ABSTRACT
Marginal regions exist all over the world, in all realities, in all cultures, even in the most advanced spaces; they have also existed in all times. By posing marginality as a lowest extreme of the development considered as a continuum, the relation with the centre-periphery model appears inevitably. Once briefly analyzed their position in the context of the main processes of the world, we should introduce the subject of the definition of marginal regions. Generally, social marginality is associated with the economic component, and just in a few occasions it occurs in a pure way. Marginality, as every other geographical phenomenon, is perceived in different ways by persons and groups. It may also differ the perception of those who are affected by marginality -the internal perception- from the vision of other groups: the external perception. The analyses have looked individually the various aspects or sides of marginality which, in a certain way, specify different types of marginal regions.
