real time embroidery instruction map for crossing ES/PT border at river Chança
materials:
- needle
- textile
- string
recommendations:
- walk rat steps so you can sew while things are happening and not miss anything
going on around
- coordinate the rhythm of sewing points with the foot steps
- use breaks and hitchhiking time to add missed episodes
- avoid details - put just most important things
- don't rush - undo without regretting if the line is not good enough
- don't fill in forms if its not necessary - it takes time and doesn't give
more information
average speed:
1m of string in 30min
* in case of being caught it is just a snotty napkin
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history:
how the river became border?
1000 BC Phoenicians sailors built ports -Vila Real de Santo Antonio, Alcoutim
and Mértola
transport merchants: dyes, fabrics, ceramics, glass, metals, wine, seeds for
crops and olive oil to trade with the locals
0AD - Romans
6th century - Visigoths built fortified settlements on the banks of the river
711 - Moorish invasion of peninsula - for 600 years the Guadiana was in regular use by the moors for their transport and communication inland
at the end of the 13th century the Portuguese with a help from Crusaders from northern Europe had defeated the moors and the Guadiana and its ports returned to Portuguese control
By the 14th century with the Moors also defeated to the east of the Guadiana the river now became the border between Portugal and Castile
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"Half way between Alcoutim and Mértola on the east bank of the river where the Guadiana turns inland towards the northwest and so ceases to be the border between Spain and Portugal is the very small village of Pomarão which in 1858 became a busy port as a result of a British company starting a mine at São Domingos 15 km to the north. Mining of gold, silver and copper had taken place in this area since Roman times, and with the advent of more modern machinery, between 1885 and 1966, 25 million tons of copper ore were excavated from this area. The ore was transported by a railway line from the mine to Pomarão where it was loaded onto ships and taken approximately 45 kilometres down the river and out to sea to various destinations for processing. Maps of the Guadiana made prior to 1885 show a ford between Alcoutim and Sanlúcar, the builders of this ford are not known, it could have been built by the Romans, the Visigoths or the Moors. It would have been built by filling barges with stone and sinking them in a long line across the river. With a maximum tidal range of around three meters it may have only been passable at low water on foot, but it would have been too shallow for ships laden with copper ore to pass over safely even at high water, it is therefore assumed that it was removed to allow their safe passage. There is no record of this, but remains of the ford extending from Alcoutim about 30 metres across the river are clearly still there."
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Wad I Anas - wad = river (arab) Anas (roman name)
Mina de São Domingos
http://cgalco.free.fr/4DEF/Portugal/Exposes/mina_sao_domingos_us.html
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borderXing guide - Irational
http://irational.org/heath/borderxing/pt.es/