Burgos


Burgos is a city in the autonomous community of Castile and León in Spain. It is the capital city of the province of Burgos, and with a population of 176,551, also the largest city in the province, and the 37th-largest in Spain.
Burgos is situated in the north of the Iberian Peninsula, on the confluence of the Arlanzón river tributaries and at the edge of the central plateau.
Burgos was settled in 884 by Diego Rodríguez Porcelos, Count of Castile, on behalf of the Leonese monarch. In the 11th century, urban development took off with the installment of a diocese, while the arrival of Frankish foreign elements fostered economic activity. By the 13th century, Burgos had already become the most important trading hub of the north of the Kingdom of Castile, influenced for its strategic location both along the Way of St. James and along north-south trade networks connecting the Castilian hinterland with the emerging Cantabrian port towns. Burgos experienced a long decline from the 17th century onwards.
Burgos became the headquarters of the Francoist proto-government following the start of the Spanish Civil War. Declared in 1964 as Pole of Industrial Promotion and in 1969 as Pole of Industrial Development, the city has grown since then in terms of economic activity. At the regional level, Burgos forms part of an economic axis together with the cities of Valladolid and Palencia. In 2008, the international Burgos Airport started to service commercial flights.
The Museum of Human Evolution opened in Burgos in 2010. It features remains of the first hominids in Europe, who lived in the area 750,000–800,000 years ago. The Cathedral of Burgos is a World Heritage Site. Burgos was selected as the "Spanish Gastronomy Capital" of 2013. In 2015 UNESCO named it "City of Gastronomy", and it has been part of the Creative Cities Network since then.

Etymology

There are several possible origins for the toponymy. When the city was founded, the inhabitants of the surrounding country moved into the fortified village, whose Visigothic name of Burgos signified consolidated walled villages. The cities Burgas in Bulgaria and numerous cities containing the Germanic burg "city" such as Hamburg have a similar literal composition. The city began to be called Caput Castellae.

History

occupied sites around Burgos as early as 800,000 years ago.
When the Romans took possession of what is now the province of Burgos, the site had been a Celtic city. In Roman times, it belonged to Hispania Citerior and then to Hispania Tarraconensis. In the 5th century, the Visigoths drove back the Suebi, then the Berbers occupied almost all of Castile in the 8th century, although only for a very brief period, leaving little if any trace of their occupation. Alfonso III of Asturias conquered it about the middle of the 9th century, and built several castles, which was then extended through the reconquest of lost territory. The region came to be known as Castile from Latin castella " castles".
Burgos was founded in 884 as an outpost of this expanding Christian frontier, When Diego Rodríguez "Porcelos", Count of Castile, governed this territory with orders to promote the increase of the Christian population. he gathered the inhabitants of the surrounding country into one fortified village. The city began to be called Caput Castellae. The County of Castile, subject to the Kingdom of León, continued to be governed by counts and was gradually extended; Fernán González of Castile was the first independent count of Castile.
In the 11th century, the city became the see of the archdiocese of Burgos and the capital of the now-Kingdom of Castile. Burgos was a major stop for pilgrims on the urban French Way, the most popular path to Santiago de Compostela and a centre of trade between the Bay of Biscay and the south. This region attracted an unusually large foreign merchant population, who became part of the city oligarchy and excluded other foreigners.
Throughout the 13th and 14th centuries, Burgos was a favourite seat of the kings of León and Castile and a favoured burial site. The consejo of Burgos was firmly in the hands of an oligarchic class of knights-villein, who provided the monarchs with cavalry: in 1255 and 1266 royal charters granted relief from taxes to those citizens of Burgos who owned horses and could arm themselves, provided that they continue to live within the city walls. The merchant oligarchy succeeded the cathedral chapter as the major purchasers of land after 1250; they carried on their mercantile business in common with municipal or royal functions and sent their sons to England and Flanders to gain experience in overseas trade. A few families within the Santas Hermandades like the "Good Templars" of Sarracín and Bonifaz succeeded in monopolising the post of alcalde ; a special court, the alcalde del rey, was first mentioned at Burgos in 1281.
By the reign of Alfonso X, the exemption of the non-noble knights and religious corporations, combined with exorbitant gifts and grants to monasteries and private individuals, placed great stress on the economic well-being of the realm.
In the century following the 1248 conquest of Seville, Burgos became a testing ground for royal policies of increasing power against the consejo, in part by encouraging the right to appeal from the consejo to the king. In 1285, Sancho IV of Castile added a new body to the consejo that came to dominate it: the jurado, responsible for collecting taxes and overseeing public works; the king reserved the right to select its members. The city perceived that danger to its autonomy came rather from an uncontrolled aristocracy during royal minorities; Burgos joined the hermandades of cities that allied for mutual protection in 1295 and 1315. In the 14th century, royal intrusion into city affairs was perceived as a palliative against outbreaks of violence by the large, excluded class of smaller merchants and artisans, on whom the tax burden fell. The alguacil was the royal official instituted to judge disagreements.
On 9 June 1345, sweeping aside the city government, Alfonso XI of Castile established direct royal rule of Burgos through the Regimiento of sixteen appointed men.
File:Braun Burgos UBHD.jpg|thumb|center|upright=3.2|Burgos, as depicted in the Georg Braun & Frans Hogenberg's Civitates Orbis Terrarum
In 1574, Pope Gregory XIII made the bishopric a metropolitan archbishopric at the request of king Philip II of Spain.
Burgos has been the scene of many wars, including conflicts with Muslim states, struggles between León and Navarre, and conflicts between Castile and Aragon. In the Peninsular War against Napoleonic France, the siege of Burgos was a scene of a withdrawal for Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington. Again, during the 19th century wars of the Spanish succession, Burgos was the site of a battle. During the Spanish Civil War, Burgos was the base of Francisco Franco's rebel Nationalist faction.

Climate

At an elevation of, the city of Burgos has a warm-summer Mediterranean climate drop below freezing, often reaching temperatures as low as, and snowfalls are common, while the summer months see average high temperatures of. The lowest recorded temperature in Burgos was on 3 January 1971. The highest recorded temperature was on 13 August 1987.

Demographics

As of 2024, the population of Burgos is 176,551, of whom 47.6% are male and 52.4% are female, compared to the nationwide average of 49.0% and 51.0% respectively. People under 16 years old make up 13.9% of the population, and people over 65 years old make up 24.5%, compared to the nationwide average of 14.3% and 20.4% respectively.
As of 2024, the foreign-born population is 23,671, equal to 13.4% of the total population. The 5 largest foreign nationalities are Colombians, Romanians, Ecuadorians, Venezuelans and Moroccans.
CountryPopulation
Colombia

Sights

Burgos is rich in ancient churches and convents. The three most notable are the cathedral, with its chapel of the Condestables de Castilla, the monastery of Las Huelgas and the Carthusian monastery of Miraflores. Minor notable churches are San Esteban, San Gil, San Pedro, San Cosme y San Damián, Santiago, San Lorenzo and San Lesmes. The Convento de la Merced, occupied by the Jesuits, and the Hospital del Rey are also of historic and architectural interest.
Among the other interesting architectural structures, in the walls of the city are the gateway of Santa María, erected for the first entrance of the Emperor Charles V, and the arch of Fernán González.

Gothic Cathedral

Construction on Burgos' Gothic Cathedral began in 1221 and spanned mainly from the 13th to 15th centuries. It has been declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The Cathedral is the resting place for El Cid and his wife Doña Jimena. The west front is flanked by towers terminating in octagonal spires covered with open stonework traceries. The middle section, which serves as an entrance, has three alabaster pilasters, the intercolumnar spaces bearing panel-pictures representing the martyrdom of saints. The façade possesses ornate and fantastic surface decoration.
The octagonal chapel of the Condestable, in florid, thus highly sculpted, Gothic design, has a roof finished with balustraded turrets, needle-pointed pinnacles and statues. In the lower portion, coats of arms, shields and crouching lions have been worked into the ensemble. The exterior of the sacristy is decorated with carved traceries, figures of angels and armoured knights. The elaborate tabernacle is composed of two octagonal sections in Corinthian style.

Monasterio de las Huelgas

The Monasterio de las Huelgas Reales on the outskirts of the city, was founded in 1180 by king Alfonso VIII, and was begun in a pre-Gothic style, although almost every style has been introduced over many additions. The remarkable cloisters have been described as "unrivalled for beauty both of detail and design, and perhaps unsurpassed by anything in its age and style in any part of Europe". One cloister has semicircular arches with delicate and varied columns; the other has an ogival style of early Gothic. The interior of the church has enormous columns supporting its magnificent vault; the entrance is modern. This convent historically benefited from extraordinary privileges granted to its abbess by kings and popes.