CERDANYA - MOUNTAIN VALLEY, GENETIC HIGHWAY

In this paper the records of 7844 marriages in the parishes of French and Spanish sectors of the Cerdanya Valley have been analysed. The Cer danya is an eastern Pyrenean valley, today divided by the France-Spani sh border, but once united within Catalonia. The results have been rep orted on the one hand on a small scale using local place names, and on the other hand on a wider scale across France and Spain, because inte rest lies both in the geographic range from which some marital partner s have come and in the relative proportions of brides and grooms from the French and Spanish parts of Cerdanya and From adjacent districts. Both mountains and the France-Spanish border are shown to have reduced the likelihood of marriage. Inaccessible mountain barriers appear to have been a greater obstacle to marital movement than the border. Adja cent districts and local provinces have provided a greater proportion of brides and grooms than more distant ones, but thereafter frequencie s from the further regions do not decrease with greater distance. More marital partners have moved from Spain to France than vice-versa, and mobility of grooms exceeded mobility of brides. Results are relevant to genetics and the current European interest in nationality and ethni city.