Get Our Extension

Cantabria

From Wikipedia, in a visual modern way
Cantabria
Cantabria (in Spanish)
Anthem: Himno a la Montaña
(in English: Anthem to the Mountain)
Map of Cantabria
Location of Cantabria within Spain
Coordinates: 43°20′N 4°00′W / 43.333°N 4.000°W / 43.333; -4.000Coordinates: 43°20′N 4°00′W / 43.333°N 4.000°W / 43.333; -4.000
CountrySpain
Formation574 (Duchy of Cantabria)
739 (Union with Asturias)
1778 (Province of Cantabria)
1833 (Province of Santander)
1982 (Autonomous Community)
Statute of Autonomy1 February 1982
CapitalSantander
Government
 • TypeDevolved government in a constitutional monarchy
 • BodyGobierno de Cantabria
 • PresidentMiguel Ángel Revilla (PRC)
Area
 • Total5,321 km2 (2,054 sq mi)
 • Rank15th (1.05% of Spain)
Population
 (2018)[1]
 • Total580,229
 • Pop. rank
16th
 • Percent
1.26% of Spain
Time zoneUTC+1 (CET)
 • Summer (DST)UTC+2 (CEST)
ISO 3166 code
ES-CB[2]
Area code+34 942 a
Official languagesSpanish
Statute of Autonomy11 January 1982
ParliamentParliament of Cantabria
Congress5 deputies (out of 350)
Senate5 senators (out of 265)
HDI (2019)0.904[3]
very high · 8th
WebsiteGobierno de Cantabria

Cantabria (/kænˈtbriə/,[4] also UK: /-ˈtæb-/,[5][6] Spanish: [kanˈtaβɾja], Cantabrian: Asturian: [kanˈtaβɾja]) is an autonomous community in northern Spain with Santander as its capital city. It is called a comunidad histórica, a historic community, in its current Statute of Autonomy.[7] It is bordered on the east by the Basque autonomous community (province of Biscay), on the south by Castile and León (provinces of León, Palencia and Burgos), on the west by the Principality of Asturias, and on the north by the Cantabrian Sea (Bay of Biscay).

Cantabria belongs to Green Spain, the name given to the strip of land between the Bay of Biscay and the Cantabrian Mountains, so called because of its particularly lush vegetation, due to the wet and temperate oceanic climate. The climate is strongly influenced by Atlantic Ocean winds trapped by the mountains; the average annual precipitation is about 1,200 mm (47 inches).

Cantabria has archaeological sites from the Upper Paleolithic period, although the first signs of human occupation date from the Lower Paleolithic. The most significant site for cave paintings is that in the cave of Altamira, dating from about 37,000 BC[8] and declared, along with nine other Cantabrian caves, as World Heritage Sites by UNESCO. Historically, the territory sits in the Ancient Period Cantabria, but from the Late Middle Ages to the early 19th century, the name Cantabria usually refers to the territory of the Basques, especially the lordship of Biscay.

The modern Province of Cantabria was constituted on 28 July 1778 at Puente San Miguel, Reocín. The yearly Day of the Institutions holiday on 28 July celebrates this. The Organic Law of the Autonomy Statute of Cantabria, approved on 30 December 1981, gave the region its own institutions of self-government.[9]

Discover more about Cantabria related topics

British English

British English

British English is, according to Oxford Dictionaries, "English as used in Great Britain, as distinct from that used elsewhere". More narrowly, it can refer specifically to the English language in England, or, more broadly, to the collective dialects of English throughout the British Isles taken as a single umbrella variety, for instance additionally incorporating Scottish English, Welsh English, and Northern Irish English. Tom McArthur in the Oxford Guide to World English acknowledges that British English shares "all the ambiguities and tensions [with] the word 'British' and as a result can be used and interpreted in two ways, more broadly or more narrowly, within a range of blurring and ambiguity".

Basque Country (autonomous community)

Basque Country (autonomous community)

The Basque Country, also called Basque Autonomous Community, is an autonomous community of Spain. It includes the provinces of Álava, Biscay, and Gipuzkoa, located in the north of the Iberian Peninsula, bordering on the autonomous communities of Cantabria, Castile and León, La Rioja, and Navarre, and the French region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine.

Biscay

Biscay

Biscay is a province of Spain and a historical territory of the Basque Country, heir of the ancient Lordship of Biscay, lying on the south shore of the eponymous bay. The capital and largest city is Bilbao.

Castile and León

Castile and León

Castile and León is an autonomous community in northwestern Spain.

Asturias

Asturias

Asturias, officially the Principality of Asturias, is an autonomous community in northwest Spain.

Bay of Biscay

Bay of Biscay

The Bay of Biscay, known in Spain as the Gulf of Biscay, and in France and some border regions as the Gulf of Gascony, is a gulf of the northeast Atlantic Ocean located south of the Celtic Sea. It lies along the western coast of France from Point Penmarc'h to the Spanish border, and the northern coast of Spain west to Cape Ortegal. The south area of the Bay of Biscay that washes over the northern coast of Spain is known locally as the Cantabrian Sea.

Cantabrian Mountains

Cantabrian Mountains

The Cantabrian Mountains or Cantabrian Range are one of the main systems of mountain ranges in Spain. They stretch for over 300 km (180 miles) across northern Spain, from the western limit of the Pyrenees to the Galician Massif in Galicia, along the coast of the Cantabrian Sea. Their easternmost end meets the Sistema Ibérico.

Atlantic Ocean

Atlantic Ocean

The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about 106,460,000 km2 (41,100,000 sq mi). It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the "Old World" of Africa, Europe, and Asia from the "New World" of the Americas in the European perception of the World.

Archaeological site

Archaeological site

An archaeological site is a place in which evidence of past activity is preserved, and which has been, or may be, investigated using the discipline of archaeology and represents a part of the archaeological record. Sites may range from those with few or no remains visible above ground, to buildings and other structures still in use.

Ancient history

Ancient history

Ancient history is a time period from the beginning of writing and recorded human history to as far as late antiquity. The span of recorded history is roughly 5,000 years, beginning with the Sumerian cuneiform script. Ancient history covers all continents inhabited by humans in the period 3000 BC – AD 500. The three-age system periodizes ancient history into the Stone Age, the Bronze Age, and the Iron Age, with recorded history generally considered to begin with the Bronze Age. The start and end of the three ages varies between world regions. In many regions the Bronze Age is generally considered to begin a few centuries prior to 3000 BC, while the end of the Iron Age varies from the early first millennium BC in some regions to the late first millennium AD in others.

Cantabri

Cantabri

The Cantabri or Ancient Cantabrians, were a pre-Roman people and large tribal federation that lived in the northern coastal region of ancient Iberia in the second half of the first millennium BC. These peoples and their territories were incorporated into the Roman Province of Hispania Tarraconensis in 19 BC, following the Cantabrian Wars.

Basque Country (greater region)

Basque Country (greater region)

The Basque Country is the name given to the home of the Basque people. The Basque country is located in the western Pyrenees, straddling the border between France and Spain on the coast of the Bay of Biscay. Euskal Herria is the oldest documented Basque name for the area they inhabit, dating from the 16th century.

Etymology and usage

Topographical map of Cantabria.
Topographical map of Cantabria.

Numerous authors, including Isidore of Seville, Julio Caro Baroja, Aureliano Fernández Guerra and Adolf Schulten, have explored the etymology of the name Cantabria, yet its origins remain uncertain. The Online Etymology Dictionary states the root cant- is said to come from the Celtic for "rock" or "rocky",[10] while -abr was a common suffix used in Celtic regions.[11] Thus, Cantabrian could mean "people who live in the rocks" or "highlanders", a reference to the steep and mountainous territory of Cantabria.[11]

The name Cantabria could also be related to the Celtic root "kant" or "cant" meaning edge or rim thus "coastal district," or "corner-land", "land on the edge" thus having the same probable derivation as the name of the English county of Kent and Canterbury, one of its major cities.[12]
During the Spanish liberal regimes of the 19th century, the term came to be increasingly associated to the province of Santander. However, during the late medieval and Modern Period literature, Cantabria and Cantabrians refer to the Basque Country, especially the lordship of Biscay, and the Basques.

Discover more about Etymology and usage related topics

Isidore of Seville

Isidore of Seville

Isidore of Seville was a Spanish scholar, theologian, and archbishop of Seville. He is widely regarded, in the words of 19th-century historian Montalembert, as "the last scholar of the ancient world".

Julio Caro Baroja

Julio Caro Baroja

Julio Caro Baroja was a Spanish anthropologist, historian, linguist and essayist. He was known for his special interest in Basque culture, Basque history and Basque society. Of Basque ancestry, he was the nephew of the renowned writer Pio Baroja and his brother, painter, writer and engraver Ricardo Baroja. He is buried in the family plot of the cemetery of Bera, Navarre, near their home, Itzea.

Adolf Schulten

Adolf Schulten

Adolf Schulten was a German historian and archaeologist.

Celtic languages

Celtic languages

The Celtic languages are a group of related languages descended from Proto-Celtic. They form a branch of the Indo-European language family. The term "Celtic" was first used to describe this language group by Edward Lhuyd in 1707, following Paul-Yves Pezron, who made the explicit link between the Celts described by classical writers and the Welsh and Breton languages.

Kent

Kent

Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the northwest, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the southwest, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces the French department of Pas-de-Calais across the Strait of Dover. The county town is Maidstone. It is the fifth most populous county in England, the most populous non-metropolitan county and the most populous of the home counties.

Canterbury

Canterbury

Canterbury is a cathedral city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, situated in the heart of the City of Canterbury local government district of Kent, England. It lies on the River Stour.

Geography

Cabo Mayor and entrance to the harbor, Santander
Cabo Mayor and entrance to the harbor, Santander
La Hermida
La Hermida

Relief

Cantabria is a mountainous and coastal region, with important natural resources. It has two distinct areas which are well differentiated morphologically:

  • Coast. A coastal strip of low, wide and gently rolling valleys some 10 kilometres in width, the altitude of which does not rise above 500 metres, and which meets the ocean in a line of abrupt cliffs broken by river estuaries, forming rias and beaches. Santander Bay is the most prominent indentation in the coastline. To the south, the coastal strip rises to meet the mountains.
  • Mountains. This is a long barrier made up of abruptly rising mountains parallel to the sea, which are part of the Cantabrian Mountains. The mountains are mostly made of limestone with karst topography, and occupy most of Cantabria's area. They form deep valleys running north–south. The torrential rivers are short, fast flowing and of great eroding power, so the slopes are steep. The valleys define different natural regions, delimited physically by the intervening mountain ranges: Liébana, Saja-Nansa, Besaya, Pas-Pisueña, Miera, Asón-Gándara, Campoo. To the 'mountain' region belongs the Escudo Range, a mountain range of 600 to 1,000 metres (2,000 to 3,300 ft) high that covers 15 or 20 km (9.3 or 12.4 mi) in a parallel line to the coast in the West part of Cantabria.

Towards the south are higher mountains, the tops of which form the watershed between the drainage basins of the Rivers Ebro, Duero and the rivers that flow into the Bay of Biscay. These peaks generally exceed 1,500 m (4,900 ft) from the Pass of San Glorio in the west to the Pass of Los Tornos in the eastern part: Peña Labra, Castro Valnera and the mountain passes of Sejos, El Escudo and La Sía. The great limestone masses of Picos de Europa also stand out in the southwest of the region: most of their summits exceed 2,500 m (8,200 ft), and their topography is shaped by the former presence of glaciers.

Climate

Panorama of the gateway to Alisas, in the municipio of Riotuerto, Cantabria
Panorama of the gateway to Alisas, in the municipio of Riotuerto, Cantabria

Due to the gulf stream, Cantabria, as well as the rest of "Green Spain", has a much more temperate climate than might be expected for its latitude, which is comparable to that of Oregon. The region has a humid oceanic climate, with warm summers and mild winters. Annual precipitation is around 1,200 mm at the coasts and higher in the mountains. The mean temperature is about 14 °C (57.2 °F). Snow is frequent in the higher zones of Cantabria between the months of October and March. Some zones of Picos de Europa, over 2,500 metres high, have an alpine climate with snow persisting year round. The driest months are July and August. The mountainous relief of Cantabria has a dominant effect on local microclimate in Cantabria. It is the main cause of the peculiar meteorologic situations like the so-called "suradas" (Ábrego wind), due to the foehn effect: the southerly wind coming down from the mountains blows strongly and dry, increasing the temperature closer to the coast. This causes a decrease in air humidity and rainfall. These conditions are more frequent in autumn and winter, and the temperatures are commonly higher than 20 °C (68 °F). Fires are often helped by this type of wind: one example is the fire that destroyed part of the city of Santander in the winter of 1941. In these specific cases in the southern part of the mountain range the dry adiabatic gradient produces different conditions to the rest of the region: the wind there is fresher and more humid, and there is more rain.

Hydrology

The rivers of Cantabria are short and rapid, descending steeply because the sea is so close to their source in the Cantabrian Mountains. They flow perpendicular to the coastline, except for the Ebro. They also generally flow year round due to constant rainfall. Nevertheless, the rate of flow is modest (20 m³/s annual average) compared to the other rivers of the Iberian peninsula. The rapidness of their waters, caused by their steep descents, gives them great erosive power, creating the narrow V-shaped valleys characteristic of Green Spain. The environmental condition of the rivers is generally good, although increasing human activity due to rising population in the valleys continues to pose a challenge.

The source of the Asón River
The source of the Asón River

The main rivers of the region, sorted by drainage basin, are:

Cantabria is the only autonomous community whose rivers flow into every one of the seas which surround the Iberian Peninsula: The Cantabrian Sea, the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea.

Vegetation

Grassland in Valdáliga
Grassland in Valdáliga

The variation in the altitude of the region, which in a short distance ranges from sea level to 2,600 meters in the mountains, leads to a great deal of diversity in vegetation and a large number of biomes. Cantabria has vegetation typical of the Atlantic side of the Iberian Peninsula. It is characterized by forests of leafy deciduous trees such as oak and European beech. Nevertheless, human intervention dating back to ancient times has favored the creation of pastures, allowing the existence of large areas of grassland and prairies suitable for grazing cattle. These grasslands are mingled with plantations of eucalyptus and native oak. The southern part of Cantabria, including the comarca of Campoo the fringes of the Castilian plateau, is characterized by the transition to drier vegetation. Another diversifying factor which contributes to local variation within the region is the Mediterranean ecotone, giving rise to species unique to the region, such as the holm oak and arbutus trees, which are found in poor limestone soils with little moisture.

In Cantabria there are several zones of plant life:

  • The coastal strip, including sandy dunes with minimal vegetation. Adjacent to these are steep cliffs with plants unique to that type of terrain.
Hills and ria typical of a landscape from the maritime region
Hills and ria typical of a landscape from the maritime region
  • The maritime region, near the coast and including altitudes up to 500 metres. Originally it had mixed deciduous forests containing ash, linden, bay laurel, hazel, maple, oak, poplar, birch, holm oak, and others. The riparian parts were filled with forests of alder and willow. Today these native forests have almost completely disappeared, leaving only reserves in area of poor arability. In their place there are grasslands which are quite productive in the temperate climate and which sustain the economy of rural Cantabria. Next to these are very large monoculture plantations of eucalyptus for paper production, of disastrous ecological consequences to the biodiversity and climate of the region.

During the last two decades of the 20th century, and due mainly to European agricultural policies (CAP), many farmers substituted forestry for livestock farming, so as to avoid unemployment and poverty.[n 1] This provoked a surge of eucalyptussee eucalyptus article on Spanish Wikipedia – plantations (and to a less extent of pines) which often hid the illegal destruction of native forests, just as the spread of livestock farming had done in the past by the endemic conversion of forest into prairie. These acts have been laxly controlled by the local councils or the central governments, in a process that clearly follows the saying: "Pan para hoy, hambre para mañana" (which translates as 'Bread for today, hunger for tomorrow'; i.e., "short-term gain, long-term pain").

Panorama of the Cantabrian mountains to the left and the port city of Santander in the distant right. The peak Alto de Brenas in Riotuerto has a height of 579 metres.
Panorama of the Cantabrian mountains to the left and the port city of Santander in the distant right. The peak Alto de Brenas in Riotuerto has a height of 579 metres.

The plantation of pines has given way in the last decades to that of eucalyptus because this non-indigenous species has no natural attacker within the European ecosystem (while pines are highly vulnerable to the pine processionary). Both in relative and absolute terms the use of woods for forestry has increased in Cantabria, and is now almost 70% of all woods in the region.[16]

  • The foothills, from 500 to 1,100 metres altitude are colonized by monoculture forests of oak (Quercus robur and Quercus petraea) on the sunnier slopes. In more shaded areas and especially from about 800 metres there are forests of European beech which are the main food source in winter for many animal species.
Brañas, or mountain prairies in the municipality of Arenas de Iguña. Tordías Peak is 968 metres high.
Brañas, or mountain prairies in the municipality of Arenas de Iguña. Tordías Peak is 968 metres high.
  • The subalpine plane, in this high country, the plant life is composed of birch, scrub, and grasses which are especially important for the economy because during the summer they serve as pasture for grazing cattle and horses.

Along with these characteristics it would also be necessary to mention peculiarities of the comarca of Liébana, which has a microclimate very similar to the Mediterranean, allowing to grow cork oaks, vines and olives, and which is still very well conserved from human activity. The other remarkable comarca is Campoo, in southern Cantabria, with its Pyrenean oak.

Natural parks

Natural and national parks in Cantabria:  1. Picos de Europa National Park 2. Collados del Asón Natural Park 3. Dunas de Liencres Natural Park 4. Macizo de Peña Cabarga Natural Park 5. Oyambre Natural Park 6. Saja-Besaya Natural Park 7. Santoña, Victoria and Joyel Marshes Natural Park
Natural and national parks in Cantabria: 1. Picos de Europa National Park 2. Collados del Asón Natural Park 3. Dunas de Liencres Natural Park 4. Macizo de Peña Cabarga Natural Park 5. Oyambre Natural Park 6. Saja-Besaya Natural Park 7. Santoña, Victoria and Joyel Marshes Natural Park

There are seven natural areas in this autonomous community designated as Natural or national parks:

The most important of these is the Picos de Europa National Park, which affects Castile and León and Asturias in addition to Cantabria, the three autonomous communities sharing its management. Santoña, Victoria and Joyel marshes are also Special Protection Areas for the birds (ZEPA[17]).

Furthermore, nine Sites of Community Importance (LIC[18]) have been declared: Western Mountain, Eastern Mountain, Western Rias and Oyambre Dunes, Dunes of Liencres and Estuary of the Pas, El Puntal Dunes and Estuary of the Miera, Ria de Ajo, Marshes of Noja-Santoña, Escudo de Cabuérniga Range and several caves with important bat colonies.

Discover more about Geography related topics

Ria

Ria

A ria is a coastal inlet formed by the partial submergence of an unglaciated river valley. It is a drowned river valley that remains open to the sea.

Cantabrian Mountains

Cantabrian Mountains

The Cantabrian Mountains or Cantabrian Range are one of the main systems of mountain ranges in Spain. They stretch for over 300 km (180 miles) across northern Spain, from the western limit of the Pyrenees to the Galician Massif in Galicia, along the coast of the Cantabrian Sea. Their easternmost end meets the Sistema Ibérico.

Limestone

Limestone

Limestone is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of CaCO3. Limestone forms when these minerals precipitate out of water containing dissolved calcium. This can take place through both biological and nonbiological processes, though biological processes, such as the accumulation of corals and shells in the sea, have likely been more important for the last 540 million years. Limestone often contains fossils which provide scientists with information on ancient environments and on the evolution of life.

Karst

Karst

Karst is a topography formed from the dissolution of soluble rocks such as limestone, dolomite, and gypsum. It is characterized by underground drainage systems with sinkholes and caves. It has also been documented for more weathering-resistant rocks, such as quartzite, given the right conditions. Subterranean drainage may limit surface water, with few to no rivers or lakes. However, in regions where the dissolved bedrock is covered or confined by one or more superimposed non-soluble rock strata, distinctive karst features may occur only at subsurface levels and can be totally missing above ground.

Liébana

Liébana

Liébana is a comarca of Cantabria (Spain). It covers 575 square kilometres and is located in the far southwest of Cantabria, bordering Asturias, León and Palencia. It is made up of the municipalities of: Cabezón de Liébana, Camaleño, Cillorigo de Liébana, Pesaguero, Potes, Tresviso and Vega de Liébana.

Gándara

Gándara

The Gándara is a river in Green Spain, at the north of the country. It flows through the autonomous community of Cantabria and discharges into the Asón River. The Gándara offers trout fishing.

Campoo

Campoo

Campoo is a comarca of Cantabria (Spain) located in the High Ebro, with a surface little bigger than 1,000 km2, and including the municipalities of Hermandad de Campoo de Suso, Campoo de Enmedio, Campoo de Yuso, Valdeolea, Valdeprado del Río, Valderredible, Reinosa, Las Rozas de Valdearroyo, Santiurde de Reinosa, Pesquera, and San Miguel de Aguayo. Their inhabitants are called Campurrians . Its highest elevation is the Cuchillón peak, and the lowest is Pesquera, with the capital, Reinosa at 850 m.

Ebro

Ebro

The Ebro is a river of the north and northeast of the Iberian Peninsula, in Spain. It rises in Cantabria and flows 930 kilometres (580 mi), almost entirely in an east-southeast direction. It flows into the Mediterranean Sea forming a delta in the Province of Tarragona, in southern Catalonia. In the Iberian peninsula, it ranks second in length after the Tagus and second in discharge volume, and drainage basin, after the Douro. It is the longest river entirely within Spain; the other two mentioned flow into Portugal. It is also the second-longest river in the Mediterranean basin, after the Nile.

Castro Valnera

Castro Valnera

Castru Valnera (Cantabrian) or Castro Valnera (Spanish) is a peak located in the central area of the Cantabrian Mountains, in Burgos, northern Spain. It is around it that the whole Pas valley revolves, and also the source of the Miera River, between the Portillo de Lunada and Estacas de Trueba passes.

Picos de Europa

Picos de Europa

The Picos de Europa are a mountain range extending for about 20 km (12 mi), forming part of the Cantabrian Mountains in northern Spain. The range is situated in the Autonomous Communities of Asturias, Cantabria and Castile and León. The highest peak is Torre de Cerredo, at an elevation of 2650 m (8,690 ft).

Glacier

Glacier

A glacier is a persistent body of dense ice that is constantly moving under its own weight. A glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. It acquires distinguishing features, such as crevasses and seracs, as it slowly flows and deforms under stresses induced by its weight. As it moves, it abrades rock and debris from its substrate to create landforms such as cirques, moraines, or fjords. Although a glacier may flow into a body of water, it forms only on land and is distinct from the much thinner sea ice and lake ice that form on the surface of bodies of water.

Demographics

Historical population
YearPop.±%
1900276,003—    
1910302,956+9.8%
1920327,669+8.2%
1930364,147+11.1%
1940393,710+8.1%
1950404,921+2.8%
1960432,132+6.7%
1970467,138+8.1%
1981513,123+9.8%
1991527,326+2.8%
2001535,131+1.5%
2011592,542+10.7%
2021584,708−1.3%
Source: INE
Population pyramid for Cantabria for 2006 from the municipal planning authority.
Population pyramid for Cantabria for 2006 from the municipal planning authority.
Demographic map showing centres of population in 2005.
Demographic map showing centres of population in 2005.

According to the 2009 census, the region has a population of 591,886[19] which constitutes 1.29% of the population of Spain, with the population density numbering 106.8 people per kilometer. The average life expectancy for male inhabitants is 75 years; for female inhabitants, it is 83 years. Eight years later in 2017 the population has fallen to 581,477 according to INE.

In relative contrast to other regions of Spain, Cantabria has not experienced much immigration. In 2007, only 4.7% of the population were immigrants. The predominant countries of origin for immigrants to Cantabria are Colombia, Romania, Ecuador, Peru, Moldova, and Morocco.[20]

The majority of the population resides in the coastal area, particularly in two cities: Santander, with 183,000 people, and Torrelavega, the second largest urban and industrial centre in Cantabria, having a population of around 60,000. These two cities form a conurbation known as the Santander-Torrelavega metropolitan area. Castro Urdiales has an official population of 28,542,[21] making it the fourth largest in the region because of its proximity to the Bilbao metropolitan area, there are a large number of people not registered in Castro Urdiales, and the true count may be double the official figure.

The most populated municipalities of Cantabria as of 2018 are the following:

  1. Santander (pop. 172,044)
  2. Torrelavega (pop. 51,687)
  3. Castro-Urdiales (pop. 31,977)
  4. Camargo (pop. 30,263)
  5. Piélagos (pop. 25,223)
  6. El Astillero (pop. 18,108)
  7. Santa Cruz de Bezana (pop. 12,964)
  8. Laredo (pop. 11,148)
  9. Santoña (pop. 11,050)
  10. Los Corrales de Buelna (pop. 10,910)
  11. Reinosa (pop. 9,095)

Discover more about Demographics related topics

Instituto Nacional de Estadística (Spain)

Instituto Nacional de Estadística (Spain)

The Instituto Nacional de Estadística is the official agency in Spain that collects statistics about demography, economy, and Spanish society. It is an autonomous organization responsible for overall coordination of statistical services of the General State Administration in monitoring, control and supervision of technical procedures. Every 10 years, this organization conducts a national census. The last census took place in 2011.

Population pyramid

Population pyramid

A population pyramid or "age-sex pyramid" is a graphical illustration of the distribution of a population by age groups and sex; it typically takes the shape of a pyramid when the population is growing. Males are usually shown on the left and females on the right, and they may be measured in absolute numbers or as a percentage of the total population. The pyramid can be used to visualize the age of a particular population. It is also used in ecology to determine the overall age distribution of a population; an indication of the reproductive capabilities and likelihood of the continuation of a species. Number of people per unit area of land is called population density.

Colombia

Colombia

Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuela to the east and northeast, Brazil to the southeast, Ecuador and Peru to the south and southwest, the Pacific Ocean to the west, and Panama to the northwest. Colombia is divided into 32 departments. The Capital District of Bogotá is also the country's largest city. It covers an area of 1,141,748 square kilometers, and has a population of around 52 million. Colombia's cultural heritage—including language, religion, cuisine, and art—reflects its history as a Spanish colony, fusing cultural elements brought by immigration from Europe and the Middle East, with those brought by enslaved Africans, as well as with those of the various Indigenous civilizations that predate colonization. Spanish is the official state language, although English and 64 other languages are recognized regional languages.

Ecuador

Ecuador

Ecuador, officially the Republic of Ecuador, is a country in northwestern South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and the Pacific Ocean on the west. Ecuador also includes the Galápagos Islands in the Pacific, about 1,000 kilometers (621 mi) west of the mainland. The country's capital and largest city is Quito.

Peru

Peru

Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pacific Ocean. Peru is a megadiverse country with habitats ranging from the arid plains of the Pacific coastal region in the west to the peaks of the Andes mountains extending from the north to the southeast of the country to the tropical Amazon basin rainforest in the east with the Amazon River. Peru has a population of over 32 million, and its capital and largest city is Lima. At 1,285,216 km2, Peru is the 19th largest country in the world, and the third largest in South America.

Moldova

Moldova

Moldova, officially the Republic of Moldova, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Romania to the west and Ukraine to the north, east, and south. The unrecognised state of Transnistria lies across the Dniester river on the country's eastern border with Ukraine. Moldova's capital and largest city is Chișinău.

Morocco

Morocco

Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to the east, and the disputed territory of Western Sahara to the south. Mauritania lies to the south of Western Sahara. Morocco also claims the Spanish exclaves of Ceuta, Melilla and Peñón de Vélez de la Gomera, and several small Spanish-controlled islands off its coast. It spans an area of 446,300 km2 (172,300 sq mi) or 710,850 km2 (274,460 sq mi), with a population of roughly 37 million. Its official and predominant religion is Islam, and the official languages are Arabic and Berber; the Moroccan dialect of Arabic and French are also widely spoken. Moroccan identity and culture is a mix of Arab, Berber, and European cultures. Its capital is Rabat, while its largest city is Casablanca.

Conurbation

Conurbation

A conurbation is a region comprising a number of metropolises, cities, large towns, and other urban areas which through population growth and physical expansion, have merged to form one continuous urban or industrially developed area. In most cases, a conurbation is a polycentric urbanised area in which transportation has developed to link areas. They create a single urban labour market or travel to work area.

Castro Urdiales

Castro Urdiales

Castro Urdiales is a seaport of northern Spain, in the autonomous community of Cantabria, situated on the Bay of Biscay. Castro Urdiales is a modern town, although its castle and the Gothic-style parish church of Santa María de la Asunción, date from the Middle Ages. Its chief industries are tourism, fishing, and oil-packing of fish, especially sardines and anchovies. The Lolin and La Castreña anchovy canning factories serve as a reminder of the town's closeness to this industry and its proximity to the sea.

Bilbao

Bilbao

Bilbao is a city in northern Spain, the largest city in the province of Biscay and in the Basque Country as a whole. It is also the largest city proper in northern Spain. Bilbao is the tenth largest city in Spain, with a population of 346,843 as of 2019. The Bilbao metropolitan area has 1,037,847 inhabitants, making it the most populous metropolitan area in northern Spain; with a population of 875,552 comarca of Greater Bilbao is the fifth-largest urban area in Spain. Bilbao is also the main urban area in what is defined as the Greater Basque region.

Piélagos

Piélagos

Piélagos is a municipality in Cantabria, Spain.

El Astillero

El Astillero

El Astillero is a town and municipality in the province and autonomous community of Cantabria, northern Spain. It is near the provincial capital of Santander, and it is known for its shipyard, and for hosting of Spanish national Rowing Championships. Its location is geographically defined by the estuaries that surround it. It is located between the municipalities of Camargo, Villaescusa, Piélagos, Medio Cudeyo and Marina de Cudeyo. Located at the foot of Peña Cabarga, is 7.5 kilometres away from the capital, Santander, and is 20 metres above sea level.

History

Roman Empire

Language groups of Pre-Roman Iberia
Language groups of Pre-Roman Iberia
Cantabria during the Cantabrian Wars. This map shows the borders of the Cantabrian territory relative to modern Cantabria as well as the different tribes who inhabited it, the neighboring towns, and geographic features with their Latin names.
Cantabria during the Cantabrian Wars. This map shows the borders of the Cantabrian territory relative to modern Cantabria as well as the different tribes who inhabited it, the neighboring towns, and geographic features with their Latin names.

The first written reference to the name Cantabria emerges around 195 BC, in which the historian Cato the Elder speaks in his book Origines about the source of the Ebro River in the country of the Cantabri:

...The Ebro River starts in the land of the Cantabri, large and beautiful, with abundant fish...

— Cato the Elder, Origines: VII[n 2]

There are about 150 references to Cantabria or the Cantabri in surviving Greek and Latin texts. The Cantabri were used as mercenaries in various conflicts, both within the Iberian Peninsula and elsewhere. It is certain that they participated the Second Punic War, from references by Silius Italicus[22] and Horace.[23] When C. Hostilius Mancinus was besieging Numantia, he withdrew upon learning that Cantabri and Vaccaei were present among his auxiliaries. The Cantabrian Wars began in 29 BC.[24] They were defeated by Agrippa with great slaughter in 19 BC, but they revolted again under Tiberius and were never entirely subdued.[25]

In older geographers, the term Cantabria referred to an expansive country bounded by the Cantabrian Sea (the Bay of Biscay), the western side of the Sella valley in Asturias, the hillfort of Peña Amaya in Burgos, and along the Aguera River almost as far as Castro Urdiales.[26] It thus included areas of Asturias, Santander, Biscay, and Guipuzcoa. Following the Roman conquest of Spain, however, it was restricted to the area of Santander and eastern Asturias, forming a part of Hispania Tarraconensis ("Tarragonan Spain").[25] The principal tribes of the area were the Pleutauri, the Varduli, the Autrigones, the Tuisi, and the Conisci or Concaui, who were known for feeding on their horses' blood.[n 3] The area was well settled, with the largest city being Juliobriga,[25] and the local mountains exploited for lead mines.[27]

Middle Ages

Borders of the Duchy of Cantabria
Borders of the Duchy of Cantabria

Following the collapse of the Roman Empire, Cantabria regained its independence from the rule of the Visigoths. In 574, King Liuvigild attacked Cantabria and managed to capture the south of the country, including the city of Amaya, where he established a Visigothic province called the Duchy of Cantabria (see picture), which would serve as a limes or frontier zone to contain the Cantabri as well as their neighbors the Vascones. To the north of this cordon, however, the Cantabri continued to live independently until the Arab invasion. In 714, a mixed Arab/Berber army of Muslim Moors invaded the upper valleys of the Ebro and succeeded in capturing Amaya, the Cantabrian capital, forcing the Cantabrians back to their traditional frontiers, where they joined forces with the Kingdom of Asturias. In the first chronicles of the Reconquista, Cantabria still appears to be acknowledged as a region. In the Albendense Chronicle, when speaking of Alfonso I, it says, "This was the son of Peter, the duke of Cantabria".[n 4]

During the 9th century, on mentioning the monastery of Saint Zacharias, Eulogius pinpoints it in Seburim (maybe Zubiri) on the river Arga, "waters all of Cantabria", in a letter sent to the bishop of Pamplona Williesind, suggesting a region stretching out far into the east. From this period on, source documents barely reference Cantabria by name, with Asturias featuring in names of the comarcas called Asturias de Santillana, Asturias de Trasmiera and Asturias de Laredo.

Battle of La Rochelle. Castilian army, formed by Cantabrians from the Brotherhood of the Four Cities, defeated the English army, getting the control of the English Channel for the Crown of Castile.
Battle of La Rochelle. Castilian army, formed by Cantabrians from the Brotherhood of the Four Cities, defeated the English army, getting the control of the English Channel for the Crown of Castile.

From a central core formed by the Hermandad de las Cuatro Villas (Brotherhood of the Four Cities) (Santander, Laredo, Castro Urdiales and San Vicente de la Barquera), the Hermandad de las Marismas (Brotherhood of the Marshes) was created, thereby uniting all the important seaports to the East of Asturias. During the period of the Reconquista, the Four Cities actively participated in the re-settling of Andalusia, dispatching men and ships. The coastal port cities of Cádiz and El Puerto de Santa María were settled by families from the Cantabrian Sea ports. Ships from the Four Cities took part in the taking of Seville, destroying the ship bridge linking Triana and Sevilla, a victory that is represented by the Carrack and the Torre del Oro of Sevilla in the coat of arms of Santander, Coat of arms of Cantabria and Avilés (Asturias).

16th to 18th centuries

In the 16th century, the name La Montaña (The Mountain) was widespread in popular usage and in literature, as a designation of the Ancient Cantabria, as opposed to Castile, which referred solely to the Central Plateau. This distinction has survived into modern times.

Brotherhood of the Four Cities, antecedent to the Cantabrian region and the main Castilian port at the time.
Brotherhood of the Four Cities, antecedent to the Cantabrian region and the main Castilian port at the time.

With the rise of the Catholic Monarchs, the Brethren of the Marshes disappeared, leaving the Coregiment of the Four Villas, which included the whole area of influence of the old Brethren of the Four Villas (almost all of Cantabria). During the ancien régime, the greatest jurisdictional lordships of Cantabria were mainly under the control of three of the Grandee families of Spain: that of Mendoza (Dukes of Infantado, Marquises of Santillana), of Manrique de Lara (Marquises of Aguilar de Campoo, Counts of Castañeda), and to a lesser extent that of Velasco (Dukes of Frías, Constables of Castile).[28]

From the 16th century on, there was renewed interest in studying Cantabria and the Cantabri, particularly concerning the precise location of the territory that this people had occupied. It was not until the 18th century that the debate about the location and size of Ancient Cantabria was settled in a series of works which described the history of the history of the region such as La Cantabria[29] by the Augustinian father and historian Enrique Flórez de Setién. Concurrent with the resurgence of this interest in the Cantabrians and the clarification of the aforementioned polemic, many institutions, organizations and jurisdictions in the mountainous territory received the name of "Cantabrian" or "of Cantabria".

In 1727, the first attempt to unify what would later become the Province of Cantabria occurred. Despite this, the high level of autonomy that the small entities of the fractured estate of Cantabria enjoyed, combined with a lack of resources, continued to be the main reason for Cantabria's weakness, aggravated by the progressive advance of the Bourbonic centralism and its administrative efficiency. The latter continually emphasised the impossibility of the smaller territories facing a multitude of problems on their own: from communications to the exercise of justice, from putting aside adequate reserves for hard times to the indiscriminate levees for soldiers, and above all the progression of fiscal impositions. All of this led to an acceleration of contact between villas, valleys and jurisdictions, which tended to focus on the Assemblies of the Provinces of the Nine Valleys, led by the deputies elected by the traditional entities of self-government.

There were two events that triggered the culmination of the integration process in this second attempt:

  • On the one hand, the collective interest in avoiding making contributions to the reconstruction of the bridge of Miranda de Ebro, imposed by order of the Intendant of Burgos on 11 July 1775, the same year that Cantabria suffered two tremendous floods, on 20 June and on 3 November. There was a need to face as the banditry that operated with impunity in Cantabria as a result of a lack of local juridical resources. After the General Deputy of Nine Valleys gathered the affected jurisdictions to the assembly that was to take place in Puente San Miguel on 21 March 1777, they sent their respective deputies with sufficient authority to join with the Nine Valleys.

In this General Assembly a framework was established and formal steps began to be taken, leading to administrative and legal unity in 1778. This all culminated in the success of the Assembly held in the Assembly House of Puente San Miguel on July 28, 1778, where the Province of Cantabria was constituted. It was achieved by passing the common ordinances which had been developed to that end, and which had been discussed and approved previously in councils of all the villas, valleys and subscribed jurisdictions. They were, in addition to the Nine Valleys: Rivadedeva, Peñamellera, the Province of Liébana, Peñarrubia, Lamasón, Rionansa, the Villa of San Vicente de la Barquera, Coto de Estrada, Valdáliga, the Villa of Santillana del Mar, Lugar de Viérnoles, the Villa of Cartes and environs, the Valley of Buelna, the Valley of Cieza, the Valley of Iguña with the Villas of San Vicente and Los Llares, the Villa of Pujayo, the Villa of Pie de Concha y Bárcena, the Valley of Anievas, and the Valley of Toranzo.

.mw-parser-output .legend{page-break-inside:avoid;break-inside:avoid-column}.mw-parser-output .legend-color{display:inline-block;min-width:1.25em;height:1.25em;line-height:1.25;margin:1px 0;text-align:center;border:1px solid black;background-color:transparent;color:black}.mw-parser-output .legend-text{}  Party and Baton of Laredo (Province of Cantabria)   Merindad of Campoo (Province of Toro).
  Party and Baton of Laredo (Province of Cantabria)
  Merindad of Campoo (Province of Toro).

Having learned lessons from the failed attempt of 1727, the first objective of the new entity was to obtain approval from King Charles III for the union of all the Cantabrian jurisdictions into one province. The royal ratification was granted on 22 November 1779.

The 28 jurisdictions that initially comprised the Province of Cantabria were clear in their intention that all the other jurisdictions that formed the Party and Baton of the Four Villas of the Coast should be included in the new province. To this end they set out the steps needed for this to happen as soon as those jurisdictions should request it. They would have to abide by the ordinances, having the same rights and duties as the founders, all on an equal footing. Thus, the following joined in quick succession: the Abbey of Santillana, the Valleys of Tudanca, Polaciones, Herrerías, Castañeda, the Villa of Torrelavega and environs, Val de San Vicente, Valle de Carriedo, Tresviso, and the Pasiegan Villas of La Vega, San Roque and San Pedro, as well as the city of Santander with its abbey.

Competition between the townships of Laredo and Santander led to the latter, having initially allowed the name of Cantabria for the province created at the beginning of the 19th century, later retracting its consent and demanding that it bear the name of Santander, so there would be no doubt as to which was the capital. When in 1821 the Provincial Council presented before the constitutional Courts its definitive plan for the provincial borders and legal entities, it proposed the name of Province of Cantabria, to which the Township of Santander replied that "this province must retain the name of Santander". However, many newspapers still showed in their headings the name of Cantabria, or Cantabrian.

19th century

A statue in Santander erected in honor of Cantabrian artillery captain Pedro Velarde y Santillán, hero of the Spanish war of independence, who died 2 May 1808, during the uprising against the French occupation of Madrid.
A statue in Santander erected in honor of Cantabrian artillery captain Pedro Velarde y Santillán, hero of the Spanish war of independence, who died 2 May 1808, during the uprising against the French occupation of Madrid.

During the War of Independence (1808–1814), Bishop Rafael Tomás Menéndez de Luarca, a strong defender of absolutism, promoted himself as the "Regent of Cantabria" and established the Cantabrian Armaments in Santander, a section of the army whose purpose was to travel to all the mountain passes from the Central Plateau to detain any French troop.

Although defeated, he managed later to regroup in Liébana under the command of General Juan Díaz Porlier, calling his forces the Cantabrian Division, in which there were various regiments and battalions, such as the Hussars of Cantabria (cavalry) or the Shooters of Cantabria (infantry). During the Carlist wars they formed a unit called the Cantabrian Brigade.

20th century

The use of terms with ancestral resonance through the 18th and 19th centuries continued during the 20th century, taking on a political tone that was distinctly regionalist, until 1936. In fact, the Republican Federal Party produced an autonomy statute for a Cantabrian-Castilian Federal State that year, which would include present-day Cantabria and any neighbouring areas from Castile and Asturias willing to join it. It could not be passed because of the Civil War. Following the war and the subsequent marginalization of such efforts under the Francoists regime, the use of the name of Cantabria decreased, to the point that for official purposes it was relegated to sports associations, the only arena in which Cantabria was noted as a region.

In 1963, the president of the Provincial Council, Pedro Escalante y Huidobro, proposed reapplying the name of Cantabria to the Province of Santander, as suggested in an academic report written by the historian Tomás Maza Solano. Although further steps were taken and many of the townships were in favour of the move, the petition did not succeed, mostly due to the opposition of Santander City Council. On 30 December 1981, a process that had been started in April 1979 by the Council of Cabezón de la Sal, under the presidency of Ambrosio Calzada Hernández, culminated in the granting of self-rule to Cantabria, outlined in Article 143 of the Spanish Constitution. Cantabria based its claim to autonomy on the constitutional precept that made provision for self-government for "provinces with a historic regional character".

A Mixed Assembly formed out of provincial deputies and national members of parliament began the task of drawing up an Autonomy Statute on 10 September 1979. Following the approval of the General Courts on 15 December 1981, the King of Spain signed the corresponding Organic Law of Autonomy Statute for Cantabria on December 30 of the same year. Thus, the province of Santander broke its link to Castile, and left the former region of Castile and León to which it had belonged up to that time, together with the provinces of Ávila, Burgos, León, Logroño, Palencia, Salamanca, Segovia, Soria, Valladolid and Zamora.

On 20 February 1982, the first Regional Assembly (now Parliament) was formed, with provisional status. From this time, the former province of Santander has been known as Cantabria and has thereby regained its historic name. The first home-rule elections were held in May 1983. The 4th Legislature (1995–1999) brought into effect the first great reform of the Autonomy Statute of Cantabria, approved by all the parliamentary groups.

Discover more about History related topics

Hispania Tarraconensis

Hispania Tarraconensis

Hispania Tarraconensis was one of three Roman provinces in Hispania. It encompassed much of the northern, eastern and central territories of modern Spain along with modern northern Portugal. Southern Spain, the region now called Andalusia was the province of Hispania Baetica. On the Atlantic west lay the province of Lusitania, partially coincident with modern-day Portugal.

Cantabri

Cantabri

The Cantabri or Ancient Cantabrians, were a pre-Roman people and large tribal federation that lived in the northern coastal region of ancient Iberia in the second half of the first millennium BC. These peoples and their territories were incorporated into the Roman Province of Hispania Tarraconensis in 19 BC, following the Cantabrian Wars.

Cato the Elder

Cato the Elder

Marcus Porcius Cato, also known as Cato the Censor, the Elder and the Wise, was a Roman soldier, senator, and historian known for his conservatism and opposition to Hellenization. He was the first to write history in Latin with his Origines, a now fragmentary work on the history of Rome. His work De agri cultura, a rambling work on agriculture, farming, rituals, and recipes, is the oldest extant prose written in the Latin language. His epithet "Elder" distinguishes him from his great-grandson Cato the Younger, who opposed Julius Caesar.

Origines

Origines

Origines is the title of a lost work on Roman and Italian history by Cato the Elder, composed in the early-2nd century BC.

Ancient Greek

Ancient Greek

Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek, Dark Ages, the Archaic period, and the Classical period.

Latin

Latin

Latin is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area around present-day Rome, but through the power of the Roman Republic it became the dominant language in the Italian region and subsequently throughout the Roman Empire. Even after the fall of Western Rome, Latin remained the common language of international communication, science, scholarship and academia in Europe until well into the 18th century, when other regional vernaculars supplanted it in common academic and political usage, and it eventually became a dead language in the modern linguistic definition.

Mercenary

Mercenary

A mercenary, sometimes also known as a soldier of fortune or hired gun, is a private individual that joins a military conflict for personal profit, is otherwise an outsider to the conflict, and is not a member of any other official military. Mercenaries fight for money or other forms of payment rather than for political interests.

Horace

Horace

Quintus Horatius Flaccus, known in the English-speaking world as Horace, was the leading Roman lyric poet during the time of Augustus. The rhetorician Quintilian regarded his Odes as just about the only Latin lyrics worth reading: "He can be lofty sometimes, yet he is also full of charm and grace, versatile in his figures, and felicitously daring in his choice of words."

Gaius Hostilius Mancinus

Gaius Hostilius Mancinus

Gaius Hostilius Mancinus was a Roman consul in 137 BC. Due to his campaign against Numantia in northern Spain, Plutarch called him "not bad as a man, but most unfortunate of the Romans as a general." During this campaign in the Numantine War, Mancinus was defeated, showing some cowardice, allegedly putting out his fires and trying to flee by night before being surrounded and forced to make peace. According to Plutarch, Tiberius Gracchus was instrumental in bringing about the peace and saving 20,000 Roman soldiers. He returned home something of a hero, but Mancinus was put on trial by the senate, which refused to accept the treaty. While Gracchus and other lieutenants were saved by Scipio Aemilianus, the senate decreed that Mancinus be handed over to the Numantines, as some 20 Roman commanders were handed over to the Samnites after the defeat at the Caudine Forks in 321 BC. Plutarch does not relate Mancinus' further fate, but Appian noted that he was taken to Spain and handed over naked to the Numantines, but that they refused to accept him. He seems to have returned to Rome, where he took his seat in the senate, but in the following year, Publius Rutilius, one of the tribunes of the plebs, ordered him to vacate it, on the ground that when he had been surrendered to the Numantines, he had lost his Roman citizenship.

Numantia

Numantia

Numantia is an ancient Celtiberian settlement, whose remains are located on a hill known as Cerro de la Muela in the current municipality of Garray (Soria), Spain.

Cantabrian Wars

Cantabrian Wars

The Cantabrian Wars, sometimes also referred to as the Cantabrian and Asturian Wars, were the final stage of the two-century long Roman conquest of Hispania, in what today are the provinces of Cantabria, Asturias and León in northwestern Spain.

Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa

Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa

Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa was a Roman general, statesman, and architect who was a close friend, son-in-law, and lieutenant to the Roman emperor Augustus. He was responsible for the construction of some of the most notable buildings in history, including the original Pantheon, and is well known for his important military victories, notably the Battle of Actium in 31 BC against the forces of Mark Antony and Cleopatra.

Government and administration

The Autonomy Statute of Cantabria[30] of 30 December 1981, established that Cantabria has in its institutions the desire to respect fundamental rights and public freedom, at the same time as consolidating and stimulating regional development through democratic channels. This document gathers all competences of the Autonomous Community that were transferred from the Government of Spain. As in other Autonomous Communities, some competences were not transferred, for example, Justice. The Statute also defines the symbols that should represent the region: The flag, the coat of arms and the anthem of Cantabria.

The Parliament of Cantabria[31] is the principal self-government institution of the Autonomous Community, being the representative body of the Cantabrians. Presently it is constituted by thirty-nine deputies elected by universal, equal, free, direct and secret suffrage. The primary functions of the Parliament are: to exercise the legislative power, to approve the budgets of the Autonomous Community, to motivate and control the actions of the government, and to develop the rest of the competences that the Spanish Constitution, the Autonomy Statute and the rest of the legal order bestow on it. The President of the Autonomous Community holds the highest representation of the Community and ordinary representation of the Country in Cantabria, and presides over the Government, coordinating its activities.

The Government of Cantabria[32] is the body in charge of directing the political activities and exercising the executive and regulatory powers according to the Constitution, the Statute and the laws. The Government is made up of the President, the Vicepresident (in which the President can delegate his executive functions and representations) and the Councillors, who are appointed and ceased by the President.

After several legislatures presided by the Partido Popular or by Juan Hormaechea's UPCA, the Regional Government of Cantabria was directed by a coalition of the Regionalist Party of Cantabria and Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) from year 2003 until 2011. The President was Miguel Ángel Revilla of Partido Regionalista de Cantabria (PRC), and the Vice President was Dolores Gorostiaga of the PSOE. As a result of the absolute majority of the Partido Popular in the regional elections of 2011, the president from 2011 to 2015 was Ignacio Diego Palacios, and the Vice President was also the healthcare Councillor, Maria José Sáenz de Buruaga. After the 2015 regional elections, Miguel Ángel Revilla of Partido Regionalista de Cantabria (PRC) was invested president for a third tenure with the support of PSOE.

Discover more about Government and administration related topics

Government of Spain

Government of Spain

The government of Spain is the central government which leads the executive branch and the General State Administration of the Kingdom of Spain.

Flag of Cantabria

Flag of Cantabria

The flag of the Spanish region of Cantabria is made up of two horizontal stripes of equal width, white on the top and red on the bottom, and the region's coat of arms in its centre. The design is established in the text of the Autonomy Statute, except for the coat of arms, which was established by a Law of the Regional Assembly approved on 30 December 1981. The design traces its lineage to the ship registration flag of the maritime province of Santander, assigned by Royal Order on 30 July 1845.

Coat of arms of Cantabria

Coat of arms of Cantabria

The coat of arms of Cantabria has a rectangular shield, round in base and the field is party en fess. In field azure, a tower or crenellated and masoned, port and windows azure, to its right a ship in natural colours that with its bow has broken a chain sable going from the tower to the dexter flank of the shield. At the base, sea waves argent and azure, all surmounted in chief by two male heads, severed and haloed. In field gules, a disc-shaped stele with geometric ornaments of the kind of the Cantabrian steles of Barros or Lombera. The crest is a closed royal crown, a circle of jeweled gold, made up of eight rosettes in the shape of acanthus leaves, only five visible, interpolated with pearls, and with half-arches topped with pearls raising from each leaf and converging in an orb azure, with submeridian and equator or, topped with cross or. The crown, covered in gules.

Parliament of Cantabria

Parliament of Cantabria

The Parliament of Cantabria, is the unicameral legislature of the Autonomous Community of Cantabria. It consists of 35 members called "deputies" which are freely elected by the citizens of the region. The Parliament convenes at the Saint Raphael Hospital, an 18th century building in the City of Santander rehabilitated in the 1980s to house the Regional Assembly.

Legislation

Legislation

Legislation is the process or result of enrolling, enacting, or promulgating laws by a legislature, parliament, or analogous governing body. Before an item of legislation becomes law it may be known as a bill, and may be broadly referred to as "legislation" while it remains under consideration to distinguish it from other business. Legislation can have many purposes: to regulate, to authorize, to outlaw, to provide (funds), to sanction, to grant, to declare, or to restrict. It may be contrasted with a non-legislative act by an executive or administrative body under the authority of a legislative act.

President of Cantabria

President of Cantabria

The President of Cantabria, according to the Autonomy Statute of Cantabria, presides over the Government of Cantabria, directs its activities, coordinates the Administration of the autonomous community, designates and separates the regional ministers, and holds the supreme representation of the autonomous community and ordinary representation of the State in Cantabria. The president is elected by the Parliament of Cantabria among its members, and is appointed by the King of Spain.

Government of Cantabria

Government of Cantabria

The Government of Cantabria is one of the statutory institutions that conform the Autonomous Community of Cantabria. It is the superior collegiate body that directs the politics and the Administration of his Spanish autonomous community, and at the same time the holder of the executive power as well as the regulatory authority over said territory.

People's Party (Spain)

People's Party (Spain)

The People's Party is a conservative and Christian-democratic political party in Spain.

Regionalist Party of Cantabria

Regionalist Party of Cantabria

The Regionalist Party of Cantabria is the second oldest political party in the Spanish Autonomous Community of Cantabria. The PRC originated in the Association in Defense of the Interests of Cantabria (ADIC), founded on 14 May 1976, with the objective of promoting Cantabrian autonomy.

Spanish Socialist Workers' Party

Spanish Socialist Workers' Party

The Spanish Socialist Workers' Party is a social-democratic political party in Spain. The PSOE has been in government longer than any other political party in modern democratic Spain, namely from 1982 to 1996 under Felipe González; from 2004 to 2011 under José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero; and currently since 2018 under Pedro Sánchez.

Miguel Ángel Revilla

Miguel Ángel Revilla

Miguel Ángel Revilla Roiz is a Spanish politician, economist and bank employee serving as the 9th President of the Autonomous Community of Cantabria. Before this, Revilla has served as the 7th President between 2003 and 2011, making him the longest serving holder of the office. He has also served as the 5th Vice President of Cantabria from 1995 to 2003 and regional Minister of Public Works, Housing and Urbanism in the same period.

Territorial organization

The autonomous community of Cantabria is structured in municipios (municipalities) and comarcas (regions).

Municipalities

Map of the municipalities and comarcas of Cantabria   Asón and Agüera valleys.   Besaya Valley.   Campoo.   Western coast of Cantabria.   Eastern coast of Cantabria.   Liébana.   Saja and Nansa valleys.   Bay of Santander.   Trasmiera.   Valles Pasiegos.
Map of the municipalities and comarcas of Cantabria
  Campoo.

There are 102 municipalities in Cantabria generally comprising several townships, and from these, several districts. A number of municipalities bear the name of one of their townships (be it its capital or not), but not all them do. Each municipality is governed by its own city or municipal council, and two of them, Tresviso and Pesquera, do it by concejo abierto (open council), having fewer than 250 inhabitants.

The Mancomunidad Campoo-Cabuérniga is not a municipality, but a communal property, singular for its size and characteristics, of shared management between the municipalities of Hermandad de Campoo de Suso, Cabuérniga, Los Tojos and Ruente. This mountain estate is used as a grazing ground for Tudanca cattle and also for horses in less amount, in its brañas or grass prairies, and even nowadays transhumant cattle farming traditions survive in this region.

See also:

Comarcas (regions)

The Cantabrian legislation divides the autonomous community in administrative regions called comarcas, but traditionally, other subdivisions of the territory have been used.

  • Administrative regions

Law 8/1999 of Comarcas of the Autonomous Community of Cantabria of 28 April 1999 establishes that the comarca is a necessary entity, integral in the territorial organization of the region. This law opens the development of the comarcalization in Cantabria promoting the creation of comarcal entities, which have barely begun to appear. The law establishes that the creation of comarcas will not become mandatory for the whole territory until at least the 70% of it had not been comarcalized by its own will. It also adds that Santander will not ruled by comarcalization and should establish its own metropolitan area instead.

Comarcas in Cantabria have not reached administrative nature and barely have definite borders. Only Liébana for its geographic position in Picos de Europa, Trasmiera and Campoo, in the Ebro basin are established are clearly defined comarcas in the region. Nevertheless, functional differences in the territory can be distinguished, dividing it in the following areas: Santander Bay, of industrial and urban nature; Besaya, also industrial; Saja-Nansa, eminently rural; Western Coast, which has urban character; Eastern Coast, vacational; the traditionally renowned Trasmiera; rural Pas-Miera; Asón-Agüera, also mainly rural; the very well defined Liébana, and Campoo-Los Valles, rural and industrial by regions.

  • Natural regions (regarding geographical features)
    • Coastal strip
    • Central strip (Cantabrian valleys perpendicular to the coast): Liébana, Saja and Nansa, Besaya, Pas and Miera (or Valles Pasiegos), and Asón-Gándara valleys.
    • Southern strip (Rivers Ebro and Duero's basins): Campoo and Southern valleys
  • Historic regions

Until the 13th century, Cantabria was organized in valleys, as was typical in all of northern Spain. From then on, it was substituted by the organization in cities, towns or historic comarcas that grouped several valleys.

Discover more about Territorial organization related topics

Municipalities of Spain

Municipalities of Spain

The municipality is the basic local administrative division in Spain together with the province.

Comarcas of Spain

Comarcas of Spain

In Spain, a comarca is either a traditional territorial division without any formal basis, or a group of municipalities, legally defined by an autonomous community for the purpose of providing common local government services. In English, a comarca is equivalent to a district, county, area or zone.

Asón-Agüera

Asón-Agüera

The Asón-Agüera comarca is a historical region of Cantabria, Spain. It is located in the upper courses of the Asón and Agüera rivers, near the border with Vizcaya in the Basque Country. The comarca encompasses the basin of the Asón river and its tributaries such as the Gándara.

Besaya Valley

Besaya Valley

The Besaya valley is both a comarca located in the center of Cantabria, along the course of the Besaya River, and the natural valley of said river. Its capital is Torrelavega.

Campoo

Campoo

Campoo is a comarca of Cantabria (Spain) located in the High Ebro, with a surface little bigger than 1,000 km2, and including the municipalities of Hermandad de Campoo de Suso, Campoo de Enmedio, Campoo de Yuso, Valdeolea, Valdeprado del Río, Valderredible, Reinosa, Las Rozas de Valdearroyo, Santiurde de Reinosa, Pesquera, and San Miguel de Aguayo. Their inhabitants are called Campurrians . Its highest elevation is the Cuchillón peak, and the lowest is Pesquera, with the capital, Reinosa at 850 m.

Eastern coast of Cantabria

Eastern coast of Cantabria

The Eastern Coast of Cantabria is a comarca in the autonomous community of Cantabria, northern Spain, that comprises the municipalities of Colindres, Laredo, Liendo and Castro Urdiales.

Liébana

Liébana

Liébana is a comarca of Cantabria (Spain). It covers 575 square kilometres and is located in the far southwest of Cantabria, bordering Asturias, León and Palencia. It is made up of the municipalities of: Cabezón de Liébana, Camaleño, Cillorigo de Liébana, Pesaguero, Potes, Tresviso and Vega de Liébana.

Bay of Santander

Bay of Santander

The Bay of Santander is both a comarca of Cantabria and the largest estuary on the North coast of Spain, with an extension of 22.42 km2. Due to the influence of Santander and its metropolitan area, nearly half of the population of the autonomous community of Cantabria is gathered around it, which makes the anthropic pressure on this area of water quite notable.

Municipal council

Municipal council

A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, rural council, village council, or board of aldermen.

Hermandad de Campoo de Suso

Hermandad de Campoo de Suso

Hermandad de Campoo de Suso is a municipality located in the autonomous community of Cantabria, Spain. The municipality's seat is in Espinilla.

Cabuérniga

Cabuérniga

Cabuérniga is a municipality located in the autonomous community of Cantabria, Spain. According to the 2007 census, the city has a population of 999 inhabitants. Its capital is Valle.

Los Tojos

Los Tojos

Los Tojos is a municipality located in the autonomous community of Cantabria, Spain.

Economy

Cantabria products treemap, 2020
Cantabria products treemap, 2020
Banco Santander headquarters, in Paseo de Pereda, Santander
Banco Santander headquarters, in Paseo de Pereda, Santander

The economy of Cantabria has a primary sector, now in decline, employing 5.8% of the active population in the industries of cattle farming, traditional dairy farming, and meat production; agriculture, especially corn, potatoes, vegetables, and roughage; maritime fishing; and the mining of zinc and quarries.

The secondary sector which employs 30.3% of the active population is the sector with the most productivity in recent years due to construction; that of ironworking (Reinosa being the most important city), food service (milk, meat, vegetables and seafood), chemistry (Solvay, Sniace), paper production (Sinace, Papelera del Besaya), textile fabrication (Textil Santanderina in Cabezón de la Sal), pharmacy (Moehs in Requejada), industrial groups and transport, etc. The service sector employs 63.8% of the active population and is increasing, given that large concentrations of the population live in the urban centers and the importance that tourism has acquired in the recent years. As of July 2014, the unemployment rate in Cantabria is 19.3%, compared to 24.47% in Spain; while as of April 2010 its purchasing power parity was €25,326, compared to €26,100 in Spain and €25,100 in the EU25. In 2007, Cantabria's growth of real GDP was 4.1%, compared to a 3.9% average for Spain. The Gross domestic product (GDP) of the region was 13.8 billion € in 2018. GDP per capita adjusted for purchasing power was 25,500 € or 84% of the EU27 average in the same year.[33]

Discover more about Economy related topics

Banco Santander

Banco Santander

Banco Santander, S.A., doing business as Santander Group, is a Spanish multinational financial services company based in Madrid and Santander in Spain. Additionally, Santander maintains a presence in all global financial centres as the 16th-largest banking institution in the world. Although known for its European banking operations, it has extended operations across North and South America, and more recently in continental Asia. It is considered a systemically important bank by Financial Stability Board.

Economy

Economy

An economy is an area of the production, distribution and trade, as well as consumption of goods and services. In general, it is defined as a social domain that emphasize the practices, discourses, and material expressions associated with the production, use, and management of scarce resources. A given economy is a set of processes that involves its culture, values, education, technological evolution, history, social organization, political structure, legal systems, and natural resources as main factors. These factors give context, content, and set the conditions and parameters in which an economy functions. In other words, the economic domain is a social domain of interrelated human practices and transactions that does not stand alone.

Industry (economics)

Industry (economics)

In macroeconomics, an industry is a branch of an economy that produces a closely-related set of raw materials, goods, or services. For example, one might refer to the wood industry or to the insurance industry.

Quarry

Quarry

A quarry is a type of open-pit mine in which dimension stone, rock, construction aggregate, riprap, sand, gravel, or slate is excavated from the ground. The operation of quarries is regulated in some jurisdictions to reduce their environmental impact.

Ironwork

Ironwork

Ironwork is any weapon, artwork, utensil, or architectural feature made of iron, especially one used for decoration. There are two main types of ironwork: wrought iron and cast iron. While the use of iron dates as far back as 4000BC, it was the Hittites who first knew how to extract it and develop weapons. Use of iron was mainly utilitarian until the Middle Ages; it became widely used for decoration in the period between the 16th and 19th century.

Chemical industry

Chemical industry

The chemical industry comprises the companies that produce industrial chemicals. Central to the modern world economy, it converts raw materials into more than 70,000 different products. The plastics industry contains some overlap, as some chemical companies produce plastics as well as chemicals.

Textile

Textile

Textile is an umbrella term that includes various fiber-based materials, including fibers, yarns, filaments, threads, different fabric types, etc. At first, the word "textiles" only referred to woven fabrics. However, weaving is not the only manufacturing method, and many other methods were later developed to form textile structures based on their intended use. Knitting and non-woven are other popular types of fabric manufacturing. In the contemporary world, textiles satisfy the material needs for versatile applications, from simple daily clothing to bulletproof jackets, spacesuits, and doctor's gowns.

Pharmacy

Pharmacy

Pharmacy is the science and practice of discovering, producing, preparing, dispensing, reviewing and monitoring medications, aiming to ensure the safe, effective, and affordable use of medicines. It is a miscellaneous science as it links health sciences with pharmaceutical sciences and natural sciences. The professional practice is becoming more clinically oriented as most of the drugs are now manufactured by pharmaceutical industries. Based on the setting, pharmacy practice is either classified as community or institutional pharmacy. Providing direct patient care in the community of institutional pharmacies is considered clinical pharmacy.

Tourism

Tourism

Tourism is travel for pleasure or business, and the commercial activity of providing and supporting such travel. The World Tourism Organization defines tourism more generally, in terms which go "beyond the common perception of tourism as being limited to holiday activity only", as people "travelling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure and not less than 24 hours, business and other purposes". Tourism can be domestic or international, and international tourism has both incoming and outgoing implications on a country's balance of payments.

Purchasing power parity

Purchasing power parity

Purchasing power parity (PPP) is a measurement of the price of specific goods in different countries and is used to compare the absolute purchasing power of the countries' currencies. PPP is effectively the ratio of the price of a basket of goods at one location divided by the price of the basket of goods at a different location. The PPP inflation and exchange rate may differ from the market exchange rate because of tariffs, and other transaction costs.

European Union

European Union

The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of 27 member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of 4,233,255.3 km2 (1,634,469.0 sq mi) and an estimated total population of nearly 447 million. The EU has often been described as a sui generis political entity combining the characteristics of both a federation and a confederation.

Gross domestic product

Gross domestic product

Gross domestic product (GDP) is a monetary measure of the market value of all the final goods and services produced and sold in a specific time period by a country or countries, generally "without double counting the intermediate goods and services used up to produce them". GDP is most often used by the government of a single country to measure its economic health. Due to its complex and subjective nature, this measure is often revised before being considered a reliable indicator. GDP (nominal) per capita does not, however, reflect differences in the cost of living and the inflation rates of the countries; therefore, using a basis of GDP per capita at purchasing power parity (PPP) may be more useful when comparing living standards between nations, while nominal GDP is more useful comparing national economies on the international market. Total GDP can also be broken down into the contribution of each industry or sector of the economy. The ratio of GDP to the total population of the region is the per capita GDP.

Transportation and communications

Parayas airport, located in the municipality of Camargo, 5 km from Santander
Parayas airport, located in the municipality of Camargo, 5 km from Santander

The most significant consequence of the strong relief of the Cantabrian territory is the existence of topographic barriers that condition decisively the courses of the linking infrastructures, as much in the north–south orientation in the accesses to the Castilian Mesa, as in the east–west in the communication between valleys. Moreover, the cost of their construction and maintenance is much higher than average.

The main communications infrastructures of the region are:

Discover more about Transportation and communications related topics

Santander Airport

Santander Airport

Santander Airport, officially Seve Ballesteros–Santander Airport, is an international airport near Santander, Spain and the only airport in Cantabria. In 2018 the airport handled 1,103,353 passengers and 11,258 flights, far more than in 1995 when it handled only 180,000 passengers. Since then, the traffic has declined following the trend in Spanish airports and the decrease in operations by some of the companies.

Autovía A-8

Autovía A-8

The Autovía A-8 is a highway (autovía) that connects all the regions on the Northern Coast of Spain. It is known as the Autovía del Cantábrico and connects Baamonde and Bilbao, where it continues as the Autopista AP-8 to the French border. The road passes Ribadeo, Avilés, Gijón, Santander and Bilbao.

Autovía A-67

Autovía A-67

The Autovía A-67 is a highway in north west Spain. It connects the Cantabrian Atlantic Coast at Santander to Palencia. It follows the route of the N-611.

Oviedo

Oviedo

Oviedo is the capital city of the Principality of Asturias in northern Spain and the administrative and commercial centre of the region. It is also the name of the municipality that contains the city. Oviedo is located approximately 24 km (15 mi) southwest of Gijón and 23 km (14 mi) southeast of Avilés, both of which lie on the shoreline of the Bay of Biscay. Oviedo's proximity to the ocean of less than 30 kilometres (19 mi) in combination with its elevated position with areas of the city more than 300 metres above sea level causes the city to have a maritime climate, in spite of its not being located on the shoreline itself.

Renfe Feve

Renfe Feve

Renfe Feve is a division of state-owned Spanish railway company Renfe Operadora. It operates most of Spain's 1,250 km (777 mi) of 1,000 mm metre gauge railway. This division of Renfe was previously a stand-alone company named FEVE. On 31 December 2012, the Spanish government simplified the organization of train companies merging Feve into Renfe and Adif. The rolling stock and the brand FEVE was transferred to Renfe and the infrastructures were transferred to Adif.

Bilbao

Bilbao

Bilbao is a city in northern Spain, the largest city in the province of Biscay and in the Basque Country as a whole. It is also the largest city proper in northern Spain. Bilbao is the tenth largest city in Spain, with a population of 346,843 as of 2019. The Bilbao metropolitan area has 1,037,847 inhabitants, making it the most populous metropolitan area in northern Spain; with a population of 875,552 comarca of Greater Bilbao is the fifth-largest urban area in Spain. Bilbao is also the main urban area in what is defined as the Greater Basque region.

Palencia

Palencia

Palencia is a city of Spain located in the autonomous community of Castile and León. It is the capital and most populated municipality of the province of Palencia.

Valladolid

Valladolid

Valladolid is a municipality in Spain and the primary seat of government and de facto capital of the autonomous community of Castile and León. It is also the capital of the province of the same name. It has a population around 300,000 people..

Madrid

Madrid

Madrid is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and its monocentric metropolitan area is the second-largest in the EU. The municipality covers 604.3 km2 (233.3 sq mi) geographical area.

Renfe

Renfe

Renfe, officially Renfe-Operadora, is the national passenger railway company of Spain.

Torrelavega

Torrelavega

Torrelavega is a municipality and important industrial and commercial hub in the single province Autonomous Community of Cantabria, northern Spain.

Segovia

Segovia

Segovia is a city in the autonomous community of Castile and León, Spain. It is the capital and most populated municipality of the Province of Segovia.

Mass media and public opinion

In Cantabria, there are two daily regional newspapers in addition to the national ones: El Diario Montañés and Alerta, as well as many weekly, fortnightly and monthly publications. The main national radio stations have transmitter stations in places like Santander, Torrelavega, Castro-Urdiales, or Reinosa. There are also numerous local and regional stations. For the moment, there is no Cantabrian autonomic television with public financing, although some local channels exist (including Canal 8 DM, TeleBahía, Telecabarga, Localia TV Cantabria, etc.). In recent years, the Internet has allowed new informative proposals to emerge in the shape of digital diaries or blogs, which contribute to enrich the mediatic panorama of the region.

Culture

Altamira Cave paintings, made by Cro-Magnons.[34]
Altamira Cave paintings, made by Cro-Magnons.[34]

Language

Spanish is the official language of Cantabria. The eastern part of Cantabria contributed to the origins of Medieval Spanish in a significant way. In western areas, there are remnants of the Cantabrian language, also called "montañés", and it is also somewhat preserved in parts of the Pas and Soba valleys in its eastern zone. Cantabrian can be viewed as a dialect of the wider Astur-Leonese language continuum, and is mutually intelligible with varieties in neighbouring Asturias.[35]

Monuments and museums

One of the many paleolithic paintings in the Cave of La Pasiega
One of the many paleolithic paintings in the Cave of La Pasiega
  • Caves: Altamira Cave, El Soplao, Del Valle, El Pendo, La Pasiega Cave, Las Monedas, El Castillo, Morín, and others.
  • Civil architecture: Magdalena palace in Santander; Capricho de Gaudí, Pontifical University of Comillas and Sobrellano palace in Comillas; Bárcena palace in Ampuero; Castle of Argüeso in Campoo; Hornillos palace in Las Fraguas del Besaya; etc.
  • Religious architecture: Collegiate of Santillana del Mar, Collegiate of Santa Cruz de Castañeda, Santo Toribio de Liébana Monastery, Santa María de Lebeña, Santa María de Piasca, Santa María del Puerto, San Román del Moroso, Santa Catalina del Cintul, Santuario de Virgen de la Peña, ermita de San Cipriano, ermita de Monte Corona, etc.
  • Museums: Cantabrian Sea Maritime Museum, Ethnographic Museum of Cantabria, Santander Museum of Fine Arts, Regional Museum of Prehistory and Arqueology of Cantabria, Cantabrian Museum of Nature, Altamira National Museum and Investigation Centre, and others.

Universities

International University Menéndez Pelayo. Palacio de la Magdalena. Venue for the summer courses of the UIMP (Santander). It also was a seasonal residence for kings of Spain.
International University Menéndez Pelayo. Palacio de la Magdalena. Venue for the summer courses of the UIMP (Santander). It also was a seasonal residence for kings of Spain.

Fairs and festivals

La Vijanera in Silió
La Vijanera in Silió

Regarding the fairs, understood as big markets of products periodically celebrated, it is remarkable the Livestock Fair of Torrelavega taking place in the National Livestock Market "Jesús Collado Soto", the third biggest of Spain, that groups the buy and sell of all kinds of cattle in the region itself and the adjacent ones, being the bovine the main product. All over the region cattle and typical products fairs are celebrated weekly, monthly, or annually to gather the neighbours of the land. There are many different festivities in Cantabria, some of them limited just to small villages, but there are also festivals that attract tourism from all over the country. The most important are the following:

  • La Vijanera (Winter Carnival), celebrated during the first Sunday of the year in Silió. It celebrates the end of the short winter days and the arrival of the sun. The representation of a white bear hunt takes place all over this little village. The traditional dressing of the characters in the play, the trapajones and the zarramacos, is one of its main features.
  • Carnaval marinero (Sailor Carnival), in February in Santoña. Commonly known as "the carnivals of the North", in this carnival, started in 1934, many people of the town participate dressing themselves up as fish. The main event is the "Trial at the bottom of the ocean", where the "besugo" is judged before the last act, "The burning of the besugo". (A besugo is a foolish person besides a type of fish).
  • La Folía, April in San Vicente de la Barquera, a parade of local fishing boats following one with a statue of the Virgin.
  • Coso Blanco, first Friday in July in Castro Urdiales. Colorful parade with carts.
  • Cantabria Day, second Sunday of August in Cabezón de la Sal. Traditional Cantabrian music, ceramics fair, local foods, bolo palma championships, ox dragging contests and public speeches.
  • SAUGA folk music festival, celebrated the third weekend of August in Colindres.
  • Floral Gala, August en Torrelavega. A festival of international touristic importance with carts decorated with flowers.
  • Battle of Flowers, August, in Laredo. Carts decorated with flowers and fruit. Fireworks in the evening.
  • Campoo Day, September in Reinosa. Tourist fair of regional importance since 1977 and celebrated since the 19th century, it shows customs and traditions of the Campurrians in their capital. Cattle shows, local products market and regional costumes are the items in this festival.

The following festivals are also remarkable in modern Cantabrian culture: Santander International Festival[36] (Arts festival), Santander Summer Festival[37] (Music festival), Sotocine[38] (Film festival)

Mythology

The north of the Spanish state is a rich area for mythology. From Galicia to the Basque Country, passing by Asturias and Cantabria, there are rites, stories and imaginary or impossible beings (or maybe not so).

Cantabrian lore turns its forests and mountains into magical places where the myths, beliefs and legends have been present as an essential part of the Cantabrian culture, either because they have been living in the popular heritage through the oral tradition transmitted from father to son, or because they have been recovered by scholars (Manuel Llano and others) who have worried about preserving the cultural heritage. Its mythology and superstitions present a great Celtic influence that has diluted with the pass of time, being romanized or Christianized in many cases.

There is a heavy presence of fabulous beings of giant proportions and Cyclopean features (the ojáncanos), fantastic animals (culebres, caballucos del diablu (lit. horses of the devil, damselflies), ramidrejus, etc.), færies (anjanas, ijanas of Aras), duendes (nuberos, ventolines, trentis, trasgus, trastolillos, musgosu, tentiruju), anthropomorphic characters (the sirenuca (little mermaid), the fish-man, the cuegle, the wife-bear of Andara, the guajona), etc.

Discover more about Culture related topics

Spanish language

Spanish language

Spanish is a Romance language of the Indo-European language family that evolved from colloquial Latin spoken on the Iberian Peninsula. Today, it is a global language with about 486 million native speakers, mainly in the Americas and Spain. Spanish is the official language of 20 countries. It is the world's second-most spoken native language after Mandarin Chinese; the world's fourth-most spoken language overall after English, Mandarin Chinese, and Hindustani (Hindi-Urdu); and the world's most widely spoken Romance language. The largest population of native speakers is in Mexico.

Old Spanish

Old Spanish

Old Spanish, also known as Old Castilian, or Medieval Spanish, was originally a dialect of Vulgar Latin spoken in the former provinces of the Roman Empire that provided the root for the early form of the Spanish language that was spoken on the Iberian Peninsula from the 10th century until roughly the beginning of the 15th century, before a consonantal readjustment gave rise to the evolution of modern Spanish. The poem Cantar de Mio Cid, published around 1200, is the best known and most extensive work of literature in Old Spanish.

Cantabrian dialect

Cantabrian dialect

Cantabrian is a group of dialects belonging to Astur-Leonese. It is indigenous to the territories in and surrounding the Autonomous Community of Cantabria, in Northern Spain.

Asturias

Asturias

Asturias, officially the Principality of Asturias, is an autonomous community in northwest Spain.

Cave of La Pasiega

Cave of La Pasiega

Cueva de La Pasiega, or Cave of La Pasiega, situated in the Spanish municipality of Puente Viesgo, is one of the most important monuments of Paleolithic art in Cantabria. It is included in the UNESCO World Heritage List since July 2008, as part of the inscription: Cave of Altamira and Paleolithic Cave Art of Northern Spain.

Cave of El Soplao

Cave of El Soplao

El Soplao is a cave located in the municipalities of Rionansa, Valdáliga and Herrerías in Cantabria, Spain. It is considered unique for the quality and quantity of geological formations (speleothems) in its 17 miles length, 6 of which are open to the public. In it are formations such as helictites and curtains. Its formation dates back to the Mesozoic, in particular the Cretaceous period 240 million years ago. The entrance is at 540 metres in the Sierra Soplao Arnero.

Cave del Valle (Cantabria)

Cave del Valle (Cantabria)

Cave del Valle, locally also known as La Viejarrona, is located near El Cerro Village in the municipality of Rasines in Cantabria, northern Spain. The cave is the source of the Silencio River, a tributary of the Rio Ruahermosa, which in turn is a tributary of the Asón River. Notable for its prehistoric, but particularly for its speleologic significance as it is recognized as one of the longest cavities in the world. The site is very popular among cavers, who have explored a total of over 60 km (37.28 mi) so far.

Palacio de la Magdalena

Palacio de la Magdalena

The Palacio de la Magdalena is a palace in Santander (Cantabria), Spain. Its construction was financed by popular subscription and given to the Spanish Royal Family for use as a summer residence. It was built by architects Javier González Riancho and Gonzalo Bringas Vega between 1909 and 1911. The palace is located at the Magdalena Peninsula in the place where the old Fort of San Salvador de Hano was, which protected the entrance to the bay. Since 1932, it hosts the summer courses of the Menéndez Pelayo International University. In 1977, the City Council of Santander bought back the palace and the peninsula.

Comillas Pontifical University

Comillas Pontifical University

Comillas Pontifical University is a private Catholic higher education institution run by the Spanish Province of the Society of Jesus in Madrid, Spain. The university is involved in a number of academic exchange programmes, work practice schemes and international projects with over 200 institutions of higher education in Europe, Latin America, North America and Asia.

Santo Toribio de Liébana

Santo Toribio de Liébana

The Monastery of Santo Toribio de Liébana is a Roman Catholic monastery located in the district of Liébana, near Potes in Cantabria, Spain. Located in the Cantabrian Mountains in northern Spain, the monastery is one of the five places in Christianity that, together with Rome, Jerusalem, Santiago de Compostela and Caravaca de la Cruz, has the privilege of issuing perpetual indulgences.

University of Cantabria

University of Cantabria

University of Cantabria (UC), is a public university located in Santander, Torrelavega and Comillas in Cantabria, Spain. It was founded in 1972 and is organized in 15 schools and colleges.

Cuisine

The livestock farming reputation of the region and its climatological conditions favouring cattle breeding allowed the European Union to pass the "Meats of Cantabria" denomination as a Protected Geographic Denomination for the beef of certain kinds of native races (Tudanca, Monchina) and others adapted to the environment or integrated by assimilation (Brown Alpine).

Discover more about Cuisine related topics

Cantabrian cuisine

Cantabrian cuisine

Cantabrian cuisine includes seafood from the Cantabrian Sea, salmon and trout from the upper basins of the rivers, vegetables and dairy products from the valleys, and veal and game from the Cantabrian mountains.

Cocido montañés

Cocido montañés

Cocido montañés is a rich hearty Spanish bean stew, originally from and most commonly found in Cantabria in northern Spain.

Cocido lebaniego

Cocido lebaniego

Cocido lebaniego is a traditional dish from the region of Liébana in Cantabria, Spain. This stew has some essential ingredients, which include chickpeas from the municipality of Potes, potatoes and collard greens. The rest of the elements of this recipe are known as compangu, which refers to meat from the pig slaughter, such as bacon (tocino), black pudding (morcilla), chorizo and ham. Another additional ingredient is beef, especially cecina, bones and a stuffing made of bread flour, egg, chorizo and parsley.

Liébana

Liébana

Liébana is a comarca of Cantabria (Spain). It covers 575 square kilometres and is located in the far southwest of Cantabria, bordering Asturias, León and Palencia. It is made up of the municipalities of: Cabezón de Liébana, Camaleño, Cillorigo de Liébana, Pesaguero, Potes, Tresviso and Vega de Liébana.

Chickpea

Chickpea

The chickpea or chick pea is an annual legume of the family Fabaceae, subfamily Faboideae. Its different types are variously known as gram or Bengal gram, chhana, chana, or channa, garbanzo or garbanzo bean, or Egyptian pea. Chickpea seeds are high in protein. It is one of the earliest cultivated legumes, and 9500-year-old remains have been found in the Middle East.

Beef

Beef

Beef is the culinary name for meat from cattle.

Deer

Deer

Deer or true deer are hoofed ruminant mammals forming the family Cervidae. The two main groups of deer are the Cervinae, including muntjac, elk (wapiti), red deer, and fallow deer; and the Capreolinae, including reindeer (caribou), white-tailed deer, roe deer, and moose. Male deer of all species, as well as female reindeer, grow and shed new antlers each year. In this, they differ from permanently horned antelope, which are part of a different family (Bovidae) within the same order of even-toed ungulates (Artiodactyla).

Cattle

Cattle

Cattle are large, domesticated, cloven-hooved, herbivores. They are a prominent modern member of the subfamily Bovinae and the most widespread species of the genus Bos. Adult females are referred to as cows and adult males are referred to as bulls.

European Union

European Union

The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of 27 member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of 4,233,255.3 km2 (1,634,469.0 sq mi) and an estimated total population of nearly 447 million. The EU has often been described as a sui generis political entity combining the characteristics of both a federation and a confederation.

Anchovy

Anchovy

An anchovy is a small, common forage fish of the family Engraulidae. Most species are found in marine waters, but several will enter brackish water, and some in South America are restricted to fresh water.

Lophius piscatorius

Lophius piscatorius

Lophius piscatorius, commonly known as the angler, European angler or common monkfish, is a monkfish in the family Lophiidae. It is found in coastal waters of the northeast Atlantic, from the Barents Sea to the Strait of Gibraltar, the Mediterranean and the Black Sea. Within some of its range, including the Irish Sea, this species comprises a significant commercial fishery.

Hake

Hake

The term hake refers to fish in the:Family Merlucciidae of northern and southern oceans Family Phycidae of the northern oceans

Sports

Trainera regatta at the Santander bay
Trainera regatta at the Santander bay

The traditional sport of Cantabria is the game of bolos[39] (skittles) in its four forms: bolo palma, pasabolo tablón, pasabolo losa and bolo pasiego. The first one is the most widespread, exceeding regional nature and reaching the eastern zone of Asturias and also being the most complex in its game rules. The existence of boleras or skittle rings is important in every Cantabrian township, often being near the church or the village pub. Since the late 1980s, skittle play has consolidated with the reinforcement of skittle schools, revamped by different town councils and Cantabrian institutions, various competitions, and media coverage.

The remo (rowing) is a very traditional sport in the coastal towns. The origins of rowing in Cantabria go back many centuries, when several traineras (traditional fishing longboats) competed for the selling of the caught fish, which was reserved for the first ship to arrive to the fish market. At the end of the 19th century, work became sport and people started to celebrate regattas between Cantabrian townships. The sport clubs of Cantabria, especially the Astillero, Castro Urdiales, and the Pedreña belong to the most prize-winning teams of the history of this sport, and nowadays they are having one of the best moments after a decades-long period of trophy drought.

Santander Sports Palace: a basketball game featuring the local team, the Cantabria Lobos (wolves).
Santander Sports Palace: a basketball game featuring the local team, the Cantabria Lobos (wolves).

The Pasiegan jump is another of the outstanding rural sports of the region and a clear example of how the use of a work skill that disappears with the pass of time, gives rise to games and competition. Similar to other forms, like the Canarian shepherd jump, in the beginning this technique was used in the Pasiegan valleys to cross the stone walls, the fences, the creeks or the ravines that bordered the fields and obstructed the pass in the abrupt geography of the highland areas of Cantabria.

Referring to mass sports, Cantabria is present in national and international competitions through teams such as the Racing de Santander, the RS Gimnástica de Torrelavega and the Cantabria autonomous football team in football or the Independiente RC in rugby union. The Club Balonmano Cantabria that won Leagues and King's Cups as well as IHF Super Globe, EHF Champions League, EHF Cup Winners' Cup and EHF Cup in handball or the Cantabria Lobos that played in the ACB in basketball represented the highest level of the Cantabrian sport in the recent past.

Discover more about Sports related topics

Bolo palma

Bolo palma

Bolo palma is a variant of bowls originated and played throughout the region of Cantabria, north of Spain. The basic aim of the game is to knock over as many pins as possible with a wooden ball. Records of the game go back as far as the 16th century. The game was also spread to neighbouring areas of eastern Asturias and northern Palencia. Cantabrian emigration also took the practice of the sport elsewhere in Spain to places such as the Basque Country, Madrid, Catalonia and Andalusia and even to other countries like Mexico, Argentina, Chile and Venezuela.

Rowing (sport)

Rowing (sport)

Rowing, sometimes called crew in the United States, is the sport of racing boats using oars. It differs from paddling sports in that rowing oars are attached to the boat using oarlocks, while paddles are not connected to the boat. Rowing is divided into two disciplines: sculling and sweep rowing. In sculling, each rower holds two oars—one in each hand, while in sweep rowing each rower holds one oar with both hands. There are several boat classes in which athletes may compete, ranging from single sculls, occupied by one person, to shells with eight rowers and a coxswain, called eights. There are a wide variety of course types and formats of racing, but most elite and championship level racing is conducted on calm water courses 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) long with several lanes marked using buoys.

Longboat

Longboat

A longboat is a type of ship's boat that was in use from circa 1500 or before. Though the Royal Navy replaced longboats with launches from 1780, examples can be found in merchant ships after that date. The longboat was usually the largest boat carried. In the early period of use, a ship's longboat was often so large that it could not be carried on board, and was instead towed. For instance, a survey of 1618 of Royal Navy ship's boats listed a 52 ft 4 in longboat used by the First Rate Prince, a ship whose length of keel was 115 ft. This could lead to the longboat being lost in adverse weather. By the middle of the 17th century it became increasingly more common to carry the longboat on board, though not universally. In 1697 some British ships in chase of a French squadron cut adrift the longboats they were towing in an attempt to increase their speed and engage with the enemy.

Fish market

Fish market

A fish market is a marketplace for selling fish and fish products. It can be dedicated to wholesale trade between fishermen and fish merchants, or to the sale of seafood to individual consumers, or to both. Retail fish markets, a type of wet market, often sell street food as well.

Racing de Santander

Racing de Santander

Real Racing Club de Santander, S.A.D., also known as Racing de Santander or simply Racing, is a football club based in Santander, Cantabria, Spain, that currently competes in Segunda División, the second tier of the Spanish league system. It was founded in 1913. It holds home games at Campos de Sport de El Sardinero, with a capacity for 22,222 spectators. It is one of the ten founding clubs of La Liga.

Cantabria autonomous football team

Cantabria autonomous football team

The Cantabria autonomous football team is the regional football team for Cantabria, Spain. They are not affiliated with FIFA or UEFA and therefore are only allowed to play friendly matches.

Football in Spain

Football in Spain

Football is the most popular sport in Spain. Spain has some of the most influential teams in Europe. It also has a high number of players and teams registered in all categories. Moreover, football is the sport that interests the majority of Spanish people (48%). A total of 67% of the population said they were fans of or had a liking for a particular club.

Independiente RC

Independiente RC

Independiente Rugby Club is a Spanish amateur rugby union club based in the Cantabrian city of Santander. The club was established in 1971 and competes in División de Honor; the top Spanish league competition for rugby union clubs. Independiente plays its home matches at the Mies de Cozada, a multi-use stadium in San Román de la Llanilla. The team traditionally plays in green and white colours.

División de Honor de Rugby

División de Honor de Rugby

The División de Honor de Rugby is Spain's top level professional men's rugby union competition. The División de Honor de Rugby Championship is organised by the Federación Española de Rugby and currently consists of 12 teams.

CB Cantabria

CB Cantabria

Club Balonmano Cantabria was a team of handball based in Santander, Cantabria. CB Cantabria was not registered in any handball league after 2008.

Liga ASOBAL

Liga ASOBAL

Liga Asobal is the premier professional handball league in Spain. It was founded in 1958 with the name of División de Honor, changing its name to the current name in 1990. The Liga ASOBAL, which is played under EHF rules, currently consists of 16 teams, including famous ones like FC Barcelona, Ademar León, Bidasoa and Granollers.

Copa del Rey de Balonmano

Copa del Rey de Balonmano

The Copa del Rey de Balonmano is an annual cup competition for Spanish handball teams. Organized by the Liga ASOBAL. It was originally known as the Copa del Generalísimo and was renamed Copa de SM El Rey in 1975. It was the first nationwide handball competition played in Spain, and was first played for in 1957.

Notable Cantabrians

Cantabria has been the birthplace of exceptional and notable individuals in fields such as literature, arts, sciences, etc. Many of them have played a decisive role, not only in the history and events of the region, but also on the national and international levels. These include:

Discover more about Notable Cantabrians related topics

Jesús de Polanco

Jesús de Polanco

Jesús Polanco Gutiérrez, also known as Jesús de Polanco was a businessman from Spain who built one of the largest media empires in the world. In 2005, he was ranked 3rd richest person in Spain and at number 210 in Forbes World's Richest People list, and was number 258 in 2006.

Emilio Botín

Emilio Botín

Emilio Botín-Sanz de Sautuola García de los Ríos, iure uxoris Marquess of O'Shea was a Spanish banker. He was the executive chairman of Spain's Grupo Santander. In 1993 his bank absorbed Banco Español de Crédito (Banesto), and in 1999 it merged with Banco Central Hispano creating Banco Santander Central Hispano (BSCH), which became Spain's largest bank, of which he was co-president with Central Hispano's José María Amusategui, until Amusategui retired in 2002. In 2004, BSCH acquired the British bank Abbey National, making BSCH the second largest bank in Europe by market capitalisation. He was known for his obsession with growth and performance as well as regularly visiting branches.

José Manuel Abascal

José Manuel Abascal

José Manuel Abascal Gómez is a former Spanish 1500 metres runner. He was born in Alceda, Cantabria. In 1982 he got the silver medal at the European Indoor Championship in 1500 m and the bronze medal in the same event at the European Outdoor Championship. He won the bronze medal at the 1984 Summer Olympics. In 1986, he set a personal best of 3:31.13 min but he failed to qualify for the final in 1500 m European Championship. At the 1987 IAAF World Indoor Championships, Abascal also won a silver medal.

Juan José Cobo

Juan José Cobo

Juan José Cobo Acebo is a retired Spanish professional road racing cyclist. He won the 2011 Vuelta a España as a Geox–TMC rider, his first and only major title but in July 2019 he was stripped of this title after being found guilty of doping by the UCI. He was considered a climber who also is able to time trial.

Cecilio Lastra

Cecilio Lastra

Cecilio Lastra is a former Spanish professional boxer. He fought 54 times between 1975 and 1982; winning 39, losing 13 and drawing 2. The highlight of Lastra's career came in 1977 when he won the WBA world featherweight title against Rafael Ortega. During his career he also became the Spanish champion and twice challenged for the EBU title.

Francisco Ventoso

Francisco Ventoso

Francisco José Ventoso Alberdi is a Spanish former professional road racing cyclist, who rode professionally between 2004 and 2020, for the Saunier Duval–Prodir, Andalucía–Cajasur, Carmiooro NGC, Movistar Team and CCC Team squads.

Ruth Beitia

Ruth Beitia

Ruth Beitia Vila is a retired high jumper who was the 2016 Olympic champion in the women's high jump. She was also a politician in the Partido Popular and a member of the Parliament of Cantabria.

Athenea del Castillo

Athenea del Castillo

Athenea del Castillo Beivide is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as a forward for Liga F club Real Madrid CF and the Spain women's national team.

Ataúlfo Argenta

Ataúlfo Argenta

Ataúlfo Exuperio Martín de Argenta Maza was a Spanish conductor and pianist.

David Bustamante

David Bustamante

David Bustamante Hoyos is a Spanish pop singer and songwriter.

La Fuga (band)

La Fuga (band)

La Fuga is a Spanish rock band from Reinosa, Cantabria that formed in the summer of 1996. It is composed by Xavi Moreno, Nando (guitar), Raúl (bass) and Edu (drums). They have realized more than 600 concerts in ten tours, and they have published 10 albums to date.

Mario Camus

Mario Camus

Mario Camus García was a Spanish film director and screenwriter. He won the Golden Bear at the 33rd Berlin International Film Festival with La colmena. His 1987 film The House of Bernarda Alba was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 1987 Cannes Film Festival and in the main competition at the 15th Moscow International Film Festival. His 1993 film Shadows in a Conflict was entered into the 18th Moscow International Film Festival.

Source: "Cantabria", Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, (2023, February 19th), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cantabria.

Enjoying Wikiz?

Enjoying Wikiz?

Get our FREE extension now!

Notes
  1. ^ These events constitute the background of La vida que te espera, a film by Cantabrian-born director Manuel Gutiérrez Aragón.
  2. ^ Latin: ...fluvium Hiberum; is oritur ex Cantabris; magnus atque pulcher, pisculentus...
  3. ^ Latin: ...laetum equino sanguine Concanum...
  4. ^ Latin: ...iste Petri Cantabriae ducis filius fuit...
References

Citations

  1. ^ Municipal Register of Spain 2018. National Statistics Institute.
  2. ^ "ISO 3166-2 NEWSLETTER Date issued: 2010-02-03 No II-1 Corrected and reissued 2010-02-19" (PDF). Iso.org. Retrieved 6 January 2018.
  3. ^ "Sub-national HDI - Area Database - Global Data Lab". hdi.globaldatalab.org. Retrieved October 23, 2021.
  4. ^ "Cantabria". Collins English Dictionary. HarperCollins. Retrieved 30 May 2019.
  5. ^ "Cantabria". Lexico UK English Dictionary. Oxford University Press. Archived from the original on 2020-01-18.
  6. ^ Jones, Daniel (2003) [1917], Peter Roach; James Hartmann; Jane Setter (eds.), English Pronouncing Dictionary, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, ISBN 3-12-539683-2
  7. ^ (in Spanish) "La Ley Orgánica 11/1998, de 30 de diciembre, de reforma de la LO 8/1981, del Estatuto de Autonomía para Cantabria (BOE 31 diciembre 1998) Archived December 12, 2009, at the Wayback Machine. El Estatuto deja de referirse a Cantabria como "entidad regional histórica", expresión empleada por la propia Constitución (art. 143) para permitir la existencia de comunidades uniprovinciales, para ser sustituida por la expresión "comunidad histórica" (art. 1). Sinopsis del Estatuto de Cantabria Archived December 11, 2009, at the Wayback Machine Ignacio Carbajal Iranzo, Letrado de las Cortes Generales. Updated by Portal de la Constitución. 2005. Updated 2007; retrieved 9 June 2007.
  8. ^ U-series dating of Paleolithic art in 11 caves in Spain. Science, 15 June 2012; 336 (6087): 1409-13.
  9. ^ "Sinopsis del Estatuto de Cantabria". congreso.es. Retrieved 5 April 2016.
  10. ^ "cantabria | Origin and meaning of cantabria by Online Etymology Dictionary". www.etymonline.com. Retrieved 2019-10-09.
  11. ^ a b González Echegaray (1993).
  12. ^ "Kent - Search Online Etymology Dictionary". Etymonline.com. Retrieved 6 January 2018.
  13. ^ (in Spanish) Confederación Hidrográfica del Norte. Ministerio del Medio Ambiente. Retrieved on 2007-06-09.
  14. ^ (in Spanish) Confederación Hidrográfica del Ebro Archived April 3, 2007, at the Wayback Machine, Ministerio del Medio Ambiente website; retrieved 9 September 2007.
  15. ^ (in Spanish) Confederación Hidrográfica del Duero, Ministerio del Medio Ambiente website; retrieved 9 June 2007.
  16. ^ "Tercer Inventario Forestal Nacional". Mma.es. Archived from the original on 2010-03-29. Retrieved 27 April 2010.
  17. ^ (in Spanish) Programa de Vigilancia Ambiental del Plan Nacional de Regadios. Archived June 30, 2007, at the Wayback Machine Ministerio de Agricultura, Pesca y Alimentación (M.A.P.A.); retrieved 9 June 2007.
  18. ^ (in Spanish) Biodiversity: Lugares de Importancia Comunitaria. Archived 2011-02-21 at the Wayback Machine Ministerio de Medio Ambiente. Retrieved on 2007-06-09.
  19. ^ (in Spanish) Poblaciones referidas al 1 de enero de 2006 por comunidades autónomas y sexo Archived September 29, 2007, at the Wayback Machine, Instituto Nacional de Estadística website; retrieved 11 June 2007.
  20. ^ (in Spanish) Población extranjera según su nacionalidad y sexo (2004-06) Archived June 21, 2007, at the Wayback Machine, icane.es; retrieved 9 June 2007. (in Spanish)
  21. ^ (in Spanish) Cantabria: Población por municipios y sexo. Cifras de población referidas al 1 January 2006 Archived 29 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine, Instituto Nacional de Estadística website; retrieved 11 June 2007.
  22. ^ Silius Italicus, Cantabria, Bk III
  23. ^ Horace, Cantabria, Bk IV, Ode xiv
  24. ^ Polito, Eugenio (2012-12-30). "Iconografía triunfal augustea y las guerras cántabras: algunas observaciones sobre escudos redondos y puntas de lanza representados en monumentos de la Península Ibérica e Italia". Archivo Español de Arqueología. 85: 141–148. doi:10.3989/aespa.085.012.008. ISSN 1988-3110.
  25. ^ a b c EB (1878).
  26. ^ Cadavieco, Miguel López. "Guerras Cántabras - La lucha contra el imperio Romano". www.regiocantabrorum.es (in Spanish). Retrieved 2021-06-10.
  27. ^ EB (1911).
  28. ^ Antonio Bar Cendón, De la montaña a Cantabria: la construcción de una comunidad autónoma (Santander: University of Cantabria Press, 1995), 201-3. ISBN 8481021121, 9788481021127
  29. ^ Enrique Flórez. La Cantabria. Disertación sobre el sitio y extensión que tuvo en tiempos de los romanos la región de los cántabros, con noticia de las regiones cofinantes y de varias poblaciones Antiguas (The Cantabria. Dissertation of the place and extension that the land of the Cantabri had in times of the Romans, with notice of the adjacent regions and of several Ancient villages. Madrid. 1768
  30. ^ (in Spanish) Constitución española: Estatuto de Autonomía de Cantabria. Congreso de los Diputados: España; retrieved 9 June 2007.
  31. ^ (in Spanish) Actividad Parlamentaria, Parlamento de Cantabria website; retrieved 9 June 2007.
  32. ^ (in Spanish) Consejo de Gobierno Archived March 13, 2007, at the Wayback Machine, gobcantabria.es; retrieved 9 June 2007.
  33. ^ "Regional GDP per capita ranged from 30% to 263% of the EU average in 2018". Eurostat.
  34. ^ Owen, Edward (14 March 2009). "After Altamira all is decadence". The Times. London, UK. Retrieved 28 April 2010.
  35. ^ Menéndez Pidal, R (2006) [1906]. El dialecto Leonés. León: El Buho Viajero. ISBN 84-933781-6-X.
  36. ^ (in Spanish) Festival Internacional de Santander website Archived July 10, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
  37. ^ [1] Archived 2007-03-24 at the Wayback Machine
  38. ^ (in Spanish) Sotocine website Archived October 7, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
  39. ^ (in Spanish) History of the Bolos in Cantabria. Archived 2013-07-03 at the Wayback Machine Selaya Township website. Retrieved on 5 August 2007.

Bibliography

External links

The content of this page is based on the Wikipedia article written by contributors..
The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence & the media files are available under their respective licenses; additional terms may apply.
By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use & Privacy Policy.
Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization & is not affiliated to WikiZ.com.