A Quick History/Political/Geography Lesson

While I may not be learning all that much in my actual classes here in Salamanca, I have gained a much greater understanding of the country of Spain in general: the politics, the economy, the geography, etc. Historically, at the end of the Middle Ages, Spain was composed of several different kingdoms, which were remnants from an even earlier history. These kingdoms still have a presence in present day Spain in the form of the Autonomous Communities. Spain has 17 of these communities, which could be compared to the 50 states that compose America. However, even after over 500 years of unity, the desire of several of these communities to be separate has never really gone away and manifests itself in several ways.

The most marked difference is language. While most of Spain speaks Castellano, known to us as Spanish, three communities in particular, Cataluna, Pais Vasco, y Gallecia, all have their own languages, Catalan, Euskera, y Gallego respectively. I was in Barcelona this past weekend, and I have to say I was surprised by the heavy prevalence of Catalan, as in all the signs were in Catalan, and the menus, and I was addressed in Catalan. It was almost if I was back in Portugal, as I could pretty much reads the signs and understand what was said to me since all three languages are very similar, but I couldn't speak it since I don't actually know the language. I guess I was thinking that while they had pride in their language, Castellano would still be the most prevalent language, but it was very much the other way around. Several people from my group said they could see themselves living in Barcelona in the future, but I couldn't as it would require me to learn another language to use at restaurants and stores etc., and since I've just spent the past 10 years of my life studying Spanish, if I was to live in Spain, I'd want to live somewhere I could actually use it.

At least I could vaguely understand Catalan. I didn't make it the north of Spain this visit (which is too bad, but just means I have to visit again :)) but a couple of my friends went up to Bilbao and San Sebastian in Pais Vasco and came back saying the language is absolutely crazy up there. In fact Euskera has no relation to any current language, and linguistic experts have no idea where it originated from, though several theories have been put out there. It is a very old language, predating the Roman occupation of the Iberian Peninsula. However, while there is no way I would understand Euskera, there is a heavy prevalence of Spanish up there since during Franco's regime, the teaching of languages other than Castellano in school was banned and there are a couple generations of people who never learned Euskera formally.

A sign written in Euskera

Those are just the language differences. Earlier this month the terrorist seperatist group ETA, from Pais Vasco, formally declared it would stop fighting. It originated as a movement against Franco, but even after his death it continued blowing up people. With the militant separatist movement at an end, the separatist political party was allowed to run for the first time in the elections last week and won a good portion of the votes in the community. The Cataluna separatist party also always wins in that province too.

A poor image but the dark blue and the turquoise are the separatist parties 

All in all it's an interesting situation and the nerd in me loves have you can trace the present day situation back to its historical roots :)