Figure 1.--Extremadura was an impoverished region of southwestdern Spain. It was this poverty and lack of opportunity that drove adventursome young men to the Americas, becoming the famed Conquistadores. This poverty continued into modern times. This photograph was taken in Deleitosa, Cáceres in Extremadura (1950). It shows the environment in which the Conquistadores were raised. We see a proud mother bringing her daughter from the church where she had her first communion. It would have been a major expense for the family to afford the girl's beautiful white dress and shoes. Note that even her mother does not have shoes.
Extremadura is a historical region of Spain encompassing the large southwestern provincias of Cáceres and Badajoz bordering on Portugal. Castile-León lies to the north, Castile–La Mancha to the east, and Andalusia to the south. The region got its name because as the Christian Reconquest advanced south, the area was conquered by the Christians (1248). The Moors began calling it Extremadura -- a region that was outside of the Moorish territory. This is a rugged area and historically one of the poorest and least known regions of Spain. The capital city is Mérida. Located in the central-western part of the Iberian Peninsula. The Day of Extremadura is celebrated September 8. It coincides with the Catholic festivity of Our Lady of Guadalupe. She is the blessed Virgin Mary who appeared five times (1531). A venerated image on a cloak is now enshrined within the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City. The rugged topography meant that there was a limited area of arable land. And since agriculture was the primary economic base, Extrmadura was a generally impverished area of Spain with few econimic prospects. As a result, many of its adventurous young men after the completion of the Reconquista (1492) has few prospects. After Columbus' voyage in the same year, they turned to the Americas. leading the creation of the Spanish Empire. More than a few of the famed Spanish Conquistadores, including the two most important (Cortez and Pizarro), and earlier settlers of the Americas came from Extemadura (16th century). Columbus was Italian, but it was Extremadura that provided the military fiber for empire. As a result, many important Latin American cities are named after towns in Extrmadyra. This has meant that many large Latin Amrerican cities are named after small towns in backward Extrmadura. Mérida in Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula is Extremadura’s capital city. Trujillo in Peru is named after one of Extremadura’s most beautiful towns. Cities in Colombia, Venezuela and Puerto Rico). are also named Trujillo. There is a Cáceres in Colombia. Medellín is a large Colombian city, named after a small town in Badajoz province. Other Medellíns are fojund in Mexico, Argentina and the Philippines. Interestingly, many Americans who have never heard of Extramadura are familar with it--it was widely featured in the TV blockbuster 'Game of Thrones'.
The Region
Extremadura is a historical region of Spain encompassing the large southwestern provincias of Cáceres and Badajoz bordering on Portugal. Castile-León lies to the north, Castile–La Mancha to the east, and Andalusia to the south. The region got its name because as the Christian Reconquista advanced south, the area was conquered by the Christians (1248). The Moors began calling it Extremadura -- a region that was outside of the Moorish territory.
Topography
This is a rugged area and historically one of the poorest and least known regions of Spain. The capital city is Mérida. Located in the central-western part of the Iberian Peninsula.
Religion
The Day of Extremadura is celebrated September 8. It coincides with the Catholic festivity of Our Lady of Guadalupe. She is the blessed Virgin Mary who appeared five times (1531). A venerated image on a cloak is now enshrined within the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City.
Agriculture
The rugged topography meant that there was a limited area of arable land. And since agriculture was the primary economic base, Extrmadura was a generally impverished area of Spain with few econimic prospects.
As a result of the poverty of Extremadura, many of its adventurous young men after the completion of the Reconquista (1492) has few prospects. After Columbus' voyage in the same year, they turned to the Americas. leading the creation of the Spanish Empire. More than a few of the famed Spanish Conquistadores, including the two most important (Cortez and Pizarro), and earlier settlers of the Americas came from Extemadura (16th century). Columbus was Italian, but it was Extremadura that provided the military fiber for empire.
Latin American Cities
As a result, many important Latin American cities are named after towns in Extrmadyra. This has meant that many large Latin Amrerican cities are named after small towns in backward Extrmadura. Mérida in Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula is Extremadura’s capital city. Trujillo in Peru is named after one of Extremadura’s most beautiful towns. Cities in Colombia, Venezuela and Puerto Rico). are also named Trujillo. There is a Cáceres in Colombia. Medellín is a large Colombian city, named after a small town in Badajoz province. Other Medellíns are fojund in Mexico, Argentina and the Philippines.
Game of Thrones
Interestingly, many Americans who have never heard of Extramadura are familar with it--it was widely featured in the TV blockbuster 'Game of Thrones'.
The Children of Extremadura
There is a beautiful 1935 poem written by Spanish poet Rafael Alberti (1902-99) about the life condition in Extremadura ("Los niños de Extremadura"). , a member of the Generation of '27. He is considered one of the greatest literary figures of the so-called Silver Age of Spanish Literature, and he won numerous prizes and awards. He died aged 96. After the Spanish Civil War, he went into exile because of his Marxist beliefs.
The children of Extremadura go barefoot.
Who stole their shoes?
Heat and cold hurt them.
Who tore their dresses?
The rain wets their sleep and their bed.
Who demolished their house?
They don't know the names of the stars.
Who closed their schools?
The children of Extremadura are serious.
Who was the thief of their games?
Why Was Spain so Poor?
Rafael Alberti eloquentlky asked an important question. Why was Extrenadura so poor? His answer of course like any Marxist is because of capitalism. But nothing could be further from the truth. Exremadura was an impoverished area of Spanin, alrgely because in an ecoinimic era based in agriuculture, Exremadura was not a fertille region. But Spain itself by the 20th century had declined from a world power to a European backwater despite ahving a huge empire. The prumary reason for this is that unlike the countries it was comperting with, Spain did not develop a productive capitalist economy. It was not the presence of capitalism, it was the lack of it.
Failure of Socialist Economics
Of course at the time Alberti wrote, he and other authors had no way of knowing thtat Communism did not work. The NKVD did a very good job of keepiing the horrors of Communism, securely bottled up in the Soviet Union. Of course we now know that the Soiviet Union failed. And a major reason it failed was it Socialist, planned economy. And we know about the power of capitalism because of the stunning success of the Asian Tigers. And nothing coukd highlight that more than China and what happened once the Communist Chinese allowed capitalist enterprise to operate in the counttry. .
