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| *Travel Tips>>>Portugal Travel Tips |
Was north-western Iberia once part of Portugal? |
Travel Info Portugal extends for about four fifths of Iberia's western coast. I just wonder why the final fifth in the far north-western corner of Iberia is part of Spain and not Portugal... Travel Tips No it never was. When the south of Iberia was occupied by the Moors, Portugal and Galicia were separate earldoms - remnants of old Suevian/Visigothic kingdoms. The last Earl of Portugal, Dom Afonso Henriques, had a feud with his mother Dona Teresa of Leon, and decided to found a kingdom of his own, striking down through what is present day Portugal, conquering lands from the Moors until he got to the Alentejo and proclaimed himself king of a new country. Before his conquests, Portugal was a "Condado" (Earldom), and was not joined to Galicia to the North (another Earldom), although I think the two were closely associated in a kind of hispanic federation. After Portugal's independence Galicia carried on being separate, all the way up to the present day, being absorbed into modern Spain along the way. Interestingly though, there are huge cultural similarities between the North of Portugal (the former Condado) and Galicia, even now: Galician Spanish sounds a lot like Portuguese and there are similarities in cuisine and architecture too. You see more differences overall travelling from North to South Portugal than from North Portugal to Galicia, so your question makes sense. Some Portuguese people even think northern Portugal and Galicia should be a unit because of the similarities, and that the southern parts - Alentejo and Algarve - would have gone better with Andalusia... Source(s): I live here! Other Travel Tips Well Luka C says just about everything. In fact when hearing people from Galicia speak Galego it sounds more like someone from Portugal trying to speak spanish! Today there are many protocols between the two regions and there was once a movement in Poprtugal and Galicia for Galicia to be part of Portugal. http://experienceportugal.blogspot.com/... http://experienceportugal.blogspot.com/... |
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