page_title: National and regional identity in Spain
section_title: Galicia
hierarchical_section_title: National and regional identity in Spain / Northern and northwestern Spain / Galicia
caption_attribution_description: Español: Vilanova dos Infantes, Celanova, Ourense, Galicia. Romería Etnográfica Raigame. 17 de Mayo de 2008. Galego: Romaría Etnográfica Raigame, Vilanova dos Infantes, Celanova, Ourense, Galiza. 17 de maio de 2008.
context_page_description: Both the perceived nationhood of Spain, and the perceived distinctions between different parts of its territory are said to derive from historical, geographical, linguistic, economic, political, ethnic and social factors.
  Present-day Spain was formed in the wake of the expansion of the Christian states in northern Spain, a process known as the Reconquista. The Reconquista, ending with the Fall of Granada in 1492, was followed by a contested process of religious and linguistic unification and political centralisation, which began under the Catholic Monarchs and continued intermittently into the 20th century. Peripheral nationalism in its modern form arose chiefly in Cuba, Catalonia and the Basque Country during the 19th century. The modern division of Spain into Autonomous Communities embodies an attempt to recognise nationalities and regional identities within Spain as a basis for devolution of power.
  From the Reconquista onwards, in most parts of the peninsula, territories have identified themselves as distinct from the rest of Spain in one of three ways.
context_section_description: Galicia is an area of abundant rainfall but poor soil, sometimes compared with Ireland, with elements of a Celtic heritage and its own language. Its "remoteness from the rest of Spain ... has been its chief characteristic". Galician rural society came to be characterised by poverty and an "extreme subdivision" of land holdings, with large-scale emigration to other parts of Spain and to America. As early as the 11th century Galicia united with León, which itself was incorporated in the Kingdom of Castile in 1230. Social conflict came to a head in the revolt of the Irmandiños in the late 15th century, following which the Catholic Monarchs reduced the powers of the Galician nobility. Until 1833 Galicia retained the status of a kingdom within Castile, with its own assembly. An "antiquated system" of land tenure, based on long-term leases or foros, persisted down to the 1920s and caused many legal disputes and social conflicts.
  The Galician language is more similar to Portuguese than to Castilian. In the early medieval period, Galician was a language of poetry with a strong literary tradition, but it dropped out of literary use after the 15th century. A linguistic revival began in the 19th century with poets such as Rosalía de Castro, within a cultural revival known as the Rexurdimento, and later with Galicianist societies known as Irmandades da Fala. The drive to political autonomy at that time was further impelled by concerns over agricultural policy, but aroused "but lukewarm interest". The nationalist political programme drawn up in 1918 by the Irmandades was taken up by autonomist political parties, the Autonomous Galician Republican Organization (founded 1929) and Partido Galeguista (1931). These parties prepared and promoted a Statute of Autonomy. The parties soon became part of the Republican Left.
  The present Statute of Autonomy defines Galicia as a "nationality". The Galician Government of 2005–2009 tried to draft a new Statute of Autonomy where Galicia would most probably have been defined as a "nation" (with declaratory, but not legal value). This was put on hold after the 2009 elections, won by the conservative People's Party. Most Galicians in 2002 identified with their region either equally strongly or more strongly than they identified with Spain, but in a 2010 survey only 1.7% supported Galician independence.
  Unlike in other Spanish Autonomous Communities, the Galician arms of the main Spanish parties – the conservative Galician People's Party and the Socialists' Party of Galicia (PSdeG-PSOE) – include Galicianism among their principles. Galician-nationalist parties have a smaller representation than their counterparts in Catalonia or the Basque Country. The longest-standing nationalist group in the Parliament of Galicia is the Galician Nationalist Bloc (BNG), founded in 1982. This is a coalition of parties, some of which endorse independence, like the UPG and the Galician Movement for Socialism. It has only once had a share of power in the Galician parliament, from 2005 to 2009, when it was part of a coalition government with the Socialists' Party of Galicia. BNG campaigns for national sovereignty, independence and strong promotion of Galician culture and language. In the 2012 election the newly formed Galician Left Alternative (AGE), which had split from BNG and included independentist groups, overtook the BNG in Parliament, winning 9 seats. A successor group to the AGE known as En Marea stood in the 2016 election with the support of the Spanish Podemos and United Left parties, and attracted 19% of the vote against 8% for the BNG; the People's Party of Galicia won the majority.
  Galician nationalism is present in the majority of Galician social movements, especially in the Galician language defense movement (A Mesa pola Normalización Lingüística ("The Panel for Language Normalization"), Queremos Galego ("We Want Galician"), AGAL, and other groups) and in the ecologist movement (ADEGA, Verdegaia, Nunca Máis ("Never Again"), and other groups). Nationalism is also present in organized labour and trade unions: t
caption: Galician gaiteiros
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