Ramón Otero Pedrayo (alternative spellingOuteiro Pedraio) (Ourense,Galicia, 1888 – Ourense, 1976) was aGaliciangeographer, writer and intellectual. He was a key member of the Galician cultural and political movementXeración Nós.
Otero Pedrayo taughtGeography andHistory inBurgos andSantander (Spain), before he went back to his natal city of Ourense. In 1918 he becomes a member of theGalicianist organisationIrmandades da Fala. He was a member of the Spanish parliament during the time of theSpanish Second Republic representing thePartido Galeguista (Galicianist Party) and theRepublican Nationalist Party of Ourense.
He was the firstprofessor of Geography at theUniversity of Santiago de Compostela. Apart from being considered the person who first introduced modern Geography in Galicia, he also was an accomplished writer as he demonstrates in his numerous essays, novels, plays and poems. He was also renowned as a greatorator with a charismatic voice[1]. In 1933, he addressed a speech at a rally during theBasque Fatherland Day organized by theBasque Nationalist Party atSan Sebastián,Gipuzkoa (picture above).
Some of his famous novels areOs camiños da vida andO mesón dos Ermos, where he provides a meticulous description of Galician rural life. In fact, his non-scientific works are often taken as historical sources, since they are quite accurate and rigorous in terms of localization, description and context. It must also be mentionedArredor de si, a novel often considered to be a veiledautobiography.
Among his vast scientific production theencyclopaediaHistoria de Galiza (first published in 1962) stands out as a colossal project. Yet, in his many works he depicts with precision the history, geography, folklore and anthropology ofGalicia. He is the first geographer to define Galicia as anAtlantic country, that is, of Atlantic and not Mediterranean culture. And together with archaeologistFlorentino López Cuevillas he is one of the first researchers embarking in a systematic scientific study of Galicia'sCeltic past.
There is afoundation named after him, which preserves and promotes his works[2]Archived 2007-08-27 at theWayback Machine.
