Galicia, one of the 17 legislative regions of Spain, occupies a series of hilly promontories above Portugal on the westernmost frontier of Spain. For a very long time Cape Finisterre was considered the most westerly point in Europe. Almost three times the size of Jamaica and with just about the same population, Galicia represents an excellent case study of how determined leaders can successfully take charge of their future and dramatically improve the condition of their people’s daily lives.

The people of Galicia have a very long and interesting history. No one is exactly sure of the origins of the local folk, but Herodotus and Pliny mention them as ancient Celtic tribes who inhabited the harsh region north of the Douro River. These were the people who constructed the fortified communities called “castros”, the source of surnames like Fidel Castro’s family in Cuba. The Romans conquered the region and introduced Christianity and after the fall of the Roman Empire in the fifth century, Galicia became an independent kingdom. Today with legal recognition of their region by the Spanish state, the locals are resuming the common use of their language which is much closer to Portuguese than to Castilian Spanish.

In modern times Galicia, especially the port cities of the province of La Coruña, has played some important roles. In 1520 Charles I of Spain sailed from La Coruña to accept his election as the Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V. Philip II sailed in 1554 from nearby El Ferrol to marry Mary Tudor, daughter of Henry VIII, who died four years later. In 1588 Philip sent the ill-fated naval armada from La Coruña to punish the English and Dutch Protestants. One year later, Sir Francis Drake attacked the city and was valiantly repulsed, originating the legend of Maria Pita whose monument and elegant square face the La Coruña City Hall.

La Coruña featured prominently in the Peninsular War against the French invaders in 1809. In January the British forces supporting the Spanish were defeated by the French and their commander, Admiral Sir John Moore, died in battle and was hastily buried on the outskirts of the city. The Irish poet, Charles Wolfe, commemorated the event with a hauntingly beautiful poem, “The Burial of Sir John Moore after Corunna” that first appeared in 1817.

Beginning in the early 19th century, Galicia began an inexorable decline that produced a constant stream of emigrants. Gallegos, as the locals are called, established vital communities all over the Americas, especially in Brazil and Argentina, taking with them their surly family-centred culture of seafaring, sheep-raising, and commerce. The families who remained in Galicia wrested a difficult living raising cattle and sheep on the poor soils, or fishing from the bordering seas, the deep fjords called rías, and the cold rivers flowing down from low hills. To make matters worse, Galicia, although the home of Francisco Franco, supported the Liberals in the Spanish Civil War of the 1930s. With Franco’s victory, Galicia became unsafe for supporters of the Republican cause but the Spanish government made small investments to boost the local economy. As late as the beginning of the 1970s Galicia was one of the poorest regions of Spain.

With the death of Franco, Spain changed dramatically and its entry into the European Community revolutionised the sleepy country that Franco built and dominated. Few states have so successfully remade themselves in such a short period of time as has Spain. All over the country from the Basque provinces in the north to Andalucía in the southwest, the urban renewal and social renovation projects have been astonishing. The Spain of today and the Spain of 1970 are worlds apart, as different as chalk and cheese. Galicia benefited from this overall national transformation.

The region has had some nasty environmental setbacks. The weather is not especially conducive to fruit and vegetable production and the incessant rains and heavy low-lying fogs tend to discourage tourism. The fjords as well as the neighbouring seas have been depleted of fish. In 1992 the Greek petroleum tanker, Mar Egeo, broke up off La Coruña, spilling more than 80,000 barrels of oil near the harbour. In 2002 the Bahamian-flagged vessel “Prestige” broke up off Galicia, coating more than 120 miles of coastline with some 77,000 tons of crude.

Despite their natural and man-made troubles, Galicians have stuck steadfastly to the task of slowly rebuilding their cities and their region. The project remains a joint public-private venture with careful attention paid to housing and the provision of local jobs for local residents. In 1974 Amancio Ortega started a textile operation on the outskirts of La Coruña, “Inditex,” that by 2010 would become the largest such enterprise in Europe and the second largest in the world. Ortega is the richest person in Spain. Leading the local investment efforts have been four regional banking institutions that remain the oldest in Spain: Caixa Galicia, Caixanova, Banco Etcheverría, and the Banco Pastor.

When Galicia belatedly entered the tourism boom that began to engulf Spain in the 1960s, it did so passionately. In 2007 the region hosted nearly six million tourists, more than two-thirds from other regions of Spain. Condominiums skilfully constructed to keep out the rain but bring in the sun have become an important time-share business. Tourism in Galicia employs more than 12 per cent of the local population and represents about 12 per cent of the GDP, placing the region among the most prosperous in Spain.

Even a casual visitor to Galicia immediately notes a difference from the rest of Spain. There are far more young people on the streets and few signs of unemployment. The Spanish custom of enthusiastic snacking before a late dinner is alive and well, but restaurants close early since most locals have dinner at home. Keeping families together at home and employed clearly represents one key to any successful urban restoration project.