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Cerdanya: mountain valley, genetic highway
Annals of Human Biology
|January 1, 1996
Summary
Marriage patterns in the Cerdanya Valley reveal that geographical barriers like mountains significantly impacted partner selection more than the Franco-Spanish border. Mobility favored Spain to France, with grooms being more mobile than brides.
Area of Science:
- Historical Demography
- Human Geography
- Population Genetics
Background:
- The Cerdanya Valley, historically united within Catalonia, is now divided by the Franco-Spanish border.
- Understanding historical marriage patterns is crucial for population genetics and studies of nationality and ethnicity.
Purpose of the Study:
- To analyze marriage records from the Cerdanya Valley to understand historical migration and mating patterns.
- To assess the influence of geographical and political borders on marital partner choice.
Main Methods:
- Analysis of 7,844 marriage records from the French and Spanish sectors of the Cerdanya Valley.
- Examination of the geographic origins of brides and grooms, considering local, regional, and national scales.
Main Results:
- Inaccessible mountain barriers were a greater impediment to marriage than the Franco-Spanish border.
- Adjacent districts contributed more partners than distant regions, with no significant decrease in frequency with increasing distance.
- There was a net migration of marital partners from Spain to France, and grooms exhibited higher mobility than brides.
Conclusions:
- Geographical features and political borders significantly shape historical human mobility and mating networks.
- The findings have implications for understanding gene flow, population structure, and the historical formation of distinct national or ethnic groups in border regions.