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.