Galicia
Galicia, a former crown land of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy,
extended from the Biala River (a minor tributary of the Weichsel)
in the west to the Zbrucz (tributary of the Dniester) in the east.
From the Carpathians in the south, the land drops off to the north,
passing over the Sarmatian Plain. Its former territories are now
shared between southern Poland and western Ukraine.
* * *
But wait! That's
not Galicia. Galicia is a region in northwestern Spain, bordering
the Bay of Biscay. Isn't it?
* * *
Yes it is.
Evidently there are two Galicias. How can that be? After all, it's so
confusing.
* * *
Hmmm, Charles V, the Holy Roman Emperor who lived 1500-1558, was born in Spain and
ruled both Spain and the Austria-Hungarian Empire. Maybe he was responsible
for this duplication?
* * *
Good guess! but not right.
The names go back a lot further than that.
All the way back in fact to the ancient Celts,
whom the Romans called Gauls, and who gave their
name to two of the regions they inhabited.
* * *
There was also, in the middle of Asia Minor, a Galatia, perhaps familiar
from the epistles that the saint Paul sent there. This region too was named
for Gauls.
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