Galician people
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approx. 10 million worldwide |
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The Galician people (In [[Galician language|Galician: Pobo Galego) are the ethnic group or nation native to the Spanish autonomous community of Galicia, in the Iberian peninsula of southwest Europe. The Galician language, which is similar to Portuguese, is their native language (even if Spanish is quite widespread) and Roman Catholicism is their predominant religion.
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[edit] Geography and Demographics
[edit] Political and administrative divisions
The autonomous community (a concept established in the Spanish constitution of 1981) that is known as (a) Comunidade Autónoma Galega in Galician , and as (la) Comunidad Autónoma Gallega in Spanish (in English: Galician Autonomous Community) , is composed of the four Spanish provinces of A Coruña, Lugo , Ourense and Pontevedra.
Other Galician-speaking locations are situaded in the Spanish provinces of León and Zamora in the Autonomous Community of Castile and Leon and in the Autonomous Community of Asturias.
[edit] Population, main cities and languages
There are 2,767,524 people living in the Galician Autonomous Community (1,129,141 in A Coruña, 356,595 in Lugo , 338,671 in Ourense and 943,117 in Pontevedra). The most important cities in this region, which serve as the provinces' administrative centres, are Vigo , Pontevedra (in Pontevedra), Santiago de Compostela , A Coruña , Ferrol (in A Coruña) , Lugo (in Lugo) and Ourense (in Ourense). The official languages are Galician and Spanish. Knowledge of Spanish is compulsory according to the Spanish constitution, and virtually universal. Knowledge of Galician, after declining for many years owing to the pressure of Spanish and official persecution, is again on the rise due to favourable official language policies and popular support. Currently about 90 per cent of Galicia's population speaks Galician.
[edit] Galician language
Galician is a language of the Western Ibero-Romance branch, spoken in Galicia, an autonomous community with the constitutional status of "historic nationality," located in northwestern Spain and small bordering zones in neighbouring autonomous communities of Asturias and Castilla y León.
Galicia and Portuguese were at medieval times a single language named Galician-Portuguese, Medieval Galician or Archaic Portuguese spoken in the territories ruled by the ancient Kingdom of Galicia. Both languages are even today separated by a dialect continuum located mainly in the northern regions of Portugal.
Galician language is the most spoken language (by percentage of its population) of the 3 co-official languages of Spain.
Despite the current official status of the Galician language, Galicia's sociolinguistic development has suffered the growing influence of Castilian Spanish, the result of factors such as the growth of urban centres of population, the rise in the middle classes and the influence of education and the media.
Contact has also increased with the other European Atlantic nations, with which we share a cultural and musical tradition, particularly with the 'Celtic countries'. The influence of America has also made itself felt due to the flow of emigrants, which has had a considerable impact on cultural relations from the second half of the 20th century onwards.
Today Galician culture is alive and well, firmly rooted in tradition yet also open to contemporary contributions. The fact that Galicia was home to the end of a pilgrimage route that acted as the cultural backbone of Europe enabled it to soak up European thought and art forms throughout the Middle Ages.
Galicia also boasts a rich oral tradition, which takes the forms of songs, tales and sayings, and which in the past made a vital contribution to the spread and development of the Galician language. Still flourishing today, this tradition constitutes a priceless, age-old and intangible cultural heritage, much of which is shared with its neighbour Portugal.
[edit] Culture and society
[edit] Culture and landscape
Galicia's cultural heritage is characterised by its extensive, abundant and varied geography. Indeed, the entire region could be considered as a sort of museum that never closes its doors to the public.
It boasts a wealth of Roman remains, highlights of which include the Walls of Lugo, declared a World Heritage Site, as well as the Tower of Hercules in A Coruña. The Way of St James has also been acknowledged by UNESCO, as has Galicia's capital, Santiago de Compostela, declared a World Heritage City in 1985.
More than 30,000 centres of population make up a decidedly humanised land and landscape. These settlements are home to magnificent examples of the Galician people's architectural and ethnographic heritage. Stone crosses, raised granaries and shrines… are all fine examples of the traditional constructions to be found in this land.
[edit] Emigration
Like other Iberian regions, Galicia's history has been defined by mass emigration. There was significant Galician emigration in the 19th and early 20th centuries to other parts of Spain and to Latin America.
Unlike the Basque and the Catalan regions, which were rich, urbanized, and industrialized, Galicia remained relatively poor, agricultural and dominated by rural and village society, as industry had yet to make its appearance there on a large scale. Moreover, its agricultural sector continued to be among the most backward in Spain, and farm productivity was severely hamperled by the tiny size of the individual plots, known as minifundios. The minifundio was the product of an attempt to distribute land parcels in a closed rural system to a growing population by requiring that equal shares be left to each heir. After just a few generations, the land had been subdivided so much that most of the parcels were too small to support a family or to be economically viable.
For these reasons, Galicia was a net exporter of population to the rest of Spain. Between 1900 and 1981, the net outflow of people from Galicia was more than 825,000.
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 known as gallegos. During the Franco years there was a new wave of emigration out of Galicia to other European countries, most notably to France, Switzerland, and Britain.
[edit] Galician cuisine
Galician cuisine refers to the typical dishes and ingredients found in the cuisine of the Galicia region of Spain. These include shellfish, empanadas, Tarta de Santiago (cake of Santiago), polbo á feira (a dish made of octopus), the cheese queixo de tetilla, the ribeiro and albariño wines and orujo liquor.
Compared to the wide variety of foods in the cuisines of France and India, for example, Galician cuisine could be considered to be fairly simple. The potato is the main dish, first arriving in Spain from the Americas in the 1500s, and then grown first and foremost on the coasts of the Ría de Noia. In Galician cuisine, neither the cook or the recipe really matters; what is being served is the central part of the cuisine.
In Galicia, a wide variety of sea produce can be found in traditional dishes, due to the province's long shoreline and traditional fishing economy. Agriculture products such as potatoes, maize and wheat are also a staple in the Galician diet, along with dairy and meat products from animals such as cows, sheep and pigs; Galicia's grasses and shrubs are green year-round and are excellent for grazing.
[edit] Religion
The majority of Galicians are of Roman Catholic tradition, while significant numbers of Galicians profess either no religion or appear to be atheists and agnostics.
[edit] Nationalism and history
Galician nationalism, which appeared as early as the 1840s, recalled a "Golden Age" when the medieval kingdom of Galicia had existed. There had been a king of Galicia who was crowned in 1111, but the kingdom was partitioned some years later. The northern half of Galicia was hemmed in and isolated while the southern portion expanded southward in the wake of the Moors' withdrawal. This southern part of the realm eventually became Portugal; the northern part fell into disorder.
[edit] A Revival and a sense of national willpower
Nationalism meeting in 1931 Following the union of the kingdoms of Aragón and Castille, Galicia became swallowed up in the creation of the Spanish protostate, a process that was later to continue with the establishment of the Borbon dynasty in Spain in the 18th century and the setting up of a liberal state in the 19th. This would lead to the gradual centralisation of the monarchic institutions and the loss of Galicia's political rights and institutions.
With the spread of Romanticism throughout Europe and its call for the acknowledgement of the cultures of stateless nations, Galicia began to experience a Revival, characterised by a resurgence of national awareness. Nineteenth century political movements such as provincialism and regionalism, and the appearance of nationalist groups, such as the Irmandades da Fala cultural association and the political party known as the Partido Galeguista in the early 20th century, spur on the creation of alternatives designed to provide the region with its own self-governing institutions and to embark upon a process aimed at standardising both the language and culture.
[edit] Galicia during the time of exile and resistance
The process of setting up Galicia’s first government following the passing of the Statute of Autonomy in 1936 suffered a sharp setback following the military coup that took place that same year and marked the start of the Spanish Civil War.
During the forty years of dictatorship, the Galician nationalist movement was forced into exile, leading to its restructuring in order to be able to carry out the political and cultural projects that would have been practically infeasible in Galicia until the consolidation of democratic resistance groups that challenged the dictatorship.
[edit] Democratic self-government for the future
The final years of Franco's regime saw the revival of the sense of national identity amongst the people of Galicia, starting off in the field of culture, and then gradually generating a extending towards political movement in favour of self-government and cultural standardisation within the framework of the Spanish State, seen as a plurinational and plurilingual reality.
Today that culture is flourishing. Firmly rooted in tradition, it has also gradually incorporated more contemporary aspects. The fact that Galicia was home to the end of a pilgrimage route that acted as the cultural backbone of Europe enabled it to soak up European thought and art forms throughout the Middle Ages.
[edit] Galician Cultural Future
[edit] A solid cultural fabric
The Galician City of Culture Modern Galician culture has been built on solid historical foundations, with a cultural industry currently under consolidation supported by a dynamic cultural framework. The principal cultural spaces include, within the field of art, the Centre for Galician Contemporary Art (CGAC) in Santiago de Compostela and Vigo’s Contemporary Art Museum (MARCO), without forgetting, in the area of dramatic art, the network of theatres and auditoriums. In addition, the Galician City of Culture, although currently undergoing the redefinition and reorganisation of its contents and spaces, also constitutes a global cultural project. A description of Galicia’s cultural scene would not be complete without a mention of the many socio-cultural centres, networks of libraries, alternative exhibition centres and the multiple associations that organise, promote and support root cultural projects.
[edit] Cultural Institutions
The principal official institutions in terms of cultural affairs include the Galician Royal Academy, founded in Cuba in 1906, and the Galician Council for Culture, whose aim is to advise the Galician autonomous governments in all matters concerning culture. The region’s universities also play a major role in Galicia’s cultural development. This is particularly true of the University of Santiago de Compostela, which first took on this task back in the 15th century.
The major driving forces for culture in Galicia today are the publishing industry, which is producing a growing number of publications, and the audiovisual and art industries, in which private initiative is currently thriving.
[edit] Famous people of Galician origin
- Paulina Rubio
- Fidel Castro
- Raúl Castro
- Rosalía de Castro
- Tabaré Vázquez
- Manuel Fraga Iribarne
- Francisco Franco
- Castelao
- Ramón Gerardo Antonio Estévez (also known as Martin Sheen)
And the four children of Martin Sheen:
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- Carlos Irwin Estévez (also known as Charlie Sheen)
- Emilio Estévez
- Ramón Estévez
- Renée Estévez
[edit] See also
- Galician language
- Galicia
- Celtic Gallaecia
- History of Galicia
- Timeline of Galician History
- Galician nationalism
- The Way of St James
- Santiago de Compostela
- Fillos de Galicia
[edit] External links
[edit] Online references
- Galician language portal
- Galician Music, Culture and History
- Galician Goverment
- Galician History and Language
- Galician History
- Santiago Tourism
- Page about The Way of St James
- Oficial page about The Way of St James
- FAQ about Galicia with information on lodgings and property information
- Galicia Guide The biggest English language guide to Galicia with over 400 pages about its towns, cities and places of interest.
This article contains material from the Library of Congress Country Studies, which are United States government publications in the public domain.
