evidence: I remember having read about how Olivenza was a small town in Portugal until it was conquered by the Spanish about 200 years ago and had remained under their control ever since; that the people here were Portuguese, as were their names, their architecture, their food and their language; and that the only thing Spanish here was the government they paid their taxes to and whose law they had to abide by. I found it shocking to think that this little piece of Portugal existed, under Spanish control, just along the Sp[ain-Portugal border](https://www.livetheworld.com/post/juromenha-an-abandoned-fort-from-a-forgotten-world-2mlr). So when I finally found myself within the region, I knew I would have to stop by and see for myself what it was like. [...] Although most of the local people seem to have become almost completely Spanish by now, many of the elderly people in town still speak Portuguese and recall memories of their grandparents speaking it as a first language. In 2010, in an effort to preserve the town's Portuguese past, the original Portuguese street names were returned to Olivenza and are now seen on every street. Portugal still claims the town as their own territory, but the dispute is a 'friendly' one and relations between the two nations are better than ever. It looks therefore as if Olivenza will remain Spanish but without doubt, its Portuguese heritage will live on forever.