Santander, Cantabria

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Santander, Cantabria

The port city of Santander is the capital of the autonomous community of Cantabria

Cantabria

Cantabria is a Spain province and autonomous community with Santander, Cantabria as its capital city. It is bordered on the east by the Basque Country , on the south by Castile and Le?n , on the west by the Principality of Asturias, and on the north by the Cantabrian Sea....
situated on the north coast of Spain

Spain

Spain or the Kingdom of Spain , is a country located in Southern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula.The Spanish constitution does not establish any official denomination of the country, even though Espa?a , Estado espa?ol and Naci?n espa?ola are used interchangeably....
between Asturias

Asturias

The Principality of Asturias is an autonomous communities of Spain within the kingdom of Spain, former Kingdom of Asturias in the Middle Ages....
(to the west) and the Basque Country (to the east). Population in 2007 was about 184,000. Just over a third of Cantabrians live in Santander. The city is the home of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Santander

Roman Catholic Diocese of Santander

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Santander is a diocese located in the city of Santander, Cantabria in the Ecclesiastical province of Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Granada in Spain....
.

he Roman Empire

Roman Empire

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The port city of Santander is the capital of the autonomous community of Cantabria

Cantabria

Spain

Asturias

Roman Catholic Diocese of Santander

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Santander is a diocese located in the city of Santander, Cantabria in the Ecclesiastical province of Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Granada in Spain....
.

History

In the Roman Empire

Roman Empire

The Roman Empire was the Roman Republic phase of the Ancient Rome, characterised by an autocracy form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
, the town was known as Portus Victoriae Iuliobrigensium. Its present name is derived from St Emeterio (Santemter, Santenter, Santander), a martyr whose head was brought there in the 3rd century, along with that of St Celedonio, according to legend.

In 1187, King Alfonso VIII

Alfonso VIII of Castile

Alfonso VIII , called the Noble or el de las Navas, was the King of Castile from 1158 to his death and Kingdom of Toledo. He is most remembered for his part in the Reconquista and the downfall of the Almohad Caliphate....
made the abbot

Abbot

The word abbot, meaning father, is a title given to the head of a monastery in various traditions, including Christianity. The office may also be given as an honorary title to a clergyman who is not actually the head of a monastery....
of San Emeterio lord of the town, and in 1248 Santander participated in the battle for Seville

Seville

||-||}Seville is the artistic, cultural, and financial capital of southern Spain. It is the capital of Andalusia and of the province of Seville ....
, receiving a coat of arms as reward.

The city owes its existence to the excellent harbour of the 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 km? 9km long and 5 km wide Due to the influence of Santander, Cantabria and its metropolitan area, nearly half of the population of the region is gathered around it, which makes the anthropic pressure on t...
. Santander was an important port for Castile

Crown of Castile

The Crown of Castile, as a historic entity, is usually considered to have begun in 1230 with the third and definitive union of the two kingdoms of Kingdom of Le?n and Kingdom of Castile, or more concretely, with the union of their parliaments a few decades later....
in the later Middle Ages

Middle Ages

File:Karl 1 mit papst gelasius gregor1 sacramentar v karl d kahlen.jpgThe Middle Ages of European history are a period in history which lasted for roughly a millennium, commonly dated from the fall of the Roman Empire in the 5th century to the beginning of the Early Modern Period in the 16th century, marked by the division of Western Christi...
, and also for trade with the New World

New World

The New World is one of the names used for the non-Eurasian/non-African parts of the Earth, specifically the Americas and Australasia. When the term originated in the late 15th century, the Americas were new to the Europeans, who previously thought of the world as consisting only of Europe, Asia, and Africa ....
. It officially became a city in 1755.

In 1893 the freighter Cabo Machichaco exploded in the harbor, killing 500 people.

In the early 1900's Santander became the favored summer residence of King Alfonso XIII

Alfonso XIII of Spain

Alfonso XIII , List of Spanish monarchs, posthumous son of Alfonso XII of Spain, was proclaimed King at his birth. He reigned from 1886-1931. His mother, Maria Christina of Austria, was appointed regent during his minority....
, who built the Palacio de la Magdalena

Palacio de la Magdalena

The Palacio de la Magdalena is an early 20th-century palace located on the Magdalena Peninsula of the city of Santander, Cantabria, Spain....
as the residence of the royal family

Royal family

A royal family is the extended family of a king or queen regnant. The term "imperial family" more appropriately describes the extended family of an emperor or empress regnant, while the terms "ducal family", "grand ducal family" or "princely family" are more appropriate in reference to the relatives of a reigning duke, grand duke, or prince....
during the holidays. The city gained great popularity from this and from the Victorian enthusiasm for sea bathing

Sea bathing

Sea bathing is swimming in the sea or in sea water. Unlike bathing in a swimming pool, which is generally done for pleasure or exercise purposes, sea bathing was once thought to have curative or therapeutic value....
and it remains popular with the Spanish for beach holidays today.

Great Fire of 1941

Santander fell victim to a great fire

List of historic fires

This is a list of historic fires. Before the 20th century, fires were a major hazard to urban areas and the cause of massive amounts of damage to cities....
in 1941. Fanned by a strong south

South

South is one of the cardinal directions and is opposite to the north.By Western world Norm , the bottom side of a map is south; the southern direction has azimuth or bearing of 180?....
wind

WIND

The Global Geospace Science WIND satellite is a NASA science spacecraft launched at 04:31:00 EST on November 1, 1994 from launch pad 17B at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Merritt_Island%2C_Florida, Florida aboard a McDonnell Douglas Delta II 7925-10 rocket....
, the fire burned for two days. There was only one casualty

Casualty (person)

A casualty is a person who is the victim of an accident, injury, or Physical trauma. The word casualties is most often used by the news media to describe deaths and injuries resulting from wars or disasters....
, a firefighter

Firefighter

Firefighters are rescuers extensively trained primarily to put out hazardous fires that threaten civilian populations and property, to rescue people from car accidents, collapsed and burning buildings and other such situations....
killed in the line of duty, but thousands of families were left homeless and the city was plunged into chaos

Chaos

Chaos typically refers to unpredictability, and is the antithesis of cosmos.The word did not mean "disorder" in classical-period ancient Greece....
.

When it was over, the historic part of Santander was almost completely destroyed. The fire destroyed the greater part of the medieval

Middle Ages

Downtown

File:Chicago_skyline_march2006c.jpgDowntown is a term primarily used in North America to refer to a city's core or central business district, usually in a geographical, commercial, and community sense....
and gutted the city’s Romanesque

Romanesque architecture

Romanesque architecture is the term that is used to describe the architecture of Middle Ages Europe which evolved into the Gothic architecture style beginning in the 12th century....
cathedral

Cathedral

A cathedral is a Christian church that contains the seat of a bishop. It is a Religion building for worship, specifically of a denomination with an episcopal hierarchy, such as the Roman Catholic Church, Anglicanism, Orthodox Christian and some Lutheranism churches, which serves as a bishop's seat, and thus as the central church of a dioc...
.

Demography

, Santander has a population of 183,800. The number has remained fairly steady since 1981. Spain's low fecundity

Fecundity

Fecundity, derived from the word wikt:fecund, generally refers to the ability to reproduce. In biology and demography, fecundity is the potential reproductive capacity of an organism or population, measured by the number of gametes , seed set or asexual propagules....
rate and aging population have combined with rising immigration

Immigration

While the movement of people has thought throughout history at various levels, modern immigration tourism are considered non-immigrants . Immigration that violates the immigration laws of the destination country is termed illegal immigration or undocumented immigration....
figures to keep the population growth fairly stagnant. Nevertheless, the Santander conurbation

Conurbation

A conurbation is an urban area or agglomeration comprising a number of cities, large towns and larger urban areas that, through population growth and physical expansion, have merged to form one continuous urban and industrially developed area....
continues to sprawl

Urban sprawl

Urban sprawl, also known as suburban sprawl, is the spreading of a city and its suburbs over rural land at the fringe of an urban area. Residents of sprawling neighborhoods tend to live in single-family homes and commute by automobile to work....
as young families move away from the high cost of living in the heart of the city.

Tourism

Today Santander remains a popular tourist destination. It is renowned for its mild, (though rainy) climate.

Next to the Sardinero beach is a European style casino
Casino

A casino is, in the modern sense of the word, a facility that houses and accommodates certain types of gambling activities. Casinos are most commonly built near or combined with hotels, restaurants, retail shopping, cruise ships and other tourist attractions....
.
The Sardinero
Sardinero

Sardinero is a popular beach located in the Spain city of Santander, Cantabria, Cantabria. Sardinero is actually two beaches, divided by the gardens of Piquio about one-quarter the way along its length, stretching from the Magdalena Peninsula to Matale?as; two further adjacent beaches are also sometimes included....
beaches are nice urban beaches, certain parts of which are popular among local surfers.
The Plaza de Cañadío is a very popular place to start a night of drinking. The Plaza immediately borders seven different bars, and many other taverns are close by.
There are many interesting shops at the Cuatro Caminos
Cuatro Caminos

Cuatro Caminos is the fifth album by Caf? Tacuba, released in 2003....
and the area bordering the Ayuntamiento
Ayuntamiento

For a discussion of the historic ayuntamiento, see Cabildo .Ayuntamiento is the general term for the council of a municipality, or sometimes the municipality itself, in Spain and Latin America....

Sport

The La Liga

La Liga

The 'Primera Divisi?n' of the , commonly known as 'La Liga' or 'Liga BBVA' since 2008, is the top professional association football league in Spain....
club Racing Santander, founded in 1913, is based in the city.

Education

University of Cantabria
University of Cantabria

The University of Cantabria is a university located in Santander, Cantabria and Torrelavega in Cantabria, Spain. It was founded in 1972 and is organized in 12 Faculties....
is the largest university in Cantabria
Cantabria

Cantabria is a Spain province and autonomous community with Santander, Cantabria as its capital city. It is bordered on the east by the Basque Country , on the south by Castile and Le?n , on the west by the Principality of Asturias, and on the north by the Cantabrian Sea....
.
Universidad Internacional Menéndez Pelayo (UIMP) specializes in teaching foreigners about Spanish language
Spanish language

Spanish or Castilian is a Romance languages that originated in northern Spain, and gradually spread in the Kingdom of Castile and evolved into the principal language of government and trade....
and culture

Climate

External links

— Live webcams Santander and Cantabria.
— Official website of the Santander Ayuntamiento
Ayuntamiento

For a discussion of the historic ayuntamiento, see Cabildo .Ayuntamiento is the general term for the council of a municipality, or sometimes the municipality itself, in Spain and Latin America....
(In Spanish
Spanish language

Spanish or Castilian is a Romance languages that originated in northern Spain, and gradually spread in the Kingdom of Castile and evolved into the principal language of government and trade....
).
- Cantabria 102 Municipios
— Live webcam of Santander's Puertochico district.
— Live webcam and weather station at Sardinero beach
—All the cities and villages in Cantabria, incluiding Santander: History, Demography and more exhaustive information
— More than 100 photos of this city.
— Touristic routes, museums, monuments...