Castilians (Spanish: castellanos) are the people who live in the former areas of the historical Kingdom of Castile, but the region's exact limits are disputed. A broader definition is to consider as Castilians the population belonging to the Iberian peninsular territories and the Canary Islands, which were controlled by the Crown of Castile and included a large part of the Iberian Peninsula. However, not all people in the regions of the medieval Kingdom of Castile or Crown of Castile think of themselves as Castilian. For that reason, the exact limits of what is Castilian today are disputed. The western parts of Castile and León (that is, the Region of León), Cantabria and La Rioja are often also included in the definition, but that is controversial for historical reasons and for the strong sense of unique cultural identity of those regions. The Province of Albacete is also often included, but it was previously has part of the Region of Murcia. As an ethnicity, Castilians are most commonly associated with the sparsely-populated inner plateau of the Iberian peninsula, which is split into two by the Sistema Central mountain range in northern or Old Castile and southern or New Castile. During the Reconquista and other conquests in the Middle Ages, the Kingdom of Castile (later Crown of Castile) spread over a large part of the Iberian Peninsula, especially towards the southern Spanish regions. In the 15th century, the Spanish colonization of the Americas made the Castilians also begin to spread over the New World, and they brought not only their language but also elements of their culture and traditions. Language Castilian (castellano) is the native language of the Castilians. Its origin is traditionally ascribed to an area south of the Cordillera Cantábrica, including the upper Ebro valley, in northern Spain, around the 8th and 9th centuries; however the first written standard was developed in the 13th century in the southern city of Toledo. It is descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire, with Arabic influences, and perhaps Basque as well. During the Reconquista in the Middle Ages, it was brought to the south of Spain where it replaced the languages that were spoken in the former Moorish controlled zones, such as the local form of related Latin dialects now referred to as Mozarabic, and the Arabic that had been introduced by the Muslims. In this process Castilian absorbed many traits from