Galicia
Galicia (also Galiza in Galician) is an autonomous community in the northwest of Spain. It borders Portugal from the north.
Galicia or Galiza
Galiza and Galicia are the two officially recognized spellings of the name in Galician, both deriving from the Latin name Gallaecia. Galiza is the older form and is found in the earliest texts written in the Galician-Portuguese language, while Galicia gained currency after the region came under the control of the kingdoms of León and later Castile. For this reason, many Galician speakers consider "Galiza" to be the only correct form, and it is the only form used by some nationalist parties and other organizations nationwide (such as BNG, Partido Galeguista or Esquerda Unida (EU)).
History
The name Galicia comes from the Latin name Gallaecia, associated with the name of the ancient Celtic tribe that resided above the Douro river, the Gallaeci or Callaeci in Latin, and Kallaikoi in Greek (these tribes were mentioned by Herodotus).
Before the Roman invasion, a series of tribes lived in the region, having — according to Strabo, Pliny, Herodotus and others — a similar culture and customs. These tribes appear to have had Celtic culture; there is evidence that the last Galician Celtic speaker died in the 15th century.
The region was first entered by the Roman legions under Decimus Junius Brutus in 137–136 BC. (Livy lv., lvi., Epitome); but the province was only superficially Romanized by the time of Augustus.
In the 5th century AD invasions, Galicia fell to the Suevi in 411, who formed a kingdom. In 584, the Visigothic King Leovigild invaded the Suebic kingdom of Galicia and defeated it, bringing it under Visigoth control. During the Moorish invasion of Spain (711-718), the Moors garrisoned Galicia, until driven out in 739 by Alfonso I of Asturias.
During the 9th and 10th centuries, the counts of Galicia gave fluctuating obedience to their nominal sovereign, and Normans/Vikings occasionally raided the coasts. The Towers of Catoira (see also Viking Festival) (Pontevedra) were built as a system of fortifications to stop Viking raids of Santiago de Compostela.
In 1063, Ferdinand I of Castile and León divided his kingdom among his sons. Galicia was allotted to Garcia II of Galicia. In 1072, it was forcibly reannexed by Garcia's brother Alphonso VI of Castile, and from that time Galicia remained part of the kingdom of Castile and Leon, although under differing degrees of self-government.
The final episode of Galician independence, up to today, was the dynastic conflict between Isabella of Castile and Xoana, called "a beltranexa" ("Daughter of Beltrán", and not to be confused with Juana the Crazy (Joanna of Castile)). Queen Isabella, during her reign as queen of Castilla, made (the historically unproven) accusations upon her niece (Xoana) of being a bastard of Beltrán and the former queen (hence the name Beltranexa). A political fight ensued, and the Xoana-supporting nobles (most of the Galician aristocracy) lost; thus giving Isabel a free ticket to initiate the process she called "Doma y Castración del Reino de Galicia" ("Taming and Castration of the Kingdom of Galicia" (sic)(Court Historian, Zurita).
History of Galicia
Galician nationalist and federalist movements arose in the nineteenth century, and after the second Spanish Republic was declared in 1931, Galicia became an autonomous region following a referendum. During the 1936–75 dictatorship of General Francisco Franco — himself a Galician from Ferrol — Galicia's autonomy statute was annulled (in common with those of Catalonia and the Basque provinces). Franco's regime also suppressed any official promotion of the Galician language, although its everyday use was never proscribed. During the last decade of Franco's rule, there was a renewal of nationalist feeling in Galicia.
Following the transition to democracy after Franco's death in 1975, Galicia regained its status as an autonomous region within Spain. Varying degrees of nationalist or separatist sentiment are evident at the political level. The only nationalist party of any electoral significance, the Bloque Nacionalista Galego or BNG, is a conglomerate of left-wing and radical left wing parties and individuals that advocate total independence from Spain. However, the nationalist parties such as those have hitherto obtained only minority electoral support at election times.
From 1990 to 2005, the region's government and parliament, the Xunta de Galicia, was presided over by the Partido Popular ('People's Party', Spain's main national conservative party) under Manuel Fraga, a former minister and ambassador under the Franco regime. In 2002, when The Prestige sank and covered the Galician coast in oil, Fraga is said to have been unwilling to react. However, in the 2005 Galician elections, the People's Party lost its overall majority, while just remaining the largest party in the parliament. As a result, power passed to a coalition between the Partido dos Socialistas de Galicia (PSdeG) ('Galician Socialists' Party'), a regional sister-party of Spain's main socialdemocratic party, the Partido Socialista Obrero Español ('Spanish Socialist Workers Party') and the BNG. As the senior partner in the new coalition, the PSdeG nominated its leader, Emilio Perez Touriño, to serve as Galicia's new president.
In August 2006, Galicia was the victim of a mass of terrorist attacks. Hundereds of large fires were started all across the land. Fear struck Galicia, and as the fires continued to spread everyday more and more of people's livelyhoods were being engulfed in the flames. However the Galicians decided to take actions themselves and began to put out the fires with hose pipes and buckets of water. They were helped by the Catalan fire brigade and others who had travelled to Galicia to help put out the fires. Huge manifistos of Nunca Mais were once again held in Santiago de Compostela, this time at the outrage of the forestal terrorism and the arson. The serach for the suspects still goes on...
Language
The spoken languages are Galician (Galician: Galego or Gallego), the local language derived from Latin, closely related to Portuguese, both being Galician-Portuguese languages, and Spanish, the only official language for more than four centuries (XVI - XIX). Since the end of the 20th century, the Galician language also has an official status, and both languages are taught in Galician schools. There is a broad consensus of support within the region for efforts to preserve the Galician language.
The Galician and Portuguese languages are derived from the early Galician-Portuguese (Galego-Português) language spoken in Galicia and north-of-Douro regions in Portugal, and are still considered by some Galician people to be two dialects of the same Galician-Portuguese language. In the Middle Ages, the Galician and Portuguese languages began to diverge, a development hastened by political separation. There remain many similarities between Portuguese and Galician. Mutual intelligibility is good between Galicians and northern Portuguese, but poorer between Galicians and speakers from southern Portugal.
A distinct Galician Literature emerged after the Middle Ages. In the 13th century, important contributions were made to the romance canon in Galician-Portuguese. The most notable was by the troubadour Martín Codax and by King Alfonso X of Castile, called El Sabio (The Wise). During this period, Galician-Portuguese was considered the language of love poetry in the Iberian Romance linguistic culture.
Geography
From the 15th Century till 1833 Galicia was divided in seven administrative provinces:
* A Coruña
* Santiago
* Betanzos
* Mondoñedo
* Lugo
* Ourense
* Tui
From 1833 onwards, the seven original provinces of the 15th Century have been limited to just four:
* A Coruña,
* Ourense,
* Pontevedra, and
* Lugo.
The main cities are Vigo, A Coruña, Pontevedra, Lugo, Ferrol, Ourense, and Santiago de Compostela, the region's capital and archiepiscopal seat, and home of the shrine which gave rise to medieval Europe's most famous pilgrimage route, The Way of St James.
Geographically, an important feature of Galicia is the presence of many fjord-like indentations on the coast, estuaries that were drowned with rising sea levels after the ice age. These are called rías and are divided into the Rías Altas, the Rías Medias, and the Rías Baixas. Most of the population live near the Rías Baixas, where several large urban centers including Vigo and Pontevedra are located. The rias are important for fishing, and make the coast an important fishing area. The spectacular landscapes and wildness of the coast attract great numbers of tourists.
The weather is Atlantic, with mild temperatures throughout the year. Santiago de Compostela has an average 100 days of rain a year. The interior, specifically the more mountainous parts of Ourense and Lugo, receive significant freezes and snowfall during the winter months.
Galicia has preserved much of its dense Atlantic forests where wildlife is commonly found. It is scarcely polluted, and its landscape composed of green hills, cliffs and rias is very different to what is commonly understood as Spanish landscape.
Inland, the region is less populated and suffers from migration to the coast and the major cities of Spain. There are few small cities (Ourense, Lugo, Verín, Monforte de Lemos, O Barco), and there are many small villages. The terrain is made up of several low mountain ranges crossed by many small rivers that are not navigable but have provided hydroelectric power from the many dams. Galicia has so many small rivers that it has been called the "land of the thousand rivers". The most important of the rivers are the Miño and the Sil, which has a spectacular canyon.
The mountains in Galicia are not high but have served to isolate the rural population and discourage development in the interior. There is a ski resort in Cabeza de Manzaneda (1700 m) in Ourense Province. The highest mountain is Trevinca (2 100 m) on the eastern border with León and Zamora provinces (Castilla y León).
Although the region is filled with extensive natural areas, Galicia has had environmental problems in the modern age. Deforestation is a problem in many areas, as is the continual spread of the invasive eucalyptus tree, imported for the paper industry, which is causing imbalances in the indigenous ecosystem. Fauna, most notably the European Wolf, have suffered from livestock owners and farmers. The native deer species have declined because of hunting and development. Recently, oil spills have become a major issue, especially with the Mar Egeo disaster in A Coruña and the infamous Prestige oil spill in 2002, a crude oil spill larger than the Exxon Valdez disaster in Alaska. Other environmental issues include gas flushing by maritime traffic, pollution from fish hatcheries on the coast, overfishing, and the highest incidence of forest fires in Spain, in spite of the wetter Galician climate.
Economy
Galicia is a land of economic contrast. While the western coast, with its major population centers and its fishing and manufacturing industries, is prosperous and increasing in population, the rural hinterland—the provinces of Ourense and Lugo—are economically dependent on traditional agriculture, based on small landholdings called minifundios. However, the rise of tourism, sustainable forestry and organic and traditional agriculture are bringing other possibilities to the Galician economy without compromising the preservation of the natural resources and the local culture.
Emigration
Like other Celtic countries Galicia's history has been defined by mass emigration. There was such significant Galician emigration in the 19th and early 20th centuries to other parts of Spain and to Latin America. In fact, the city with the second greatest number of Galician people is Buenos Aires, Argentina, where immigration from Galicia was so massive that all Spaniards are now called gallegos. During the Franco years many Gallegos emigrated to France, Switzerland and England.
Population
Galicia's inhabitants are called "Galicians" (in Portuguese & Galician galegos; in Spanish gallegos). .
Cuisine
Galician cuisine often uses fish and shellfish. One of its dishes, empanadas, is a meat or fish pie. It has Celtic influence. Caldo Galego is a hearty soup whose main ingredients are potatoes and a local vegetable named grelo. Centolla is the equivalent of King Crab. It is prepared by being boiled alive, having its main body opened like a shell, and then having its innards mixed vigorously. Centolla is served in water. Another popular dish is octopus, which is boiled whole and then its tentacles are cut into small pieces and it is served in olive oil. Pimenton, a spanish variant of Paprika, is usually dashed on it for extra flavor. It has a regional type of cheese, too: tetilla. It is triangularly shaped and is white, and takes the name from the similarity in shape to a woman's breast.
Galicia or Galiza
Galiza and Galicia are the two officially recognized spellings of the name in Galician, both deriving from the Latin name Gallaecia. Galiza is the older form and is found in the earliest texts written in the Galician-Portuguese language, while Galicia gained currency after the region came under the control of the kingdoms of León and later Castile. For this reason, many Galician speakers consider "Galiza" to be the only correct form, and it is the only form used by some nationalist parties and other organizations nationwide (such as BNG, Partido Galeguista or Esquerda Unida (EU)).
History
The name Galicia comes from the Latin name Gallaecia, associated with the name of the ancient Celtic tribe that resided above the Douro river, the Gallaeci or Callaeci in Latin, and Kallaikoi in Greek (these tribes were mentioned by Herodotus).
Before the Roman invasion, a series of tribes lived in the region, having — according to Strabo, Pliny, Herodotus and others — a similar culture and customs. These tribes appear to have had Celtic culture; there is evidence that the last Galician Celtic speaker died in the 15th century.
The region was first entered by the Roman legions under Decimus Junius Brutus in 137–136 BC. (Livy lv., lvi., Epitome); but the province was only superficially Romanized by the time of Augustus.
In the 5th century AD invasions, Galicia fell to the Suevi in 411, who formed a kingdom. In 584, the Visigothic King Leovigild invaded the Suebic kingdom of Galicia and defeated it, bringing it under Visigoth control. During the Moorish invasion of Spain (711-718), the Moors garrisoned Galicia, until driven out in 739 by Alfonso I of Asturias.
During the 9th and 10th centuries, the counts of Galicia gave fluctuating obedience to their nominal sovereign, and Normans/Vikings occasionally raided the coasts. The Towers of Catoira (see also Viking Festival) (Pontevedra) were built as a system of fortifications to stop Viking raids of Santiago de Compostela.
In 1063, Ferdinand I of Castile and León divided his kingdom among his sons. Galicia was allotted to Garcia II of Galicia. In 1072, it was forcibly reannexed by Garcia's brother Alphonso VI of Castile, and from that time Galicia remained part of the kingdom of Castile and Leon, although under differing degrees of self-government.
The final episode of Galician independence, up to today, was the dynastic conflict between Isabella of Castile and Xoana, called "a beltranexa" ("Daughter of Beltrán", and not to be confused with Juana the Crazy (Joanna of Castile)). Queen Isabella, during her reign as queen of Castilla, made (the historically unproven) accusations upon her niece (Xoana) of being a bastard of Beltrán and the former queen (hence the name Beltranexa). A political fight ensued, and the Xoana-supporting nobles (most of the Galician aristocracy) lost; thus giving Isabel a free ticket to initiate the process she called "Doma y Castración del Reino de Galicia" ("Taming and Castration of the Kingdom of Galicia" (sic)(Court Historian, Zurita).
History of Galicia
Galician nationalist and federalist movements arose in the nineteenth century, and after the second Spanish Republic was declared in 1931, Galicia became an autonomous region following a referendum. During the 1936–75 dictatorship of General Francisco Franco — himself a Galician from Ferrol — Galicia's autonomy statute was annulled (in common with those of Catalonia and the Basque provinces). Franco's regime also suppressed any official promotion of the Galician language, although its everyday use was never proscribed. During the last decade of Franco's rule, there was a renewal of nationalist feeling in Galicia.
Following the transition to democracy after Franco's death in 1975, Galicia regained its status as an autonomous region within Spain. Varying degrees of nationalist or separatist sentiment are evident at the political level. The only nationalist party of any electoral significance, the Bloque Nacionalista Galego or BNG, is a conglomerate of left-wing and radical left wing parties and individuals that advocate total independence from Spain. However, the nationalist parties such as those have hitherto obtained only minority electoral support at election times.
From 1990 to 2005, the region's government and parliament, the Xunta de Galicia, was presided over by the Partido Popular ('People's Party', Spain's main national conservative party) under Manuel Fraga, a former minister and ambassador under the Franco regime. In 2002, when The Prestige sank and covered the Galician coast in oil, Fraga is said to have been unwilling to react. However, in the 2005 Galician elections, the People's Party lost its overall majority, while just remaining the largest party in the parliament. As a result, power passed to a coalition between the Partido dos Socialistas de Galicia (PSdeG) ('Galician Socialists' Party'), a regional sister-party of Spain's main socialdemocratic party, the Partido Socialista Obrero Español ('Spanish Socialist Workers Party') and the BNG. As the senior partner in the new coalition, the PSdeG nominated its leader, Emilio Perez Touriño, to serve as Galicia's new president.
In August 2006, Galicia was the victim of a mass of terrorist attacks. Hundereds of large fires were started all across the land. Fear struck Galicia, and as the fires continued to spread everyday more and more of people's livelyhoods were being engulfed in the flames. However the Galicians decided to take actions themselves and began to put out the fires with hose pipes and buckets of water. They were helped by the Catalan fire brigade and others who had travelled to Galicia to help put out the fires. Huge manifistos of Nunca Mais were once again held in Santiago de Compostela, this time at the outrage of the forestal terrorism and the arson. The serach for the suspects still goes on...
Language
The spoken languages are Galician (Galician: Galego or Gallego), the local language derived from Latin, closely related to Portuguese, both being Galician-Portuguese languages, and Spanish, the only official language for more than four centuries (XVI - XIX). Since the end of the 20th century, the Galician language also has an official status, and both languages are taught in Galician schools. There is a broad consensus of support within the region for efforts to preserve the Galician language.
The Galician and Portuguese languages are derived from the early Galician-Portuguese (Galego-Português) language spoken in Galicia and north-of-Douro regions in Portugal, and are still considered by some Galician people to be two dialects of the same Galician-Portuguese language. In the Middle Ages, the Galician and Portuguese languages began to diverge, a development hastened by political separation. There remain many similarities between Portuguese and Galician. Mutual intelligibility is good between Galicians and northern Portuguese, but poorer between Galicians and speakers from southern Portugal.
A distinct Galician Literature emerged after the Middle Ages. In the 13th century, important contributions were made to the romance canon in Galician-Portuguese. The most notable was by the troubadour Martín Codax and by King Alfonso X of Castile, called El Sabio (The Wise). During this period, Galician-Portuguese was considered the language of love poetry in the Iberian Romance linguistic culture.
Geography
From the 15th Century till 1833 Galicia was divided in seven administrative provinces:
* A Coruña
* Santiago
* Betanzos
* Mondoñedo
* Lugo
* Ourense
* Tui
From 1833 onwards, the seven original provinces of the 15th Century have been limited to just four:
* A Coruña,
* Ourense,
* Pontevedra, and
* Lugo.
The main cities are Vigo, A Coruña, Pontevedra, Lugo, Ferrol, Ourense, and Santiago de Compostela, the region's capital and archiepiscopal seat, and home of the shrine which gave rise to medieval Europe's most famous pilgrimage route, The Way of St James.
Geographically, an important feature of Galicia is the presence of many fjord-like indentations on the coast, estuaries that were drowned with rising sea levels after the ice age. These are called rías and are divided into the Rías Altas, the Rías Medias, and the Rías Baixas. Most of the population live near the Rías Baixas, where several large urban centers including Vigo and Pontevedra are located. The rias are important for fishing, and make the coast an important fishing area. The spectacular landscapes and wildness of the coast attract great numbers of tourists.
The weather is Atlantic, with mild temperatures throughout the year. Santiago de Compostela has an average 100 days of rain a year. The interior, specifically the more mountainous parts of Ourense and Lugo, receive significant freezes and snowfall during the winter months.
Galicia has preserved much of its dense Atlantic forests where wildlife is commonly found. It is scarcely polluted, and its landscape composed of green hills, cliffs and rias is very different to what is commonly understood as Spanish landscape.
Inland, the region is less populated and suffers from migration to the coast and the major cities of Spain. There are few small cities (Ourense, Lugo, Verín, Monforte de Lemos, O Barco), and there are many small villages. The terrain is made up of several low mountain ranges crossed by many small rivers that are not navigable but have provided hydroelectric power from the many dams. Galicia has so many small rivers that it has been called the "land of the thousand rivers". The most important of the rivers are the Miño and the Sil, which has a spectacular canyon.
The mountains in Galicia are not high but have served to isolate the rural population and discourage development in the interior. There is a ski resort in Cabeza de Manzaneda (1700 m) in Ourense Province. The highest mountain is Trevinca (2 100 m) on the eastern border with León and Zamora provinces (Castilla y León).
Although the region is filled with extensive natural areas, Galicia has had environmental problems in the modern age. Deforestation is a problem in many areas, as is the continual spread of the invasive eucalyptus tree, imported for the paper industry, which is causing imbalances in the indigenous ecosystem. Fauna, most notably the European Wolf, have suffered from livestock owners and farmers. The native deer species have declined because of hunting and development. Recently, oil spills have become a major issue, especially with the Mar Egeo disaster in A Coruña and the infamous Prestige oil spill in 2002, a crude oil spill larger than the Exxon Valdez disaster in Alaska. Other environmental issues include gas flushing by maritime traffic, pollution from fish hatcheries on the coast, overfishing, and the highest incidence of forest fires in Spain, in spite of the wetter Galician climate.
Economy
Galicia is a land of economic contrast. While the western coast, with its major population centers and its fishing and manufacturing industries, is prosperous and increasing in population, the rural hinterland—the provinces of Ourense and Lugo—are economically dependent on traditional agriculture, based on small landholdings called minifundios. However, the rise of tourism, sustainable forestry and organic and traditional agriculture are bringing other possibilities to the Galician economy without compromising the preservation of the natural resources and the local culture.
Emigration
Like other Celtic countries Galicia's history has been defined by mass emigration. There was such significant Galician emigration in the 19th and early 20th centuries to other parts of Spain and to Latin America. In fact, the city with the second greatest number of Galician people is Buenos Aires, Argentina, where immigration from Galicia was so massive that all Spaniards are now called gallegos. During the Franco years many Gallegos emigrated to France, Switzerland and England.
Population
Galicia's inhabitants are called "Galicians" (in Portuguese & Galician galegos; in Spanish gallegos). .
Cuisine
Galician cuisine often uses fish and shellfish. One of its dishes, empanadas, is a meat or fish pie. It has Celtic influence. Caldo Galego is a hearty soup whose main ingredients are potatoes and a local vegetable named grelo. Centolla is the equivalent of King Crab. It is prepared by being boiled alive, having its main body opened like a shell, and then having its innards mixed vigorously. Centolla is served in water. Another popular dish is octopus, which is boiled whole and then its tentacles are cut into small pieces and it is served in olive oil. Pimenton, a spanish variant of Paprika, is usually dashed on it for extra flavor. It has a regional type of cheese, too: tetilla. It is triangularly shaped and is white, and takes the name from the similarity in shape to a woman's breast.
