Another aspect of 13th century statecraft that would bolster the area's 'Portugalidade' (Portuguese identity) would be the settlement of planted Christian colonists from the north (Galicia, the Minho), southern France and Flanders in territories around Marvão. This was done with royal approval, and with the intermediation of the Templars and Hospitallers. The resettlement of barren areas depopulated by centuries of warfare and bloodshed - or simply abandoned by fleeing Berber refugees - was vital to sustain the new Portuguese kingdom.