| Portugal - Spain
(ESPT)
Commune of Tourém and the borders of
Portugal
In the northern border of Portugal there is a “finger” of Portuguese
territory that penetrates into Spanish territory, into the autonomous
region of Galiza (Galicia). It is the rural commune (“freguesia”) of
Tourém. When the Spanish built a dam on the river Salas, perhaps in
mid-XXth century, the northern tip of the narrow strip was separated from
the rest of Portugal by the waters of the new lake (Encoro or Embalse de
Salas). There is now, however, a bridge connecting the two sides of the
Portuguese territory. |
Spanish Centro Geográfico del Ejército
|
| Portugal has the
oldest unchanged borders in Europe, but this region of Tourém was for
centuries in a limbo and its status was in some aspects ambiguous. Tourém
was part of the diocese (Catholic religious administration) of Ourense (in
Galicia, Spain) at the same time that it was a civilian administered
Portuguese commune. In a XIXth century referendum the people of Tourém
confirmed the will to be part of Portugal. In the beginning of the XXth
century it became also part of the Portuguese religious administration. |
Michelin, at www.viamichelin.com |
It must be noted
that the peoples of both sides of the Portuguese-Galician (Spanish) border
never minded about this political frontier, centuries before Schengen or
Europe without internal borders. During the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939)
Tourém was a shelter for the Galician republicans and those who fled the
war.
The Galicians are linguistically and ethnically akin to the Northern
Portuguese. The Roman province of Gallaecia had its southern confine in
the river Douro, thus including all of present day Galicia and northern
quarter of Portugal. Still today the Galician and the Portuguese languages
are very similar; some experts say they are just two variants of the same
language. Galician is an official language in the autonomous region of
Galicia. |
Automóvel Club de Portugal;
scale 1:350.000 |
|
RV Reise- und Verkehrsverlag
GmbH; scale 1:300.000.
|
