Of the population of 176,125 (2002), 45% live in the capital,Palencia which is located on theCanal de Castilla. There are 191 municipalities in the province, of which more than half are villages with fewer than 200 people. The majority of the province is very sparsely populated and has lost a significant proportion of its population since Francoist times due to rural to urban migration.
The major towns in the northern Montaña Palentina are:Guardo, a former coal mining town;[2]Aguilar de Campoo, a historic town famous for its biscuit production andCervera de Pisuerga, a tourist town situated at the beginning of the Ruta de los Pantanos (the Reservoirs Route) andBarruelo de Santullán, which, as the centre of the province's coal mining industry, was the largest town in the province until the 1960s. Towns in the centre of the province include:Saldaña, known for the famous mosaics at the nearby Roman villa of La Olmeda,Herrera de Pisuerga, a village known for its summer activities and Crab Festival andCarrión de los Condes, a key monastery town on theCamino de Santiago. To the south of the city of Palencia areVenta de Baños, an important railway and industrial exchange, as well asVillamuriel de Cerrato, a village to that owes its development to the Renault factory[3] and its proximity to the capital.
During the Middle Ages, theVisigoths ruled Palencia. Basílica de San Juan, the oldest Visigothic church in Spain, was built in 661 in the province'sBaños de Cerrato.[4] During the thirteenth century a university was founded in the province. It was the first university in Spain and one of the first in the world. It was later shifted to Valladolid.[5]
The province is bordered on the north byCantabria, on the west by the province ofLeón, on the east by the province ofBurgos and on the south by the province ofValladolid. Two exclaves of the province,Cezura, andLastrilla, are enclaves withinCampoo, Cantabria, with the former being under 200 metres and the latter being just over 200 metres from the border at their closest point.
In Palencia large protected areas such as the Natural Park of Fuentes Carrionas and Fuente Cobre-Montaña Palencia are located.[6] The term historical region in Palencia, refers to those regions created in the fourteenth century, under the name merindades. Cantabrian Mountains are located in the northerns parts of the province. The 8,268 feet (2,520 metres) high Curavacas peak is located in the province.[7] The major commercial products produced in the province are barley, wheat, sugar beets, hemp, linen and woolen clothes, porcelain, leather, paper, and rugs. Food processing and metallurgy are major industries.[7] The province has three judicial districts–one each in Palencia, Carrión de los Condes and Cervera de Pisuerga.[8]
^Silur und Devon im Arauz-Gebiet (Prov. Palencia, N-Spanien). H. Jahnke, A. Henn, H. Mader and J. Schweineberg, 1983, Newsletters on Stratigraphy, 13(1), pages 40-66,doi:10.1127/nos/13/1983/40
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