Leonese Country
Encyclopedia
Proposed new Spanish administrative region>
Leonese language
The Leonese language is the endonym term used to refer to all vernacular Romance dialects of the Astur-Leonese linguistic group in the Spanish provinces of León and Zamora; Astur-Leonese also includes the dialects...
, Spanish language
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
and Galician language
Galician language
Galician is a language of the Western Ibero-Romance branch, spoken in Galicia, an autonomous community located in northwestern Spain, where it is co-official with Castilian Spanish, as well as in border zones of the neighbouring territories of Asturias and Castile and León.Modern Galician and...
Area
Area is a quantity that expresses the extent of a two-dimensional surface or shape in the plane. Area can be understood as the amount of material with a given thickness that would be necessary to fashion a model of the shape, or the amount of paint necessary to cover the surface with a single coat...
Population
A population is all the organisms that both belong to the same group or species and live in the same geographical area. The area that is used to define a sexual population is such that inter-breeding is possible between any pair within the area and more probable than cross-breeding with individuals...
Demonym
A demonym , also referred to as a gentilic, is a name for a resident of a locality. A demonym is usually – though not always – derived from the name of the locality; thus, the demonym for the people of England is English, and the demonym for the people of Italy is Italian, yet, in english, the one...
Castile and León
Castile and León is an autonomous community in north-western Spain. It was so constituted in 1983 and it comprises the historical regions of León and Old Castile...
, Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
.
The Pais Leones or Leonese Country is an eventual autonomous community within Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
proposed by some Spanish regional political parties
Political Parties
Political Parties: A Sociological Study of the Oligarchical Tendencies of Modern Democracy is a book by sociologist Robert Michels, published in 1911 , and first introducing the concept of iron law of oligarchy...
, such as Partido Regionalista del País Leonés, Grupo Autonomico Leonés, Unión del Pueblo Leonés and Unión del Pueblo Salmantino. It would encompass the current provinces of Salamanca
Salamanca (province)
Salamanca is a province of western Spain, in the western part of the autonomous community of Castile and León. It is bordered by the provinces of Zamora, Valladolid, Ávila, and Cáceres; and by Portugal....
, Zamora
Zamora (province)
Zamora is a Spanish province of western Spain, in the western part of the autonomous community of Castile and León.The present-day province of Zamora province was one of three provinces formed from the former Kingdom of León in 1833, when Spain was re-organised into 49 provinces.It is bordered by...
and León
León (province)
León is a province of northwestern Spain, in the northwestern part of the autonomous community of Castile and León.About one quarter of its population of 500,200 lives in the capital, León. The weather is cold and dry during the winter....
, now in the autonomous community of Castile and León
Castile and León
Castile and León is an autonomous community in north-western Spain. It was so constituted in 1983 and it comprises the historical regions of León and Old Castile...
.
In 1983 the Provincial government of León supported a Leonese Autonomy for the province of León, and so other municipalities as León and Ponferrada, the biggest cities in León, but their proposal was rejected by the Tribunal Constitucional (Constitutional Court of Spain).
Historical background
The Leonese lands have been inhabited from Upper PaleolithicUpper Paleolithic
The Upper Paleolithic is the third and last subdivision of the Paleolithic or Old Stone Age as it is understood in Europe, Africa and Asia. Very broadly it dates to between 40,000 and 10,000 years ago, roughly coinciding with the appearance of behavioral modernity and before the advent of...
. There is evidence of human presence on the north of Leon province, mainly in Laciana
Laciana
Laciana, Tsaciana in Leonese language, is a comarca in the province of León, Spain. It had 11,904 inhabitants in 2005. The rivers of this comarca flow towards the Atlantic Ocean. Local people speak a certain variant of the Leonese language known as Patsuezo.Many areas in Laciana were degraded in...
and Valdeón. From Lower Paleolithic
Lower Paleolithic
The Lower Paleolithic is the earliest subdivision of the Paleolithic or Old Stone Age. It spans the time from around 2.5 million years ago when the first evidence of craft and use of stone tools by hominids appears in the current archaeological record, until around 300,000 years ago, spanning the...
we have evidence of human presence near Salamanca
Salamanca
Salamanca is a city in western Spain, in the community of Castile and León. Because it is known for its beautiful buildings and urban environment, the Old City was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1988. It is the most important university city in Spain and is known for its contributions to...
.
From Epipaleolithic
Epipaleolithic
The Epipaleolithic Age was a period in the development of human technology marked by more advanced stone blades and other tools than the earlier Paleolithic age, although still before the development of agriculture in the Neolithic age...
, we find good archeological resources in Leonese part of Cantabrian Mountains
Cantabrian Mountains
The Cantabrian Mountains or Cantabrian Range are one of the main systems of mountain ranges in Spain.They extend for more than approximately 180 miles across northern Spain, from the western limit of the Pyrenees to the edges of the Galician Massif close to Galicia, along the coast of the...
.
We find Megalithic examples in the province of Zamora and in the Maragatería
Maragatería
La Maragatería or País de los Maragatos, Tierra de Maragatos in Leonese language, is an ancient historical region or traditional comarca in the landlocked Province of León, Spain...
, that could have 5000 years.
Celts were the first important human group that came to the Leonese Country. They came from Center Europe and their invasions began in 700 BC and they must finish in 500 BC.
Celts were very warlike and they love nature, indomitable and individualist, legends lover and great warriors, they mixed with the inhabitants on this land, mixing also their cultures. This Celtic origins still remains in certain cultural aspects.
From their social organization it's important to stress keltes or military chiefs and, druids or religious chiefs. They lived from fishing, agriculture, cattle and hunting. They lived in castros that they were built in a circled form. Each family had a palloza and a little piece of field. Their gods lived in the forests.
Celtic tribes that arrived in Leonese Country were:
- Astures
- Cantabri
- Gallaeci
- Vaccaei
- Vettones
Wars with Rome
To finish its conquest of Iberian Peninsula, Rome must to conquer the territories that still were free in the North. Galaba caused a massacre in Ocellum (Zamora), fact that caused the closure of the city of Ocile (Fermoselle) and also Viriato's, who won several battles against Roman Army by uniting Vettones and Lusitanians.Viriato was assassinate by Celtiberians paid by Rome. This was the main reason for Celtiberian division that helps Rome to conquer all the territory. Cantabri were the following people that lost its independence. Arreno, the leader, was crucified. Then Rome went North conquering Lancia (that was the end of Esla battle, that takes 20 years).
Germanic invasions
First Germanic invasions took place in the 5th century by:- Suebi: From Central Europe, probably from Poland. They were very individualistic and they had a strong attachment to the land. They staid a century and a half in the Leonese Country.
- Alans didn’t come to the Leonese Country.
- Vandals were forced by Goths to migrate from Southern Poland to the South of Iberia. After that, they invaded almost all Iberian Peninsula but they were eventually thrown out of the Iberian Peninsula.
- Visigoths: They had the Code of Euric, the legal base of Leonese medieval laws.
Muslim conquest
When Moors arrived to the Iberian Peninsula, they defeat Don Rodrigo in the Battle of Guadalete.Muza conquered Salamanca in 712. Anybody resist there, only the cities of Benavente and Veldeiras were conquered by assault.
Moors will be in Leonese territory for a long time.
Kingdom of León
Kingdom of León was an independent country situated in the northwest region of the Iberian PeninsulaIberian Peninsula
The Iberian Peninsula , sometimes called Iberia, is located in the extreme southwest of Europe and includes the modern-day sovereign states of Spain, Portugal and Andorra, as well as the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar...
. It was founded in 910 AD when the Christian princes of Asturias
Kingdom of Asturias
The Kingdom of Asturias was a Kingdom in the Iberian peninsula founded in 718 by Visigothic nobles under the leadership of Pelagius of Asturias. It was the first Christian political entity established following the collapse of the Visigothic kingdom after Islamic conquest of Hispania...
along the northern coast of the peninsula
Bay of Biscay
The Bay of Biscay is a gulf of the northeast Atlantic Ocean located south of the Celtic Sea. It lies along the western coast of France from Brest south to the Spanish border, and the northern coast of Spain west to Cape Ortegal, and is named in English after the province of Biscay, in the Spanish...
shifted their main seat from Oviedo
Oviedo
Oviedo is the capital city of the Principality of Asturias in northern Spain. It is also the name of the municipality that contains the city....
to the city of León
León, Spain
León is the capital of the province of León in the autonomous community of Castile and León, situated in the northwest of Spain. Its city population of 136,985 makes it the largest municipality in the province, accounting for more than one quarter of the province's population...
. The Atlantic provinces became the Kingdom of Portugal
Kingdom of Portugal
The Kingdom of Portugal was Portugal's general designation under the monarchy. The kingdom was located in the west of the Iberian Peninsula, Europe and existed from 1139 to 1910...
in 1139, and the eastern, inland part of the kingdom was joined to the Kingdom of Castile
Kingdom of Castile
Kingdom of Castile was one of the medieval kingdoms of the Iberian Peninsula. It emerged as a political autonomous entity in the 9th century. It was called County of Castile and was held in vassalage from the Kingdom of León. Its name comes from the host of castles constructed in the region...
by 1230.
Leonese Region (1833-1983)
A decree in November 1833, his secretary of state for Works, Javier de Burgos, created a centralized state, divided into 49 provinces. The provinces were named after their capitals (except four of them, who kept their former names: Navarra, capital Pamplona, Vitoria Álava, Guipúzcoa and Vizcaya in San Sebastian and Bilbao). The project is almost the same as in 1822, but without the provinces of Calatayud, Játiva Vierzo and in addition, other provinces have changed their name to the change of capital.The provinces are nominally ascribed to historical regions, which lacked any competition or common bodies grouped provinces, having a qualifier character, without pretensions of administrative operation. In the region of Leon are ascribed the provinces of León, Salamanca and Zamora. This reform implemented in 1833 has remained virtually unchanged (at provincial level) to the present.
In some periods of the 19th and 20th centuries, the region is ascribed to the provinces of León Palencia and Valladolid (from the Royal Decree of 30 November 1855). Valladolid and Palencia be ascribed to the region of Leon Franco until the early 1960s that are considered again in Old Castile.
Castile and Leon (1983-present)
In June 1978, Castilla and Leon won the autonomic system (the end of 1977 it had obtained Catalonia) by Royal Decree Law 20/1978 of 13 June.In the time of the First Republic (1873–1874), the federal republicans conceived the project of creating a single federal state of eleven provinces in the Spanish Douro Valley, which also would have understood the provinces of Santander and Logroño. A few years earlier, in 1869, Republicans in the provinces that are part of the autonomous Federal Pact signed the Castilian, which already envisaged the creation of the federal state of Old Castile, but the provinces of Castile and the present community and the Cantabria and La Rioja. The End of the Republic, in early 1874, had blasted the initiative. '
In 1921, marking the fourth centenary of the Battle of Villalar, the city of Santander advocated the creation of a pool of eleven provinces of Castile and León. Idea would be kept in later years.
In late 1931 and early 1932, from Leon, Eugenio Merino drafted a text which laid the foundations for a castellanoleonés regionalism. The text was published in the Diario de León.
During the Second Republic, especially in 1936, there was a big regional enabling activity to a region of eleven provinces, and even came to develop a basis for autonomous status. El Diario de Leon called for the formalization of this initiative and the establishment of an autonomous region with the words "unite in a personality to Leon and Old Castile around the great basin of the Duero, without falling now in simple village rivalries. Eventually the civil war ended with the aspirations of autonomy for the region.
After the death of dictator Franco, emerged regional organizations, regional and national regionalism as castellanoleonés Regional Alliance of Castile and Leon (1975), Regional Institute of Castilla y Leon (1976) or Pancal (1977). Later after the end of the training began in 1993 regional unit of Castile and Leon.
Parallel other character emerged as the Autonomist Leonese Group (1978) or PREPAL (1980), who advocated the creation of an Autonomous Community of León, comprising the provinces of León, Salamanca and Zamora. The popular and political support he held in León province in autonomy became very important in that city. Following the entry into operation of autonomic castellanoleonés body, whose creation was facilitated by the Leon County Council of their agreement of 16 April 1980, the same institution Leon revoked in January 13, 1983 its original agreement, just as the draft Orgánca Law entered the Spanish parliament. The existence of contradictory agreements valid and what was resolved by the Constitutional Court in the Case 89/1984 of 28 September on the merits of law 5, which reads as follows:
- In accordance with art. 143.2 of the Spanish Constitution, the common rule in the art and application in this case, "the initiative for the autonomy process corresponds to all the Provincial Councils concerned or with the corresponding inter-body and two-thirds of the municipalities whose population represents at least the majority of the electorate in each province or island. " This means very clearly attributed to the Provincial Government and the Municipalities, the latter in the amount shown above, the power to promote the establishment of the province or autonomous region to establish such a Community with other provinces also express a desire consistent. This is precisely what they did in April 1980 a sufficient majority of municipalities of Leon and the same county council.
and continues
- However, such momentum that is necessary, unless exceptional scenario indicated "not mean to be continued in future and that, as contended by the appellants, the revocation of the agreement from the County, or sufficient number of municipalities, has to assume that the province concerned have to be considered excluded from the Autonomous Community in question. The Provincial Councils and drive a process, but do not have it, for the double reason that the impulse produced legitimately, are other subjects other processing assets and also the object of the activity that unfolds in this: according to the Art. An assembly of 146 members of the Provincial Councils of the affected provinces and by the Representatives and Senators elected in them, prepare a draft statute that will be elevated to Parliament for its enactment into law, the subject of process is not integrated and, as swing phase in its preliminary, the County Councils and Municipalities, but a new body that is born because it has already expressed a desire to express driving and now the whole territory, and this will already have a different object, the future legal regime of the territory it has expressed its desire to become autonomous community through acts of initiative that have already exhausted their effects. With the agreements adopted in this regard is therefore produces an impulse of the formation of the autonomous region, impulse without which it could not be constituted or might not cover missing in the province, unless the General Courts avail themselves of the power granted by Art. 144 C) of the Constitution.
To coincide with that ruling, Leon came in various forms, some numbers, in favor of Leon single option, which some sources brought together a number close to 90,000 attendees, this being the largest rally in the city Democracy until after March 11. In a resolution adopted on 31 July 1981, the Diputación Provincial de Segovia decides to exercise the initiative that Segovia could form autonomous province but in the municipalities of the province's status was matched between the supporters of autonomy one province or the rest Castilla y Leon. The City Council initially Cuellar joined this initiative autonomic resolution adopted by the corporation on 5 October 1981. Yet another resolution adopted by the same corporation, dated December 3, reversed the previous year and the process was halted pending the processing of an appeal by the county council against this agreement this change of City Council Cuellar tipped the balance in the province towards independence with the rest of Castile and Leon, but was an agreement reached late.
Finally Segovia province joins the region of Castile and Leon along with the other eight provinces and is given legal cover by the Organic Law 5 / 1983 for "reasons of national interest", as required by Article 144 c) Spanish Constitution for the provinces who have not exercised their right time.
Geography
It is formed by three provinces: León, Zamora and Salamanca.Nationalists claims too for an independent country where would be involved territories such as the Portuguese District of Braganza and so others into Spain like Valdeorras (Galicia) and other ones from the provinces of Cantabria and Castile.
Comarcas of the province of León
- Alfoz de León
- El BierzoEl BierzoEl Bierzo is a shire in the province of León, Spain. The valley has the administrative status of comarca and its capital is the town of Ponferrada. Other major towns are Bembibre and Villafranca del Bierzo, the historical capital.- History :...
- Comarca de La Cabrera
- Comarca de Luna
- Comarca de Sahagún
- Esla-Campos
- La CepedaLa CepedaLa Cepeda is an ancient historical region in the landlocked Province of León, Spain. It borders with La Maragatería, El Bierzo, Omaña and La Vega del Órbigo. It is a traditional comarca without administrative recognition.- Municipal terms :...
- La Sobarriba
- La Tercia del Camino
- LacianaLacianaLaciana, Tsaciana in Leonese language, is a comarca in the province of León, Spain. It had 11,904 inhabitants in 2005. The rivers of this comarca flow towards the Atlantic Ocean. Local people speak a certain variant of the Leonese language known as Patsuezo.Many areas in Laciana were degraded in...
- MaragateríaMaragateríaLa Maragatería or País de los Maragatos, Tierra de Maragatos in Leonese language, is an ancient historical region or traditional comarca in the landlocked Province of León, Spain...
- Montaña Occidental
- Montaña Oriental
- Omaña
- Páramo Leonés
- Tierra de Astorga
- Tierra de CamposTierra de CamposTierra de Campos is a large historical region or greater comarca that straddles the provinces of León, Zamora, Valladolid and Palencia, in Castile and León, Spain...
- Tierra de León
Comarcas of the province of Salamanca
- Comarca de Alba de Tormes
- Comarca de Ciudad Rodrigo
- Comarca de La Fuente de San Esteban
- Comarca de Ledesma
- Comarca de Peñaranda de Bracamonte
- Comarca de Salamanca
- Comarca de La Sierra
- Comarca de Vitigudino
Comarcas of the province of Zamora
- SanabriaSanabriaSanabria may refer to:*Sanabria - genus of bush crickets or katydids in the family Tettigoniidae subfamily Phaneropterinae* Sanabria or Senabria, a comarca in the province of Zamora, Spain...
. - La CarballedaLa CarballedaLa Carballeda is a comarca located in the northwest of the province of Zamora, Castilla y León, western Spain. Its area is 1,216.54 km².Despite of the strong identity of its inhabitants, this historical region has not been able to achieve the necessary legal recognition for its administrative...
. - Benavente y Los Valles.
- Tierra de CamposTierra de CamposTierra de Campos is a large historical region or greater comarca that straddles the provinces of León, Zamora, Valladolid and Palencia, in Castile and León, Spain...
. - AlisteAlisteAliste may refer to several municipalities in comarca of Aliste, in the Zamora province of northern Spain:*Mahide de Aliste*Rábano de Aliste*Riofrío de AlisteAlternately, it may refer to a comarca within Zamora:*Aliste...
. - Tierra de Alba.
- TábaraTábaraTábara is a municipality located in the province of Zamora, Castile and León, Spain. According to the 2004 census , the municipality has a population of 950 inhabitants...
. - Tierra del PanTierra del PanTierra del Pan is a comarca located in the center of the province of Zamora, western Spain. It belongs to the Autonomous Community of Castile and León...
. - SayagoSayagoSayago is a comarca in the province of Zamora, central Spain.- Geography :The comarca is located at the southwest of the Zamora province. The main geographical characteristic is the isolation caused by the Duero and Tormes rivers canyons...
. - Tierra del VinoTierra del VinoTierra del Vino is a Denominación de Origen of wine, designating wines from the provinces of Zamora and Salamanca...
. - Alfoz de Toro.
- La Guareña.
Demographics
In January 2005 the population of the Leonese Country was distributed by provinces as follows: Leon, 497,387; Salamanca and Zamora 351,326, 197,237.It is a sparsely populated and demographically declining, especially in rural areas and even in small traditional towns. The demographic characteristics of the area show an aging population with a low birth rate and a mortality that approaches the national average.
Historical distribution
Many of the people of the territory, which were devoted mainly to agriculture and livestock, were steadily abandoning the area, heading for urban areas, far better off. This situation was further aggravated by the end of civil war, with increasing rural migration. During the 1960s and 1980s, large urban centers and provincial capitals experienced a slight population increase due to an exhaustive process of urbanization, but despite this, the area continues to suffer severe Leon depopulation.Current population
The phenomenon is also reflected in the number of municipalities with fewer than 100 inhabitants, which increased sevenfold between 1960 and 1986. Outside the provincial capital, notable for its population and cities such as San Andrés of Ponferrada in León, Rabanedo and Bejar in SalamancaThere are 2 cities with over 100,000 inhabitants and are: Salamanca (159,754 pop.) Leon (135,059 pop.).
Primary sector
Fields of the Leonese Country are arid and dry but very fertile, they dominate in dry farming. Even so, irrigation has become increasingly important in areas of the valleys of the Douro, the Pisuerga and Tormes. The most fertile area coincides with the Leon Valley Esla, Leon, and Tierra de Campos, a region lying between Zamora, Valladolid, Palencia and León.Crop types
The major wine areas in the region are DOs Toro, D.O. Bierzo, D.O. Arribes D.O. Tierras de León. In the province of Leon also plant maize, hops and legumes.Agricultural assets
Leonese Country has about 42,100 agricultural assets.By provinces, the agricultural working population in Leon working in about 18,300 people, about 9,200 in Salamanca and Zamora about 14,600 people.
Livestock
Livestock accounts for a significant part of the final agricultural production.Thus, small livestock farms tend to disappear, largely as a result of rural depopulation and loss of manpower. Nomadic pastoralism remains in some areas, large flocks, mainly of sheep, they travel hundreds of miles each year from the flat land to pasture land of mountains as in the Bierzo, Leon Cantabrian valleys. It is increasingly hard work with less manpower, having previously established a testimony of the first importance on the history and cultural roots of the town of Leon.
Industry
The main industrial centers are: Leon (4521) and Ponferrada (4270).Other industries include textiles in Béjar, the sugar factory in Leon, Toro and Benavente, Leon and the pharmaceutical and steel metallurgy in Ponferrada.
Mining
In the Leonese Country, mining became important in Roman times, when it drew a road, route de la Plata, to transport the mined gold deposits in the marrow, in the Bierzo region of Leon, the route Asturica assumed Augusta (Astorga) to Emerita Augusta (Mérida) and Hispalis (Sevilla).
Centuries later, after the Spanish civil war, mining was one of the factors contributing to economic development in the region. However, the production of iron, tin and tungsten declined dramatically since the 1970s, while the anthracite coal mines and were maintained by domestic demand of coal for power stations. The economic restructuring that affected mining areas Leon during the 1980s and 1990s led to the closure of numerous mines, social impoverishment, with a sharp increase in unemployment and the start of a new migration to other Spanish regions.
Tourism
Throughout the 1990s increased the influx of tourists to the Leonese Country, driven mainly by the historical and cultural value of their cities and also by the natural beauty and landscape of its various regions. The World Heritage city of Salamanca and the road to Santiago which passes through the province of Leon are the great pillars of cultural tourism in the Country Lions.Trade
Domestic trade Leonese Country focuses on the food industry, automotive, fabric and footwear. For foreign trade, by region, are exported mainly manufactures steel bars and slate in Leon, Salamanca beef and meat goat and sheep, along with wine, Zamora.Languages
There are three languages in País Llïonés:- Spanish in all the territory.
- Leonese language, that it's a Romance language from Astur-leonese group.
- Galician in El Bierzo.