Integration, Memory and Cultural Heritage in Galicia- Northern Portugal Border Region

Nordia Geographical Publications 36: 4, 23–34 R. C. Lois-González, J. L. Palmeiro-Piñeiro & M. Pazos-Otón

Rubén C. Lois-González, J��osé L. Palmeiro-Pi�ñ��eiro & ��Miguel Pazos-�O�t�ó�n Department of Geography, University of Santiago de Compostela

Abstract: Within and across the Portuguese��-Ga�l�ician�� (Sp��anish��) b �order�� interesting social, cultural and political processes are observed. These processes can be traced and analysed from a wide variety of information sources. Among them, we will retain media, literary and political discourses as well as diverse products of material and immaterial culture. Taking into account that social and cultural practices in any border area are hugely politicised we pay special attention to a border in which memory, cultural heritage and expectations around the constitution of transborder institutional structures are of significant importance for border inhabitants. For instance, the boundary openness and the improvements in transport infrastructures have resulted in an important increase of tourist flows within and across the border area. These new trans-border relations are affecting the self-identification of most border inhabitants who realise that Galicia and Northern Portugal are, at least potentially, a unique region characterised by a set of common cultural features as well as economic and institutional networks.

Introduction - Functional reasons, based on common problems and concerns at both sides of Recently, the EU has implemented a set an international border which are judged of political and economic instruments to be better managed from a transborder intended to avoid differences existing cooperative approach. in national contexts and to create a sort of “supranational” society in Europe. - Ideological reasons, based on the impact However, recognising the importance of of singular and collective identities such transborder policies, they demonstrated which are contacting and conflicting to be insufficient to originate the needed across a boundary. We distinguish harmony in transborder relationships primordial identities, characterised by between people and authorities at each side the affirmation of one’s own identity of the border. In fact, cooperation doesn’t in opposition to others, and instrumental come from “no-where”: a rich diversity of ones, used to promote the optimal common needs and mental representations development of a human community. are needed to make cooperation and Static, national, regional, local or transborder contacts desirable. others identities combine to generate These reasons encouraging multiple, fluid, spatial and non-spatial communication and transborder joint identities within and across politically projects can be classified as follows institutionalised territories. (Moncusí 2005):

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Both types of reasons are determined by national population were able to abandon “political will” and institutional legitimation. their own country. In present days, the In the case of Galicia-Northern Portugal improvements on accessibility, transport, border this legitimation task is mainly an and communication have resulted in a affair of non-state, sub-state and trans-state spectacular increase of border crossings actors and agencies. This is a result of the around the world, especially between predominant “superimposed” character of developed states (Lois González 1997). the boundary on people and places, at least In sum, these particular borderlands are in cultural terms. dynamic spaces of interaction, subject The Iberian Raya/Raia can be considered to continued processes of negotiation as one of the most ancient (since the Treaty involving people who are active agents of Tordesillas, in 1297), largest (1.234 km) in the politics of border life, as stated by and most authentic border areas in the world. Donnan & Wilson (2001). This authenticness derives from its good However, we should retain that borders grade of conservation within the European “are mainly concrete phenomena crucial for context. Moreover, it is possible to retrace the spatial organisation of the contemporary the Iberian Raia historic organisation, world” (Paasi 2005). As a matter of fortifified by military strategies, with a fact, there are material and immaterial web-defined system of twin fortified towns, (ideological) practices having crucial effects symbols of territorial sovereignty defence. on mental representations and everyday The military function obsolescence and the lives of individuals. The former are highly administrative disappearance of borders call determined by the structure and action of for a new conceptualisation and patrimonial the state’s apparatus whilst the latter show a planning of these “war-machines”. remarkable impact of nationalist ideologies. No doubt that, in our field of study, In any case, these practices are seemingly transborder relations, movements and reproducing the state-centric territorial interactions have always had a significant rationale at regional and local levels. importance, recently deepened by the European integration process, resulting in highly permeable boundaries with its “sovereignty” functions diluted. Nevertheless, it is important to bear in Memory and the border mind that people living within the border zone are the main responsible for boundary One cannot speak in the strictest sense definition whilst states are key actors in the of a border until the second half of the discursive production and reproduction of 13th century and the first half of the 14th social territorialities nearby the boundary century, a time when spheres of power (Donnan & Wilson 2001). were measured, quantified and delimited. In particular, the modern notion of The integration of Galicia into the newly powerful states regulating the whole social created Spanish monarchy (the dynastic life is in crisis due to globalisation and the union of Castile -which controlled Galicia increased mobility of people. In the past, -, and Aragon) was reinforced towards only a very restricted minority of a given the end of the 15th century. Later, during

24 Nordia Geographical Publications 36: 4, 23–34 R. C. Lois-González, J. L. Palmeiro-Piñeiro & M. Pazos-Otón the Portuguese Restoration War, between middle of the twentieth century, abruptly 1640 and 1668, the Galician-Portuguese closed and militarised the border for a long border became a battleground once again. period. The authoritarian regimes managed During this period, xenophobic messages to agree that both had a common historical proliferated on both sides, intended to the mission, contrasting with school texts of idea of belonging to different states, and that time, in which mutual distrust and fear the principle of their superiority over the were incited. Nevertheless, the smuggling other (Palmeiro 2006). This is also a period continued as a relevant activity in the area of construction of some of the most and the most important common features, important border fortifications. language and culture within very similar This border is perceived as a stable and rural areas, played a role in maintaining a well-defined territorial marker only since general conscience of cultural proximity the definitive independence of Portugal, (Lois González 1997). during the second half of the XVIIth In sum, under an appearance of Century. Anyway, this border was not a antiquity, this border was clearly delimited clearly designed line but the result of some very recently (during the second half fortified towns’ areas of influence. These of the XIXth Century) and it has been towns ruled each own’s territory, with high more open to every kind of flows than performance in the Minho area and in it is normally admitted. The border was a lesser degree in the interior lands. The always perceived as an ambiguous notion notion of a strictly defined limit was more and the institutional prohibitions were promptly assumed in Portugal, where there never totally accepted. The traditional was a major preoccupation on preservation transborder ties comprehended from of national sovereignty and identity. The marriages and celebrations to economic result was the signing of the Treaty of (trade) relationships. Lisbon (1864), in which the boundary between Spain and Portugal was (more or less) clearly designed. From XVIth to XIXth Centuries the towns and cities situated along the Atlantic Integration in the Galician- coast (Compostela, A Coruña, Pontevedra Portuguese border in Galicia, and Porto in Northern Portugal) grew and consolidated as main urban In a brief description, the main characteristics centres of the transborder region. This of the Galician-Portuguese border area can indicates a progressive distancing of urban be resumed as follows: development axis from the border itself, In sociological terms, the societies especially from its interior part. separated by the boundary have ignored At the same time, transborder mobility each other for a long time during the and stable relationships (such as marriages) Contemporary Age. As a result, the border between individuals from each side of the is predominantly composed by peripheral, border have been constant until now. Only isolated rural places. One of the reasons the simultaneous dictatorships of Franco is in the fact that since the independence and the Portuguese Estado Novo, during the of Portugal, in 1640, a dense network of

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Figure 1. Maps of the Galician-Portuguese transborder region. Taken from V. Paül et al. (2005).

26 Nordia Geographical Publications 36: 4, 23–34 R. C. Lois-González, J. L. Palmeiro-Piñeiro & M. Pazos-Otón fortified places has been built. Traditionally, through a general ignorance and contempt the border was full of significance where of Portuguese culture. In addition, some two urban centres were confronted and Portuguese social groups and media tend to it diluted in rural areas.The boundary was show Spain as a sort of economical invader, delimited and mapped precisely only from threatening Portuguese national identity. the second half of the XIXth century, at a Concretely, the role of Galicia in the time when contraband activities developed Iberian context is of special interest. in this area. More recently, the border has Galician and Portuguese governments seem been used as a show-case gate offering an to have a common interest in achieving external image of each country. an increased economical and functional The most important current feature integration, expressed by the constitution of this border is cooperation, promoted of Galicia-Northern Portugal Euro-region. by the European integration process. But In Galicia, the relationship with Portugal complexity and heterogeneity remain: is one of few political issues that are not we distinguish two borders. Firstly, polemic in discussions between the main one dynamic, “wet” border designed regional parties. As examples of the main by the river Minho. This is situated in political attitudes and projects concerning the middle of a highly urbanised area, the transborder relations between Galicia where common economic and social and Portugal, we summarize the positions advantages are intensively exploited. On of the three most important political parties the other hand, we have the “dry”, interior in Galicia (Tempo Exterior 2001):The border, characterised by a continuous loss conservative party, Partido Popular (PP), of population and economic activities. detained the regional precedence until 2005. However, in the whole Galician-Portuguese The PP is still the most voted political force border the crossings are mostly related in Galicia and its importance in Galician with tourism and, in a lesser degree, with social life is undoubted. This party’s political labour and estate purchases. In any case, program agrees with the general consensus the transborder labour flows have been, around the vital importance of fluent until now, modest. This may show that political and economical relations between the integration process is still in its earliest Galicia and Portugal. It proposes an increase stages. In spite of all the improvements of contacts and complicity between both achieved since the integration of both societies, until the achievement of a kind countries in the EEC, the boundary subsists of transborder civil society; the overcome as a strong factor of territorialisation, of the institutional framework and agenda materialized by incongruity of political designed by the European building process; and administrative units across the border. and the promotion of Galician-Portuguese Nevertheless, under the effect of increased Euro-region to make it recognisable in the contacts, the traditional national clichés are international scene. rapidly diminishing. Even so, we should The Galician Socialist Party, (currently not subestimate the persistence of some the first political force in the Galician prejudices, noticeable in Portugal through government) exposes a quite technocratic an exclusive understanding of Spain as a vision upon the potential and development homogenous national unit and, in Spain, of the Euro-region Galicia-Northern

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Portugal, based on its economic virtues. be insufficient due to their “regionalist He insists on the strategic importance of bias”, avoiding the establishment of direct Euro-regional socio-economic cohesion, communication between the two executive coincident with PP’s point of view. powers of Galicia and Portugal. This has Nevertheless, Mr. Pérez Touriño (leader been partially overcome when the BNG’s of the Galician Socialist Party and president leader and Galician vice-president, Anxo of Galicia) met the Portuguese Prime Quintana, met the Portuguese President, Minister, José Sócrates, several times after Cavaco Silva, to discuss about cultural his election. ��In these meetings they agreed cooperation between both governments on relevant themes such as the construction in Santiago do Cacém, Portugal, on July, of a high-speed railway joining the cities 2007. of Porto and Vigo and the constitution Repassing these political visions on of legally recognised local transborder how the transborder relationship between frameworks for cooperation. As a result Galicia and Portugal should be understood, of this common interest in deepening the it is possible to assume a major interest transborder relations, a new agreement among Galician political actors to earn for of transborder cooperation between the their region partial or complete autonomy CCDR (Northern Portugal) and the Xunta in international relations, namely with (Galicia), was signed on February 24, its neighbouring state (Portugal). We see 2006. clearly in this context, how identity issues On the other hand, the Galician have an immediate effect on transborder Nationalist Coalition (BNG) expresses a and international relations policies at both quite nuanced perspective on the type of regional and national (statist) levels. On the transborder relationship that, in its opinion, other hand, the Portuguese general political should be between Galicia and Portugal as vision of transborder cooperation is clearly a whole. It states that, in spite of strong state-centred and privileges the contacts human and economic relations existing and relationships between the sovereign between Galicia and Northern Portugal, the states as recognised international relations Galician government should consider the subjects. The main economic and cultural whole Portuguese state in its transborder actors in Northern Portugal are interested relations. It summarizes some goals beyond in a deepening of cooperation with the the economic success already obtained, neighbouring Spanish regions of Castile such as the development of an integrated and Leon and, above all, Galicia. The Galician-Portuguese economic space or the reason is a perceived excessive centralism normalization of linguistic relationships. In of the Portuguese state apparatus inhibiting this party is predominant the idea that the the Northern Portuguese interests to be specific Galician spelling rules should be evenly taken into account. On the other overcome by the integration of Galician hand, some Portuguese perceive Galicia as language in the Portuguese-Brazilian a territory in which a part of the original linguistic system. Another important goal Portuguese culture remains since the for this party is the establishment of normal beginning of Portuguese monarchy, as a institutional relationships. The current land in which “Galician-minhoto” features institutional transborder initiatives would mix with Spanish-Castilian ones. This

28 Nordia Geographical Publications 36: 4, 23–34 R. C. Lois-González, J. L. Palmeiro-Piñeiro & M. Pazos-Otón makes the transborder cooperation even main transborder flows were local in scope more desirable for some actors. and mobility was encouraged by economic However, the Euro-regional potentials do inequalities between Portuguese and Spanish not deplete in institutional common interests. socio-economic systems. As a result, a In fact, in the Minho border area there is a relevant percentage of displacements were set of little and medium-sized towns where for trade purposes aiming to take profit of transborder economical networks have price differentials and currency exchanges. resulted in a relative specialization of some In addition, there was a strong occurrence Portuguese towns in the provisioning of of smuggling, especially during autarchy industrial infrastructures serving Galician periods (XXth Century dictatorships), enterprises’ needs. Vilanova de Cerveira and encouraged by the relative marginalization Valença for instance, have promoted the of border localities in a context of “closed construction of industrial centres to attract boundaries”. The subsequent integration Galician investments. Related to this, the in the EEC resulted in a deep approaching transport infrastructure’s question is a key of both countries’ economic structures but factor for the development of the Iberian not implying a crucial transformation of Atlantic frontage. As a matter of fact, transborder mobility models. there is an urban Atlantic axis connecting In present days, the transborder relational the main cities of Galicia and Portugal but logic is a reality in the economic field, but important improvements remain to be done the territorial logic remains significant in in the transborder connexion of interior most border inhabitants’ customs and self- lands and the completion of the high-speed conceptions. There is an intensification of railway between Porto and Vigo. The result material economic flows whilst individuals’ of these deficiencies is a deeper economic mobility is affected by declining traditional integration and mobility across the western motivations, compensated by new reasons part of the border, more developed and for transborder mobility, usually attaining populated. longer distances. Among the new mobility reasons, we can summarize labour and intra-firm relations, leisure, tourism and the differential offer of health and educational services. We have to point out that these The dynamics of mobility motivations are still of restricted importance (except, perhaps, the shopping visits) twenty During the last twenty years we have years after the entry of both countries in the assisted to a transition between a model EEC. of impermeable boundaries, characterised Considering labour mobility, we can by scant mobility across them associated distinguish two preferent Galician to institutional differences in highly- destinations for Portuguese workers: the regulated markets, to other of open borders, Vigo metropolitan area and some important recognisable by intense mobility associated border towns on the Minho region, such to a wide variety of motivations and as A Guarda and Tui. On the other hand, transborder economical, cultural and social many Spanish workers (almost all from integration processes. Until the 1990s the Vigo and Tui) go to work to Portuguese

29 Integration, Memory and Cultural Heritage... NGP Yearbook 2007 border towns, in which Galician enterprises urban areas of Porto and Vigo (the latter is are expanding. situated at only about 20 minutes from the Concerning leisure and tourism mobility, this boundary by car). In fact, Vigo extends its is of greater importance among Portuguese labour recruiting area to the whole Minho citizens visiting Galicia. In fact, statistics region, beyond the boundary itself. In this (Turgalicia 2006) show that Galicia is more area, there exists a proliferation of little and attractive for Portuguese tourists than for medium-sized industrial enterprises playing neighbouring Spaniards. Tourism is one of a decisive role in deepening economic the activities more positively affected by integration at both sides of the border. the disparition of border obstacles. Besides As a result, there is a growing demand the spatial proximity, a set of perceptions of urban soil in the area, indicating its and attitudes have encouraged the leisure new centrality after the disparition of crossings across this piece of border. In obstacles imposed by the boundary. In the Galicia, Santiago de Compostela and Vigo interior land, only a minor development are the major destinations for Portuguese axis between Chaves and Verin shows a visitors. Vigo, at only about 20 km far-off modest economic integration in a context the boundary, is a centre for rapid shopping of rural, economically and demographically and leisure visits. On the other hand, regressive areas. Compostela is a more distant destination for This growing inter-relationship between cultural tourists usually staying several days the towns and cities in this region is a in town. Meanwhile, the most important result of historical, cultural and social tourist attractiveness for border inhabitants relationships in existence prior to the is that of fairs and celebrations taking place creation of the modern States, and of the near the boundary. relatively recent development of key cities In addition, most of the recent Portuguese with a considerable capacity for regional visitors came from the Minho border area leadership, some of which are very close to (Minho-Lima NUTS III region): from 25 to the Galician-Portuguese border, and most 30% of its total population have travelled to of which are situated along the Atlantic Galicia during the analysed period of time Coast. We can cite recently developed (year 2005). In our opinion, this behaviour cities such as Vigo, or others with a greater indicates a strong relationship between local historical weight such as Braga, Guimaraes inhabitants within and across this border or Chaves. area, far beyond the mere economic and labour relationships. In fact, we believe that the Portuguese region of Minho- Lima is becoming a social and economic prolongation at the other side of the Cultural heritage and its boundary of Vigo’s functional area. importance All in all, the boundary separating Galicia and Portugal can be easily crossed. Within One of the fields in which the cooperation this border area, we find one of the most potentials were partially fulfilled is that dynamic spaces of the Spanish-Portuguese pursuing a sustainable development of border: the Minho area, playing a role cultural, ethnographic and historic heritage of transborder connection between the and local identities. It is easy to hear in the 30 Nordia Geographical Publications 36: 4, 23–34 R. C. Lois-González, J. L. Palmeiro-Piñeiro & M. Pazos-Otón

Galician-Portuguese border towns that Galicia-Northern Portugal Euro-region in there are more ties between people living European Community endows with a specific at each side of the line than those existing geographical framework this project, hence between them and national populations facilitating the possibility to benefit from of Spain and Portugal. This perception transborder cooperation dynamics...” is, sometimes, assumed and reproduced in local discourses whilst local practices But, above all, what this initiative over show the striking reality of separation. Galician-Portuguese oral heritage represents The transborder region does still represent is the almost complete unanimity around communitarian continuity only in collective the support of an idea of a common memory and representations, and it is traditional culture, shared by Galician and visible in cultural landscapes. Portuguese. This ambiguous relationship of local Secondly, concerning the material heritage, inhabitants with the boundary leads we can point out that along the Galician- to a sort of patrimonialisation of the Portuguese border area, a rich variety of international divisory. Within the diverse historical urban centres and fortifications, transborder cultural initiatives having the mixing military buildings with civil and border areas as protagonist, we would stand religious architecture, prove the importance out, firstly, the candidature of Galician- of constructed cultural heritage in this area. Portuguese oral tradition to the qualification In general terms, fortified places and castles of Human Masterpiece by the UNESCO. are not as well conserved in Galicia as they This project was originated in a couple of are in the Portuguese side of the border small border towns where a transborder (González & Lois 1996). This is a historical cultural association called Ponte nas Ondas result of the greater importance conceded existed. The Galicia-Northern Portugal by Portuguese to territorial integrity and Work Community supported it, making border defence. explicit the cultural community existing The struggles between Spain and Portugal in both regions. At the same time, the during the Modern Age contributed to project explained that unity factors and a reinforcement of those fortifications transborder traditional signs of identity are closest to the “Raia”. ��As an example, we in disappearance danger, mainly because can take into account the periods of the of general decadence of traditional Portuguese Restoration War in which the relationships with ecological space and of Portuguese state get free from the Austrian old professions and techniques. dynasty of Spain (1640-1668), the Spanish In an information bulletin publied by Crown Succession War after the premature the Galician-Portuguese Work Community death of King Carlos II (1701-1714), and titled “The Galician-Portuguese Oral Napoleon’s invasions (1808-1814). Tradition: a Heritage for Future!” is stated As it happens with economical and (page 32): social features, the most important part of the border in terms of constructed “The Galician-Portuguese immaterial heritage historical heritage is the Minho area, where is a sample of a people’s collective identity that the majority and most important fortified managed, since ancient times, to get adapted towns, castles and military forts were to a peculiar environment... The existence of placed. Other areas with a relevant density 31 Integration, Memory and Cultural Heritage... NGP Yearbook 2007 of border fortified places near the Minho the Raia is no-longer separating people, but were the Lima valley and the coastal zone joining them for a sustainable exploitation from Vigo to Viana do Castelo. In the of its patrimonial, natural and cultural interior, fortified villages and historical potentials. The border fortifications are a military structures are scant. The only highly valuable historic and artistic legacy, relevant fortifications are along the Tamega for they are useful to study socio-political valley, at each side of the boundary, in mentalities, economical wealth, cultural, Monterrei (Galicia) and Chaves (Portugal). artistic, scientific and technical advances As a matter of fact, these were the only of a large period of time concerning more historically relevant towns in this area. In than 300 years. the rest of the interior border area there are only few patrimonial examples, almost always on the Portuguese side. Taking into account the patrimonial civil elements, the border disappears completely Conclusion in terms of constructed typologies and styles. This is another feature of a clear To conclude, it could be said that the cultural continuity across the border. connections between historical memory, Civil architecture is, hence, an excellent cultural heritage and supranational indicator of past intense relationships integration processes are fluent and open. between border inhabitants. Therefore, the The concept which best defines the meeting shared border landscape is considered as of the three aforementioned elements in the a “melting pot” of patrimonial resources border area between Galicia and the North attaining a big singularity in the fortification of Portugal is perhaps that of “identity” and, systems, highly related to their surrounding more precisely, “transboundary identity”. territories. As�� a result, a single candidature to A definition by the cultural anthropologist declare the Iberian fortified Raia as World’s F. Barth seems appropriate to explain Cultural Heritage has been presented. the Galician-Portuguese case: “Identity The goal is to study, research, catalogue, consists of the social relations among cartography, photograph, document, and individuals who share some characteristics, rehabilitate the fortifications; valorise them experiences and common symbols which as Military and Border History museums, make stakeholders feel like a group. The key as cultural and leisure centres, as tourist’s would be, therefore, the awareness of being resources… To achieve these goals, it will be part of a group and sharing something with necessary to coordinate municipal, regional, others”. transboundary, universitarian, political Certainly, a good deal of identity is and other efforts. In addition, it is urgent based on the assimilation by individuals to coordinate transborder policies in a and human communities of a series of global, common and shared Raia’s planning past facts, which carry a symbolism that project (territorial, urbanistic, architectural, can give sense to the individual in its social touristic and environmental). The main and geographic framework. Such reference objective should be to demonstrate that events become visible and apparent in the

32 Nordia Geographical Publications 36: 4, 23–34 R. C. Lois-González, J. L. Palmeiro-Piñeiro & M. Pazos-Otón landscape through a series of heritage and the inner area. These are the most clearly cultural “markers”, having a particularly – symbolically – patrimonialized places by significant density in border areas like ours, the respective States. Areas full of defensive so antique and full of history. fortifications, where smuggling was more These identity reference frameworks are difficult and the official mobility -the one under strain in a time of integration and admitted and controlled by the State- was reinterpreting of State borders. Such strains easier. Nowadays, these are areas located in are stronger the stronger the difference high demographic density axis which, with between the respective national realities the enhancement of the transboundary (assimilated by local populations with communication infrastructure in the different means and intensities) and the Atlantic Axis, allow connecting the main ongoing integration process is. However, urban centres. In this respect, towns are the this extreme case is not the one typical of ones that get integrated, leaving the middle the Galician-Portuguese border. Rather, border area in a peripheral position. In our there were some previously clear cultural view, this is why local strategies to restore links beyond the mere border area related the value of border identities, of built to different interpretations of History and immaterial landscape heritage on the -historical memory- that take advantage border -both as a tourist resource and to try of certain cultural and heritage resources locally the transition of identities strongly common to both territories. But these marked by division to others marked by interpretations, like its opposite ones –the integration and mutual understanding- are ones that defend a clear essential difference so important. This is a necessary attempt if between the populations on one side and we think about the more general process of the other of the border, highlighting the European continental integration. hallmark left in them by the Spanish and Portuguese “national” cultures-, are also simplifications. Actually, if we consider the geographic dynamics on the use of space, the cultural Notes landscape and mobility, we immediately 1. This summary is based on the articles of the three realize that there are two clearly main political leaders of the moment in Galicia, differentiated spaces in the Galician- quoted from Tempo Exterior nº3, 2001. Obtained Portuguese border area: Firstly, those the 6th June, 2006, in http://www.igadi.org. 2. The Minho is the river that designs a part of the places where the transboundary cultural Galician-Portuguese boundary and it is also identity -in its traditional sense- is more a historic Portuguese region, situated in the alive: the rural and sparsely populated Northwestern corner of the country. This is a quite symbolic region in Portuguese imagery, being areas in the Raia Seca, coinciding with less the most ancient and “cradle” of Portuguese “patrimonialized” places on the border. independence in the middle Ages. In addition, this That is to say: where identity was less filled Portuguese region holds, until now, large cultural with meaning. Secondly, the more urban similarities with neighbouring Galicia. and dynamic areas of the Raia Úmida and the small urban axis Verín-Chaves in

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