Couto Mixto

This is an area located north of the serra do Larouco intermediate basin of the River, Rooms in Galicia (Spain), in the current province of Ourense which borders Tourém. His institution was connected, since the late Middle Ages, the castle of Piconha, and later to the House of Braganza. With an area of approximately 27 km2, had an organization itself and was not connected or Portugal or Spain. Its inhabitants had the privilege of being able to give asylum to the escapees of Portuguese or Spanish justice, to provide soldiers for a Kingdom or the other, not to pay taxes, the freedom of trade and cultivation. Until the signing of the Treaty of Lisbon, in 1864, the inhabitants elected freely the Spanish or Portuguese nationality. From that date, his domains passed to Spain's sovereignty, integrated in the municipalities of Calvos de Randín (villages of Santiago and Rubiás) and Baltar (village of Meaus or Meãos). On the other hand, passed to Portugal's sovereignty the so-called "peoples promiscuous", hitherto divided by the line of the current streak Tourém (Montalegre) or Soutelinho da Raia, and Lama de Arcos (Keys).