When you think of Galicia, its landscapes, the first thing that probably comes to mind is its winding coastline, its beaches and cliffs, its winding canals like the River Sil that runs through the Ribeira Sacra, its castles, its lush Atlantic forests, its pastures with cattle… The list is extensive (and varied), but it doesn’t include the olive groves, a landscape that is probably more associated with the south of the peninsula. It wasn’t always this way. There are indications that Galicia has had an interesting relationship with olive tree cultivation, dating back to the times of Gallaecia.

At what point this connection becomes weak and what are the reasons for the decline and failure of the olive tree to develop are questions that are still a matter of debate among experts.

Olive trees in Galicia? Yes, their relationship is very old, rich and has inspired researchers who have managed to identify in the Galician territory a vast catalogue of native olive tree varieties, unparalleled in the world. Although there are still shadows in this connection, as historian Lourenzo Fernández noticed years ago at a conference held in Pontevedra and focused precisely on olive trees, the signs are suggestive. “There is no historical or specific bibliographic research that addresses the presence of olive trees in Galicia,” he explained.

I’m looking at Roman Gallaecia. The connection between Galicia and the olive tree can be traced back at least to Roman Gallaecia. In the middle of the last century, during an excavation in the area of ​​Vigo called A Oliveira, archaeologists discovered a Roman site containing, among others, bricks, floors, mortar, mills, amphorae and an oil press.

“It is thought that it could have been a villa or a factory, because of the oil press, the only example that has emerged in Galicia. The possible relationship between the extraction of oil and the cultivation of olive trees in Vigo in ancient times has also been investigated. “It attracted attention with the activity that would give its name to this place,” explains the Quiñones de León Museum, where the remains are located, although those responsible admit that the scarcity of remains of lamps and amphorae in the area can be interpreted as “poverty”. consumption.”

leave a mark. Vigo’s is not the only evidence of the interesting historical link between the olive tree and Galicia. There are ethnographic studies that show that the region has dozens and dozens of place names referring to olive trees, olive groves, oil and the like. Years ago, CSIC also identified twenty native olive tree varieties, which are unique in the world, and according to an analysis carried out years ago, there is evidence of surviving specimens dating back to the 18th century, the oldest of the community.

A “very available” crop in Galicia. The presence of olive trees in Galicia is appreciated by the industry itself and by public institutions. “Olive tree cultivation was very common in Galicia since Roman times. The first settlers ate olives, although they did not know the methods of oil extraction. The Romans were the first to introduce the knowledge of these methods to the Romans. According to Turismo Ribeira Sacra, Galicia became one of the conquered regions where the most oil flowed to Rome in the 2nd and 3rd centuries.” It is also not uncommon to find traditional oil factories in the community where the fruit is used.

“In Galicia, there were olive tree plantations, in some cases of large dimensions; if we follow some sources, it could have been possible thanks to the introduction of this crop to our lands by the Romans,” historian Felipe Aira explained in January. Voice of Galicia He recalls how Jews and Jewish converts used ‘liquid gold’ in their kitchens and how at least some of the olive trees were preserved on Church property even after the decline in Galicia because of their value in the production of liturgical oils.

And the great unknown emergesAll the chronicles that tell the connection between olive trees and Galicia come to the same question: what explains why there was a loss of weight in the cultivation of olive trees? Why did Galicia cease to be a land of olive groves? Or even simpler… Why did they not continue to expand until they reached a certain weight in the Galician territory? As Lourenzo recalled in 2018, there are still shadows and a long way to “discover” regarding the existence of olive trees in Galicia.

A recent Quincemil chronicle noted that its history is full of myths and inaccuracies, but generally points to a complex sum of political, economic, demographic causes, and the reality of agricultural exploitation.

From the Catholic Monarchs to the Count Duke of OlivaresThere are two names that are often repeated when telling the history of the olive tree in Galicia: first, the Catholic Monarchs; second, the Count-Duke of Olivares. A common theory holds that the former, Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile, made a series of decisions regarding taxes and reconstruction, punishing the Galician plantations and promoting the uprooting of olive trees in the region.

But why? There are those who claim that the aim was to encourage the repopulation and agriculture of the recently reconquered lands in the south of the peninsula. Others claim that their decisions were more weighted by political factors and that by punishing the Galician olive trees they were trying to punish the region and the aristocracy. “The domestication and castration of Galicia”, as the 20th-century intellectual Alfonso Daniel Rodríguez Castelao said of the policies of the Catholic Monarchs. The context is very important and was marked by the defeat of Juana La Beltraneja and therefore the nobility who supported her cause, and the Irmandiños rebellion that developed in Galicia.

The shadow of Olivares. The more common theory is that if there is a specific name that explains the decline of the olive tree in Galicia, it is that of the powerful Count-Duke of Olivares, valet of King Philip IV. His decision was to impose a tax of four reales per tree to benefit his crops in Seville, which increased the weight of Galician crops.

The result: Except in the most remote and lush areas, where olive trees easily escaped the control of the authorities, landowners had to decide whether it was worth facing these high costs or taking the axe and uprooting the olive trees. But there are those who question the Count Duke’s support for a specific campaign to register crops in Galicia and the more complex reality that factors influencing profitability.

A (complex) combination of factorsThe fact that the olive tree lost its power in Galicia and did not spread further into the fields, despite the existence of dozens of native varieties well adapted to the terrain type and climate of the region, may be due to a more complex set of factors, including the tax burden that complicated the plantations under the Catholic Monarchs and the reign of Philip IV.

“We can blame the Catholic Monarchs, the castration of Galicia or the Atlantic climate, but the reason for its failure to expand is a more complex reality,” explains Fernández in the accounts compiled by Campo Galego. For him, “the fact that the crop did not expand as it did in other parts of Spain shows that in Galicia there were neither the meteorological, nor the social, nor the commercial conditions for such an expansion to occur,” he adds.

Factors such as the predominance of smallholders in Galicia, the region’s specialisation in Atlantic agriculture, the scarcity of shrub crops or the emergence of more profitable options such as potatoes and corn will all come into play.

Picture | Jose Luis Cernadas Iglesias (Flickr)

In Xataka | In the 20th century, lobster was the symbol of the Rías Baixas, coveted in Spanish cuisine. Today it is lost