Читать книгу The GR11 Trail. The Traverse of the Spanish Pyrenees - La Senda Pirenaica онлайн

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There is a lot of confusion with place names in the Pyrenees, with many different spellings. When Spain was a centralised fascist state, Spanish names were imposed on the provinces, but with the coming of democracy, the provinces have been able to show a greater degree of independence and one expression of this is the return to place names in the local language. This means that on maps and signposts names may be given in Spanish, a local language, or even in French.

Politics

When they were independent states, the Basque Country and Catalonia were much larger than at present and included large chunks of the Pyrenees which are now in France. They have a great deal of autonomy and the independence movements in both provinces have a lot of support.

The Spanish Civil War had a devastating effect on the people of the Pyrenees and the effects can still be seen today with the destruction or desertion of many mountain villages. The Civil War broke out in 1936 with a coup d’état by reactionary elements in the army. The position in the Pyrenees was particularly complicated as there were not only the Fascist and Republican armies, but also independence movements among the Catalans and the Basques. By the time the Republicans were defeated in 1939 about 700,000 lives had been lost and about 500,000 refugees had fled across the Pyrenees into France.