A brief History of Galicia

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i. The Megalithic culture

This was the first great culture to appear in Galicia and was characterized by its surprising capacity for construction and architecture, together with deep sense of religion, based on the cult of the dead, the mediators between man and the gods.

Historians consider that Megalithic Culture had an oriental source, which was predominant in the Mediterranean area, and one in the Atlantic which originated in the north of Tagus River. It had to be the latter, because of its geographical proximity with Galicia, that could explain the abundance of traces of this culture in this area. That this should be the first great culture also meant that it constituted one of the basic pillars that was to endow Galicia's cultural personality.

From this era there remain thousands of dolmens (mámoas), a type of tomb or sepulchre, throughout the entire territory. From its social organization it has been confirmed that it corresponded to some type of clan structure.

Historians such as Gordon Childe affirm that even today it is possible to find remains of traditions from that era in a number of superstitions and idiosyncrasies of local Christianity.

ii. The Bronze Era: the Celtic Tradition begins

This may be considered as the second and most important cultural stage. This was the time when great developments in metallurgy were being achieved as a result of intense mining activity that started way before. Some historians attribute the boom in this sector to the extremely dry and warm climate of the time which revealed, due to erosion it caused, the mining richness of the North.

Due to the fact that Galicia was also very humid since it was near the Atlantic, the towns of the Castilian plateau moved to the territory, thus increasing the population.

The increase in the number of inhabitants caused certain conflicts, but also contributed greatly to the mining surge with heavy production as much in weapons as in objects of usefulness. It goes without saying that the splendid jewels of gold and bronze were not amiss either. Pieces of jewellery crafted from Galician metals circulated throughout all of the Peninsula and Europe also.

iii. The Era of Castroes

This was to flourish in the second half of the Iron Age, when features differed according to the area of the Peninsula in which it manifested itself. In the Northwest, the central nucleus was situated within the confines of present day Galicia towards the East of Návia River and the south of Douro River.

This culture was to be the result of the fusion between cultural forms derived from the Bronze Age and even before that, although with a few novel contributions. In many cases they were to survive until the arrival of the Romans. The Celts brought new varieties of livestock such as the tamed horse and rye bread. The first Celtic township established in Galicia was that of the Saefes in the 10th Century BC. The Celts were to conquer the Oestrymnio, and this would also especially influence religion, political organization and maritime relations with Brittany and England. Their distinctive warring attitude led Strabo to say that they were the most difficult people in the whole of Lusitania (Portugal) to defeat.

The Castroes are circular fortified areas, each possessing one or several concentric walls, preceded generally by their corresponding moat (or defensive ditch) and situated mainly on the top of hillocks or mountain. Among the castroes found along the coast the most outstanding include Fazouro, Baroña and O Neixón. Further inland Castromao, Viladonga or Santa Tegra are also worth a mention. Something common to all of them is the fact that their inhabitants adapted to the land, and not the other way round. Such a tradition is yet respected in all the rural Galicia.

As far as the temples are concerned, the only construction uncovered has been that of Elviña. The one found at Meirás preserves a necropolis. In other castroes box-like constructions existed where ashes used to be stored. There also existed others found partially underground with a reservoir for water, where evidence of fire was found indicating that they must have been used for burning corpses.

From the end of the Megalithic period inscriptions could be found on the rocks of granite below a clear sky, whose true origin and meaning still remain a mystery to this very day.

iv. The roman occupation: the Celtic era cames to its end.

After the battle of Mount Medúlio, the Romans conquered Galicia in order to take advantage of the rich mining resources. With time they were to transform it into a province of the Empire and would recognise its personality, calling it Gallaecia. With their presence, the castroes were to lose their defensive worth. They introduced new techniques, new means of communication, new ways of organising property and their own language, but showing some tolerance of the existing culture.

Christianity came to Galicia with the Romans, achieving something that Latin would never achieve, and imposed itself on the Arianism of the Swabians and on pre-Roman paganism.

The Swabians held Galicia as an independent kingdom for some 170 years (the kingdom was called Suévia), but they were lastly overwhelmed by the Spanish Visigothics. During the Swabian reign it was definitively enforced the use of the Latin language and Christian (Arianistic) doctrines, which at first moved towards Galician (Galego) and secondly became mixed with pagan customs.

Islam people conquered all the Visigothic Kingdom of Spain in 711 AD, but they never ruled over Galicia and were forced to retire in a few years mainly because of the climatic conditions, quite different from the Castilian plateau ones.

v. The invention of Compostela

The Reconquest war, because of its largely religious motives, was to bestow an extremely important role upon Galicia with the invention of Saint James' tomb. Santiago de Compostela was thereby the opposing religious center to Mecca.

All of Europe was to make its way to Compostela and the Pilgrim's road to Santiago was to become a cultural highway along which romanic art and the trobadoresque lyric would spread. The fact that it became a religious centre was to contribute to the preservation of its cultural identity and principally as a buffer against the centralism of Castile. The Saint James Way was thereby a very important way to spread European culture through Galicia, but it also served to fade away the native Celtic Galician culture.

At the Royal Panteón in the Santiago Cathedral are found the graves and the corpses of the last kings of Galiza before our land was eventually absorbed by the Crown of Castile under Ferdinand III "The Saint".

Since the death of Afonso VII "The Emperor", king of Galiza and Leon until both kingdoms were absorbed by Ferdinand III, Galiza was under the kindoms of Afonso VIII and Ferdinand II in a period of 73 years in which it experimented the biggest development of its History until 20th century: it flourished the agriculture, a big fishing industry was created, the commerce took off, cities and villages were consolidated and organized, the Santiago Cathedral was finished and the Mondoñedo, Ourense, Lugo and Tui cathedrals were builded up. It also had place the big moment of the trobadouresque literature and the wars against muslims extended the Galician language until Extremadura, where even today is spoken in some valleys.

vi. The Dark Centuries

Monarchical absolutism, Catholicism and official Castilian culture were to be the three driving forces that would uniform Spain and killed Galician culture, excluding it from official texts. The Galician language could only continue to survive through its people, and after the splendour of Galician-Portuguese literature, the first of all the Peninsule, came the Dark Centuries.

In the 18th Century, the cultured minority began to grow in awareness of the situation that divided the people, who spoke Galician, from the powerful ones, who spoke Spanish. An example of this dismay of the economic and cultural circumstances was to be Father Sarmiento.

vii. The 19th Century

The Rexurdimento or Revival period postulated the rooting of consciousness of cultural differentiation in the territory which was linked to the political ideal. Broadly speaking the recovery of the Galician language manifested itself as a vehicle of cultural expression. The identification of the intellectuals with the people was exemplified in the shape of Rosalía Castro, a poet who figured not only in Galician anthologies, but also in Spanish literature in general. From this period other exceptional poets such as Murguía, Curros Enríquez or the Bard, Eduardo Pondal, among others also stand out.

viii. The 20th Century

The claims to a political and cultural identity intensified and the intellectuals of Galicia continued to assume the importance of the popular Galicia. After the provincialism, federalism and regionalism of the previous century, it was time for Galician Solidarity (Solidiariedade Galega), which was to increase from 1907 up till the First World War. The underlying electoral objective was to achieve a united electoral front as a way of ending the system of Caciquismo (dominance by the local Spanish lord) and to achieve full Galician representation was a disaster.

The Irmandades da Fala (Language Brotherhood), that being the first stage of nationalism, was to arrive under Primo de Rivera dictatorship of 1923. At this stage the fundamental worry was defending the language. Little by little they became more established throughout Galician territory, and their eagerness for renewal came back once more to politics. Vicente Risco and Otero Pedrayo insisted on the cultural aspect, while Porteira and Peña Novo on the political aspect. Once this last trend had been strongly repressed, the founders of Nós magazine took over.

During the Second Republic two fundamental tendencies came to light, represented by the ORGA (Autonomous Galician Republican Organization) and the PG (Galeguist Party) respectively. The most outstanding out of the first ones is Casares Quiroga, who later on would change to The Republican Left when his party broke up and lost their autonomist aspirations.

The Galeguist Party was the most important party arisen in Galicia and it emerged from the union of several tendencies represented by figures such as Risco and Pedrayo, Ramón Cabanillas and Suárez Picallo. The most notable members were Castelao and Alexandre Bóveda. When in 1936 the Galeguist Party saw the need to create an alliance with the Popular Front to achieve the statute for Galicia, the right-wing section of the party split away. The Statute was finally approved by the people, with a 98% of affirmative votes, and was presented by Castelao to Parliament, a little before the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War. It was finally passed by Spanish Parliament in 1937, when war was yet on.

During Franco's fascist dictatorship, an era described by our poet Celso Emilio Ferreiro as "the long night of stone", different stages happened in function of high or low levels of repression which had been imposed upon the galeguists, even though the most important of Galician patriots were assassined by fascists.

So, during the war, many chose to take to arms, as much in the republican army as in guerrilla groups. Many had to go into exile and fight the war from outside. In the post-war period the Galician Council (Consello de Galiza) was created in Buenos Aires, at the forefront of which were Castelao and Suárez Picallo. In 1944 Sempre en Galiza (Always in Galicia) came out, and it was to become a sort of guide of thought for later generations of Galicians. With the passing of time, and seeing Franco's regime still enduring and shamefully supported by British and U.S. Governments, people opted to take a cultural stance, culminating in the creation of the publishing house Editorial Galaxia.

In 1964 the UPG (Galician People's Union) was founded to aid the recovery of nationalism from the perspective of a revolutionary left, according to Xosé Luis Méndez Ferrín. In that same year the Galician Socialist Party came on the scene, whose most notable members were Xosé Manuel Beiras and García Bodaño.

With the arrival of democracy, the existing parties began a process of evolution which would become, today, a Parliament in which the PP (Spanish Popular Party), the BNG (Galician Nationalist Block) and the PSOE (Spanish Socialist Workers' Party) would all be represented. At last Galicia formed a part of the autonomic state which partially recognised its identity.

Recognition of Galicia's status as a nationality had a clear precedent in the Autonomy Statute of June 1936, which did not come into force because of the Spanish Civil War, despite the efforts of Castelao, the most important representative of Galician nationalism, linked to the Republican Left.

On March 16th 1979 the region obtained a pre-autonomy regime and in June that year the Galician M.P.'s presented to the Cortes the draft Autonomy Statute of Galicia, which, modified by the Constitutional Committee and the Assembly of Parliamentarians, was ratified in a referendum by the Galician people (December 1980) and came into for in April 1981.

Galicia was set up as an Autonomous Community by Organic Law 1/1981, April 6th (B.O.E. 28-4-81).

In the field of culture, the relative freedom brought by the Spanish Constitution of 1978 allowed a flood of literature from new authors (Manuel Rivas, Darío Xohán Cabana, Suso de Toro..) and from established authors (Neira Vilas, García Bodaño...). In the present day, other artforms are thriving, such as painting (Laxeiro, Quessada...) or music, from Milladoiro or Carlos Núñez. The Galician language, which was for so long banished to colloquial use, is today yet going through a process of normalization which has as its objective to extend its use to all areas of life.