Hello from Italy...

[retro]

Re: Hello from Italy...

Do not forget Catalans, Albanians and Greeks

I'm from near Asti (land of many great wines), though I was born in Naples. Where have you been?

Southern Italy was undermined first of all by the brutal annexation and civil war (1861-1865), then by 150 of state and mafia plunder. Now the mafias are taking over the north and exporting themselves all around the world.
Oh, well... I admit I don't know whether, say, the Catalan separatists are as clownish as "our" (not mine) Umberto xxxo. But at least Catalans, or Basques, share a history, a culture, a language - the so-called "Padania" is as artificial as could be. The only thing that counts is "less taxes" (for those who don't have a fixed income) and "immigrants out". They mistake culture for cultivation.

There seems to be a link between Iberians and Ligures - or at least that's one of the hypotheses. Did they also have any affinity with the Basques?

During the Spanish Civil War the Catalans backed the Communists and their credentials are a bit dubious.

The Alantic cutures all have obscure cultural links to each other and the Spanish guitar for example is originally from North Africa.

The Basques where at least 'ethnically' Indo-Europeanised by the Celts, who had fairly large settlements in Galicia. However they have kept their isolate language and culture. Most Europeans are like that and are a mixture of indigenous European and Indo-European ancestry anyway.

Ligurian prior to Rome, really linked Italy to Gaulish France and the Ligurian language had both Italic and Celtic affinities.

Under Rome the Celtiberians and Iberians where Romanised and the Western empire became very powerful and independent. However they nevertheless remained loyal to Rome.

The Celts where a very large confederation of peoples and far harder to absorb than the Iberians. The Iberians are a quite strange group of people. Since they where amongst the first people to colonize the Mediterranean and seemingly had links to a lot of ancient cultures. However not a great deal is really known about them.


Lady of Elche - Iberian sculpture from the 4th century B.C., though the artisanship suggests strong Hellenistic influences.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lady_of_Elche

[Odar]

Re: Hello from Italy...

Wrong, they were defending the legitimate republican government (that had restored, or promised to, the minority groups' autonomies and promoted the separation between church and state) against Franchist insurrection. The Communists "backed" the Republic until Stalin - who wanted to destroy any leftist non-Communist political opposition - first gave order to assassinate some of the rival Republican commanders, then withdrew any kind of support. If anything, it's the Communists' credentials that are dubious :P

The Basques' luck was that they lived in a largely mountainous territory, who enabled them to preserve their linguistic and cultural peculiarities. The French ones seem to be more assimilated than the Spanish ones though. Or at least, they don't make it to the news.

[retro]

Re: Hello from Italy...

Wrong, they were defending the legitimate republican government (that had restored, or promised to, the minority groups' autonomies and promoted the separation between church and state) against Franchist insurrection. The Communists "backed" the Republic until Stalin - who wanted to destroy any leftist non-Communist political opposition - first gave order to assassinate some of the rival Republican commanders, then withdrew any kind of support. If anything, it's the Communists' credentials that are dubious :P

The Basques' luck was that they lived in a largely mountainous territory, who enabled them to preserve their linguistic and cultural peculiarities. The French ones seem to be more assimilated than the Spanish ones though. Or at least, they don't make it to the news.

The Basques and Galicians have always been very Nationalistic people. The main reason why the Basques have greater autonomy than other region of Spain is that Franco favoured the more industrial regions in the north. The French on the whole are far more egalitarian than the Spaniards and possible on better terms with the Basques.

Catalonia whilst more prosperous than the South is not without it's faults. Catalans can be very emotional immature and the Spanish in the south are completely crazy.

However it's worth keeping in mind that twenty years ago Spain was basically a third world country and that it has come along way since then. Both economically and socially, I'd be more far worried about Portugal than Spain.