Galicia

Galicia (Galiza) is the Region in the northwest of Spain, with the status of a historical nationality, and was one of the first kingdoms of Europe. It borders Portugal to the south, the Spanish regions of Castilla Leon and Asturias to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and the Bay of Biscay to the north.

 

It is made up of four provinces are A Coruña, Lugo, Ourense and Pontevedra.

Geographically, a remarkable feature of Galicia is the presence of so many fjord-like inlets along the coast. Estuaries that were drowned with rising sea levels after the ice age. This coastline of this green corner of the Spain is also known as the 'Costa do Marisco' ('Seafood Coast').

Galicia has preserved some of its dense Atlantic forests abondant in wildlife. It is relatively unpolluted, and its landscape composed of green hills, cliffs and rias is very different from what is expected as typical Spanish landscape.

The terrain is made up of several low mountain ranges crossed by many small un navigable rivers but nevertheless provide hydroelectric power from the many dams. Galicia has so many small rivers that it has been called the 'land of the thousand rivers'. This gives a good indication to weather Galicia gets.

The mountains in Galicia are not too high but serve to isolate the rural population and discourage development of the interior, so this region is less-populated and generally suffers from migration to the coast and the major cities of Spain.

There is a ski resort in Cabeza de Manzaneda (1778m) in Ourense Province. The highest mountain is Trevinca (2127m) on the Ourense eastern border with Leon.

The weather is dominated by the proximity of Galicia to the Atlantic, and as such has mild temperatures throughout the year. Santiago de Compostela has an average of 100 days of rain a year. The interior, specifically the more mountainous parts of Ourense and Lugo, receive significant freezes and snowfall during the winter months.

The spoken languages of Galicia are Galician (Galego) and Spanish. The local language is derived from Latin, and in some ways is very similar to Portuguese.