Vía de la Plata

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

La Vía de la Plata (en:Way of the Silver or Route of the Silver) is an old commercial path that crosses the west of Spain from North to South, connecting Merida to Astorga. In present day, the Way of the Silver is one of the main communication paths to vertebrate the Spanish West along the border with Portugal. With the name of "Route of the Silver", denomination erroneously applied sometimes to the historical Route, the Spanish highway N-630 and Spanish tollway A-66/AP-66 unite the cities of Gijon and Seville.

1 Origin of the Vía de la Plata
2 The Vía de la Plata today
3 Vía de la Plata, a cultural itinerary
4 See also
5 External links

[edit] Origin of the Vía de la Plata

Historical Caceres

The historical origin of this Route is uncertain. Believed to be from the Protohistory, contemporary with the presence in the peninsular south of the cultural nucleus of Tartessos, confirmed by diverse archaeological findings of the existence of commercial contacts with the Hispan West through a then denominated commercial as "Route of the Tin" by which a good part of this mineral in the Iberian Peninsula circulated. With such denomination it will continue to be known and frequented throughout the following centuries, becoming, until the Roman domination, who changed the name to "Via Delapidata" (paved with stones), in one of the main communication roads between Iberian towns along with the Via Heraclea (which Romans initially denominated Via Hercúlea to finally become Via Augusta), that crossed Hispania from Cadiz, through the Pyrenees, towards Gallia Narbonensis (Southern France) and Rome in the Italian Peninsula. At Roman times the Route of the Tin stayed a fundamental axis for communications during the conquest (it was an access road from Betica, quickly conquered, towards the North, where Indo-European peoples like the Callaici, Astures, vacceos lived. Diverse sources, among them the Antonine Itinerary, describe the route to leave from Emerita Augusta, present Merida, capital of the Lusitania, towards Asturica Augusta, present Astorga, capital and one of the main cities, first of Tarraconensis and, after the its creation, from Gallaecia. In its way it crossed diverse population nuclei, like Norba Caesarina, present Cáceres; Salmantica, present Salamanca, or Brigaecium, present Benavente. However, obviously, no way ever ended. Although the Route of the Silver had a concrete path, other ways extended towards other near nuclei like Hispalis, present Seville.

The Route of the Silver, in spite of its name, was never a belt road for silver commerce. Such denomination must, as in other occasions, being due to evolution and phonetic confusion. During the Reconquista, this old Via delapidata, term whose pronunciación remembered the Christians the appraised metal ("Delapidata" to "De la Plata") made them to denominate it Via de la Plata. While the Christian conquest of the Peninsula advanced towards the South, the Route of the Silver began to also serve like a way towards Santiago de Compostela as one of the Way of St. James Pilgrimage paths, still used in present-day.

[edit] The Vía de la Plata today

Zamora

The suitability of this route's layout is well demonstrated even today. The N-630 highway, main axis of communication for the peninsular west follows this route in main lines. Thus, the denominated Route of the Silver, a much inadequate term linguistically-speaking, since the etimológic meaning of the term implies an itinerary followed with an intention (case of the own Way of St. James), extends its itinerary from Gijón in the North and Seville in the South changing the original layout to arrive to cities of greater importance nowadays, like Leon, avoiding nucleus like Astorga, long ago of such importance. Also, today the route has become a freeway or tollway under the denomination of A-66 (or AP-66 in the Leon-Campomanes section), as part of the revaluation project of this axis.

[edit] Vía de la Plata, a cultural itinerary

Salamanca

The Vía de la Plata is also an artistic, ethnographic, cultural and natural object of revaluation, with tourist and cultural value. The work of the administrations in this sense is being centered in putting in value an itinerary with a great historical patrimony; In fact, good part of the nuclei it crosses are today Patrimony of the Humanity (Mérida, Cáceres or Salamanca). Also, its use as historical route of the Way of St. James is being harnessed. This work has taken shape with the elaboration of guides and itineraries. However, Astorga's mayor has raised the voice in diverse occasions to criticize that its city is being left aside. In this aspect, the cityhe has been supported from diverse institutions, like the University of Leon, whose professors of Old History, had always defend the historical layout of the Route and the importance of Astorga.