The Royal Galician Academy is an institution dedicated to the study of Galician culture and especially the Galician language

Galician language

Galician is a language of the Western Ibero-Romance branch, spoken in Galicia, an autonomous community located in northwestern Spain, where it is co-official with Castilian Spanish, as well as in border zones of the neighbouring territories of Asturias and Castile and León.Modern Galician and...

; it promulgates norms of grammar, spelling, and vocabulary and works to promote the language. The Academy is based in A Coruña

A Coruña

A Coruña or La Coruña is a city and municipality of Galicia, Spain. It is the second-largest city in the autonomous community and seventeenth overall in the country...

, Galicia, Spain

Spain

Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

. The current president is Xosé Luís Méndez Ferrín

Xosé Luís Méndez Ferrín

Xosé Luís Méndez Ferrín Galician writer and poet is widely considered the highest representative of contemporary Galician literature. Doctor in philology. Studied philosophy at the University of Santiago de Compostela and Romanic philology at the University of Madrid.He teaches literature at the...

.

History

In 1905 the Galician language was persecuted in Spain. To avoid persecution, the Sociedade Protectora da Academia Gallega was founded in La Habana

Havana

Havana is the capital city, province, major port, and leading commercial centre of Cuba. The city proper has a population of 2.1 million inhabitants, and it spans a total of — making it the largest city in the Caribbean region, and the most populous...

, Cuba

Cuba

The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...

. Then on September 30, 1906, thanks to the efforts of writers Manuel Curros Enríquez

Manuel Curros Enríquez

Manuel Curros Enríquez was a Galician writer and journalist in the Galician language, and is considered to be one of the leading figures of Galician culture and identity.-Early life:...

 and Xosé Fontenla Leal, it was reestablished as the Real Academia Galega. Manuel Murguía

Manuel Murguía

Manuel Murguia was a Galician journalist and historian who created the Real Academia Galega. He was one of the main figures in Galician Rexurdimento movement. He is also remembered as Rosalía de Castro's husband, publisher and main supporter.-Life:...

 was its first president.

In 1972 the Academy standardized the design of the coat of arms of the Kingdom of Galicia. Some years later, the Academy persuaded the Galician government

Xunta de Galicia

The Xunta de Galicia is the collective decision-making body of the government of the autonomous community of Galicia, composed of the President, the Vice-President and the specialized ministers ....

 to commemorate the old coat of arms by superimposing it on the existing civil flag; the resulting flag

Flag of Galicia

The flag of Galicia was created in the 19th century as a copy of the flag of the Galician maritime province of A Coruña.-Legend:During the 19th century many thousands of Galicians emigrated to the Americas; A Coruña was the main Galician port from which they departed...

 is used today. Its terminological branch is Termigal

Termigal

Termigal is the body in charge of the general coordination of terminology activities in relation to the Galician language, of promoting and developing terminological resources and products of linguistic engineering in which terminology plays an important role...

.

Criticism

Minority group Associaçom Galega da Língua (Galician Language Association, or AGL) criticises the Galician Academy's official language spelling rules and campaigns for an orthographic reform bringing Galician language under Portuguese spelling rules. However, the spelling reform campaign held by the AGL is not supported by any of the Galician parties represented in the Galician national parliament.