El Bierzo

Coordinates: 42°40′N 6°45′W / 42.667°N 6.750°W / 42.667; -6.750
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
For the Bierzo wine region, see Bierzo (DO).
El Bierzo
Comarca
UTC+2 (CEST)
Largest municipalityPonferrada
Leonese comarcas where Asturleonese or Galician
are spoken.
Panoramic view of Las Médulas World Heritage Site
Peñalba de Santiago, a medieval village in Montes Aquilanos.

El Bierzo (Spanish pronunciation:

León, Spain. Its capital is the town of Ponferrada. Other major towns are Bembibre and Villafranca del Bierzo
, the historical capital.

The territory of El Bierzo includes most of the upper basin of the Sil river. It is surrounded by mountains on all sides, which makes this area remarkably isolated from all neighbouring lands.

History

In pre-Roman times the region was populated by the

grapevines, and wine production thrived in the region until the propagation of Phylloxera
at the end of the 19th century, which destroyed the majority of the vineyards.

Historically part of the

León,[2] with the Valdeorras municipalities becoming part of Galicia
.

El Bierzo developed its own peculiarities as

Castilian influence, and thus was granted the administrative status of comarca. Spanish is the official language, but local dialects of Galician and Leonese are also spoken in the westernmost areas and are present in some village toponyms. In the 12th century there was a colony of immigrants from Poitou in the Bierzo.[3]

The status of El Bierzo as a shire is recognized by law, and it is the only one officially recognized in the

autonomous community of Castile and León
.

Languages

The predominant language nowadays is Spanish but the local vernaculars can be classified as either Galician or Leonese; the Galician traits increase as one moves from east to west. The use of Galician and Leonese in everyday speech has mixed usages. Although both have enjoyed a recent revival through the work of different associations that promote their use and study, Galician has been more favored, extending its area of influence. Leonese continues to have a very limited use.

The Galician language, in addition to Galicia, is also spoken in western El Bierzo and a small area called As Portelas in the westernmost part of the

PSdeG, but recently, even right-wing parties like People's Party
defend the Galician language in the area.

Pachuezu or patsuezu is the western Asturleonese variant most entrenched in the north of El Bierzo, where there are estimated to be about 4,000 speakers of Leonese.

Economy

The railroad arrived in the region in 1881, and during World War I local

coal-fueled
.

Starting in the late 1980s most mines were closed, and after the collapse of the mining industry the region was for a while in a crisis. However, in the late 1990s the region underwent a major transformation with the establishment of several industrial and services firms, the reintroduction of commercial wine production, the opening of a local branch of the

wine), wind power generation and slate
mining.

Important factors contributing to the recent boom of the tourism industry in the region are the increasing popularity of the

Way of St. James (Spanish: Camino de Santiago; a pilgrimage route that goes from France to Santiago de Compostela, Galicia), the designation in 1997 of Las Médulas as a UNESCO World Heritage Site and the development of rural tourism lodging and wineries in the area. The Energy City Foundation Spanish: Fundación Ciudad de la Energía was established in Ponferrada in 2006 and is currently overseeing the construction of the National Energy Museum (Spanish: Museo Nacional de la Energía) in the city, as well as sponsoring several other initiatives that should further boost tourism and the economy of the region.[6]

See also

References

  1. ^ http://www.fundacionlasmedulas.org/index.jsp
  2. ^ "El Bierzo en la Historia" (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 2006-06-12. Retrieved 2007-01-30.
  3. ^ Richard A. Fletcher (1978) The Episcopate in the Kingdom of León in the Twelfth Century (Oxford: Oxford University Press), 49.
  4. ^ "Castilla y León". Xunta de Galicia. Archived from the original on 11 March 2012. Retrieved 4 May 2012.
  5. ^ Galiza, Sermos (12 June 2015). "Carta dun alumno que quere estudar galego". Sermos Galiza (in Galician). Retrieved 2016-05-21.
  6. ^ http://www.fundacionlasmedulas.org/index.jsp
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External links

42°40′N 6°45′W / 42.667°N 6.750°W / 42.667; -6.750

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