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143-455: Galicia ( / ɡ ə ˈ l ɪ ʃ ( i ) ə / gə- LISH -(ee-)ə ; Galician : Galicia [ɡaˈliθjɐ] (officially) or Galiza [ɡaˈliθɐ] ; Spanish : Galicia [ɡaˈliθja] ) is an autonomous community of Spain and historic nationality under Spanish law. Located in the northwest Iberian Peninsula , it includes the provinces of A Coruña , Lugo , Ourense , and Pontevedra . Galicia

286-762: A Briton colony and bishopric (see Mailoc ) was established in Northern Galicia ( Britonia ), probably as foederati and allies of the Suebi. In 585, the Visigothic King Leovigild invaded the Suebic kingdom of Galicia and defeated it, bringing it under Visigoth control. Later the Muslims invaded Spain (711), but the Arabs and Moors never managed to have any real control over Galicia, which

429-520: A dialect continuum with Portuguese in the south, and with Astur-Leonese in the east. Mutual intelligibility (estimated at 85% by Robert A. Hall Jr. , 1989) is very high between Galicians and northern Portuguese. The current linguistic status of Galician with regard to Portuguese is controversial in Galicia, and the issue sometimes carries political overtones. There are linguists who consider Galician and Portuguese as two norms or varieties of

572-595: A separatist coup attempt in 1846 against the authoritarian regime of Ramón María Narváez . Solís and his forces were defeated at the Battle of Cacheiras , 23 April 1846, and the survivors, including Solís himself, were shot. They have taken their place in Galician memory as the Martyrs of Carral or simply the Martyrs of Liberty. Defeated on the military front, Galicians turned to culture. The Rexurdimento focused on

715-571: A Celtic revival; and Manuel Curros Enríquez , a liberal and anticlerical author whose ideas and proclamations were scandalous for part of the 19th-century society. The first political manifest asking for the officialization of Galician date to the late 19th century. An important landmark was the establishment of the Royal Galician Academy , in 1906, soon followed by that of the Seminario de Estudos Galegos (1923). The Seminario

858-484: A Galician from Ferrol – ruled as dictator from the civil war until he died in 1975. Franco's centralizing regime suppressed any official use of the Galician language, including the use of Galician names for newborns, although its everyday oral use was not forbidden. Among the attempts at resistance were small leftist guerrilla groups such as those led by José Castro Veiga ("O Piloto") and Benigno Andrade ("Foucellas"), both of whom were ultimately captured and executed. In

1001-608: A Republican parliamentary commission in exile, namely in Mexico . That is to say, it was a symbolic gesture since the Statute could never be implemented. The 1936 Statute of Autonomy of Galicia, although never implemented, was a fundamental piece of legislation for the future of Galicia. With the end of Francoist Spain (1977) and subsequent Spanish transition to democracy and passing of the Spanish Constitution (1978),

1144-589: A Statute containing 49 articles. It was divided in six parts: 1) Prologue; 2) Regional powers; 3) Faculties and abilities of the region; 4) Regional tax and revenue; 5) General remarks; 6) Temporary dispositions. This project defined Galicia as a democratic autonomous region within the Spanish State, with the aspiration of transforming the State into a federal republic . It established both Galician and Spanish as official languages. Most significantly, it granted

1287-480: A derivation of the ethnic name Kallaikói , means 'the land of the Galicians'. Another recent proposal comes from linguist Francesco Benozzo after identifying the root gall- / kall- in a number of Celtic words with the meaning "stone" or "rock", as follows: gall (old Irish), gal (Middle Welsh), gailleichan (Scottish Gaelic), kailhoù (Breton), galagh (Manx) and gall (Gaulish). Hence, Benozzo explains

1430-511: A document from the monastery of Melón , dated in 1231 —being Galician by far the most used language during the 13th, 14th and 15th centuries, in substitution of Latin. Galician-Portuguese lost its political unity when the County of Portugal obtained its independence from the Kingdom of León , a transition initiated in 1139 and completed in 1179, establishing the Kingdom of Portugal . Meanwhile,

1573-697: A general revolt, the monarchs ordered the banishing of the rest of the great lords like Pedro de Bolaño, Diego de Andrade, or Lope Sánchez de Moscoso, among others. The establishment of the Santa Hermandad in 1480, and the Real Audiencia del Reino de Galicia in 1500—a tribunal and executive body directed by the Governor - Captain General as a direct representative of the King—implied initially

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1716-612: A language through elaboration, and not an abstand language , a language through detachment. With regard to the external and internal perception of this relation, for instance in past editions of the Encyclopædia Britannica , Galician was defined as a "Portuguese dialect" spoken in northwestern Spain. On the other hand, the director of the Instituto Camões declared in 2019 that Galician and Portuguese were close kin, but different languages. According to

1859-520: A lesser degree of Romanization . In the 3rd century, it was made a province, under the name Gallaecia, which included also northern Portugal, Asturias , and a large section of what today is known as Castile and León . In the early 5th century, the deep crisis suffered by the Roman Empire allowed different tribes of Central Europe ( Suebi , Vandals and Alani ) to cross the Rhine and penetrate

2002-586: A minor language with less capacity to counterbalance the influence of Spanish, the only official language between the 18th century and 1975. On the other hand, viewing Galician as a part of the Lusosphere, while not denying its own characteristics (cf. Swiss German ), shifts cultural influence from the Spanish domain to the Portuguese. Some scholars have described the situation as properly a continuum, from

2145-650: A nasal consonant in the west; reduction of the sibilant system, with the confluence (except in the Baixa Limia region) of voiced and voiceless fricatives, followed by a process of de-affrication which led to different results in the west and in the east. The most important author during this period of the language was the scholar Martín Sarmiento , unconditional defender and the first researcher of Galician language (history, evolution, lexicon, etymology, onomastics). His Elementos etimológicos segun el método de Euclides (1766), written in Spanish but dealing with Galician,

2288-454: A new language: Latin . The Roman Empire established its control over Galicia through camps ( castra ) as Aquis Querquennis , Ciadella camp or Lucus Augusti ( Lugo ), roads ( viae ) and monuments as the lighthouse known as Tower of Hercules , in Corunna , but the remoteness and lesser interest of the country since the 2nd century AD, when the gold mines stopped being productive, led to

2431-404: A number of sonnets and other lyric poetry, as well as other literate productions, including the forgery of allegedly mediaeval scriptures or chronicles under diverse pretensions—usually to show the ancient nobility of the forger's family—being these writings elaborated in an archaic looking Galician which nevertheless could not conceal the state of the language during this period. Middle Galician

2574-610: A pastoral letter that was not well received by the Franco regime, about a demonstration in Bazán (Ferrol) where two workers died. As part of the transition to democracy upon the death of Franco in 1975, Galicia regained its status as an autonomous region within Spain with the Statute of Autonomy of 1981, which begins, "Galicia, historical nationality, is constituted as an Autonomous Community to access to its self-government, in agreement with

2717-533: A process of centralisation. At the same time the kings began to call the Xunta or Cortes of the Kingdom of Galicia , an assembly of deputies or representatives of the cities of the Kingdom, to ask for monetary and military contributions. This assembly soon developed into the voice and legal representation of the Kingdom, and the depositary of its will and laws. The modern period of the Kingdom of Galicia began with

2860-412: A relatively high density of population. Except shipbuilding and food processing, Galicia was based on a farming and fishing economy until after the mid-20th century, when it began to industrialize. In 2018, the nominal gross domestic product was €62.900 billion, with a nominal GDP per capita of €23,300. Galicia is characterised, unlike other Spanish regions, by the absence of a metropolis dominating

3003-406: A route for the propagation of Romanesque art and the words and music of the troubadors . During the 10th and 11th centuries, a period during which Galician nobility become related to the royal family, Galicia was at times headed by its own native kings , while Vikings (locally known as Leodemanes or Lordomanes ) occasionally raided the coasts. The Towers of Catoira (Pontevedra) were built as

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3146-472: A series of collections, and belonging to four main genres: cantigas de amor , love songs, where a man sings for his ladylove; cantigas de amigo , where a woman sings for her boyfriend; cantigas de escarnio , crude, taunting, and sexual songs of scorn; cantigas de maldecir , where the poet vents his spleen openly; and also the Cantigas de Santa María , which are religious songs. The oldest known document

3289-496: A system of fortifications to prevent and stop the Viking raids on Santiago de Compostela. In 1063, Ferdinand I of Castile divided his realm among his sons, and the Kingdom of Galicia was granted to Garcia II of Galicia . In 1072, it was forcibly annexed by Garcia's brother Alfonso VI of León ; from that time Galicia was united with the Kingdom of León under the same monarchs. In the 13th century Alfonso X of Castile standardized

3432-478: Is a Western Ibero-Romance language. Around 2.4 million people have at least some degree of competence in the language, mainly in Galicia , an autonomous community located in northwestern Spain, where it has official status along with Spanish . The language is also spoken in some border zones of the neighbouring Spanish regions of Asturias and Castile and León , as well as by Galician migrant communities in

3575-601: Is a free State within the Spanish Federal Republic Article 2. The official languages in the Galician State are, indistinctly, Galician and Castilian Civil servants must know the Galician language Article 3. The national colours of Galicia are white and blue Article 4. The territory of Galicia embraces the four old provinces of A Coruña, Lugo, Pontevedra and Ourense Article 5. Any neighbouring territory may join Galicia if that

3718-502: Is a ski resort. Galicia is poetically known as the "country of the thousand rivers " ("o país dos mil ríos"). The largest and most important of these rivers is the Miño , poetically known as O Pai Miño (Father Miño), which is 307.5 km (191.1 mi) long and discharges 419 m (548 cu yd) per second, with its affluent the Sil , which has created a spectacular canyon. Most of

3861-576: Is approved by two thirds of their population (...) Article 6. A Galician citizen is: Building on that, a more elaborated draft arrived in 1932, when the Mayor of Santiago de Compostela , Raimundo López Pol, called for a meeting of all the Galician municipalities to discuss the text. That first meeting took place in Compostela on July 3. The editing committee was composed by Manuel Lugrís , Alexandre Bóveda and Salvador Cabeza de León . They wrote

4004-467: Is characterized by a hilly landscape; mountain ranges rise to 2,000 m (6,600 ft) in the east and south. The coastal areas are mostly an alternate series of rias and beaches. The climate of Galicia is usually temperate and rainy, with markedly drier summers; it is usually classified as Oceanic . Its topographic and climatic conditions have made animal husbandry and farming the primary source of Galicia's wealth for most of its history, allowing for

4147-403: Is characterized by a series of phonetic processes which led to a further separation from Portuguese, and to the apparition of some of the more noteworthy dialectal features, among other phenomenons: emergence of the gheada or pronunciation of /ɡ/ as a pharyngeal fricative; denasalization of nasal vowels in most of Galicia, becoming oral vowels in the east, or a group formed by an oral vowel plus

4290-565: Is commonly understood as Spanish landscape. Nevertheless, Galicia has some important environmental problems. Deforestation and forest fires are a problem in many areas, as is the continual spread of the eucalyptus tree, a species imported from Australia, actively promoted by the paper industry since the mid-20th century. Galicia is one of the more forested areas of Spain, but the majority of Galicia's plantations, usually growing eucalyptus or pine, lack any formal management. Massive eucalyptus plantation, especially of Eucalyptus globulus , began in

4433-439: Is considered the dark age of Galician language. The Galician spoken and written then is usually referred to as Middle Galician . Middle Galician is known mostly through popular literature (songs, carols, proverbs, theatrical scripts, personal letters), but also through the frequent apparition of Galician interferences and personal and place names in local works and documents otherwise written in Spanish. Other important sources are

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4576-767: Is different from it ]. Private cultural associations, not endorsed by Galician or Portuguese governments, such as the Galician Language Association ( Associaçom Galega da Língua ) and Galician Academy of the Portuguese Language ( Academia Galega da Língua Portuguesa ), advocates of the minority Reintegrationist movement, support the idea that differences between Galician and Portuguese speech are not enough to justify considering them as separate languages: Galician would be simply one variety of Galician-Portuguese, along with European Portuguese ; Brazilian Portuguese ; African Portuguese ;

4719-714: Is located in Atlantic Europe . It is bordered by Portugal to the south, the Spanish autonomous communities of Castile and León and Asturias to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and the Cantabrian Sea to the north. It had a population of 2,701,743 in 2018 and a total area of 29,574 km (11,419 sq mi). Galicia has over 1,660 km (1,030 mi) of coastline, including its offshore islands and islets, among them Cíes Islands , Ons , Sálvora , Cortegada Island , which together form

4862-409: Is not until the 12th century that there is evidence for the identification of the local language as a language different from Latin itself. During this same 12th century there are full Galician sentences being inadvertently used inside Latin texts, while its first reckoned use as a literary language dates to the last years of this same century. The linguistic stage from the 13th to the 15th centuries

5005-545: Is part of a family which includes our brothers from Portugal, Brazil, Angola, Cape Verde, Mozambique... a territory full of possibilities also for Galician. We always said that Galician is not a regional language, but is in fact part of that international project". Galician is spoken by some three million people, including most of the population of Galicia and the numerous Galician communities established elsewhere, in Spain ( Madrid , Barcelona, Biscay ), in other European cities ( Andorra la Vella , Geneva, London, Paris), and in

5148-442: Is simply called Galician ( gallego ). Dialectal divergences are observable between the northern and southern forms of Galician-Portuguese in 13th-century texts but the two dialects were similar enough to maintain a high level of cultural unity until the middle of the 14th century, producing the medieval Galician-Portuguese lyric . The divergence has continued to this day, most frequently due to innovations in Portuguese, producing

5291-654: Is the poem Ora faz ost'o Senhor de Navarra by Joam Soares de Paiva, written around 1200. The first non-literary documents in Galician-Portuguese date from the early 13th century, the Noticia de Torto (1211) and the Testamento of Afonso II of Portugal (1214), both samples of medieval notarial prose. Its most notable patrons—themselves reputed authors—were King Dom Dinis in Portugal, and King Alfonso X

5434-530: Is their primary language, with lower numbers for the younger population. Those under 45 were more likely than those over 45 to answer that they never use Galician. Use of Galician also varies greatly depending on the regions and municipalities of Galicia. While in two areas of the Province of A Coruña ( Costa da Morte and the Southeast) more than 90% of the population always or mostly speaks in Galician, only

5577-578: Is usually known as Galician-Portuguese (or Old Portuguese , or Old Galician ) as an acknowledgement of the cultural and linguistic unity of Galicia and Portugal during the Middle Ages, as the two linguistic varieties differed only in dialectal minor phenomena. This language flourished during the 13th and 14th centuries as a language of culture, developing a rich lyric tradition of which some 2000 compositions ( cantigas , meaning 'songs') have been preserved—a few hundred even with their musical score—in

5720-518: The Artabri , Bracari , Limici , Celtici , Albiones and Lemavi . They were capable fighters: Strabo described them as the most difficult foes the Romans encountered in conquering Lusitania , while Appian mentions their warlike spirit, noting that the women bore their weapons side by side with their men, frequently preferring death to captivity. According to Pomponius Mela all the inhabitants of

5863-618: The Astur-Leonese group on the one hand, and those defending it as clearly Galician varieties on the other (actually both views are compatible). The recent edition of the cartularies of Oscos in Old Common Council of Castropol and cartularies of Obona , Cornellana , Corias and Belmonte in middle west of Asturias have shown a huge difference in the medieval speech between both banks of the Navia river. An examination of

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6006-689: The Atlantic Bronze Age . Dating from the end of the Megalithic era, and up to the Bronze Age , numerous stone carvings ( petroglyphs ) are found in open air. They usually represent cup and ring marks , labyrinths , deer , Bronze Age weapons, and riding and hunting scenes. Large numbers of these stone carvings can be found in the Rías Baixas regions, at places such as Tourón and Campo Lameiro . The Castro culture ('Culture of

6149-792: The Atlantic Islands of Galicia National Park , and the largest and most populated, A Illa de Arousa . The area now called Galicia was first inhabited by humans during the Middle Paleolithic period, and takes its name from the Gallaeci , the Celtic people living north of the Douro River during the last millennium BC. Galicia was incorporated into the Roman Empire at the end of the Cantabrian Wars in 19 BC, and

6292-742: The Chronicle of St. Mary of Iria , by Rui Vasques), religious books, legal studies, and a treaty on horse breeding. Most prose literary creation in Galician had stopped by the 16th century, when printing press became popular; the first complete translation of the Bible was not printed until the 20th century. As for other written uses of Galician, legal charters (last wills, hirings, sales, constitutional charters, city council book of acts, guild constitutions, books of possessions, and any type of public or private contracts and inventories) written in Galicia are to be found from 1230 to 1530—the earliest one probably

6435-545: The European Parliament , being used by some Galician representatives, among others: José Posada , Camilo Nogueira and Xosé Manuel Beiras . Controversy exists regarding the inclusion of Eonavian (spoken in the western end of Asturias , bordering Galicia ) into the Galician language, as it has some traits in common with Western Asturian (spoken in the middle west of Asturias). There are those defending these linguistic varieties as dialects of transition to

6578-542: The Fala language spoken in the northwestern corner of Extremadura (Spain), and other dialects. They have adopted slightly-modified or actual Portuguese orthography, which has its roots in medieval Galician-Portuguese poetry as later adapted by the Portuguese Chancellery. According to Reintegrationists, considering Galician as an independent language reduces contact with Portuguese culture, leaving Galician as

6721-536: The Francisco Franco era, largely on behalf of the paper company Empresa Nacional de Celulosas de España (ENCE) in Pontevedra , which wanted it for its pulp. Galician photographer Delmi Álvarez began documenting the fires in Galicia in 2006 in a project called Queiman Galiza (Burn Galicia) . Wood products figure significantly in Galicia's economy. Apart from tree plantations, Galicia is also notable for

6864-575: The Frente Popular for the elections provoked internal tensions, namely from the right-wing members, who left the party. Nonetheless, they would still support the Statute and ask for a "yes" vote in the referendum to come . The campaign for the Statute referendum was intense and, finally, on 28 June 1936, Galicians were called to general vote. The turnout was 74.56 per cent (a very high figure for that time), with 993,351 votes in favour and 6,161 against. On 15 July 1936 Gómez Román , secretary of

7007-701: The Galician Association of Language consider Galician and Portuguese two forms of the Galician-Portuguese language , and other minoritary organizations such as Galician Academy of the Portuguese Language believe that Galician should be considered part of the Portuguese language for a wider international usage and level of "normalization". Modern Galician and Portuguese originated from a common medieval ancestor designated variously by modern linguists as Galician-Portuguese (or as Medieval Galician, Medieval Portuguese, Old Galician or Old Portuguese). This common ancestral stage developed from Vulgar Latin in

7150-653: The Gallaeci or Callaeci in Latin , or Καλλαϊκoί ( Kallaïkoí ) in Greek . These Callaeci were the first tribe in the area to help the Lusitanians against the invading Romans. The Romans applied their name to all the other tribes in the northwest who spoke the same language and lived the same life. The toponymy of the name has been studied since the 7th century by authors such as Isidore of Seville , who wrote that "Galicians are called so, because of their fair skin, as

7293-532: The Middle Ages , the kingdom of Galicia was occasionally ruled by its own kings , but most of the time it was leagued to the kingdom of Leon and later to that of Castile , while maintaining its own legal and customary practices and culture. From the 13th century on, the kings of Castile, as kings of Galicia, appointed an Adiantado-mór , whose attributions passed to the Governor and Captain General of

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7436-576: The Partido Galeguista (PG) was the most important of a shifting collection of Galician nationalist parties. Following a referendum on a Galician Statute of Autonomy , Galicia was granted the status of an autonomous region. Galicia was spared the worst of the fighting in that war: it was one of the areas where the initial coup attempt at the outset of the war was successful, and it remained in Nationalist hands (Franco's army) throughout

7579-804: The Partido Galeguista , and Castelao , member of the Spanish Parliament for the Partido Galeguista/Frente Popular , submitted the Galician Statute of Autonomy to the Spanish Parliament. However, the start of the Civil War delayed the process. The Republican Parliament, based in Catalonia because of the War, eventually discussed the Statute on 1 February 1938. The Statute was only officially passed in 1945 by

7722-661: The Partido Galeguista , founded in 1931, promoted the development of a Galician Statute of Autonomy, based on the old Galicianist ideals and the modern Galician nationalism . In 1931, shortly after the establishment of the Spanish Second Republic, the Seminario de Estudos Galegos (Galician Studies Seminar) presented an early draft for a Statute of Autonomy. The draft had been prepared by Valentín Paz Andrade , Lois Tobío Fernández , Ricardo Carballo Calero and Vicente Risco ,. It stated: Article 1. Galicia

7865-578: The Romans , along with Finistère in Brittany and Land's End in Cornwall , to be the end of the known world. All along the Galician coast are various archipelagos near the mouths of the rías . These archipelagos provide protected deepwater harbors and also provide habitat for seagoing birds. A 2007 inventory estimates that the Galician coast has 316 archipelagos, islets, and freestanding rocks. Among

8008-439: The Serra dos Ancares (on the border with León and Asturias ), O Courel (on the border with León), O Eixe (the border between Ourense and Zamora ), Serra de Queixa (in the center of Ourense province), O Faro (the border between Lugo and Pontevedra), Cova da Serpe (border of Lugo and A Coruña), Montemaior (A Coruña), Montes do Testeiro , Serra do Suído , and Faro de Avión (between Pontevedra and Ourense); and, to

8151-417: The Spanish Constitution and with the present Statute (…)". Varying degrees of nationalist or independentist sentiment are evident at the political level. The Bloque Nacionalista Galego or BNG, is a conglomerate of left-wing parties and individuals that claims Galician political status as a nation. From 1990 to 2005, Manuel Fraga, former minister and ambassador in the Franco dictatorship, presided over

8294-455: The same language . Some authors, such as Lindley Cintra , consider that they are still co-dialects of a common language in spite of differences in phonology and vocabulary, while others argue that they have become separate languages due to differences in phonetics and vocabulary usage, and, to a lesser extent, morphology and syntax. Fernández Rei in 1990 stated that the Galician language is, with respect to Portuguese, an ausbau language ,

8437-421: The 'People's Party' lost its absolute majority, though remaining (barely) the largest party in the parliament, with 43% of the total votes. As a result, power passed to a coalition of the Partido dos Socialistas de Galicia (PSdeG) ('Galician Socialists ' Party'), a federal sister-party of Spain's main social-democratic party, the Partido Socialista Obrero Español (PSOE, 'Spanish Socialist Workers Party') and

8580-580: The 13th and 14th centuries became notable authors, such as Paio Gomes Charinho, lord of Rianxo , and the aforementioned kings. Aside from the lyric genres, Galicia developed also a minor tradition on literary prose, most notably in translation of European popular series, as those dealing with King Arthur written by Chrétien de Troyes , or those based on the war of Troy , usually paid and commissioned by noblemen who desired to read those romances in their own language. Other genres include history books (either translation of Spanish ones, or original creations like

8723-461: The 14th century. In Spanish "lenguaje gallego" is already documented in this same century, circa 1330; in Occitan circa 1290, in the Regles de Trobar by Catalan author Jofre de Foixà : " si tu vols far un cantar en frances, no·s tayn que·y mescles proençal ne cicilia ne gallego ne altre lengatge que sia strayn a aquell " [ If you want to compose a song in French, you should not admix Provençal nor Sicilian nor Galician nor other language which

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8866-481: The 15,2% of the population does the same in the city of Vigo . Some authors are of the opinion that Galician possesses no real dialects. Despite this, Galician local varieties are collected in three main dialectal blocks, each block comprising a series of areas, being local linguistic varieties that are all mutually intelligible . Some of the main features which distinguish the three blocks are: Galician Statute of Autonomy (1936) Galician nationalists of

9009-431: The 16th century through to the mid-18th century, when written Galician almost completely disappeared except for private or occasional uses but the spoken language remained the common language of the people in the villages and even the cities. From that moment Galicia, which participated to a minor extent in the American expansion of the Spanish Empire , found itself at the center of the Atlantic wars fought by Spain against

9152-461: The 1960s, ministers such as Manuel Fraga Iribarne introduced some reforms allowing technocrats affiliated with Opus Dei to modernize administration in a way that facilitated capitalist economic development. However, for decades Galicia was largely confined to the role of a supplier of raw materials and energy to the rest of Spain, causing environmental havoc and leading to a wave of migration to Venezuela and to various parts of Europe. Fenosa ,

9295-463: The 2000–2010 decade has degraded it partially. Galicia is quite mountainous , a fact which has contributed to isolate the rural areas, hampering communications, most notably in the inland. The main mountain range is the Macizo Galaico ( Serra do Eixe , Serra da Lastra , Serra do Courel ), also known as Macizo Galaico-Leonés , located in the eastern parts, bordering with Castile and León . Noteworthy mountain ranges are O Xistral (northern Lugo ),

9438-505: The A Nave Cape in Fisterra (also known as Finisterre), and Cape Touriñán, both in the province of A Coruña. The interior of Galicia is a hilly landscape, composed of relatively low mountain ranges, usually below 1,000 m (3,300 ft) high, without sharp peaks, rising to 2,000 m (6,600 ft) in the eastern mountains. There are many rivers, most (though not all) running down relatively gentle slopes in narrow river valleys, though at times their courses become far more rugged, as in

9581-419: The Americas (New York, New Jersey , Buenos Aires, Córdoba/Argentina, Montevideo , Mexico City , Havana , Caracas, San Juan in Puerto Rico , São Paulo, Managua , Mayagüez , Ponce , Panama City). Galician is today official, together with the Spanish language, in the autonomous community of Galicia, where it is recognized as the autochthonous language ( lingua propia ), being by law the first language of

9724-509: The Castilian language (i.e. Spanish) and made it the language of court and government. Nevertheless, in his Kingdom of Galicia the Galician language was the only language spoken, and the most used in government and legal uses, as well as in literature . During the 14th and 15th centuries, the progressive distancing of the kings from Galician affairs left the kingdom in the hands of the local knights, counts, and bishops, who frequently fought each other to increase their fiefs, or simply to plunder

9867-400: The Castles') developed during the Iron Age , and flourished during the second half of the first millennium BC. It is usually considered a local evolution of the Atlantic Bronze Age, with later developments and influences overlapping into the Roman era. Geographically, it corresponds to the people the Romans called Gallaeci , which were composed of a large series of nations or tribes, among them

10010-403: The Eirós Cave, in the municipality of Triacastela , which has preserved animal remains and Neanderthal stone objects from the Middle Paleolithic . The earliest culture to have left significant architectural traces is the Megalithic culture, which expanded along the western European coasts during the Neolithic and Calcolithic eras. Thousands of Megalithic tumuli are distributed throughout

10153-462: The French and the Protestant powers of England and the Netherlands, whose privateers attacked the coastal areas, but major assaults were not common as the coastline was difficult and the harbors easily defended. The most famous assaults were upon the city of Vigo by Sir Francis Drake in 1585 and 1589, and the siege of A Coruña in 1589 by the English Armada . Galicia also suffered occasional slave raids by Barbary pirates , but not as frequently as

10296-533: The Galician autonomous government, the Xunta de Galicia . Fraga was associated with the Partido Popular ('People's Party', Spain's main national conservative party) since its founding. In 2002, when the oil tanker Prestige sank and covered the Galician coast in oil, Fraga was accused by the grassroots movement Nunca Mais ("Never again") of having been unwilling to react. In the 2005 Galician elections,

10439-587: The Galician culture and language) was admitted as a consultative observer of the Community of Portuguese Speaking Countries (CPLP). A "friendship and cooperation" protocol was signed between the Royal Galician Academy (RAG) and the Brazilian Academy of Letters on 10 January 2019. Víctor F. Freixanes, president of the RAG, stated during the ceremony that "there is a conscience that the Galician language

10582-534: The Galician government a number of powers, including the financial system (management and control of taxes and the economy), with the possibility to nationalize . It also established the functioning of the Parliament, the electoral system, and the role and functions of the President of Galicia. Between 17 and 19 December 1932, the final text was submitted to the vote. It obtained the support of 77 per cent of

10725-554: The Galician government, universities and main cultural institutions, such as the Galician Language Institute or the Royal Galician Academy , Galician and Portuguese are independent languages that stemmed from medieval Galician-Portuguese, and modern Galician must be considered an independent Romance language belonging to the group of Ibero-Romance languages having strong ties with Portuguese and its northern dialects. The standard orthography has its roots in

10868-596: The Galician municipal representatives, counting for 84.7 per cent of the population. However, political instability postponed the ratification of the Statute by the Spanish government. Following the victory of the Frente Popular (Popular Front) in the February 1936 elections , the Galicianists could proceed again with their project. Yet, the fact that a number of members of the Partido Galeguista had joined

11011-488: The Galician variants of Portuguese in one extreme to the Spanish language in the other (which would represent the complete linguistic shift from Galician to Spanish); reintegrationist points of view are closer to the Portuguese extreme, and so-called isolationist ones would be closer to the Spanish one; however, the major Galician nationalist parties, Anova–Nationalist Brotherhood and Galician Nationalist Bloc , do not use reintegrationist orthographical conventions. In 2014,

11154-646: The Gauls", relating the name to the Greek word for milk. (See the etymology of the word galaxy .) In the 21st century, some scholars (J.J. Moralejo, Carlos Búa) have derived the name of the ancient Callaeci either from Proto-Indo-European *kl(H)-no- 'hill', through a local relational suffix -aik-, also attested in Celtiberian , so meaning 'the hill (people)'; or from Proto-Celtic *kallī- 'forest', so meaning 'the forest (people)'. In any case, Galicia , being per se

11297-582: The Kingdom of Galicia was united with the Kingdom of León, and later with the Kingdom of Castile, under kings of the House of Burgundy . The Galician and Portuguese standards of the language diverged over time, following independent evolutionary paths. Portuguese was the official language of the Portuguese chancellery, while Galician was the usual language not only of troubadours and peasants, but also of local noblemen and clergy, and of their officials, so forging and maintaining two slightly different standards. During

11440-548: The Kingdom of Galiza from the last years of the 15th century. The Governor also presided the Real Audiencia do Reino de Galicia , a royal tribunal and government body. From the 16th century, the representation and voice of the kingdom was held by an assembly of deputies and representatives of the cities of the kingdom, the Cortes or Junta of the Kingdom of Galicia . This institution was forcibly discontinued in 1833 when

11583-467: The Language) developed first as a cultural association but soon as a full-blown nationalist movement. Vicente Risco and Ramón Otero Pedrayo were outstanding cultural figures of this movement, and the magazine Nós ('Us'), founded in 1920, its most notable cultural institution, Lois Peña Novo the outstanding political figure. The Second Spanish Republic was declared in 1931. During the republic,

11726-464: The Learned in Galicia, Castile and León, who was a great promoter of both Galician and Castilian Spanish languages. Not only the kings but also the noble houses of Galicia and Portugal encouraged literary creation in Galician-Portuguese, as being an author or bringing reputed troubadours into one's home became a way of promoting social prestige. As a result, many noblemen, businessmen and clergymen of

11869-522: The Mediterranean coastal areas. The most famous Barbary attack was the bloody sack of the town of Cangas in 1617. At the time, the king's petitions for money and troops became more frequent, due to the human and economic exhaustion of Castile; the Junta of the Kingdom of Galicia (the local Cortes or representative assembly ) was initially receptive to these petitions, raising large sums, accepting

12012-594: The Netherlands, France, and England hampered Galicia's Atlantic commerce, which consisted mostly in the exportation of sardines, wood, and some cattle and wine. In the late years of the 15th century the written form of the Galician language began a slow decline as it was increasingly replaced by Spanish, which would culminate in the Séculos Escuros "the Dark Centuries" of the language, roughly from

12155-551: The area under Decimus Junius Brutus in 137–136 BC, but the country was only incorporated into the Roman Empire by the time of Augustus (29 BC – 19 BC). The Romans were interested in Galicia mainly for its mineral resources, most notably gold. Under Roman rule, most Galician hillforts began to be – sometimes forcibly – abandoned, and Gallaeci served frequently in the Roman army as auxiliary troops. Romans brought new technologies, new travel routes, new forms of organizing property, and

12298-732: The canyons of the Sil river, Galicia's second most important river after the Miño . Topographically, a remarkable feature of Galicia is the presence of many firth -like inlets along the coast, estuaries that were drowned with rising sea levels after the ice age . These are called rías and are divided into the smaller Rías Altas ("High Rías"), and the larger Rías Baixas ("Low Rías"). The Rías Altas include Ribadeo, Foz, Viveiro, O Barqueiro, Ortigueira, Cedeira, Ferrol, Betanzos, A Coruña, Corme e Laxe and Camariñas. The Rías Baixas, found south of Fisterra, include Corcubión, Muros e Noia, Arousa , Pontevedra and Vigo. The Rías Altas can sometimes refer only to those east of Estaca de Bares , with

12441-523: The chronicler Jeronimo Zurita defined as "doma del Reino de Galicia": 'It was then when the taming of Galicia began, because not just the local lords and knights, but all the people of that nation were the ones against the others very bold and warlike'. These reforms, while establishing a local government and tribunal (the Real Audiencia del Reino de Galicia ), and bringing the nobleman under submission, also brought most Galician monasteries and institutions under Castilian control, in what has been criticized as

12584-486: The cities of Vigo , Pontevedra , and the interior city of Santiago de Compostela . There are smaller populations around the interior cities of Lugo and Ourense . The political capital is Santiago de Compostela , in the province of A Coruña . Vigo , in the province of Pontevedra , is the largest municipality and A Coruña the most populated city in Galicia. Two languages are official and widely used today in Galicia:

12727-628: The civil governors of all four Galician provinces; Juana Capdevielle , the wife of the governor of A Coruña; mayors such as Ánxel Casal of Santiago de Compostela, of the Partido Galeguista; prominent socialists such as Jaime Quintanilla in Ferrol and Emilio Martínez Garrido in Vigo ; Popular Front deputies Antonio Bilbatúa , José Miñones , Díaz Villamil , Ignacio Seoane , and former deputy Heraclio Botana ); soldiers who had not joined

12870-689: The coastal areas were Celtic people . Gallaeci lived in castros . These were usually annular forts, with one or more concentric earthen or stony walls, with a trench in front of each one. They were frequently located on hills, or in seashore cliffs and peninsulas. Some well known castros can be found on the seashore at: Fazouro, Santa Tegra, Baroña, and O Neixón; and inland at: San Cibrao de Lás , Borneiro, Castromao, and Viladonga. Some other distinctive features, such as temples, baths, reservoirs, warrior statues, and decorative carvings have been found associated with this culture, together with rich gold and metalworking traditions. The Roman legions first entered

13013-448: The conscription of the men of the kingdom, and even commissioning a new naval squadron which was sustained with the incomes of the Kingdom. After the rupture of the wars with Portugal and Catalonia , the Junta changed its attitude, this time due to the exhaustion of Galicia, now involved not just in naval or oversea operations, but also in an exhausting war with the Portuguese, war which produced thousands of casualties and refugees and

13156-578: The country, mostly along the coastal areas. Within each tumulus is a stone burial chamber known locally as anta ( dolmen ), frequently preceded by a corridor. Galicia was later influenced by the Bell Beaker culture . Its rich mineral deposits of tin and gold led to the development of Bronze Age metallurgy , and the commerce of bronze and gold items all along the Atlantic coast of Western Europe. A shared elite culture evolved in this region during

13299-469: The defeat of some of the most powerful Galician lords, such as Pedro Álvarez de Sotomayor, called Pedro Madruga , and Rodrigo Henriquez Osorio, at the hands of the Castilian armies sent to Galicia between the years 1480 and 1486. Isabella I of Castile , considered a usurper by many Galician nobles, defeated all armed resistance and definitively established the royal power of the Castilian monarchy. Fearing

13442-606: The early 20th century, namely those around the Partido Galeguista , had considered a number of options regarding the relationship between Galicia and Spain , ranging from regional autonomy to total independence. During the Spanish Second Republic (1931–1939) a number of intellectuals proposed the formation of a federal State , where the different regions and nations of Spain could benefit from autonomy and decentralization . With that idea in mind,

13585-427: The ethnonym Callaeci as being "the stone people" or "the people of the stone" ("those who work with stones"), about the builders of the ancient megaliths and stone formations so common in Galicia. The name evolved during the Middle Ages from Gallaecia , sometimes written Galletia , to Gallicia . In the 13th century, with the written emergence of the Galician language, Galiza became the most usual written form of

13728-539: The extensive surface occupied by meadows used for animal husbandry, especially cattle , an important activity. Hydroelectric development in most rivers has been a serious concern for local conservationists during the last decades. Galician language Western Areas Central Areas Eastern Areas Other Areas Galician ( / ɡ ə ˈ l ɪ ʃ ( i ) ə n / gə- LISH -(ee-)ən , UK also / ɡ ə ˈ l ɪ s i ə n / gə- LISS -ee-ən ), also known as Galego ( endonym : galego ),

13871-406: The institution responsible for regulating the Galician language, whilst recognizing Galiza as a legitimate current denomination, has stated that the only official name of the country is Galicia . Due to Galicia's history and culture with mythology, the land has been called " Terra Meiga " (land of the witches/witch(ing) land). The oldest attestation of human presence in Galicia has been found in

14014-466: The invaders. The 1833 territorial division of Spain put a formal end to the Kingdom of Galicia, unifying Spain into a single centralized monarchy. Instead of seven provinces and a regional administration, Galicia was reorganized into the current four provinces. Although it was recognized as a "historical region", that status was strictly honorific. In reaction, nationalist and federalist movements arose. The liberal General Miguel Solís Cuetos led

14157-587: The kingdom was divided into four administrative provinces with no legal mutual links. During the 19th and 20th centuries, demand grew for self-government and for the recognition of the culture of Galicia. This resulted in the Statute of Autonomy of 1936 , soon frustrated by Franco's coup d'état and subsequent long dictatorship. After democracy was restored the legislature passed the Statute of Autonomy of 1981 , approved in referendum and currently in force, providing Galicia with self-government. The interior of Galicia

14300-614: The lands of others. At the same time, the deputies of the Kingdom in the Cortes stopped being called. The Kingdom of Galicia, slipping away from the control of the King, responded with a century of fiscal insubordination. On the other hand, the lack of an effective royal justice system in the Kingdom led to the social conflict known as the Guerras Irmandiñas ('Wars of the brotherhoods'), when leagues of peasants and burghers, with

14443-477: The language spoken in the Northwest before the establishment of the Kingdom of Portugal in the 12th century. The surge of the two languages would be the result of both the elaboration of Portuguese, through the royal court, its internationalization and its study and culture; and of the stagnation of Galician. The earliest internal attestation of the expression Galician language ("lingoajen galego") dates from

14586-494: The largest cities of Galicia is Spanish rather than Galician, as a result of this long process of language shift . However, Galician is still the main language in rural areas. The Royal Galician Academy and other Galician institutions celebrate each 17 May as Galician Literature Day ( Día das Letras Galegas ), dedicated each year to a deceased Galician-language writer chosen by the academy. Use of Galician splits by age, with over half of those over 45 indicating that Galician

14729-613: The late 15th century on, to the end of legal documents in Galician; the last ones were issued around 1530. Also, from 1480 on, notaries of the Crown of Castile were required to obtain their licenses in Toledo , where they had to prove their mastery of Spanish. In spite of Galician being the most spoken language, during the 17th century, the elites of the Kingdom began speaking Spanish, most notably in towns and cities. The linguistic situation in Galicia became one of diglossia , with Galician as

14872-801: The local administrations and governments. It is supposed by law to be taught bilingually, alongside Spanish, in both primary and secondary education, although the accomplishment of this law is allegedly doubted. It is also used at the three universities established in Galicia, having also the consideration of official language of the three institutions. Galician has also legal recognition in the Bierzo region in León , and in four municipalities in Zamora . The other languages with official status elsewhere in Spain are Spanish, Catalan (or Valencian ), Basque and Aranese . Galician has also been accepted orally as Portuguese in

15015-469: The low variety and Spanish as the high one. In reaction to the relegation of the autochthonous language, a series of literary and historical works (always written in Spanish) appeared in the 17th century through 19th century, meant to vindicate the history, language, people, and culture of Galicia. The period from the 16th century to the early 19th century, when Galician had little literary—and no legal—use,

15158-480: The lower portion of the Miño and the portions of various rivers that have been dammed into reservoirs. Some rivers are navigable by small boats in their lower reaches: this is taken great advantage of in several semi-aquatic festivals and pilgrimages. Galicia has preserved some of its dense forests. It is relatively unpolluted, and its landscapes composed of green hills, cliffs, and rias are generally different from what

15301-473: The modern languages of Galician and Portuguese. The lexicon of Galician is predominantly of Latin extraction, although it also contains a moderate number of words of Germanic and Celtic origin, among other substrates and adstrates , having also received, mainly via Spanish, a number of nouns from Andalusian Arabic . The language is officially regulated in Galicia by the Royal Galician Academy . Other organizations without institutional support, such as

15444-521: The monopolistic supplier of electricity, built hydroelectric dams, flooding many Galician river valleys. The Galician economy finally began to modernize with a French Citroën factory in Vigo, the modernization of the canning industry and the fishing fleet, and eventually a modernization of small peasant farming practices, especially in the production of cows' milk. In the province of Ourense, businessman and politician Eulogio Gómez Franqueira gave impetus to

15587-556: The most important of these are the archipelagos of Cíes , Ons , and Sálvora . Together with Cortegada Island , these make up the Atlantic Islands of Galicia National Park . Other significant islands are Islas Malveiras, Islas Sisargas, and, the largest and holding the largest population, Arousa Island . The coast of this 'green corner' of the Iberian Peninsula, some 1,500 km (930 mi) in length, attracts great numbers of tourists, although real estate development in

15730-623: The most votes. Galicia has a surface area of 29,574 square kilometres (11,419 sq mi). Its northernmost point, at 43°47′N, is Estaca de Bares (also the northernmost point of Spain); its southernmost, at 41°49′N, is on the Portuguese border in the Baixa Limia-Serra do Xurés Natural Park . The easternmost longitude is at 6°42′W on the border between the province of Ourense and the Castilian-Leonese province of Zamora ) its westernmost at 9°18′W reached in two places:

15873-495: The name of the country, being replaced during the 15th and 16th centuries by the current form, Galicia , which is also the spelling of the name in Spanish . The historical denomination Galiza became popular again during the end of the 19th and the first three-quarters of the 20th century and is still used with some frequency today. The Xunta de Galicia , the local devolved government , uses Galicia . The Royal Galician Academy ,

16016-580: The nationalist Bloque Nacionalista Galego (BNG). As the senior partner in the new coalition, the PSdeG nominated its leader, Emilio Pérez Touriño , to serve as Galicia's new president, with Anxo Quintana , the leader of BNG, as its vice president. In 2009, the PSdG-BNG coalition lost the elections, and the government went back to the People's Party (conservative), even though the PSdG-BNG coalition obtained

16159-519: The native Galician ; and Spanish , usually called Castilian . While most Galicians are bilingual, a 2013 survey reported that 51% of the Galician population spoke Galician most often on a day-to-day basis, while 48% most often used Spanish. The name Galicia derives from the Latin toponym Callaecia, later Gallaecia , related to the name of an ancient Celtic tribe that resided north of the Douro river,

16302-523: The old documents of the Eonavian monastery of Oscos, written from the late 12th to early 14th century to 16th century, shows a clear identification of this language with the Galician-Portuguese linguistic group; while contemporary parchments elsewhere in Asturias are written in Spanish. The two most important traits of those commonly used to tell apart Galician-Portuguese and Asturian-Leonese varieties are

16445-615: The others being called Rías Medias ("Intermediate Rías"). Erosion by the Atlantic Ocean has contributed to the great number of capes . Besides the aforementioned Estaca de Bares in the far north, separating the Atlantic Ocean from the Cantabrian Sea, other notable capes are Cape Ortegal , Cape Prior, Punta Santo Adrao, Cape Vilán, Cape Touriñán (westernmost point in Galicia), Cape Finisterre or Fisterra, considered by

16588-659: The parliament of Galicia unanimously approved Law 1/2014 regarding the promotion of the Portuguese language and links with the Lusophony . Similarly, on 20 October 2016, the city of Santiago de Compostela , the capital of Galicia , approved by unanimity a proposal to become an observer member of the Union of Portuguese-Speaking Capitals ( UCCLA ). Also, on 1 November 2016, the Council of Galician Culture ( Consello da Cultura Galega , an official institution of defence and promotion of

16731-495: The preservation of the mid-open vowels /ɛ/ and /ɔ/ , which became diphthongs in Asturian-Leonese, and the loss of intervocalic /n/ , preserved in the latter language. Porque no mundo mengou a verdade, punhei um dia de a ir buscar; e, u por ela fui nom preguntar, disserom todos: «Alhur la buscade, ca de tal guisa se foi a perder, que nom podemos en novas haver nem já nom anda na irmaindade.» Because in

16874-521: The raising of livestock and poultry by establishing the Cooperativa Orensana S.A. (Coren). During the last decade of Franco's rule, there was a renewal of nationalist feeling in Galicia. The early 1970s were a time of unrest among university students, workers, and farmers. In 1972, general strikes in Vigo and Ferrol cost the lives of Amador Rey and Daniel Niebla. Later, the bishop of Mondoñedo - Ferrol , Miguel Anxo Araúxo Iglesias , wrote

17017-538: The rebellion, such as Generals Rogelio Caridad Pita and Enrique Salcedo Molinuevo and Admiral Antonio Azarola ; and the founders of the PG, Alexandre Bóveda and Víctor Casas , as well as other professionals akin to republicans and nationalists, as the journalist Manuel Lustres Rivas or physician Luis Poza Pastrana . Many others were forced to escape into exile, or were victims of other reprisals and removed from their jobs and positions. General Francisco Franco – himself

17160-470: The recovery of the Galician language as a vehicle of social and cultural expression. Among the writers associated with this movement are Rosalía de Castro , Manuel Murguía , Manuel Leiras Pulpeiro , and Eduardo Pondal . In the early 20th century came another turn toward nationalist politics with Solidaridad Gallega (1907–1912) modeled on Solidaritat Catalana in Catalonia . Solidaridad Gallega failed, but in 1916 Irmandades da Fala (Brotherhood of

17303-440: The reign of Alfonso X , Spanish became the official language of the chancellery of the Kingdom of Castile. However, in Galicia and neighboring regions of Asturias and León in 1200–1500, the local languages remained the usual written languages in any type of document, either legal or narrative, public or private. Spanish was progressively introduced through Royal decrees and the edicts of foreign churchmen and officials. This led, from

17446-687: The rest of Spain, in Latin America including Puerto Rico , the United States, Switzerland and elsewhere in Europe. Modern Galician is classified as part of the West Iberian languages group, a family of Romance languages . Galician evolved locally from Vulgar Latin and developed from what modern scholars have called Galician-Portuguese . The earliest document written integrally in the local Galician variety dates back to 1230, although

17589-565: The rivers in the inland are tributaries of this river system, which drains some 17,027 km (6,574 sq mi). Other rivers run directly into the Atlantic Ocean or the Cantabrian Sea , most of them having short courses. Only the Navia , Ulla , Tambre , and Limia have courses longer than 100 km (62 mi). Galicia's many hydroelectric dams take advantage of the steep, deep, narrow rivers and their canyons. Due to their steep course, few of Galicia's rivers are navigable, other than

17732-589: The rule on 31 December 406. Its progress towards the Iberian Peninsula forced the Roman authorities to establish a treaty ( foedus ) by which the Suebi would settle peacefully and govern Galicia as imperial allies. So, from 409 Galicia was taken by the Suebi, forming the first medieval kingdom to be created in Europe, in 411, even before the fall of the Roman Empire, being also the first Germanic kingdom to mint coinage in Roman lands. During this period

17875-614: The south, A Peneda , O Xurés and O Larouco , all on the border of Ourense and Portugal . The highest point in Galicia is Trevinca or Pena Trevinca (2,124 metres or 6,969 feet), located in the Serra do Eixe, at the border between Ourense and León and Zamora provinces. Other tall peaks are Pena Survia (2,112 metres or 6,929 feet) in the Serra do Eixe, O Mustallar (1,935 metres or 6,348 feet) in Os Ancares , and Cabeza de Manzaneda (1,782 metres or 5,846 feet) in Serra de Queixa, where there

18018-530: The subjacent Romance permeates most written Latin local charters since the High Middle Ages, being specially noteworthy in personal and place names recorded in those documents, as well as in terms originated in languages other than Latin. The earliest reference to Galician-Portuguese as an international language of culture dates to 1290, in the Regles de Trobar by Catalan author Jofre de Foixà , where it

18161-510: The submission of the Kingdom to the Crown, after a century of unrest and fiscal insubordination. As a result, from 1480 to 1520 the Kingdom of Galicia contributed more than 10% of the total earnings of the Crown of Castille , including the Americas, well over its economic relevance. Like the rest of Spain, the 16th century was marked by population growth up to 1580, when the simultaneous wars with

18304-536: The successful uprising of the local people against the new French authorities, together with the support of the British Army , limited the occupation to six months in 1808–1809. During the pre-war period the Supreme Council of the Kingdom of Galicia ( Junta Suprema del Reino de Galicia ), auto-proclaimed interim sovereign in 1808, was the sole government of the country and mobilized near 40,000 men against

18447-456: The support of several knights, noblemen, and under legal protection offered by the remote king, toppled many of the castles of the Kingdom and briefly drove the noblemen into Portugal and Castile. Soon after, in the late 15th century, in the dynastic conflict between Isabella I of Castile and Joanna La Beltraneja , part of the Galician aristocracy supported Joanna. After Isabella's victory, she initiated an administrative and political reform which

18590-431: The territories of the old Kingdom of Galicia , Galicia and Northern Portugal , as a Western Romance language . In the 13th century it became a written and cultivated language with two main varieties, but during the 14th century the standards of these varieties, Galician and Portuguese, began to diverge, as Portuguese became the official language of the independent Kingdom of Portugal and its chancellery, while Galician

18733-468: The territory. Indeed, the urban network is made up of 7 main cities: the four provincial capitals A Coruña , Pontevedra , Ourense and Lugo , the political capital Santiago de Compostela and the industrial cities Vigo and Ferrol . The population is largely concentrated in two main areas: from Ferrol to A Coruña on the northern coast, and in the Rías Baixas region in the southwest, including

18876-627: The war. While there were no pitched battles, there was repression and death: all political parties were abolished, as were all labor unions and Galician nationalist organizations as the Seminario de Estudos Galegos . Galicia's statute of autonomy was annulled (as were those of Catalonia and the Basque provinces once those were conquered). According to Carlos Fernández Santander , at least 4,200 people were killed either extrajudicially or after summary trials, among them republicans, communists, Galician nationalists, socialists, and anarchists. Victims included

19019-439: The world the truth has faded, I decided to go a-searching for it and wherever I went asking for it everybody said: 'Search elsewhere because truth is lost in such a way such as we can have no news of it nor is it around here anymore.' Airas Nunes (B 871, V 455. 13th century) Latinate Galician charters from the 8th century onward show that the local written Latin was heavily influenced by local spoken Romance, yet

19162-554: The writing of relatively modern Rexurdimento authors, who largely adapted Spanish orthography to the then mostly unwritten language. Most Galician speakers regard Galician as a separate language, which evolved without interruption and in situ from Latin, with Galician and Portuguese maintaining separate literary traditions since the 14th century. Portuguese Early Modern Era grammars and scholars, at least since Duarte Nunes de Leão in 1606, considered Portuguese and Galician two different languages derived from old Galician, understood as

19305-639: Was considered the southernmost city of ancient Galicia. In the 9th century, the rise of the cult of the Apostle James in Santiago de Compostela gave Galicia particular symbolic importance among Christians, an importance it would hold throughout the Reconquista . As the Middle Ages went on, Santiago became a major pilgrim destination and the Way of Saint James (Camiño de Santiago) a major pilgrim road,

19448-466: Was devoted to the research and study of the Galician culture. It was created by a group of students: Fermín Bouza Brey , Xosé Filgueira Valverde , Lois Tobío Fernández , with the collaboration of Ricardo Carvalho Calero , Antón Fraguas and Xaquín Lorenzo Fernández . Following the victory of Francisco Franco in the Spanish Civil War , the written or public use of the Galician language

19591-479: Was heavily disturbing to the local economy and commerce. So, in the second half of the 17th century the Junta frequently denied or considerably reduced the initial petitions of the monarch, and though the tension did not rise to the levels experienced in Portugal or Catalonia, there were frequent urban mutinies and some voices even asked for the secession of the Kingdom of Galicia. During the Peninsular War

19734-563: Was in fact one of the first comprehensive studies on sound change and evolution of any European language. He also defended that teaching in Galicia should be conducted in Galician, since it was the common language of most people. During the 19th century a thriving literature developed, in what was called the Rexurdimento (Resurgence), of the Galician language. It was headed by three main authors: Rosalia de Castro , an intimist poet; Eduardo Pondal , of nationalist ideology, who championed

19877-408: Was later incorporated into the expanding Christian Kingdom of Asturias , usually known as Gallaecia or Galicia ( Yillīqiya and Galīsiya ) by Muslim chroniclers, as well as by many European contemporaries. This era consolidated Galicia as a Christian society which spoke a Romance language . During the next century Galician noblemen took northern Portugal, conquering Coimbra in 871, thus freeing what

20020-776: Was made a Roman province in the 3rd century AD. In 410, the Germanic Suebi established a kingdom with its capital in Braga ; this kingdom was incorporated into that of the Visigoths in 585. In 711, the Islamic Umayyad Caliphate invaded the Iberian Peninsula conquering the Visigoth kingdom of Hispania by 718, but soon Galicia was incorporated into the Christian kingdom of Asturias by 740. During

20163-461: Was not until the 18th century that linguists elaborated the first Galician dictionaries, and the language did not recover a proper literature until the 19th century; only since the last quarter of the 20th century is it taught in schools and used in lawmaking. The first complete translation of the Bible from the original languages dates from 1989. Currently, at the level of rural dialects, Galician forms

20306-410: Was outlawed. Publishing of Galician-language material revived on a small scale in the 1950s. With the advent of democracy, Galician has been brought into the country's institutions, and it is now co-official with Spanish in Galicia. Galician is taught in schools, and there is a public Galician-language television channel, Televisión de Galicia . Today, the most common language for everyday use in

20449-463: Was the language of the scriptoria of the lawyers, noblemen and churchmen of the Kingdom of Galicia, then integrated in the crown of Castile and open to influence from Spanish language, culture, and politics. During the 16th century the Galician language stopped being used in legal documentation, becoming de facto an oral language spoken by the vast majority of the Galicians, but having just some minor written use in lyric, theatre and private letters. It

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