Cantabria

It borders to the east on the Basque Country (province of Vizcaya), to the south on Castile and León (provinces of León, Palencia, and Burgos), to the west on Asturias, and to the north on the Cantabrian Sea, the local designation for the part of the Bay of Biscay that lies off its coast..

Santander functions as the capital of Cantabria.

Cantabria shares the National Park Picos de Europa (in the Cantabrian Mountains) with Asturias and León.

Contents

1 Etymology
2 Geography
3 Economy
4 Population
5 Famous Cantabrians
6 See also
7 External links

Etymology

In pre-Roman times the people known as Cantabri inhabited Cantabria. The name has no connection with Cantabrigia, a Latinate version of Cambridge. Many different authors have written about the origins of the name Cantabria, including Isidore of Seville, Julio Caro Baroja, Aureliano Fernández Guerra, Joaquín Gonzalez Echegaray, and Adolf Schulten. No consensus on the matter exists, but many experts suggest a derivation from the Celtic root cant-, meaning "rock" or "stone", and from the suffix -abr, used frequently in Celtic regions. From this we can deduce that the word "cántabro" means "dwelling in the mountains", referring to the rugged terrain of Cantabria. It has also been suggested that Cantabria is derived from the Celtic "Kant" = mountain or rock and "Iber" = Ebro, thus The Mountains of the Ebro. See Alberto González Rodríguez, .Diccionario Etimilógico de la Toponimia Mayor de Cantabria, Estudio, Santander.

Geography

Area: 5,321 km²

Transportation:

Freeways/motorways: Autovía del Cantábrico (A-8), Autovía de la Meseta (under construction), N-623.

Seaport: Puerto de Raos (Santander)

Airport: Aeropuerto de Parayas (Santander)

Climate: Cantabria has a reputation for a rainy and cool Melbourne-like climate.

Dukedom of Cantabria

Economy

GDP (2002): € 8,911.5 million.

Population

Statistics

549,690 people in the 2003 census, representing 1.29% of the population of Spain.

Population density 103.31 people/km²

Life expectancy: 75 years for men, 83 years for women.

Demonyms

Cántabro/a and cantábrico - we generally use "Cantabrian" for people and things, and "Cantabric" for places.

Montañés - literally "Mountainese", but English-speakers do not use this term.

Santanderino/a - this refers specifically to residents of Santander, but often applies to other Cantabrians as well: before 1981 the entire Cantabric area formed the Province of Santander.

Famous Cantabrians

Historical Figures:

Corocotta, Pedro, Duke of Cantabria, Alfonso I, Beato de Liébana, Iñigo de Mendoza, Juan de la Cosa, Juan de Escobedo, Juan de Herrera, Bárbara de Blomberg, Juan Francisco de Güemes, Francisco Rávago, Francisco Antonio Cagigal de la Vega, Luis Vicente de Velasco e Isla, Pedro Velarde, Angel Herrera Oria.

Art and Literature:

Marcelino Menéndez Pelayo, José María de Pereda, Manuel Llano, Pancho Cossío, José María de Cossío,Gerardo Diego, Rafael de Floranes, Agustín Riancho, Ataúlfo Argenta, Concha Espina, José Hierro.

Science and Technology:

Augusto González de Linares, Enrique Diego Madrazo y Azcona, Leonardo Torres Quevedo.

Sports:

Francisco Gento, Vicente Trueba Pérez, Carlos Alonso González "Santillana", José Manuel Abascal,Severiano Ballesteros, Iván Helguera, Pedro Munitis, Oscar Freire.

Panoramic view of a meadow in Cantabria.

External links

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