Regional perceptions of marginality: a view from southern Europe

The Mediterranean has played a key role in European history, though this history has been marked by the profound political, cultural, social and economic differences between its two shores. The complexity of the Southern - Mediterranean world, with its fragmentary nature, due to the mountainous terrain and the sea, is not unconnected with its great heterogeneity in both levels and forms of development. The peripheral, marginal nature of the South compared to the North of Europe, is reproduced albeit at a different scale within the countries in various forms. Demographically there are clear similarities among the three countries -Italy, Portugal and Spain- in terms of migratory patterns. The westernmost countries of southern Europe have undergone considerable transatlantic emigration. Spain might be divided into a rich diversity of regions according to the criteria considered. In addition, the traditional view of Southern Europe as a cohesive unit under the influence of the Mediterranean, 'due primarily to its specific climate', is disappearing.