A Coruña (; in Spanish: La Coruña ; also informally called Coruña; historical English: Corunna or The Groyne) is a city and municipality in Galicia, Spain. With a population of 249,255, it is the 2nd-largest city in Galicia behind Vigo. The city is the capital of the Province of A Coruña, having also been the political capital of the Kingdom of Galicia"A Coruña, capital militar y administrativa del Reino..." "The city of Corunna, Armory, Capital, and Head of the Kingdom of Galicia..." (1748), in from the 16th to the 19th centuries, and as a regional administrative centre between 1833 and 1982.
A Coruña is located on a promontory in the Golfo Ártabro, a large gulf on the Atlantic Ocean. It is the main industrial and financial centre of northern Galicia, and holds the headquarters of the Universidade da Coruña. A Coruña is the city with the tallest mean-height of buildings in Spain, also featuring a population density of of built land area.
Name There is no clear evidence as to what the name derives from. It seems to be from Crunia, of unknown origin and meaning, documented for the first time at the time of Ferdinand II of León (reigned 1157–1188). As usual in Galician-Portuguese (as well as in Castilian Spanish), the cluster ni naturally evolved into the sound , written , or in old Galician orthography, in Spanish (later abbreviated to , like the original Latin cluster ""), and in Portuguese and alternative Galician spelling. "A" is the Galician-Portuguese article equivalent to English the.
One proposed etymology derives Crunia from , the town in France. During its height () the Cluniac religious movement became very prominent in Europe. There is another town named Coruña in Burgos Province.
A more likely possibility is that the name simply means "The Crown", which in Galician is . It seems less likely that it traces back to the Galician . The name is reputedly from the Greek (Crown), referring to the crown of Geryon that was buried by Hercules under the lighthouse he built to his honour. The hero Hercules slew the giant tyrant Geryon after three days and three nights of continuous battle. Hercules then—in a Celtic gesture—buried the head of Geryon with his weapons and ordered that a city be built on the site. The lighthouse atop a skull and crossbones representing the buried head of Hercules' slain enemy appears in the coat-of-arms of the city of A Coruña, Loukeris (2019).
A proxy evolution within the Portuguese language points to the Latin word as its origin, where the L was transformed into R which occurs widely in Portuguese. A similar happening can be found today in Coronie, a Surinamese town which also made its course outside the Portuguese system.
A folk etymology incorrectly derives Coruña from the ancient columna, or Tower of Hercules.
English use In English, use of the Spanish or Galician forms now predominates. However, the traditional English form Corunna is still often used in the UK, particularly in reference to the Battle of Corunna (1809) in the Peninsular War. Archaically, English-speakers knew the city as "The Groyne", probably from French . In Spain, the official form of the name is now the Galician one: "A Coruña", though many Spaniards continue to use "La Coruña". Despite this, "La Coruña" is in a constant decline, in favor of the official and historical form "A Coruña".Decree of the Xunta de Galicia 146/1984, 27 September,Ley 2/1998, de 3 de marzo, sobre el cambio de denominación de las provincias de A Coruña y Ourense. which follows on the principles of Law 3/1983, 15 June, of Linguistic Normalization, article 10 BOE.es: Consultas. Documento
History
Prehistory
A Coruña spread from the peninsula, the site of the later Tower of Hercules, onto the mainland. The oldest part, known popularly in Galician as Cidade Vella (Old City), Cidade Alta (High City) or the Cidade (City), is built on an ancient Celtic castro. It was supposedly inhabited by the Brigantes and Artabrians, the Celtic tribes of the area.
Roman times The Romans came to the region in the 2nd century BCE; they made the most of the strategic position and soon the city became quite important in maritime trade. In 62 BCE Julius Caesar came to the city (known at the time as Brigantium) in pursuit of the metal trade, establishing commerce with what are now France, England and Portugal. The town began to grow, mainly during the 1st and 2nd centuries (when the Farum Brigantium Tower of Hercules was built), but declined after the 4th century and particularly with the incursions of the Vikings, which forced the population to flee towards the interior of the Estuary of O Burgo.
Middle Ages After the fall of the Roman Empire, A Coruña still had a commercial port connected to foreign countries, but contacts with the Mediterranean were slowly replaced by a more Atlantic-oriented focus. The process of deurbanisation that followed the fall of the Roman Empire also affected A Coruña. Between the 7th and 8th centuries, the city was no more than a little village of labourers and sailors.
The 11th-century Chronica iriense names Faro do Burgo (ancient name of A Coruña) as one of the dioceses that king Miro granted to the episcopate of Iria Flavia in the year 572:
Mirus Rex Sedi suae Hiriensi contulit Dioceses, scilicet Morratium, Salinensem, (...) Bregantinos, Farum...
"[King Miro granted to his Irienses headquarters the dioceses of Morrazo, Salnés (...). Bergantiños, Faro...]"
The Muslim invasion of the Iberian peninsula left no archaeological evidence in the northwest, so it cannot be said whether or not the Muslim invaders ever reached the city. As Muslim rule in early 8th century Galicia consisted little more than a short-lived overlordship of the remote and rugged region backed by a few garrisons, and the city was no more than a village amidst Roman ruins, the invaders showed the same lack of interest in the ruined city as they did generally for the region.
As the city began to recover during the Middle Ages the main problem for the inhabitants was the Norman raids, as well as the ever-present threat of raids (razzias) from Al-Andalus to the south. During the 9th century there were several Viking attacks on the city, called at that time Faro or Faro Bregancio.
In the year 991, King Vermudo II began the construction of defensive military positions on the coast. At Faro, in the ruins of the Tower of Hercules, a fortress was built, which had a permanent military garrison. To pay for it, he gave power over the city to the bishop of Santiago. The bishop of Santiago became the most important political post in Galicia, and remained so until the 15th century.
In 1208, Alfonso IX re-founded the city of Crunia. Some privileges, such as those of disembarking and selling salt without paying taxes, were granted to the city, and it enjoyed a big growth in fishing and mercantile business. The city grew and extended through the isthmus. In 1446 John II of Castile granted to A Coruña the title of "City". The Catholic Monarchs established the Royal Audience of the Kingdom of Galicia in the city, instead of Santiago. A Coruña also became the headquarters of the Captaincy General.
Later, in 1522, Charles V conceded to the city of A Coruña the license to establish the House of Spices, being this the port chosen by Jofre Garcia de Loysa to set his expedition to conquer the Moluccans.
In the late Middle Ages, before the expulsion of the Jews in 1492, a thriving Jewish community created a rich artistic heritage in the city. The most lavishly illuminated Hebrew Bible in medieval Spain was created in A Coruña in 1476. Known as the Kennicott Bible, it is currently housed in the Bodleian Library, Oxford. The Jewish community is said to have dated to at least the 11th century, with fragments of Jewish tombstones dating to that time period. There is a street in present A Coruña called "Calle de la Sinagoga", or "synagogue street", which is believed to be the street where the synagogue once stood.
Modern period During the Modern period, the city was a port and centre for the manufacturing of textiles. In 1520, king Carlos I of Spain, met in the courts of A Coruña and embarked from its harbor to be elected Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire (as Charles V). He allowed the government of the Kingdom of Galicia to distribute spice in Europe between 1522 and 1529. Commerce with the Indies was allowed between 1529 and 1575. San Antón Castle was built to defend of the city and its harbor.
The city of La Coruña became the seat of the government bodies generated by the new political system imposed by the Catholic Monarchs. Charles V granted La Coruña the long-awaited House of Trade. While most of the cities of Galicia contracted during the 16TH -19TH centuries, La Coruña periodically refreshed (its closely linked to the Court) social class, honored by it with appointments, leading to a continuous enhancement of social life. The port of La Coruña became the base of the Navy, as the city continued to become the main port of Galicia due to its good situation regarding access to North America (positioned as a key port for the European Atlantic trade) its business tradition, and its status as a royal city with privileges from the King. The city fought hard for centuries to obtain the licenses it needed to trade with the entire world.
From the port of Ferrol in the Province of A Coruña, Philip II left to marry Mary I of England in 1554, and much later, in 1588, from the same port the Spanish Armada would set sail to the Low Countries and England, where it was defeated.
In the following year, during the Anglo-Spanish War, the English Armada conducted a besieged A Coruña, but was eventually forced to withdraw. A local woman, María Pita, took her dead husband's spear during the siege and killed an enemy captain, rallying support to deny a breach in the wall to the attackers.
In the 16th and 17th centuries, the wars of the Spanish monarchy caused a great increase in taxes and the start of conscription. In 1620, Philip III created the School of the Boys of the Sea. In 1682 the Tower of Hercules was restored by Antúnez.
Seventeenth century
In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, continuous wars caused tax increases and the reduction of the population, sending the city into recession.
Queen Elizabeth I of England’s deep enmity with Spanish King Phillip II led to a series of wars. On 21 July 1588, the Spanish Armada left the port of La Coruña for the unexpected disaster of total defeat in the English Channel. A year later, in 1589, the Queen of England sent a counter armada commanded by Admiral Francis Drake to siege the city. The city’s defense was organized under the command of the Marquis of Cerralbo, who deployed all available troops and militias and mobilized the population for support work, including the reinforcement of the old medieval walls. During the siege, the heroic deed of María Pita took place: at a critical moment, when an explosion knocked down part of the wall near the Puerta de Ares and the soldiers on both sides were stunned, she rallied the defenders and took up arms, facing the enemy with "Whoever has honor should follow me!" This brave gesture resulted in the upper city (today known as the old city) not falling into English hands. María Pita received great recognition and important privileges for her action.
During the siege, the people of La Coruña made a vow to the Virgin of the Rosary, praying for the salvation of the city, the origin of a tradition that is preserved to this day and is celebrated every 7 October in the church of Santo Domingo. The fierce and successful defense of La Coruña enshrined street names that persist, such as the Marquis of Cerralbo, Captain Troncoso (next to the section of wall he defended) and Captain Juan Varela.