Economy Overview:
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trade info..»
- Galicia is a small, fishing-dependent economy, among
the 5 poorest regions of Spain and one of the least developed areas in the EU.
- Galicia has the largest fishing fleet in the EU and a highly developed shellfish
and food processing industry.
- Agricultural contribution to the GDP is limited
by the subsistence of tiny inviable landholdings called "minifundios".
- Vigo's car industry accounts for 19% of Galicia’s GDP and over 50% of Gallegan
exports.
- Low foreign investment and high public spending has rocketed Galicia's
public debt to record €2 billion (2003)
- Growth is still under inflation
rates and unemployment remains at 12%. Salaries are 15% below the Spanish average
and 73% of Gallegans aged 18-35 have to live with their parents. Gallegan emigration
and the falling birth rate is causing Galicia a net population loss of 10,000
people per year since 1986.
GDP purchasing power parity: approx. €
29 billion (2002).
GDP real growth rate: +1.9%
GDP per capita:
purchasing power parity - approx. € 10,740 (2002).
Population below
poverty line: Not Available.
Labour force: 1.2 million (2002).
Labour force - occupation by sectors: Not Available.
Unemployment
rate: 12.2% (2002).
Budget: Not Available.
Currency:
Euro (EUR).
Industries: Fishing and agriculture, food processing, cars,
textile manufacturing, mining.
Main airports: Santiago, Vigo, A Coruña.
Main ports: Vigo, A Coruña, Ferrol.
Historical background -
Megalithic culture in Galicia ca. 4500-1500 BC. Stone constructions characteristic
of the Galician landscape and historical heritage.
- Bronze Age and
trade in the European Atlantic, 1500-700 BC.
- Celtic tribes settle
in the west of the Iberian peninsula, 800-500 BC.
- Roman empire:
Rome conquers northwest Hispania between 135-26 BC and creates the province of
"Gallaecia".
- Christianity spreads in Gallaecia ca. 350
AD, blending with native beliefs and greatly influencing Galician history and
society to this day.
- Fall of the Roman empire ca. 410 AD.
- Germanic
invasions: Swabians settle in Gallaecia ca. 410 AD creating the first kingdom
in Europe after the fall of Rome. Celtic refugees from Britannia are given land
in a northern province called "Britonia".
- Arabic invasions collapse
Hispania in 714 AD. Gallaecia is reorganised in 718 AD and splits in 3 Christian
kingdoms: Galicia, Asturias and Portugal (1139).
- Viking age: Scandinavians
and Normans raid Galicia in the 9th-10th centuries. Britonia is destroyed.
- Pilgrimage to Santiago: The relics of the Apostle St. James are found
in 835 AD. Santiago becomes the Mecca of the Christian world. Mass arrival of
pilgrims to Galicia causes a cultural revolution.
- Golden Age of Gallegan
literature and scholarship between the 13th and 14th centuries.
- Kingdom
of Galicia: Galicia loses political power as neighbouring kingdoms grow south
on land from Hispanic-Arab territories. Galicia enters under the influence of
Castile after the succession wars of 1366-1387 and 1472. Last Gallegan revolt
led by Pardo de Cela in 1483 AD.
- Spanish rule: The kingdom of Galicia
is annexed to Castile. Castilian Crown plan for "Tame and Castration of Galicia",
1483. Gallegans are forbidden to hold public administration jobs. Galician language
and Galician commerce with America are forbidden in 1573. Disappearance of the
Galician nobility and bourgeoisie social classes. Kingdom of Galicia is abolished
in 1833.
- Emigration: Gallegan economy collapses. Mass emigration to South
America.
- Galician renaissance, 19th century: Galician intellectuals
advocate the right of the Gallegans to express their culture. Celtic idiosincracy
is considered the cornerstone of Galician identity. Cultural and political organisations
are created. Galicians vote in 1936 referendum for political autonomy.
- Spanish
dictatorship (1936-1975): Military coup and dictatorship. 2,000 pro-Autonomy
activists killed in the first month of the war. Galician government in exile.
Mass emigration to western Europe.
- Political activism: political
parties and cultural organisations re-emerge after the end of dictatorship in
1975 demanding devolution of sovereignty on Galician affairs to the Galician people.
- Political devolution: in 1980 the Galician people voted in a referendum
for the creation of a Galician government with large powers over economic policy,
culture, education, environment and social affairs. The Xunta de Galicia and the
Parlamento de Galicia were established in 1981. More
info..»
- European Union: as a part of Spain, Galicia becomes
a territory of the EEC - EU in 1986.
Tourism and Culture
St. James' Pilgrimage
Photo © J.P. Pouliquen - Celtia.info |
| -
Tourist information and literature..»
-
Galicia's capital city, Santiago de Compostela, was once for the Christians what
the Mecca is for the Arabs. Pilgrims from all Europe have flocked to Santiago
from the 9th century to honour the Apostle St. James, believed to be buried in
the Cathedral. Santiago has been declared by the UNESCO as City of World Heritage.
- Take a week off and walk the St. James' Pilgrimage from Cebreiro in the Galician
highlands to the Holy City of Santiago.
- Head to the rural areas in the west
and north for a taste of the most traditional Galician culture.
- Explore
Cape Fisterra and the dramatic western Land's End, called "Costa da Morte"
(Death Coast) for the high number of shipwrecks accounted in its treacherous coastline.
- The Romeria is a typical Gallegan festival with a pilgrimage, bagpipe
music, and lots of food and drink.
- Visit the city of Coruña and head
north for the highest cliffs in Europe and for the year-round pilgrimage of St
André de Teixido, where Christian faith meets pagan traditions.
- Off
the track to the Galician Highlands, the Ancares, where until the 1970s people
still lived in the same round small thatched huts where the Celts lived 2,000
years ago.
- Soak up the sunshine, Galician wine and seafood in the busy tourist
resorts of the south-west.
- Vigo, Galicia's largest city, has a long industrial
tradition and is home to the Celta Vigo Football Club. |
