and several regions of Sardinia.Mauro Maxia, I corsi in Sardegna, 2006, Edizioni della Torre, ISBN 8873434126Marco Tangheroni, La città dell'argento. Iglesias dalle origini alla fine del Medioevo, Napoli 1985, Liguori editore, ISBN 9788820713669

File:Braun hogenberg Cagliari 1572.jpg" (1572)]]

Following the Aragonese conquest of the Sardinian territories under Pisan rule, which took place between 1323 and 1326, and then the long conflict between the Aragonese Kingdom and the Judicate of Arborea (1353–1420), the newborn Kingdom of Sardinia became one of the Associate States of the Crown of Aragon. The Aragonese repopulated the cities of Castel di Castro and Alghero predominantly with CatalansManlio Brigaglia – Storia della Sardegna, pg.158{{Cite web|url=https://www.refworld.org/reference/countryrep/mrgi/2018/en/65089|title=World Directory of Minorities and Indigenous Peoples - Italy : Sardinians|website=Refworld}} and the Algherese dialect of Catalan is still spoken by a minority in the city of Alghero.

In the 16th and 17th centuries, the main Sardinian cities of Cagliari (the capital of the Kingdom), Alghero and Sassari appear well placed in the trade routes of the time. The cosmopolitan composition of its people provides evidence of it: the population was not only indigenous, but also hailing from Spain, Liguria, France and the island of Corsica in particular.Stranieri nella Cagliari del XVI e XVII secolo da "Los Otros: genti, culture e religioni diverse nella Sardegna spagnola”, Cagliari, 23 aprile 2004.Antonio Budruni, Da vila a ciutat: aspetti di vita sociale in Alghero, nei secoli XVI e XVII Especially in Sassari and across the strip of territory that goes from Anglona to Gallura, the Corsicans became the majority of the population at least since the 15th century. This migration from the neighboring island, which is likely to have led to the birth of the Tuscan-sounding Sassarese and Gallurese dialects, went on continuously until the 19th century.

The Spanish era ended in 1713, when Sardinia was ceded to the Austrian House of Habsburg, followed with another cession in 1718 to the Dukes of Savoy, who assumed the title of "Kings of Sardinia" and ruled the island from Turin, in Piedmont. During this period, Italianization policies were implemented, so as to assimilate the islanders to the then Savoyard mainland (stati di terraferma).Cardia, Amos (2006). S'italianu in Sardìnnia candu, cumenti e poita d'ant impostu: 1720-1848; poderi e lìngua in Sardìnnia in edadi spanniola , Iskra, Ghilarza, p. 92 In 1738, the Ligurian colonists escaped from Tabarka (Tunisia) were invited by Charles Emmanuel III to settle on the little islands of San Pietro and Sant'Antioco (at Carloforte and Calasetta), in the south-west area of Sardinia, bringing with them a Ligurian dialect called "Tabarchino", still widely spoken there.Dizionario geografico storico-statistico-commerciale degli Stati di S. M. il Re di Sardegna: 3, Volumes 1-28, Presso G. Maspero librajo, 1836, year 1738 Then, the Piedmontese Kingdom of Sardinia annexed the whole Italian peninsula and Sicily in 1861 after the Risorgimento, becoming the Kingdom of Italy.

File:Mineraria montevecchio.jpg

{{See also|History of mining in Sardinia}}

Since 1850, with the reorganization of the Sardinian mines, there had been a considerable migration flow from the Italian peninsula towards the Sardinian mining areas of Sulcis-Iglesiente; these Mainland miners came mostly from Lombardy, Piedmont, Tuscany and Romagna.Stefano Musso, Tra fabbrica e società: mondi operai nell'Italia del Novecento, Volume 33, p.316{{Cite web|url=http://notedarchivio.myblog.it/archive/2009/01/23/quando-i-bergamaschi-occuparono-le-case.html|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20121112124531/http://notedarchivio.myblog.it/archive/2009/01/23/quando-i-bergamaschi-occuparono-le-case.html|url-status=dead |title=Quando i bergamaschi occuparono le case|archivedate=12 November 2012}} According to an 1882 census realised by the French engineer Leon Goüine, 10,000 miners worked in the south-western Sardinian mines, one third of whom being from the Italian mainland;{{Cite web |url=http://www.sardegnaminiere.it/il_progresso_sociale.htm |title=Il progresso sociale della Sardegna e lo sfruttamento industriale delle miniere – Sardegnaminiere.it |access-date=27 October 2012 |archive-date=4 April 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150404005016/http://www.sardegnaminiere.it/il_progresso_sociale.htm |url-status=dead }} most of them settled in Iglesias and frazioni .

At the end of the 19th 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 1931, only 3.2% of the island's population was estimated to be native of the Mainland. A central government policy would change this situation in the following years, which saw an immigration flow from the Italian peninsula: the Fascist regime resettled to Sardinia a considerable number of miners and peasants from a wide variety of regions like Veneto, Marche, Abruzzo and Sicily, who were encouraged to populate the new mining town of Carbonia, or agrarian villages like Mussolinia di Sardegna ("Sardinia's Mussolinia", now Arborea) and Fertilia; after World War II, Italian refugees from the Istrian–Dalmatian exodus were relocated in the Nurra region, along the north-western coastline. As a result of the city's originally diverse composition, Carbonia developed a variety of Italian with some Sardinian influences from the neighbouring areas, while the other mainland coloni ("colonists") establishing minor centres kept their dialects of Istriot, Venetian and Friulan, which are still spoken by the elderly.[http://www2.regione.veneto.it/videoinf/periodic/precedenti/99/1/celebrazioni.htm Veneti nel Mondo (Venetians in the World) – Anno III – numero 1 – Gennaio 1999] {{in lang|it}} In the same period, a few Italian Tunisian families settled in the sparsely populated area of Castiadas, east of Cagliari.{{Cite web|url=https://www.lanuovasardegna.it/regione/2011/04/23/news/e-al-ritorno-conquistarono-le-terre-abbandonate-1.3420885|title=E al ritorno conquistarono le terre abbandonate|website=La Nuova Sardegna}}

Following the Italian economic miracle, a historic migratory movement from the inland to the coastal and urban areas of Cagliari, Sassari-Alghero-Porto Torres and Olbia, where today most Sardinians live, took place.

{{Main|Sardinia#Demographics}}

With a population density of 69/km², slightly more than a third of the national average, Sardinia is the fourth least populated region in Italy. The population distribution was anomalous compared to that of other Italian regions lying on the sea. In fact, contrary to the general trend, from the late Middle Ages until the 20th century urban settlement has not taken place primarily along the coast but towards the centre of the island. Historical reasons for this include the repeated Moorish raids which made the coast unsafe, the abandonment of hundreds of settlements following the Sardinian–Aragonese war and the swampy nature of the coastal plains that were reclaimed only in the 20th century. Similarly to the Celtic clans, the Sardinians have in fact tended to retreat into the less accessible interior to keep their own independence and way of life.«Sardinians have always had a tendency to retreat into the mountainous interior of their island trying to continue their free and independent way of life, similar to that of the Gaelic clans. A Sardinian proverb says “furat chie benit dae su mare” or “the thieves always come from the sea”.» {{cite book|author=Georgina Ashworth|title=World Minorities|volume=2|page=110|year=1977|publisher=Quartermaine House}} The situation has been recently reversed with the expansion of the industrialization and seaside tourism; today all Sardinia's major urban centres are located near the coast, while the island's interior is very sparsely populated.

It is the region of Italy with the lowest total fertility rateISTAT [http://demo.istat.it/altridati/indicatori/2005/Tab_4.pdf Numero medio di figli per donna per regione 2002–2005]{{Cite web|url=https://www.lanuovasardegna.it/regione/2016/04/17/news/solo-1-1-figli-per-madre-la-sardegna-ultima-in-italia-1.13317171|title=Solo 1,1 figli per madre la Sardegna ultima in Italia|website=La Nuova Sardegna}} (1.087 births per woman), and the region with the second-lowest birth rate.ISTAT [http://demo.istat.it/altridati/indicatori/2005/Tab_1.pdf Tassi generici di natalità, mortalità e nuzialità per regione 2002–2005] However, the population in Sardinia has increased in recent years because of immigration, mainly proceeding from continental Italy and Sicily, but also from Eastern Europe (esp. Romania), Africa and Asia.

As of 2013, there were 42,159 foreign (that is, any people who have not applied for Italian citizenship) national residents, forming 2.5% of the total population.{{Cite web|url=https://demo.istat.it/app/?i=P03&a=2013|title=Bilancio demografico popolazione straniera|website=demo.istat.it}}

File:3 blue zones venn diagram.svg]]

Average life expectancy is slightly over 82 years (85 for women and 79.7 for men{{Cite web|url=https://www.istat.it/it/files//2016/02/Indicatori-demografici_2015.pdf|title=ISTAT - Indicatori demografici anno 2015, p.6}}).

Sardinia is the first discovered Blue Zone, a demographic and/or geographic area of the world where people live measurably longer lives.{{Cite web|url=https://www.bluezones.com/explorations/sardinia-italy/|title=Sardinia, Italy}} Sardinians share with the Ryukyuans from Okinawa{{Cite web|url=https://www.bluezones.com/explorations/okinawa-japan/|title=Okinawa, Japan}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/unsolvedmysteries/story/0,,1155661,00.html|title=Does Sardinia hold the secret of long life - mystery | Advertisement feature | guardian.co.uk|website=www.theguardian.com}} (Japan) the highest rate of centenarians in the world (22 centenarians/100,000 inhabitants). The key factors of such a high concentration of centenarians are identified in the genetics of the Sardinians,{{cite journal |vauthors=Polidori MC, Mariani E, Baggio G |title=Different antioxidant profiles in Italian centenarians: the Sardinian peculiarity |journal=Eur J Clin Nutr |volume=61 |issue=7 |pages=922–4 |date=Jul 2007 |pmid=17228351 |doi=10.1038/sj.ejcn.1602596 |display-authors=etal|doi-access=free }} lifestyle such as diet and nutrition, and the social structure.{{Cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/mar/20/secret-long-happy-life-mountain-villages-sardinia?CMP=fb_gu|title=Susan Pinker: why face-to-face contact matters in our digital age|first=Susan|last=Pinker|work=The Guardian |date=20 March 2015}}

• Birth rate: 8.3 (per 1,000 inhabitants – 2005) ISTAT [http://demo.istat.it/altridati/indicatori/2005/Tab_1.pdf Tassi generici di natalità, mortalità e nuzialità per regione 2002–2005]
• Total fertility rate: 1.07 (births per woman – 2005) ISTAT [http://demo.istat.it/altridati/indicatori/2005/Tab_4.pdf Numero medio di figli per donna per regione 2002–2005]
• Mortality rate: 8.7 (per 1,000 inhabitants – 2005)
• Infant mortality, males: 4.6 (per 1,000 births- 2000) Ministero della Salute [http://www.ministerosalute.it/imgs/C_17_bacheca_32_listaelencodocumenti_elenco1_listadocumenti_documento0_listafile_file0_linkfile.pdf Speranza di vita e mortalità] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091020143908/http://www.ministerosalute.it/imgs/C_17_bacheca_32_listaelencodocumenti_elenco1_listadocumenti_documento0_listafile_file0_linkfile.pdf |date=20 October 2009 }}
• Infant mortality, females: 3.0 (per 1,000 births – 2000)
• Marriage rate: 2.9 (per 1,000 inhabitants – 2014) {{Cite web|url=https://seosardinia.wordpress.com/2016/03/15/matrimoni-il-processo-di-secolarizzazione-in-sardegna/|title=Matrimoni | Il processo di secolarizzazione in Sardegna|date=15 March 2016}}
• Suicide rate, males: 20.4 (per 100,000 inhabitants)
• Suicide rate, females: 4.5 (per 100,000 inhabitants){{Cite web|url=https://www.ansa.it/sardegna/notizie/2017/09/21/isola-prima-in-italia-per-suicidi_edbed0b4-a52f-446b-85f7-9f0e445ead73.html|title=Isola prima in Italia per suicidi - Notizie - Ansa.it|date=21 September 2017|website=Agenzia ANSA}}[https://www.sardegnadies.it/sardegna-il-paradiso-dei-suicidi/ Sardegna, il paradiso dei suicidi, Sardegna Dìes]{{Cite web|url=https://www.lanuovasardegna.it/regione/2018/09/08/news/l-isola-prima-in-italia-nella-classifica-dei-suicidi-1.17230480|title=La Sardegna prima in Italia nella classifica dei suicidi|website=La Nuova Sardegna}}
• Total literacy: 98.2%{{Cite web|url=http://www.edscuola.it/archivio/statistiche/analfabetismo_01.pdf|title=Analfabetismo Italia – Censimento 2001}}{{Cite web|url=http://www.sardegnastatistiche.it/index.php?xsl=672&s=12&v=9&c=5042&subnodo=337&refp=0&id=251&tt=4&anno=5|title=Sardegna Statistiche - Home page|website=www.sardegnastatistiche.it}}
• Literacy rate under 65 years old: 99.5%

{{Historical populations

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|footnote = Source: ISTAT 2011, – D.Angioni-S.Loi-G.Puggioni, La popolazione dei comuni sardi dal 1688 al 1991, CUEC, Cagliari, 1997 – F. Corridore, Storia documentata della popolazione di Sardegna, Carlo Clausen, Torino, 1902

|1485 |157578

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|1678 |299356

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|1821 |461931

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|1838 |525485

|1844 |544253

|1848 |554717

|1857 |573243

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|1871 |636000

|1881 |680000

|1901 |796000

|1911 |868000

|1921 |885000

|1931 |984000

|1936 |1034000

|1951 |1276000

|1961 |1419000

|1971 |1474000

|1981 |1594000

|1991 |1648000

|2001 |1632000

|2011 |1639362

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Most Sardinians are native to the island but a sizable number of people have settled outside Sardinia: it had been estimated that, between 1955 and 1971, 308,000 Sardinians emigrated to the Italian mainland.{{Cite web|url=https://www.asei.eu/it/|title=A.S.E.I. – Archivio Storico dell'Emigrazione Italiana|date=15 December 2024}} Sizable Sardinian communities are located in Piedmont, Liguria, Lombardy, Tuscany and Latium.

Sardinians and their descendants are also numerous in Germany, France, Belgium, Switzerland and the USA (part of the Italian-American community). Almost all the Sardinians migrating to the Americas settled down in the Southern part of the continent, especially in Argentina (between 1900 and 1913 about 12,000 Sardinians lived in Buenos Aires and neighbourhoods)[http://www.scuolebolotana.it/CD%20AMBASSADORES/emigraz_sarda_900.htm L'emigrazione sarda tra la fine dell' 800 e i primi del 900] and Uruguay (in Montevideo in the 1870s lived 12,500 Sardinians). Between 1876 and 1903, 92% of the Sardinians that moved towards the Americas settled in Brazil.http://lipari.istat.it/digibib/Annuari/TO00176482Annuario_statistico_emigrazione_italiana_1876_1925.pdf Commissariato generale dell'emigrazione (a cura di), Annuario statistico della emigrazione italiana dal 1876 al 1925 Between 1876 and 1925 34,190 Sardinians migrated to Africa, in particular towards the then French Algeria and Tunisia. Small communities with Sardinians ancestors, about 5000 people, are also found in Brazil (mostly in the cities of Belo Horizonte, Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo),{{Cite web|url=http://www.regione.sardegna.it/messaggero/2005_aprile_17.pdf|title=Il messagero sardo – Una piccola ma attiva colonia di sardi vive nello stato di Bahia}} the UK, and Australia.

The Region of Sardinia keeps a register of overseas Sardinians who have managed to set up, in the Italian mainland and the rest of the world, a number of cultural associations: these are meant to provide the people of Sardinian descent, or those with an interest on Sardinian culture, an opportunity to enjoy a wide range of activities. As of 2012, there are 145 clubs registered on it.{{Cite web| title=Assessoradu de su traballu, formatzione professionale, cooperatzione e seguràntzia sotziale | language=sc | trans-title= Minister of labor, vocational training, cooperation and social security | url=http://www.sardegnamigranti.it/documenti/25_410_20121011104934.pdf | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140513202514/http://www.sardegnamigranti.it:80/documenti/25_410_20121011104934.pdf | archive-date=2014-05-13}}

Unlike the rest of Italian emigration, where migrants were mainly males, between 1953 and 1974 an equal number of females and males emigrated from Sardinia to the Italian mainland.

{{Main article|Sardinian surnames}}

File:Ploaghe, camposanto, lapidi in logudorese, 02.JPG. In the tombstone to the left, dating back to the second half of the 19th century and written in Sardinian, some historical Sardinian given names are used (Antoni, Johanna Teresa, Franciscu). Such given names are however absent in the neighbouring tombstones written in Italian, which testifies to the ongoing process of language shift.]]

Fewer than a hundred Sardinian surnames are needed to group together as much as a third of the whole Sardinian population.{{cite web|url=https://www.cognomix.it/cognomi-sardi.php|title=Cognomi sardi - Cognomi Diffusi in Sardegna|website=Cognomix}} The most common Sardinian surnames, like Sanna (fang{{cite web |url=http://www.lanuovasardegna.it/tempo-libero/2018/11/17/news/il-primo-sanna-aveva-i-canini-affilati-come-zanne-1.17473682|title=Le origini dei cognomi sardi, il primo Sanna aveva i canini affilati come zanne, Mauro Maxia|date=18 November 2018}}), Piras (pears{{cite web |url=http://www.lanuovasardegna.it/tempo-libero/2018/12/08/news/piras-secondo-in-sardegna-le-origini-in-villaggi-dell-ozierese-e-del-sulcis-1.17544541|title= Cognomi sardi. Piras, secondo nell'isola: le origini in villaggi dell'Ozierese e del Sulcis, Mauro Maxia|date= 9 December 2018}}), Pinna (feather, pen{{cite web |url=http://www.lanuovasardegna.it/tempo-libero/2018/12/15/news/cinquemila-famiglie-pinna-tutto-inizio-con-la-piuma-e-la-penna-di-uno-scrivano-1.17567613|title= I segreti dei cognomi. Cinquemila famiglie Pinna: tutto iniziò con la piuma e la penna di uno scrivano, Mauro Maxia|date= 16 December 2018}}) and Melis (honey{{cite web|url=http://www.lanuovasardegna.it/tempo-libero/2018/12/29/news/melis-dolce-come-il-miele-la-prima-apparizione-risale-al-1200-nel-regno-di-arborea-1.17606214|title=Il cognome: Melis, dolce come il miele. La prima apparizione risale al 1200 nel Regno di Arborea, Mauro Maxia|date=30 December 2018}}),{{Cite web|url=https://www.lanuovasardegna.it/regione/2016/03/22/news/i-sanna-battono-i-piras-e-loro-il-cognome-piu-diffuso-in-sardegna-ecco-la-classifica-1.13172814|title=I Sanna battono i Piras: è loro il cognome più diffuso in Sardegna. Ecco la classifica|website=La Nuova Sardegna}}{{Cite web|url=https://seosardinia.wordpress.com/2016/03/20/cognomi-i-20-piu-diffusi-in-sardegna/|title=Cognomi | I più diffusi in Sardegna per territorio|date=20 March 2016}} derive from the Sardinian language and developed among the Judicates in the Middle Ages as a result of being registered in documents like the condaghes for administrative purposes; most of them derive either from Sardinian place namesManconi, Lorenzo (1987). Dizionario dei cognomi sardi, Edizioni della Torre, p.15 (e.g. Fonnesu "from Fonni",{{Cite web|url=http://maxia-mail.doomby.com/medias/files/rion-maxia-cognomi-sardi-medioevali.pdf|title=Rivista italiana di onomastica, Mauro Maxia, Cognomi sardi medioevali formati da toponimi}} Busincu "from Bosa" etc.), from animal names (e.g. Porcu "pig", Piga "magpie",{{cite web|url=http://www.lanuovasardegna.it/tempo-libero/2019/04/13/news/all-origine-di-piga-c-e-la-gazza-non-la-lentiggine-1.17800560|title=All'origine di Piga c'è la gazza non la lentiggine|date=14 April 2019|publisher=La Nuova Sardegna|access-date=1 May 2019|archive-date=1 May 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190501094941/http://www.lanuovasardegna.it/tempo-libero/2019/04/13/news/all-origine-di-piga-c-e-la-gazza-non-la-lentiggine-1.17800560|url-status=dead}} Cadeddu "puppy" etc.) or from a person's occupation, nicknameManconi, Lorenzo (1987). Dizionario dei cognomi sardi, Edizioni della Torre, p.16 (e.g. Pittau "Sebastian"Pittau, Massimo, 2014. I cognomi della Sardegna: Significato e origine di 8.000 cognomi indigeni e forestieri, Ipazia Books), distinctive trait (e.g. Mannu "big"), and filiation (last names ending in -eddu which could stand for "son of", e.g. Corbeddu "son/daughter of Corbu"); a number of them have undergone Italianization over the most recent centuries (e.g. Pintori, Scano, Zanfarino, Spano, etc.).Manconi, Lorenzo (1987). Dizionario dei cognomi sardi, Edizioni della Torre, p.12 Some local surnames also derive from terms of the Paleo-Sardinian substrate. The largest percentage of last names originating from outside the island is from Southern Corsica{{Cite web|url=https://www.lanuovasardegna.it/regione/2017/08/26/news/le-origini-dei-cognomi-sardi-dai-colori-agli-animali-1.15775631|title=Le origini dei cognomi sardi, dai colori agli animali|website=La Nuova Sardegna}}Maxia, Mauro (2002). Dizionario dei cognomi sardo-corsi. Frequenze, fonti, etimologia, Condaghes, {{ISBN|978-88-7356-005-0}} (like Cossu,{{cite web|url=http://www.lanuovasardegna.it/tempo-libero/2019/01/19/news/cossu-breve-antico-e-con-un-infinita-di-complicazioni-1.17672464|title=Cognomi sardi, Cossu: breve, antico e con un'infinità di complicazioni|date=20 January 2019|publisher=La Nuova Sardegna|access-date=1 May 2019|archive-date=1 May 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190501094946/http://www.lanuovasardegna.it/tempo-libero/2019/01/19/news/cossu-breve-antico-e-con-un-infinita-di-complicazioni-1.17672464|url-status=dead}} Cossiga,{{cite web|url=http://www.lanuovasardegna.it/tempo-libero/2019/03/16/news/cossiga-e-glorioso-e-raro-ma-l-accento-andrebbe-sulla-o-1.17786159|title=I segreti dei cognomi sardi: Cossiga è glorioso e raro. Ma l'accento andrebbe sulla o|date=17 March 2019|publisher=La Nuova Sardegna|access-date=1 May 2019|archive-date=1 May 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190501094943/http://www.lanuovasardegna.it/tempo-libero/2019/03/16/news/cossiga-e-glorioso-e-raro-ma-l-accento-andrebbe-sulla-o-1.17786159|url-status=dead}} Alivesi and Achenza, originally from the towns of Olivese and Quenza respectively{{cite web|url=http://www.lanuovasardegna.it/tempo-libero/2018/10/27/news/achenza-viaggio-dalla-corsica-al-nord-sardegna-1.17399287|title=I segreti dei cognomi sardi: Achenza, viaggio dalla Corsica al Nord Sardegna|date=27 October 2018|publisher=La Nuova Sardegna}}), followed by Italian (especially Piedmontese but also Campanian, Sicilian and Ligurian, originating from the days of the Savoyard rule and the assimilation policy:Manconi, Lorenzo (1987). Dizionario dei cognomi sardi, Edizioni della Torre, p.13Bonamore, Daniele (2004). Lingue minoritarie, lingue nazionali, lingue ufficiali nella Legge 482/1999, Franco Angeli, Milano, pp.62-63 some of them have been "Sardinianized", like Accardu, Calzinu, Gambinu, Raggiu, etc.) and Spanish (especially Catalan) surnames.

The Sardinian personal names (like Baínzu or Gavine "Gavin", Bachis "Bachisius", Bobore "Salvator", Iroxi "George", Chìrigu "Cyricus", Gonare "Gonarius", Elianora "Eleanor", Boele "Raphael", Sidore "Isidore", Billía "William", Tiadora "Theodora", Itria, etc.) are historically attested and were common among the islanders up until the contemporary era, when they switched in full measure to the Italian names.

Population surveys have been carried out, on repeated occasions, to provide information about the Sardinians' identity, as well as their conciliation with the institutional layers of political governance. The most detailed survey, conducted by the University of Cagliari and Edinburgh, made use of a Moreno Question which gave the following results: (1) just Sardinian, 26%; (2) more Sardinian than Italian, 37%; (3) equally Sardinian and Italian, 31%; (4) more Italian than Sardinian, 5%; (5) only Italian and not Sardinian, 1%.{{Cite journal|url=https://www.euppublishing.com/doi/abs/10.3366/scot.2014.0039?journalCode=scot|title=The Scottish Referendum: The View from Italy and Sardinia|first=Ilenia|last=Ruggiu|date=1 August 2014|journal=Scottish Affairs|volume=23|issue=3|pages=407–414|via=Edinburgh University Press Journals|doi=10.3366/scot.2014.0039}}{{cite book|author1=Gianmario Demuro |author2=Ilenia Ruggiu |author3=Francesco Mola |title=Identità e Autonomia in Sardegna e Scozia|year=2013|publisher=Maggioli Editore|isbn=978-8838782435|pages=26–28}}[http://www.unionesarda.it/articolo/cronaca/2015/09/30/sardi_i_pi_identitari-68-437201.html L'esempio della Catalogna, i sardi sono più «identitari»] - L'Unione Sarda; [http://www.fondazionesardinia.eu/ita/?p=10875 Sardi, i più «identitari»], di Giuseppe Meloni; L’Unione Sarda, Fondazione Sardinia, 30.09.2015 A 2017 poll by the Ixè Institute reported that 51% of the Sardinians questioned identified themselves as Sardinian (as opposed to an Italian average of 15% who identified by their region of origin) rather than Italian (19%), European (11%), and/or citizen of the world (19%).La Sardegna: lo stato delle cose fra “percepito” e ossatura reale, Istituto Ixè, Fondazione di Sardegna; Vissuto - identità, table n.44{{Cite web | url=http://www.lanuovasardegna.it/regione/2017/12/07/news/l-isola-ha-paura-del-futuro-fiducia-solo-sul-turismo-1.16213029 | title=L'Isola ha paura del futuro Fiducia solo sul turismo - Regione| date=2017-12-07}}

{{Main|Sardinian language|Sassarese language|Gallurese language|Italianization#Sardinia|l4=Italianization}}

File:Sardinia Language Map.png

Italian (italiano) was first introduced to Sardinia by the House of Savoy in July 1760{{Cite book |title=The Phonology of Campidanian Sardinian: A Unitary Account of a Self-Organizing Structure |last=Bolognesi |first=Roberto |date=1998 |publisher=Holland Academic Graphics |language=en}}Cardia, Amos (2006). S'italianu in Sardìnnia candu, cumenti e poita d'ant impostu: 1720-1848; poderi e lìngua in Sardìnnia in edadi spanniola, Iskra, Ghilarza, pp. 88, 91Settecento sardo e cultura europea: Lumi, società, istituzioni nella crisi dell'Antico Regime; Antonello Mattone, Piero Sanna; FrancoAngeli Storia; pp.18Salvi, Sergio (1974). Le lingue tagliate, Rizzoli, pg.181{{cite web|url=http://salimbasarda.net/istoria/sitalianu-in-sardigna-impostu-a-obligu-de-lege-cun-boginu/|title=Limba Sarda 2.0S'italianu in Sardigna? Impostu a òbligu de lege cun Boginu – Limba Sarda 2.0|work=Limba Sarda 2.0 |access-date=28 November 2015}}{{cite web|url=http://www.meilogunotizie.net/focus/storia/161/la-limba-proibita-nella-sardegna-del-700 |title=La limba proibita nella Sardegna del '700 da Ritorneremo, una storia tramandata oralmente |access-date=28 November 2015}} and is the most commonly spoken language nowadays, albeit in a regional variety, as a result of policies fostering language shift and assimilation that facilitated Italianization.«come conseguenza dell’italianizzazione dell’isola – a partire dalla seconda metà del XVIII secolo ma con un’accelerazione dal secondo dopoguerra – si sono verificati i casi in cui, per un lungo periodo e in alcune fasce della popolazione, si è interrotta la trasmissione transgenerazionale delle varietà locali. [...] Potremmo aggiungere che in condizioni socioeconomiche di svantaggio l’atteggiamento linguistico dei parlanti si è posto in maniera negativa nei confronti della propria lingua, la quale veniva associata ad un’immagine negativa e di ostacolo per la promozione sociale. [...] Un gran numero di parlanti, per marcare la distanza dal gruppo sociale di appartenenza, ha piano piano abbandonato la propria lingua per servirsi della lingua dominante e identificarsi in un gruppo sociale differente e più prestigioso.» Gargiulo, Marco (2013). La politica e la storia linguistica della Sardegna raccontata dai parlanti, in Lingue e diritti. Lingua come fattore di integrazione politica e sociale, Minoranze storiche e nuove minoranze, Atti a cura di Paolo Caretti e Andrea Cardone, Accademia della Crusca, Firenze, pp. 132-133{{cite book|author=Georgina Ashworth|title=World Minorities|volume=2|page=110|year=1977|publisher=Quartermaine House}}

On the other hand, Sardinian (sardu)Sardu, in Ditzionàriu in línia de sa limba e de sa cultura sarda, Regione Autonoma de Sardigna has been the native language of the indigenous SardsFloris, Giovanni (1998). L'uomo in Sardegna : aspetti di antropobiologia ed ecologia umana, Sestu, Zonza, Distribuzione delle frequenze fenotipiche del sistema AB0 in diversi gruppi linguistici, p.206Danver, Steven. Native peoples of the world - An Encyclopedia of Groups, Cultures, and Contemporary IssuesEduardo Blasco Ferrer, ed. 2010. Paleosardo: Le radici linguistiche della Sardegna neolitica (Paleosardo: The Linguistic Roots of Neolithic Sardinian). De Gruyter Mouton ever since Latin supplanted the Pre-Indo-European Paleo-Sardinian, a language supposedly related to Basque with some Berber influence and of which remnants can be still be found in vocabulary and local toponyms.Mele, Antonio. Termini prelatini della lingua sarda tuttora vivi nell'uso. Edizioni Ilienses, Olzai The historical loss of the islanders' political autonomy has kept the language at a stage of dialectal fragmentation, reflecting the coexistence of the various other languages (namely Catalan, Spanish, and finally Italian) imposing themselves in a position of political and thereby social prestige.Martin Maiden, John Charles Smith, Adam Ledgeway (edited by). The Cambridge History of the Romance Languages: Volume II, Contexts, Cambridge University Press, 2013, p.167 Because of a movement, described by some authors as a "linguistic and cultural revival" that gained traction in the postwar period,Giannetta Murru Corriga (edited by), 1977. Etnia, lingua, cultura : un dibattito aperto in Sardegna, EDES, Tradizione, identità e cultura sarde nella scuola, Giovanni Lilliu, pp.128-131{{cite web|url=http://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/lingue_%28Il-Libro-dell%27Anno%29/|title=Lingue in Il Libro dell'Anno|author=Raffaele Simone|year=2009|publisher=Treccani}} the Sardinians' cultural heritage was recognized in 1997 and 1999, which makes them the largest ethnolinguistic minority group in Italy, with around a million Sardinians still able to speak the language to some degree.<>. De Concini, Wolftraud (2003). Gli altri d'Italia : minoranze linguistiche allo specchio, Pergine Valsugana : Comune, p.196.Bonamore, Daniele (2004). Lingue minoritarie, lingue nazionali, lingue ufficiali nella Legge 482/1999, Franco Angeli, Milano, pp.96-98[http://www.minoranze-linguistiche-scuola.it/sardo/ Lingue di minoranza e scuola: Sardo]{{Cite web|url=http://www.sardegnacultura.it/j/v/258?s=24039&v=2&c=2803&t=7|title=Legislazione sulle altre minoranze linguistiche, Sardegna Cultura}} However, because of a rigid model of Italian education system that has strongly promoted Italian to the detriment of Sardinian,[https://www.degruyter.com/view/product/180542 Manuale di linguistica sarda (Manual of Sardinian linguistics)], 2017, Ed. by Eduardo Blasco Ferrer, Peter Koch, Daniela Marzo. Manuals of Romance Linguistics, De Gruyter Mouton, pp.208{{cite book |last=Minahan |first=James |title=One Europe, Many Nations: A Historical Dictionary of European National Groups |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NwvoM-ZFoAgC |date=2000 |publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group |page=591 |isbn=0313309841 |quote=The legalization of the Sard language ends a ban on the language that has been in effect since Italian unification.}} the language has been in decline over the past century,Cited in Lilliu, Giovanni; Alberto Moravetti (edited by). Cultura & culture : storia e problemi della Sardegna negli scritti giornalistici di Giovanni Lilliu, v.2, 1995, Delfino, Sassari, p.445 since the people effectively retaining Sardinian have gradually become a minority in their own island{{cite book|title=Identity and Hybridism in Sardinia and Sicily, in Petricioli, Marta (edited by). L'Europe Méditerranéenne|author=Daniele Petrosino|page=232|place=Bruxelles|year=2008|publisher=Peter Lang}} (in fact, most Sardinians are linguistically Italianized nowadays, and it has been estimated that only 10-13 percent of the young native population have some active and passive competence in the languageLa Nuova Sardegna, 04/11/10, Per salvare i segni dell'identità – di Paolo Coretti{{Cite book|title=La politica linguistica per la lingua sarda, in Maccani, Lucia; Viola, Marco. Il valore delle minoranze. La leva ordinamentale per la promozione delle comunità di lingua minoritaria|last=Corongiu |first=Giuseppe |year=2010|publisher=Provincia Autonoma di Trento|place=Trento|page=122}}). Therefore, Sardinian is facing challenges analogous to other definitely endangered minority languages across Europe,Sardinia, Lonely Planet, Damien Simonis, pg. 44 and its two main Logudorese and Campidanese varieties, as defined by their standard orthographies, have been designated as such by UNESCO.{{Cite web|url=http://www.unesco.org/culture/languages-atlas/|title=UNESCO Interactive Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger}}

The other languages spoken in Sardinia, all also endangered but with much fewer speakers than Sardinian in absolute numbers, developed after the arrival of certain communities from outside the island, namely Corsicans, Catalans and Italians from Genoa and Pisa, settling in specific regions of Sardinia over the recent centuries;«The evolution of Gallurese is often explained by the existence of Corsican settlements in Gallura in the 15th and 16th centuries. As regards Sassarese, opinions diverge: Wagner (1950) argues that it developed through the immigration of Italian settlers into deserted Sassari in the aftermath of the plague in the 16th and 17th centuries, while Sanna (1975) regards it as a kind of 'Verkehrsprache' that developed through the contacts with Pisa and Genoa from the 12th century onwards. Doubts as to the Sardinian character of the two northern dialects are based on several systematic differences that distinguish Sassarese and Galurese from Logudorese and Campidanese and suggest that they belong to the group of Italo-Romance dialects.» {{cite book|title=Bilingualism and Linguistic Conflict in Romance|author=Rebecca Posner, John N. Green|page=286|year=1993|publisher=De Gruyter Mouton}}Floris, Giovanni (1998). L'uomo in Sardegna : aspetti di antropobiologia ed ecologia umana, Sestu, Zonza, Distribuzione delle frequenze fenotipiche del sistema AB0 in diversi gruppi linguistici, p.207 because of these dynamics, Sardinia's society has been characterized by situational plurilingualism since the late Middle Ages.<<[Sardinians] speak a peculiar language, Sardinian, and use it to write both in poetry and prose, especially in Logudoro where it has been kept purer, and more elegant and rich. And, since many Spaniards, both Aragonese and Catalan, and Italians immigrated to Sardinia, and keep doing so in order to trade, Spanish, Catalan and Italian are also spoken; so, a single people is able to hold a conversation in all these languages. However, those from Cagliari and Alghero usually speak their masters' language, Catalan, whilst the other people retain the genuine language of the Sardinians.>> Original text: <<[Sardi] Loquuntur lingua propria sardoa, tum ritmice, tum soluta oratione, praesertim in Capite Logudorii, ubi purior copiosior, et splendidior est. Et quia Hispani plures Aragonenses et Cathalani et Itali migrarunt in eam, et commerciorum caussa quotidie adventant, loquuntur etiam lingua hispanica et cathalana et italica; hisque omnibus linguis concionatur in uno eodemque populo. Caralitani tamen et Algharenses utuntur suorum maiorum lingua cathalana; alii vero genuinam retinent Sardorum linguam.>> Fara, Francesco Giovanni (1580). De Rebus Sardois, De natura et moribus Sardorum ("On the Sardinian things, On the Nature and Customs of the Sardinians"), 1835 - 1580, Turin, p. 51 These languages include Sassarese (sassaresu) and Gallurese (gadduresu), which are of remote Corso-Tuscan origin but often socially associated with Sardinian,{{Cite web|url=https://www.ethnologue.com/language/sdc/|title=Sardinian, Sassarese | Ethnologue Free|website=Ethnologue (Free All)}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.ethnologue.com/language/sdn/|title=Sardinian, Gallurese | Ethnologue Free|website=Ethnologue (Free All)}} Algherese Catalan (alguerés), and Ligurian Tabarchino (tabarchin).

File:Flag of Sardinia, Italy.svg, the Four Moors]]

{{Main|Flag of Sardinia}}

The so-called flag of the Four Moors is the historical and official flag of Sardinia. The flag is composed of the St George's Cross and four Moor's heads wearing a white bandana in each quarter. Its origins are basically shrouded in mystery, but it is presumed it originated in Aragon to symbolize the defeat of the Moorish invaders in the battle of Alcoraz.B. Fois, The crest of the four Moors, brief history of the Sardinian emblem, Carlo Delfino, Sassari 1990

{{Main|Sa die de sa Sardigna}}

Sa die de sa Sardigna ("Sardinia's Day" in English) is a holiday celebrated each 28 April to commemorate the revolt occurring from 1794 to 1796 against the feudal privileges, and the execution or expulsion of the Savoyard officials (including the then Piedmontese viceroy, Carlo Balbiano) from Sardinia on 28 April 1794. The revolt was spurred by the King's refusal to grant the island the autonomy the locals demanded in exchange for defeating the French.Onnis, Omar (2015). La Sardegna e i sardi nel tempo, Arkadia, Cagliari, pp.150-151Alberto Loni e Giuliano Carta. Sa die de sa Sardigna - Storia di una giornata gloriosa. Sassari, Isola editrice, 2003.Massimo Pistis, Rivoluzionari in sottana. Ales sotto il vescovado di mons. Michele Aymerich, Roma, Albatros Il Filo, 2009.Adriano Bomboi, L'indipendentismo sardo. Le ragioni, la storia, i protagonisti, Cagliari, Condaghes, 2014. The holiday has been formally recognised by the Sardinian Council since 14 September 1993.{{Cite web|url=http://www.sardegnacultura.it/j/v/258?s=23536&v=2&c=2772&t=1|title=Sa die de sa Sardigna, Sardegna Cultura}} Some public events are annually held to commemorate the episode, while the schools are closed.

File:Scalinata N.S. di Bonaria - Cagliari.jpg

The vast majority of the Sardinians are baptized as Roman Catholic, however church attendance is one of the lowest in Italy (21.9%).{{cite web|url=http://dati.istat.it/index.aspx?lang=en&SubSessionId=2da4a73f-72e4-46b4-a3dc-1b66e6c78dc7&themetreeid=-200|title=Religious observances, Aspects of daily life, Regions and type of municipality|work=ISTAT|date=20 March 2016|access-date=20 March 2016}}

Our Lady of Bonaria is the Patroness Saint of Sardinia.

In popular traditions, beliefs and rites of pre-Christian origin, which have evolved symbiotically with Christianity, have survived until the contemporary era, for example the day of Su mortu mortu or "the dead dead" (2 November, All Souls' Day), the Sardinian equivalent to Halloween, when children go from house to house asking for small donations to feed the deceased (traditionally seasonal fruits, dried fruit, sweets, bread).{{Citation|url=https://www.unionesarda.it/cultura/halloween-no-grazie-su-mortu-mortu-orw8h3ad|title=Halloween? No grazie: "Su mortu mortu"|date=24 October 2022 |access-date=3 November 2024}}

{{See also|Folk costume}}

File:Launeddas Player.jpg, an ancient woodwind instrument.]]

Colourful and of various and original forms, the Sardinian traditional clothes are an ancient symbol of belonging to specific collective identities, as well as one of the most genuine ethnic expressions of the Mediterranean folklore.Arata, Giulio Ulisse (1983). Arte sarda, C. Delfino, Sassari, p.11 Although the basic model is homogeneous and common throughout the island, each town or village has its own traditional clothing which differentiates it from the others. The Sardinians' traditional garments, as well as their jewellery,Arata, Giulio Ulisse (1983). Arte sarda, C. Delfino, Sassari, p.27 have been defined as an object of study in ethnography since the late 19th century,Mario Atzori (ed. by), 2000, Gli ornamenti preziosi dei sardi, Sassari, C. Delfino, p.31 at a time in which they first started to be slowly displaced in favour of the "Continental fashion" in the various contexts of everyday life, and their primary function has since switched to become a marker of ethnic identity.Costumi: storia, linguaggio e prospettive del vestire in Sardegna (2003). Ilisso, Nuoro, p.53{{cite web|url=https://www.lanuovasardegna.it/tempo-libero/2020/02/04/news/i-maestri-dell-arte-sarda-filippo-figari-la-civilta-di-un-popolo-barbaro-1.38425248|title=I maestri dell'arte sarda, Filippo Figari: la civiltà di un popolo barbaro|date=4 February 2020}} Cfr. AA.VV., I maestri dell'arte sarda, 10 vv., La Nuova Sardegna, 2020

In the past, the clothes diversified themselves even within the communities, performing a specific function of communication as it made it immediately clear the marital status and the role of each member in the social area. Until the mid-20th century the traditional costume represented the everyday clothing in most of Sardinia, but even today in various parts of the island it is possible to meet elderly people dressed in costume. Herbert Kubly, writing for The Atlantic in 1955, said that «for Sardinians, traditional costumes are daily dress and not a holiday or touristic get-up. In the arid brown autumn landscape the population blossoms like flowers on the desert».

The materials used for their packaging are among the most varied, ranging from the typical Sardinian woollen fabric (orbace) to silk and from linen to leather. The various components of the feminine apparel are: the headgear (mucadore), the shirt (camisa), the bodice (palas, cossu), the jacket (coritu, gipone), the skirt (unnedda, sauciu), the apron (farda, antalena, defentale). Those of the male are: the headdress (berrita), the shirt (bentone or camisa), the jacket (gipone), the trousers (cartzones or bragas), the skirt (ragas or bragotis), the overcoat (gabbanu and colletu), and finally the piece of clothing most associated with the Sardinians, the mastruca, a sheep or goatskin leather jacket without sleeves: "Sardi pelliti" and "mastrucati latrones".Costumi: storia, linguaggio e prospettive del vestire in Sardegna (2003). Ilisso, Nuoro, p.20 "[Sardinian] thieves with rough wool cloaks" were names by which Cicero and other authors mentioned the Sardinians."Olim Sardi vestiebantur caprarum pellibus, veterum Graecorum more, ut inquit Alexander Sardus lib. 1, cap. 9 de Moribus Gentium. Nam et Hercules, a quo originem duxerunt, pelle etiam vestiebatur. Illis tamen utebantur hyeme, pilis introrsum conversis; aestate vero, aversis, ut inquit Nymphodorus, quem refert Volaterramus, eamque tunicam sardonicam vocat Caelius, lib. 16, cap. 1 o, et Sardorum mastrucam appellat Cicero et Divus Hieronymus lib. Adversus Luciferianos. Unde Sardi Mastrucati sunt dicti a Cicerone, et Pelidi a Sabellico, post Livium lib. 23 et 29, qui, alibi refert, anno ante Christum 3757, fuisse a Sardis Romano exercitui data duodecim millia tunicarum, et mille et ducentae togae." Fara, Francesco Giovanni (1580). De Rebus Sardois, Libri quatuor, 1835 - 1580, Turin, p.51

File:Pane carasau.jpg, a type of traditional flatbread eaten in Sardinia since the ancient times.]]

{{Main|Sardinian cuisine}}

{{Main|Sardinian music}}

{{Main|Genetic history of Sardinia|Genetic history of Europe}}

File:PCA of Italians and European and Mediterranean populations.png, North Africa and the Middle East.]]

Sardinians, while being part of the European gene pool, are well-known outliers in the European genetic landscape{{cite journal| pmc=5400395 | pmid=28177087 | doi=10.1093/molbev/msx082 | volume=34 | issue=5 | title=Mitogenome Diversity in Sardinians: A Genetic Window onto an Island's Past | journal=Mol Biol Evol | pages=1230–1239 | last1 = Olivieri | first1 = A | last2 = Sidore | first2 = C | last3 = Achilli | first3 = A | last4 = Angius | first4 = A | last5 = Posth | first5 = C | last6 = Furtwängler | first6 = A | last7 = Brandini | first7 = S | last8 = Capodiferro | first8 = MR | last9 = Gandini | first9 = F | last10 = Zoledziewska | first10 = M | last11 = Pitzalis | first11 = M | last12 = Maschio | first12 = A | last13 = Busonero | first13 = F | last14 = Lai | first14 = L | last15 = Skeates | first15 = R | last16 = Gradoli | first16 = MG | last17 = Beckett | first17 = J | last18 = Marongiu | first18 = M | last19 = Mazzarello | first19 = V | last20 = Marongiu | first20 = P | last21 = Rubino | first21 = S | last22 = Rito | first22 = T | last23 = Macaulay | first23 = V | last24 = Semino | first24 = O | last25 = Pala | first25 = M | last26 = Abecasis | first26 = GR | last27 = Schlessinger | first27 = D | last28 = Conde-Sousa | first28 = E | last29 = Soares | first29 = P | last30 = Richards | first30 = MB | last31 = Cucca | first31 = F | last32 = Torroni | first32 = A | year=2017}}{{cite web|url=http://www.lanuovasardegna.it/regione/2017/02/14/news/il-dna-dei-sardi-e-unico-in-europa-e-lo-stesso-dei-loro-avi-nuragici-1.14879041|title=Il dna dei sardi è unico in Europa, è lo stesso dei loro avi nuragici|author=Gabriella Grimaldi|date=14 February 2017|publisher=La Nuova Sardegna}} (together with the Basques, the Chuvash, the Sami, the Finns and the IcelandersLuigi Luca Cavalli-Sforza, Paolo Menozzi, Alberto Piazza - The History and Geography of Human Genes, 1994, Princeton University Press, pp.272). Studies analyzing the DNA of both ancient and modern individuals from the island confirm that the current population is mainly (50% or more) derived from the prehistoric settlers (mostly Early Neolithic Farmers and to a lesser degree Western Hunter-Gatherers with few Bronze Age individuals showing evidences of Western Steppe Herder ancestry), plus some contribution of the historical colonizers, with the highest Neolithic and Mesolithic ancestry being found in the mountainous region of Ogliastra.Marcus et al.,Population history from the Neolithic to present on the Mediterranean island of Sardinia: An ancient DNA perspective, 2019{{cite web|url=https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/02/200224131137.htm|title=Ancient DNA from Sardinia reveals 6,000 years of genetic history, Science Daily|year=2020}}

Several studies have been carried out on the genetics of the Sardinian population to investigate some pathologies to which the Sardinians seem to be predisposed in a unique way, likely linked due to founder effects and genetic drift of this island population,{{Cite web|url=http://www.sardegnaricerche.it/index.php?xsl=370&s=37041&v=2&c=3280&nc=1&sc=&archivio=2&qr=1&qp=3&vd=|title=Genetica, malattie e caratteri dei sardi - Sardegna Ricerche|website=SardegnaRicerche}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.sardiniapost.it/senza-categoria/i-dialoghi-della-scienza-di-sardegna-ricerche-caratteristiche-genetiche-uniche/|title=I dialoghi della scienza di Sardegna Ricerche: "I sardi hanno caratteristiche genetiche uniche"|date=20 April 2013|website=sardiniapost}}[https://bolognamedicina.it/en/session/the-sardinians-dna-a-key-to-explaining-human-illness/ The sardinians' dna, a key to explain human illness] like diabetes mellitus type 1,{{Cite web|url=https://www.msdmanuals.com/professional/endocrine-and-metabolic-disorders/diabetes-mellitus-and-disorders-of-carbohydrate-metabolism/diabetes-mellitus-dm|title=Diabetes Mellitus (DM) - Endocrine and Metabolic Disorders|website=MSD Manual Professional Edition}} beta thalassemia and favism,Floris, Giovanni (1998). L'uomo in Sardegna : aspetti di antropobiologia ed ecologia umana, Sestu, Zonza, Sull'evoluzione dei Sardi dalla Preistoria ad oggi, p.13 multiple sclerosis{{cite journal| pmid=8719044 | doi=10.1159/000109884 | volume=15 | issue=1 | title=Epidemiology of multiple sclerosis in Northwestern Sardinia: further evidence for higher frequency in Sardinians compared to other Italians | year=1996 | journal=Neuroepidemiology | pages=10–9 | last1 = Rosati | first1 = G | last2 = Aiello | first2 = I | last3 = Pirastru | first3 = MI | last4 = Mannu | first4 = L | last5 = Sanna | first5 = G | last6 = Sau | first6 = GF | last7 = Sotgiu | first7 = S}}{{cite journal| pmid=12099914 | doi=10.1046/j.1468-1331.2002.00412.x | volume=9 | issue=4 | title=Multiple sclerosis complexity in selected populations: the challenge of Sardinia, insular Italy | year=2002 | journal=Eur J Neurol | pages=329–41 | last1 = Sotgiu | first1 = S | last2 = Pugliatti | first2 = M | last3 = Sanna | first3 = A | last4 = Sotgiu | first4 = A | last5 = Castiglia | first5 = P | last6 = Solinas | first6 = G | last7 = Dolei | first7 = A | last8 = Serra | first8 = C | last9 = Bonetti | first9 = B | last10 = Rosati | first10 = G| s2cid=38498032 }} and coeliac disease. Some other genetic peculiarities have been noted, like the high frequency of rare uniparental haplotypes,{{cite journal | last1 = Olivieri | first1 = A. | last2 = Sidore | first2 = C. | last3 = Achilli | first3 = A. | last4 = Angius | first4 = A. | last5 = Posth | first5 = C. | last6 = Furtwängler | first6 = A. | last7 = Brandini | first7 = S. | last8 = Capodiferro | first8 = M.R. | last9 = Gandini | first9 = F. | last10 = Zoledziewska | first10 = M. | year = 2017 | title = Mitogenome diversity in Sardinians: A genetic window onto an island's past | journal = Mol. Biol. Evol. | volume = 34 | issue = 5| pages = 1230–1239 | doi = 10.1093/molbev/msx082 | pmid = 28177087 | pmc = 5400395 | doi-access = free }} extensive linkage disequilibrium of autosomal markers, high levels of homozygosity,{{cite journal | last1 = Lettre | first1 = G. | last2 = Hirschhorn | first2 = J. N. | year = 2015 | title = Small island, big genetic discoveries | journal = Nat. Genet. | volume = 47 | issue = 11| pages = 1224–1225 | doi = 10.1038/ng.3426 | pmid = 26506900 | s2cid = 5567430 }} the lowest frequency of RH-negative genes in the Mediterranean, the highest frequency in the world of the MNS*M gene, the highest frequency of HLAB*18 together with some typical North African alleles, and the highest frequency of the thalassemia variant β³⁹.{{cite book| last1=Cavalli-Sforza| first1=Luigi| last2=Cavalli-Sforza| first2=Luca| last3=Menozzi| first3=Paolo| last4=Piazza| first4=Alberto|title=The History and Geography of Human Genes|publisher=Princeton University Press|year=1994|page=273 ff}}

{{Main|List of Sardinians}}

{{Commons category|People of Sardinia}}

{{div col|colwidth=25em}}

• List of Sardinians
• Sardinia
• History of Sardinia
• Nuragic civilization
• List of Nuragic tribes
• Sardinian language
• Sassarese
• Gallurese
• Sardinian surnames
• Corsican people
• Italian people
• Spanish people

{{div col end}}

• {{cite book|title=Historia de la isla de Cerdeña, por el caballero G. de Gregory, traducida al castellano por una sociedad literaria|year=1840|place=Barcelona|publisher=Imprenta de Guardia Nacional}}
• {{cite book|first=Giovanni|last=Lilliu|title=La civiltà dei Sardi dal neolitico all'età dei nuraghi|location=Torino|publisher=Edizioni ERI|year=1967}}
• {{cite book|first=Giannetta|last=Murru Corriga|title=Etnia, lingua, cultura : un dibattito aperto in Sardegna|year=1977|publisher=EDES}}
• {{cite book|author=Georgina Ashworth|title=World Minorities|volume=2|page=109 ff|year=1977|publisher=Quartermaine House}}
• {{cite book|first=Natale|last=Sanna|title=Il cammino dei Sardi: Storia, economia, letteratura ed arte di Sardegna (3 Volumes)|year=1986|publisher=Ed.Sardegna}}
• {{cite book|title=Arabi e sardi nel Medioevo|author=Mohamed Mustafa Bazama|place=Cagliari|publisher=Editrice democratica sarda|year=1988}}
• {{cite book|title=Declino d'una grande e ricca Sardegna|author=Mohamed Mustafa Bazama|place=Cagliari|publisher=Editrice democratica sarda|year=1989}}
• {{cite book|first=Amiram|last=Gonen|title=Diccionario de los pueblos del mundo|year=1996|publisher=Anaya&Mario Muchnik}}
• {{cite book |first=Francesco Cesare |last=Casula |title=La Storia di Sardegna |location=Sassari |author-link=Francesco Cesare Casula |publisher=Carlo Delfino Editore |year=1994}}
• {{cite book|first=Manlio|last= Brigaglia|author2=Giuseppina Fois |author3=Laura Galoppini |author4=Attilio Mastino |author5=Antonello Mattone |author6=Guido Melis |author7=Piero Sanna |author8=Giuseppe Tanda |title=Storia della Sardegna|location=Sassari|publisher=Soter Editore|year=1995}}
• {{cite book|first=Mario|last=Perra|title=ΣΑΡΔΩ, Sardinia, Sardegna (3 Volumes)|location=Oristano|publisher=S'Alvure|year=1997}}
• {{cite book|first=Giovanni|last=Floris|title=L'uomo in Sardegna : aspetti di antropobiologia ed ecologia umana|location=Sestu|publisher=Zonza|year=1998}}
• {{cite book|title=Aspects of multilingualism in European language history|author=Kurt Braunmüller, Gisella Ferraresi|page=238|year=2003|publisher=University of Hamburg. John Benjamins Publishing Company|place=Amsterdam/Philadelphia}}
• {{cite book|author=Giuseppe Contu|year=2005|title=Sardinia in Arabic sources. Annali della Facoltà di Lingue e Letterature Straniere dell'Università di Sassari, v.3, pp.287-297. ISSN 1828-5384}}
• {{cite book|first= Giovanni|last= Ugas|title=L'Alba dei Nuraghi|location=Cagliari|publisher= Fabula Editore|year=2006|isbn= 978-88-89661-00-0}}
• {{cite book|first=Emanuele|last=Sanna|title=Nella preistoria le origini dei Sardi|location=Cagliari|publisher=CUEC|year=2009}}
• {{cite book|first= Jeffrey|last= Cole|author-link=Jeffrey Cole|title=Ethnic Groups of Europe: an Encyclopedia|publisher= ABC-CLIO|year= 2011|isbn=978-1-59884-302-6}}
• {{cite book|first=Steven Laurence|last=Danver|title=Native peoples of the world: An Encyclopedia of Groups, Cultures, and Contemporary Issues|publisher=Routledge|year=2012|isbn= 978-0765682222}}.
• {{cite book|first= Ercole|last= Contu|title= I sardi sono diversi|publisher= Carlo Delfino Editore|year= 2014}}
• {{cite book|first= Omar|last= Onnis|title=La Sardegna e i sardi nel tempo|publisher= Arkadia Editore|year= 2015}}
• {{cite book|first=Giovanni|last=Ugas|title=Shardana e Sardegna : i popoli del mare, gli alleati del Nordafrica e la fine dei grandi regni (15.-12. secolo a.C.)|publisher=Edizioni della Torre|year=2017|isbn=978-88-7343-471-9|location=Cagliari|language=it|oclc=970796519}}
• {{cite book |first=Francesco Cesare |last=Casula |title=La Storia di Sardegna (8 Volumes) |location=Sassari |author-link=Francesco Cesare Casula |publisher=La Nuova Sardegna |year=2017}}

{{notelist}}

{{reflist|30em|refs=

F. J. Chabas (1872), Étude sur l'antiquité historique d'après les sources égyptiennes et les monuments réputés préhistoriques, impr. de J. Dejussieu (Chalon-sur-Saône), p.191-192, 314

{{Cite web|url=http://www.sardegnasoprattutto.com/archives/7863|title=Francesco Cucca: "Caratteri immutati da diecimila anni, ecco perché la Sardegna è speciale"[di Elena Dusi] | Sardegna Soprattutto}}

{{cite web |url=https://www.etymonline.com/word/Sardinia#etymonline_v_22738 |title=Sardinia |publisher=Online Etymology Dictionary}}

{{Cite web|url=https://eupedia.com/italy/sardinia.shtml|title=Eupedia|website=Eupedia}}

{{cite web|author=Herbert Kubly|year=1955|title=Sardinia|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1955/07/sardinia/642437/|magazine=The Atlantic}}

{{cite journal |title=Genetic history from the Middle Neolithic to present on the Mediterranean island of Sardinia |publisher=Nature |year=2020 |doi=10.1038/s41467-020-14523-6 |last1=Marcus |first1=Joseph H. |last2=Posth |first2=Cosimo |last3=Ringbauer |first3=Harald |last4=Lai |first4=Luca |last5=Skeates |first5=Robin |last6=Sidore |first6=Carlo |last7=Beckett |first7=Jessica |last8=Furtwängler |first8=Anja |last9=Olivieri |first9=Anna |last10=Chiang |first10=Charleston W. K. |last11=Al-Asadi |first11=Hussein |last12=Dey |first12=Kushal |last13=Joseph |first13=Tyler A. |last14=Liu |first14=Chi-Chun |last15=Der Sarkissian |first15=Clio |last16=Radzevičiūtė |first16=Rita |last17=Michel |first17=Megan |last18=Gradoli |first18=Maria Giuseppina |last19=Marongiu |first19=Patrizia |last20=Rubino |first20=Salvatore |last21=Mazzarello |first21=Vittorio |last22=Rovina |first22=Daniela |last23=La Fragola |first23=Alessandra |last24=Serra |first24=Rita Maria |last25=Bandiera |first25=Pasquale |last26=Bianucci |first26=Raffaella |last27=Pompianu |first27=Elisa |last28=Murgia |first28=Clizia |last29=Guirguis |first29=Michele |last30=Orquin |first30=Rosana Pla |journal=Nature Communications |volume=11 |issue=1 |page=939 |pmid=32094358 |pmc=7039977 |bibcode=2020NatCo..11..939M |display-authors=1}}

{{cite journal |last1=Marcus |first1=Joseph H. |last2=Posth |first2=Cosimo |display-authors=1 |date=February 24, 2020 |title=Genetic history from the Middle Neolithic to present on the Mediterranean island of Sardinia |url= |journal=Nature Communications |publisher=Nature Research |volume=11 |issue=939 |page=939 |doi=10.1038/s41467-020-14523-6 |pmc=7039977 |pmid=32094358 |bibcode=2020NatCo..11..939M |ref={{harvid|Marcus et al.|2020}}}}

{{cite web |author=Attilio Mastino |url=http://eprints.uniss.it/11294/1/Mastino_A_Natione_Sardus_mens_color.pdf |title=Natione Sardus: una mens, unus color, una vox, una natio |publisher=Rivista Internazionale di Scienze Giuridiche e Tradizioni Romane}}

Mauro Maxia, Studi Sardo-Corsi, Dialettologia e storia della lingua fra le due isole

{{cite book |author=James Noel Adams |title=Bilingualism and the Latin Language |date=9 January 2003 |page=209 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=9780521817714 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AMc1WQAnRTkC&q=bitia}}

{{Cite journal|title=Genomic history of the Sardinian population|first1=Charleston W. K.|last1=Chiang|first2=Joseph H.|last2=Marcus|first3=Carlo|last3=Sidore|first4=Arjun|last4=Biddanda|first5=Hussein|last5=Al-Asadi|first6=Magdalena|last6=Zoledziewska|first7=Maristella|last7=Pitzalis|first8=Fabio|last8=Busonero|first9=Andrea|last9=Maschio|first10=Giorgio|last10=Pistis|first11=Maristella|last11=Steri|first12=Andrea|last12=Angius|first13=Kirk E.|last13=Lohmueller|first14=Goncalo R.|last14=Abecasis|first15=David|last15=Schlessinger|first16=Francesco|last16=Cucca|first17=John|last17=Novembre|date=17 October 2018|journal=Nature Genetics|volume=50|issue=10|pages=1426–1434|doi=10.1038/s41588-018-0215-8|pmid=30224645 |pmc=6168346}}

E. De Rougè (1867), Révue Archéologique, XVI, p.35 ff.

Serra, Marcello (1978). Enciclopedia della Sardegna : con un saggio introduttivo intitolato Alla scoperta dell'isola, Pisa, Giardini editori e stampatori, p.29: "Origine e carattere dei Sardi"

{{cite journal |last1=Fernandes |first1=Daniel M. |title=The spread of steppe and Iranian-related Ancestry in the islands of the Western Mediterranean |journal=Nature Ecology and Evolution |date=February 24, 2020 |volume=4 |issue=3 |pages=334–345 |doi=10.1038/s41559-020-1102-0 |pmid=32094539 |pmc=7080320|bibcode=2020NatEE...4..334F }}

{{cite web |url=http://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/sardegna_%28Enciclopedia-Italiana%29/ |title=Sardegna, in Enciclopedia Italiana |year=1936 |publisher=Treccani |author=Roberto Almagia |display-authors=etal}}

{{cite web|url=http://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/sardi_%28Dizionario-di-Storia%29|title= Sardi in Dizionario di Storia (2011)|publisher=Treccani}}

Ugas, Giovanni (2017). Shardana e Sardegna : i popoli del mare, gli alleati del Nordafrica e la fine dei grandi regni (15.-12. secolo a.C.), Edizioni della Torre, Cagliari, pp.398-408

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{{Sardinia}}

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Category:Romance peoples

Category:Ethnic groups in Italy