Language/Galician/Culture/Education

GALICIA'S HISTORY

It's difficult to go back further than the Celts, but before them there were human groups in Galicia with an advanced social organisation.  The Romanisation brought down the castreños from the mountains and populated the whole territory with outstanding cities. The Middle Ages and the Modern Age merged Galicia in a struggle for power that ended up ending the importance and relationship with the north of Portugal that had been maintained since Roman times.

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CELTS AND ROMANS

The first known inhabitants of Galicia were the kallaikoi or callaici, a later Gallaecia xermo-vocative that gave rise to the name Galicia or Galiza.  It is not clear whether they belonged to the Celtic population or whether they arrived before them and lived together later.  Although there are not many remains, it is known that this society covered a large part of the Galician territory.  In addition to the sites, some of which are still being studied, petroglyphs and megalithic funerary monuments, known as dolmens or mámoas, have been preserved. It is striking that most of them are unprotected; they remain in the open air just as they were left by their creators thousands of years ago. Between 1800 and 1900 B.C., the Celtic culture, developed by the Celts in the north of the Iberian Peninsula, made a strong appearance.  The history of this village still has many gaps in terms of its social hierarchy and beliefs. The largest sites preserved in Galicia are the so-called castros, the settlements in which these people lived and which can be found all over the territory.  The houses are circular, with so little distance between them that on many occasions they do not even form a corridor through which to pass.  They are stone constructions that were covered with palla and are always located on high points, probably as a strategic advantage and protection against attack. Some of these settlements revealed the coexistence between Celts and Romans.  Romanisation reached this part of the peninsula from the 2nd century BC onwards II B.C.; however, Galicia took longer to become part of the Empire.  Opposition to the conquest gave rise to many legends that give this population a great value and attachment to the land. The Roman province of Gallaecia was much larger than today's region, as it also included the north of Portugal and part of Castilla, as well as León, Asturias and Cantabria. In Galicia, excellent Roman vestiges remain, such as the magnificent walls of Lugo, the Tower of Hercules in Coruña, the Bande camp, the old bridge of Ourense, etc Lugo was founded by the Romans as a strategic city connected with Braga and Astorga, two other important cities for the imperial government and trade.  The Romans also left an intangible heritage, the language.  Latin is derived in this region in Galician, but Celtic words such as bico (beso), braña (meadow) or choco cuttlefish) are still preserved.  The syncretism of these two cultures also took place in the spiritual field.  Once the Roman Empire recognised Christianity as an official religion with the Edict of Milan (4th century A.D.), pagan and Catholic rites were mixed and still survive today in the popular religiosity of many places in Galicia.  In Muxía, for example, there is a shrine to the Virxe da Barca where natural elements used to be worshipped and where even today a series of stones are still venerated, which are in the shape of her stone and which, according to them, have curative powers.

THE MIDDLE AGE

After the fall of the Roman Empire, Galicia entered a period of instability caused by the invasion of the Germanic peoples. The first to settle were the Swabians, who later clashed with the Visigoths for control of the territory.  After several attempts, the latter gained power in what is now Galicia and, between battles, the town became Christianised. After the Visigothic domination, which constituted the first Kingdom of Galicia, and the passage of the Muslims through most of the peninsula, Galicia faced a new monarchic period under the rule of Afonso I (VIII), King of Asturias, who established himself in the area. During the reign of Afonso II, the supposed tomb of the apostle St. James was discovered, an event that would determine the future of Galicia.  This marked the beginning of a pilgrimage route that spread to all corners of Europe.  The new cultural, political and social currents arrived along it.  The Romanesque style impregnated the architecture and there are many examples that are still preserved today.  Undoubtedly, the most important is the cathedral of Santiago itself, which also laid the foundations for its own style, the Romanesque style of Santiago de Compostela, with Mestre Mateo as its greatest exponent. The fiercest struggle for the throne of Galicia began with the death of Afonso III the Great.  He left his three sons in his possession. Ordoño (who would become II of León) corresponds to Galicia, which is already territorially more similar to what it is today.  But Ordoño's brother, who inherited the kingdom of León, died and Ordoño took his place, bringing the two territories under the same sceptre once again. Ordoño II established his place of command in the Castilla area. The Kingdom of Galicia gained and lost its independence according to the corresponding inheritance; it was even divided into counties among several families, splitting off the north of Portugal. Meanwhile, the inhabitants had to face Viking and Norman attacks that aggravated their already difficult living conditions. In the 11th century, the first archbishop of Santiago de Compostela ordered the construction of a cathedral to house the supposed remains of the apostle St. James. The archbishop promoted the pilgrimage and also the work Historia compostelana (Compostelan History), a compilation of documents that give an account of the origin of the diocese. In the 13th century, Fernando III brought the kingdoms of León and Galicia under the Crown of Castile. Although its independence was reduced, Galicia did not lose its denomination as a kingdom or its division into seven provinces: Santiago, A Coruña, Betanzos, Lugo, Mondoñedo, Ourense and Tui. Fernando would be followed by Alfonso X the Wise, who would compose the Cantigas de Santa María, a testimony that accredits the Galician language as a vehicle for literary creation in the highest spheres of society. This work is joined by other writings that reflect the oral tradition of Galician-Portuguese lyric poetry and which have survived in manuscripts, such as the cantigas of Martín Códax collected in the Pergamino Vindel. Despite these milestones, a period of ostracism began for the region, due to the centralisation of the administration outside the territory and the loss of the Galician language in the upper classes, as government posts were occupied by Castilian nobles. In the 14th century, a new succession conflict brought the kingdoms of Galicia and Portugal closer together, as the Galicians preferred to be governed by Fernando of Portugal rather than Enrique of Trastámara, who had killed King Pedro I. This led to the interference of the Castilians in the succession of the kingdoms of Galicia and Portugal. This was the first time that the House of Trastámara had interfered. Fernando of Portugal eventually came to power, but Enrique of Trastámara quickly regained it. Although the family had to relinquish it again for a brief period, the marriage between Enrique III of Castilla, grandson of Enrique of Trastámara, and his cousin Catalina of Lancaster brought peace to the succession conflict.

THE IRMANDIÑOS AND THE MODERN AGE

Between 1467 and 1469 there was a major social uprising known as the Irmandiño Revolt. The abuses carried out by the powerful Galician noble families and the Church, together with a combination of misfortunes such as bad harvests and epidemics, led the people, together with the lower nobility and some clerics, to rebel against power. The Lemos, Andrade and Moscoso lineages were the targets of the attacks, which were not aimed at killing the lords, but at destroying all their property in order to expel them, which is why few medieval castles remain in Galicia and many of them are significantly damaged. The Kingdom of Galicia entered the Modern Age subordinate to the Castilian crown and, although it tried to have its own representation, all attempts were cancelled. It also became a military objective due to the conflicts with Portugal and England. Corsair attacks were continuous along the coast and some battles, such as the one that forged the legend of María Pita, saviour of A Coruña against the English, destroyed towns and killed their inhabitants. However, in this change of era there are some notorious historical events for Galicia, such as the establishment of the first printing press, although still closely linked to the Church, and the emergence of humanistic culture and Renaissance art. In the 16th century, the cathedral school in Santiago de Compostela became a general school, the seed of the University of Santiago, founded in 1495. In the following centuries, Galicia maintained a primary self-subsistence economy and did not take part in the agricultural or industrial revolution that Europe experienced in the 18th century. Although it did establish itself as a point of free trade with America after the Bourbon Reforms, trade in Galicia was difficult due to its orography and basic for its products. The light at this time was shone by scholars such as Father Martín Sarmiento and Father Feijoo, learned writers who contributed to the improvement of the region. However, the great literary apogee came in the 19th century, thanks to essential authors such as Rosalía de Castro and Eduardo Pondal, whose works still influence artistic creation, not only literary, in Galicia today. This period is known as the Rexurdimento ("Revival"), because the use of the Galician language was revitalised. Its starting date is considered to be 1863, the year of the publication of Rosalía's Cantares gallegos ("Galician Songs"). Through literature, the so-called séculos escuros (dark centuries), in which both the language and the Galician identity itself had been vilified, were rejected. Work was done on the revaluation of local identity, on the recovery of the rich tradition of Galician-Portuguese cantigas, on the legends that united the Celtic and Galician peoples, and political texts appeared that highlighted the particularities of the region. At the beginning of the 20th century, the movement led to the creation of As Irmandades da Fala, which began to publish through the magazine Nós, which eventually gave its name to a new generation. This generation distanced itself from folklore and Castilian and brought Galician culture closer to Europeanist ideas. From this period comes the brilliant Alfonso Daniel Manuel Rodríguez Castelao, a multifaceted artist if ever there was one, who signed the work Sempre en Galiza (Always in Galicia). This text is considered the main basis of Galician nationalism. In 1936 Galicia approved its Statute of Autonomy in a referendum, recognising Galician as an official language, but it was never implemented. These aspirations were cut short by the outbreak of the Civil War and the subsequent dictatorship of Francisco Franco. The harsh economic, political and social conditions in Galicia led to massive emigration, especially to America, Germany and Switzerland. This exile not only influenced development, but also left its mark on Galician idiosyncrasy. It was the exiles who kept culture alive, publishing outside Galicia and smuggling their writings. Franco's dictatorship hit an already battered community, oppressed especially in the expression of its culture. With the arrival of democracy, a Statute of Autonomy was approved in 1981, which provided the political framework within which it is governed today. The Galician Community came out of the dictatorship badly, as industry hardly developed during that period, demographics suffered a setback and illiteracy rates were high. In a short time, however, Galicia has achieved a considerable level of prosperity. The emergence of industry, concentrated on the coastal strip, improved communications and tourism have served to stimulate economic growth. The universities of Santiago, Vigo and A Coruña attract hundreds of students every year, artistic creation has recovered and popular culture has been given a higher profile. Galician, on the other hand, is going through a delicate moment, as it is losing speakers every year and in 2017 it ceased to be the mother tongue of the majority of the community's residents.