Boal (
Galician-Asturian
Galician–Asturian or Eonavian (autonym: ; ast, eonaviegu, gallego-asturianu; gl, eonaviego, galego-asturiano) is a set of Romance dialects or ''falas'' whose linguistic dominion extends into the zone of Asturias between the Eo River and Navi ...
: ''Bual'')
is a
municipality
A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate.
The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...
, a
civil parish
In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authority ...
and a town in the
Autonomous Community
eu, autonomia erkidegoa
ca, comunitat autònoma
gl, comunidade autónoma
oc, comunautat autonòma
an, comunidat autonoma
ast, comunidá autónoma
, alt_name =
, map =
, category = Autonomous administra ...
of the
Principality of Asturias
Asturias (, ; ast, Asturies ), officially the Principality of Asturias ( es, Principado de Asturias; ast, Principáu d'Asturies; Galician-Asturian: ''Principao d'Asturias''), is an autonomous community in northwest Spain.
It is coextensive ...
(
Spain
, image_flag = Bandera de España.svg
, image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg
, national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond")
, national_anthem = (English: "Royal March")
, i ...
). It borders north with
El Franco
El Franco is a municipality in the Autonomous Community of the Principality of Asturias. It is bordered on the north by the Cantabrian Sea, and to the west by Tapia de Casariego, to the south by Castropol and Boal, and to the east by Coaña. El F ...
and
Coaña
Coaña (Galician-Asturian: ''Cuaña'') is a municipality in the Autonomous Community of the Principality of Asturias, Spain. It lies along the Cantabrian Sea to the north, and is bordered on the south by Boal, on the east by Navia and Villayó ...
, south with
Illano
Illano (Eonavian: ''Eilao'') is a municipality in the Principality of Asturias Spanish autonomous community. It is bordered on the north by Boal, on the south by San Martín de Oscos, on the east by Boal, Villayón and Allande, and on the west b ...
, west with
Castropol
Castropol is a municipality in Asturias, Spain. It is also the name of a parish within the municipality and a town within the parish.
The municipality of Castropol has a population of 3696 (INE, 2014). It is bounded on the north by the Cantabria ...
and east with
Villayón
Villayón () is a municipality in the Autonomous Community of the Principality of Asturias, Spain. It is bordered on the north by Navia, on the west by Coaña, Boal and Illano, on the east by Valdés, Tineo y Allande and on the south by Alla ...
.
The main way of access to the municipality is the regional road AS-12, which connects
Navia with
Grandas de Salime
Grandas de Salime is a municipality in the Autonomous Community of the Principality of Asturias, Spain. It is famous for its hydroelectric dam across the Navia River, forming the Embalse de Salime (''reservoir of Salime''). It is also famous f ...
. The whole municipality has a population of 1,632 inhabitants, whereas there are about 496 inhabitants in the capital town.
Etymology
Etymologically, it is usually considered that "Boal" comes either from the
Indo-european languages
The Indo-European languages are a language family native to the overwhelming majority of Europe, the Iranian plateau, and the northern Indian subcontinent. Some European languages of this family, English, French, Portuguese, Russian, Dutc ...
, ''*bod-'' (
stream
A stream is a continuous body of water, body of surface water Current (stream), flowing within the stream bed, bed and bank (geography), banks of a channel (geography), channel. Depending on its location or certain characteristics, a stream ...
,
ditch
A ditch is a small to moderate divot created to channel water. A ditch can be used for drainage, to drain water from low-lying areas, alongside roadways or fields, or to channel water from a more distant source for plant irrigation. Ditches ar ...
), or from the
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
, ''bove'' or ''*bovale'' (ox). Although some authors believe that "Boal" could be understood as the expression of an old anthroponym or person name, Bovali (iler) or Baudiliu (adducing the form Baudali), it is common to consider its original meaning either as ''"terreno frecuentado y apropiado para el pasto del ganado vacuno"'' ("land frequented and appropriate for the grazing of cattle") or as ''"corral de bueyes o dehesa boyal"'' ("
corral
A pen is an enclosure for holding livestock. It may also perhaps be used as a term for an enclosure for other animals such as pets that are unwanted inside the house. The term describes types of enclosures that may confine one or many animal ...
for oxen or ox
pasture
Pasture (from the Latin ''pastus'', past participle of ''pascere'', "to feed") is land used for grazing. Pasture lands in the narrow sense are enclosed tracts of farmland, grazed by domesticated livestock, such as horses, cattle, sheep, or swine ...
"). In fact,
Corominas mentions in
Aragonese ''boalage, boalar, "dehesa boyal"'' ("ox pasture") as derivatives of ''boal'', which would be at the same time a variant of ''boyal, "perteneciente al buey o al ganado vacuno"'' ("belonging to ox or to cattle") .
History
Ancient times
There still remain traces proving the existence of settlements in this municipality in a time prior to the arrival of Romans. Although it is supposed that there were already populated enclaves in the area during the
Paleolithic
The Paleolithic or Palaeolithic (), also called the Old Stone Age (from Greek: παλαιός ''palaios'', "old" and λίθος ''lithos'', "stone"), is a period in human prehistory that is distinguished by the original development of stone too ...
, there are no remains of this time, so such a supposition could not be demonstrated. Nevertheless, remains of the
Neolithic
The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several parts ...
have reached up to the present day. For example, several burial mounds were found in the mountain range of
Penouta in what is one of the vastest burial mound fields in the whole Asturias, with 72 catalogued tombs. Likewise,
dolmen
A dolmen () or portal tomb is a type of single-chamber megalithic tomb, usually consisting of two or more upright megaliths supporting a large flat horizontal capstone or "table". Most date from the early Neolithic (40003000 BCE) and were somet ...
s near
Llaviada (nowadays disappeared) are supposed to date from this time, together with the oscillating granitic mass known as
Penedo Aballón (located near Penouta, and knocked down in 2004, probably by a few vandals).
From the
Bronze Age
The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second pri ...
(approximately 1500-1100 b.C) are believed to date the anthropomorphic paintings (both masculine and feminine) found in the
Cova del Demo ("Cave of Devil" in English), located near the hamlet of
Froseira, in the civil parish of
Doiras.
All the preceding facts, together with the signals of mining work devoted to the extraction of metals and, especially the
Celtic fortifications of
Pendia,
Los Mazos and
La Escrita also prove the aforementioned pre-Roman settlements.
The subsequent
Roman
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
*Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...
presence, after the conquest carried out by the legions under command of General
Publio Carisio (the X Gemina and the V Alaudae), left imprints such as several coins and
ceramics
A ceramic is any of the various hard, brittle, heat-resistant and corrosion-resistant materials made by shaping and then firing an inorganic, nonmetallic material, such as clay, at a high temperature. Common examples are earthenware, porcelain ...
fragments, as well as probably the origin of the names of some small villages such as
Vega de Ouria, likely due to the presence of some river
gold
Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile met ...
working in that time. In those days, it is believed that the area corresponding to the civil parish of
Castrillón
Castrillón is a municipality in Asturias, located on the central coast. It has an area of 56.70 km² and a population of 22,361 inhabitants (in 2005). The most important population centres are the capital Piedras Blancas, Salinas, and R ...
was populated by the astur tribe of
Pesicos, whereas the area located western from the
Navia River
The Navia is a river in northern Spain flowing South to North from Galicia into
the Autonomous Community of Asturias. It discharges into the Bay of Biscay through an estuary called ''Ría de Navia''.
See also
* List of rivers of Spain
* Rive ...
would have been inhabited by the gallaeci tribe of
Albions.
After about four centuries of Roman domination, the barbarians entered the Iberian Peninsula, and
Suebi
The Suebi (or Suebians, also spelled Suevi, Suavi) were a large group of Germanic peoples originally from the Elbe river region in what is now Germany and the Czech Republic. In the early Roman era they included many peoples with their own names ...
settled down in the western area of Asturias, reaching their maximum expansion about the year 450. It is known that later arrived
Visigoths
The Visigoths (; la, Visigothi, Wisigothi, Vesi, Visi, Wesi, Wisi) were an early Germanic people who, along with the Ostrogoths, constituted the two major political entities of the Goths within the Roman Empire in late antiquity, or what is ...
, that occupied the whole territory about 584. However, there are very little archaeological remains of all those populations.
Middle Ages
Little is known about the history of Boal at the beginning of the
Middle Ages
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...
, during the asturian monarchy. The fights between the bishops of
Oviedo
Oviedo (; ast, Uviéu ) is the capital city of the Principality of Asturias in northern Spain and the administrative and commercial centre of the region. It is also the name of the municipality that contains the city. Oviedo is located ap ...
and
Lugo
Lugo (, ; la, Lucus Augusti) is a city in northwestern Spain in the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Galicia (Spain), Galicia. It is the capital of the Lugo (province), province of Lugo. The municipality had a population ...
for the territories located between the rivers
Navia and
Eo came to an end by means of an agreement promoted by the king
Alfonso VII
Alphons (Latinized ''Alphonsus'', ''Adelphonsus'', or ''Adefonsus'') is a male given name recorded from the 8th century (Alfonso I of Asturias, r. 739–757) in the Christian successor states of the Visigothic kingdom in the Iberian peninsula. ...
. Thus, all those territories and Boal included among them were submitted to the bishop of Oviedo by donation in the year 1154, under the generic denomination of territory of
Castropol
Castropol is a municipality in Asturias, Spain. It is also the name of a parish within the municipality and a town within the parish.
The municipality of Castropol has a population of 3696 (INE, 2014). It is bounded on the north by the Cantabria ...
.
In 1368, the bishop D. Gutierre, appointed
Alvar Pérez Osorio as "governor" of the
Tierra de Ribadeo y Grandas, which comprised the current municipalities of Boal, Castropol, Coaña, El Franco, Grandas de Salime, Illano,
Pesoz
Pesoz (Eonavian: Pezós) is a municipality and the only parish in that municipality in the Autonomous Community of the Principality of Asturias, Spain. It is one of the least populated municipalities in Asturias. It is bordered on the north by I ...
,
San Martín de Oscos
San Martín de Oscos ( Eonavian: Samartín d'Ozcos) is a municipality in the Autonomous Community of the Principality of Asturias. It is bordered on the north by Illano, on the south by Grandas de Salime, on the east by Pesoz and on the west by ...
,
Santa Eulalia de Oscos
Santa Eulalia de Oscos ( Eonavian: Santalla d'Ozcos) is a municipality in the Autonomous Community of the Principality of Asturias, Spain. It is bordered on the north by Villanueva de Oscos, on the south and west by Lugo province of Galicia, ...
,
Tapia,
Taramundi
Taramundi is a municipality in the Principality of Asturias, Spain.
It neighbors on the north side with San Tirso de Abres and Vegadeo, on the east side with Villanueva de Oscos and Vegadeo, on the south side with Santa Eulalia de Oscos and A Pont ...
and
Vegadeo
Vegadeo ( Eonavian: A Veiga) is a municipality in the Autonomous Community of the Principality of Asturias, Spain. It is bordered in the north and east by Castropol, in the south by Villanueva de Oscos, Taramundi, and San Tirso de Abres, and in t ...
, having up to 41 parishes. This was a time of many violent uprisings because of the high taxes Pérez Osorio obliged the inhabitants of the area to pay.
Subsequently, bishops created several villages and municipalities, so at the beginning of the 16th century, the Tierra de Ribadeo was divided into five municipalities: Castropol,
Piantón
Piantón is one of six parishes in Vegadeo, a municipality within the province and autonomous community of Asturias, in northern Spain.
The ''parroquia
''Parroquia'' (, , pl. ''parroquias''; , pl. ''parroquies'') or ''Parròquia'' (, pl. ''p ...
,
Barres, El Franco and Grandas, with Boal belonging to the municipality of El Franco.
Modern Ages
This system of municipalities was in force until the arrival of the
King Felipe II, who obtained permission from the
Pope Gregory XIII
Pope Gregory XIII ( la, Gregorius XIII; it, Gregorio XIII; 7 January 1502 – 10 April 1585), born Ugo Boncompagni, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 13 May 1572 to his death in April 1585. He is best known for ...
to divide and sell any town, place and jurisdiction, what allowed him to obtain financing for wars and to pay the great debt he had. There were attempts of buying jurisdictions by some individuals (with the intention to advance in the social scale), but the most usual was the buying by the people.
This favored that in those years Boal disassociated from the Church. In 1579,
Alonso López de Navia y Bolaño, an inhabitant of the town of Navia, gave power to Pedro Bermúdez to arrange with
Alonso de Camino, who initially registered the parishes of Serandinas, Boal, Doiras, Pesoz, Coaña,
Trelles,
Villacondide, etc., expecting to buy them, for shortly after transferring the parishes of Boal,
Serandinas and Doiras to
Rui Garcia de Cangas in order to reduce expenses.
The fears of the people of villages to depend on the lords, considering the abuses they committed against their inhabitants, led them to "buy themselves" and to incorporate to the Crown. Thus, the parishes of Boal, Serandinas and Doiras were redeemed in 1580, starting to have the jurisdictional status of ''"realengo"'' (directly depending on the King).
The definitive independence of Boal as a municipality took place in 1584, when representatives of the inhabitants of its parishes met, drawing up the first local regulations and agreeing on the way to choose the offices of town councilors, mayor, constables, attorneys, etc. Thus, parishes became towns with civil and criminal jurisdiction, and representatives would meet once a year to choose the aforementioned offices. In this time, the capital of the municipality changed and it was held in several of its villages (
Prelo,
Armal, Castrillón, and the town of Boal), but it definitely returned to Boal in 1791.
During the 17th and 18th centuries, in which the clearly predominant activities in Boal were agriculture and cattle farming, beautiful family seats and palaces were built in the municipality, but at present most of them are almost completely disappeared, although with some exceptions such as the
Palace of Miranda, in the village of Prelo. There is no doubt that the 18th century was the most prosperous for the municipality because, in addition to the fundamental farming activities, the craftwork industries became noticeably important too, and by the middle of this century there were 4
fulling mill
Fulling, also known as felting, tucking or walking ( Scots: ''waukin'', hence often spelled waulking in Scottish English), is a step in woollen clothmaking which involves the cleansing of woven or knitted cloth (particularly wool) to elimin ...
s, 8
mallet
A mallet is a tool used for imparting force on another object, often made of rubber or sometimes wood, that is smaller than a maul or beetle, and usually has a relatively large head. The term is descriptive of the overall size and proport ...
s to stretch
iron
Iron () is a chemical element with symbol Fe (from la, ferrum) and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 of the periodic table. It is, by mass, the most common element on Earth, right in f ...
, one
forge
A forge is a type of hearth used for heating metals, or the workplace (smithy) where such a hearth is located. The forge is used by the smith to heat a piece of metal to a temperature at which it becomes easier to shape by forging, or to th ...
, and 42
mills for grain.
19th century
It is also known that during the
Spanish War of Independence
The Peninsular War (1807–1814) was the military conflict fought in the Iberian Peninsula by Spain, Portugal, and the United Kingdom against the invading and occupying forces of the First French Empire during the Napoleonic Wars. In Spain, ...
the French troops occupied Boal in the belief that the town hosted a weapons factory. A group of inhabitants of Boal took part in the "
Alarma del cerezal" (a group of people who met to avoid an invasion or to defend from the enemy), but they could not avoid
Maurice Mathieu
David-Maurice-Joseph Mathieu de Saint-Maurice de La Redorte or Maurice Mathieu (20 February 1768 – 1 March 1833) was a French general during the Napoleonic Wars.
Biography
Mathieu was born into a French noble family and entered the French R ...
’s soldiers to invade the town on March 19, 1809, establishing a camp in Llaviada, and causing numerous deaths, plundering and damages.
A few years later, in 1814 and 1820, Serandinas unsuccessfully tried to become a municipality independent of Boal. Furthermore, in July 1823 noticeable damages were caused by a group of about 24 robbers commanded by
Miguel Álvarez Samartino de la Trapa, who stole money from the taxes income and tore documents of the municipal secretary’s office. It is believed that two inhabitants of Armal could have taken part in these happenings, but they could not be captured as people in their village would have covered them up.
During the
Carlist Wars
The Carlist Wars () were a series of civil wars that took place in Spain during the 19th century. The contenders fought over claims to the throne, although some political differences also existed. Several times during the period from 1833 to 187 ...
the municipality was invaded again: in 1836, a guerrilla group commanded by
San Breixo entered in Boal, but he was captured in the following year and subsequently executed by firing squad in the cemetery of Piantón by a militia formed in Boal. Shortly after, in 1837, it was inaugurated the parish church devoted to
Santiago Apóstol, and in 1842, the town hall and the jail.
It is also worth mentioning other events that took place in the municipality in this century. Among them is the
cholera
Cholera is an infection of the small intestine by some strains of the bacterium ''Vibrio cholerae''. Symptoms may range from none, to mild, to severe. The classic symptom is large amounts of watery diarrhea that lasts a few days. Vomiting and ...
epidemic of 1854 and 1855, although it was not excessively virulent. That was not the case of the
smallpox
Smallpox was an infectious disease caused by variola virus (often called smallpox virus) which belongs to the genus Orthopoxvirus. The last naturally occurring case was diagnosed in October 1977, and the World Health Organization (WHO) c ...
epidemic of 1870, much more serious and deadly.
Also in the 19th century, Boal saw the birth of one of its most distinguished figures,
Bernardo Acevedo y Huelves
Bernardo is a given name and less frequently an Italian, Portuguese and Spanish surname. Possibly from the Germanic "Bernhard".
Given name People
* Bernardo the Japanese (died 1557), early Japanese Christian convert and disciple of Saint Franc ...
, whose name was later given to the municipal library. Among his works it is worth highlighting ''"Boal y su concejo"'' ("Boal and its municipality"), a very clarifying picture about the way of life and the customs in the municipality at the end of the 19th century, which also shows the importance the industry of iron forge (at present disappeared) had by that time.
In connection with this, it is worth mentioning the uprising that took place in 1895, in which the forgers of the municipality destroyed all the machines for making tacks that Víctor Sánchez, a local businessman, was installing in the village of Armal with the aim to start a strong tacking industry able to face the great external competition, especially that English one, which finally made unfeasible the traditional means of working iron in the municipality.
20th century
The end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th were years of important migratory flows, especially to the
Americas
The Americas, which are sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North and South America. The Americas make up most of the land in Earth's Western Hemisphere and comprise the New World.
Along with th ...
. From these years date several large houses, property of emigrants who had made fortune in the Americas, such as for example Villa Anita. In addition, the money furnished by many emigrants contributed decisively to the construction of various schools in several villages of the municipality and the elementary school of the capital town, known as "Las Graduadas", in 1934, which was promoted by the ''"Sociedad de Instrucción Naturales del Concejo de Boal"'' ("Association for the Education Natives of the Municipality of Boal") in
La Habana
Havana (; Spanish: ''La Habana'' ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of the La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center. (
Cuba
Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...
). Also in these years several public washing houses were built in the municipality.
Some other infrastructures of capital relevance for Boal were built at the beginning of the 20th century. That was the case of the road connecting Navia and Grandas de Salime, with the construction of the stretch from Navia to Boal. Furthermore, in 1934 it was built the dam of Doiras, and in the year 1951 it was started the large-scale exploitation of the
tungsten
Tungsten, or wolfram, is a chemical element with the symbol W and atomic number 74. Tungsten is a rare metal found naturally on Earth almost exclusively as compounds with other elements. It was identified as a new element in 1781 and first isolat ...
mines near Penouta, although they closed in 1961.
The decadence of tungsten mining, which had employed up to 254 workers, and the end of the construction of the big reservoirs along the Navia River, together with the gradual abandonment of cattle farming (still at present the main economic activity of the municipality) led to new migratory flows, especially from the 1950s on, but in this case they were directed preferentially to other regions of
Spain
, image_flag = Bandera de España.svg
, image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg
, national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond")
, national_anthem = (English: "Royal March")
, i ...
(the industrialized center of Asturias,
Madrid
Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...
, etc.) or to Europe (
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
,
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
,
Belgium
Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...
,
Switzerland
). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...
, etc.), giving rise to a progressive depopulation that still continues at present.
Geography
Physical geography
Being located in the middle basin of the
Navia River
The Navia is a river in northern Spain flowing South to North from Galicia into
the Autonomous Community of Asturias. It discharges into the Bay of Biscay through an estuary called ''Ría de Navia''.
See also
* List of rivers of Spain
* Rive ...
, the municipality of Boal is crossed by that river from south/south-east to north-east, where its course acts as a natural border with the neighboring municipality of
Villayón
Villayón () is a municipality in the Autonomous Community of the Principality of Asturias, Spain. It is bordered on the north by Navia, on the west by Coaña, Boal and Illano, on the east by Valdés, Tineo y Allande and on the south by Alla ...
. On its way through this municipality, the Navia River is dammed first in
Doiras, and later, downstream, by that of
Arbón, already located in Villayón. Two noticeable tributaries pouring their water on the Navia River in the municipality of Boal are the
Urubio River (in the reservoir of Doiras) and the
Pendia River (in the reservoir of Arbón).
The main elevation of the terrain is located already bordering with the municipalities of
Illano
Illano (Eonavian: ''Eilao'') is a municipality in the Principality of Asturias Spanish autonomous community. It is bordered on the north by Boal, on the south by San Martín de Oscos, on the east by Boal, Villayón and Allande, and on the west b ...
and
Castropol
Castropol is a municipality in Asturias, Spain. It is also the name of a parish within the municipality and a town within the parish.
The municipality of Castropol has a population of 3696 (INE, 2014). It is bounded on the north by the Cantabria ...
: it is the range of
La Bobia, of 1,201 m above sea level. It is also worth mentioning
La Cristaleira (1,036 m) in the southern area of the municipality,
Pena Queimada (921 m) in the north-western area,
Penouta (899 m) in the northern zone (from there it is possible to see a wide panoramic view of the coast from the municipality of Navia to the environs of
Foz
Foz () is a town and municipality in the A Mariña Central comarca in the Galician province of Lugo. It has been historically linked to the Ancient Province of Mondoñedo and also linked to the arrival of Briton immigrants during the Dark Age ...
, in the province of
Lugo
Lugo (, ; la, Lucus Augusti) is a city in northwestern Spain in the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Galicia (Spain), Galicia. It is the capital of the Lugo (province), province of Lugo. The municipality had a population ...
) and
Penácaros (732 m) in the central area. The capital town of the municipality is located relatively far away from the main valley of the Navia River, in the headwaters of the Pendia River and surrounded by the three aforementioned mountains, at about 450 m above sea level.
Civil parishes
![Vista general de Boal](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e6/Vista_general_de_Boal.JPG)
The municipality of Boal is divided in 7
civil parish
In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authority ...
es:
*
Boal
Boal (Galician-Asturian: ''Bual'') is a municipality, a civil parish and a town in the Autonomous Community of the Principality of Asturias (Spain). It borders north with El Franco and Coaña, south with Illano, west with Castropol and east with ...
(in
Eonavian
Galician–Asturian or Eonavian (autonym: ; ast, eonaviegu, gallego-asturianu; gl, eonaviego, galego-asturiano) is a set of Romance dialects or ''falas'' whose linguistic dominion extends into the zone of Asturias between the Eo River and Na ...
: ''Bual''): 966 inhabitants.
*
Castrillón
Castrillón is a municipality in Asturias, located on the central coast. It has an area of 56.70 km² and a population of 22,361 inhabitants (in 2005). The most important population centres are the capital Piedras Blancas, Salinas, and R ...
(in Eonavian: ''Castriyón''): 182 inhabitants.
*
Doiras: 153 inhabitants.
*
Lebredo (in Eonavian: ''Llebredo''): 13 inhabitants.
*
La Ronda (in Eonavian: ''A Ronda''): 63 inhabitants.
*
Rozadas: 176 inhabitants.
*
Serandinas (in Eonavian: ''Serandías''): 223 inhabitants.
(Source: INE
INE, Ine or ine may refer to:
Institutions
* Institut für Nukleare Entsorgung, a German nuclear research center
* Instituto Nacional de Estadística (disambiguation)
* Instituto Nacional de Estatística (disambiguation)
* Instituto Nacional Elec ...
)
Main populated places
*Boal: 526 inhabitants.
*
Armal: 154 inhabitants.
*
Doiras: 98 inhabitants.
*
Miñagón: 94 inhabitants.
*
Rozadas: 79 inhabitants.
*
Serandinas: 69 inhabitants.
*
Prelo: 61 inhabitants.
*
Los Mazos: 49 inhabitants.
*
Sampol: 41 inhabitants.
*
Castrillón
Castrillón is a municipality in Asturias, located on the central coast. It has an area of 56.70 km² and a population of 22,361 inhabitants (in 2005). The most important population centres are the capital Piedras Blancas, Salinas, and R ...
: 39 inhabitants.
(Source: INE
INE, Ine or ine may refer to:
Institutions
* Institut für Nukleare Entsorgung, a German nuclear research center
* Instituto Nacional de Estadística (disambiguation)
* Instituto Nacional de Estatística (disambiguation)
* Instituto Nacional Elec ...
)
The parish of Boal
![Vista parcial de Boal](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/72/Vista_parcial_de_Boal.JPG)
The parish of Boal is in size with a population of 1,137 (
INE
INE, Ine or ine may refer to:
Institutions
* Institut für Nukleare Entsorgung, a German nuclear research center
* Instituto Nacional de Estadística (disambiguation)
* Instituto Nacional de Estatística (disambiguation)
* Instituto Nacional Elec ...
2007).
The town of Boal is the head of this civil parish and also the capital of the homonymous municipality. It is located in the south-eastern mountainside of the Penouta range near the headwaters of the Pendia River, at about 450 m above sea level. It has a population of 588 inhabitants, being they distributed among the three main districts which the town consists of:
*Boal de Arriba (Upper Boal): this is the historical nucleus of the village, with narrow streets (Alonso Rodríguez Street and Buenos Aires Avenue) where the older houses are located, together with the fairground that hosts the cattle market, and the cemetery.
*Zona central (Central area): includes the ''Plaza de la Iglesia'' (Church Square), where the parish church devoted to
Santiago Apóstol is located, the ''Plaza del Ayuntamiento'' (Town Hall Square) and the Asturias Avenue, where the ''Casa de Cultura'' (House of Culture) that hosts the municipal library, and most of the shops and bars, restaurants and hotels are located. This area includes also the Everardo Villamil Street and the Republic of Cuba Avenue.
*Boal de Abajo (Lower Boal): it has grown along the AS-12 road (Melquiades Álvarez Street and Isidoro Fontana Street) and the Rosalía de la Cruz Street, hosting some interesting examples of the architecture of those emigrants who had made fortune in the Americas, among which we can stress the Casa de Damiana (1919) and, already on the road out of the village in direction to Grandas de Salime, Villa Anita (1926), decorated with glazed tiles in all its façades. Moreover, the elementary school (Escuelas Graduadas, nowadays called Centro Público de Educación Básica Carlos Bousoño) and the high school, together with the municipal sports center and pool are located in this area.
Villages of the parish of Boal
Demography
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Evolution of the population in the municipality of Boal since 1842 (Source: INE
INE, Ine or ine may refer to:
Institutions
* Institut für Nukleare Entsorgung, a German nuclear research center
* Instituto Nacional de Estadística (disambiguation)
* Instituto Nacional de Estatística (disambiguation)
* Instituto Nacional Elec ...
)
During the first decades of the 19th century the municipality of Boal kept a slow increase of population that was noticeably accelerated with the construction of the dam of Doiras in 1930, reaching in that year its historical maximum of 7,365 inhabitants. The relatively high levels of population remained until 1960, not just because of the dam but also because of the
tungsten
Tungsten, or wolfram, is a chemical element with the symbol W and atomic number 74. Tungsten is a rare metal found naturally on Earth almost exclusively as compounds with other elements. It was identified as a new element in 1781 and first isolat ...
mining near
Penouta and because of the existence of a traditional agriculture requiring a lot of labor. Thanks to all these factors, the municipality of Boal could be once the most populous one in the middle course of the
Navia River
The Navia is a river in northern Spain flowing South to North from Galicia into
the Autonomous Community of Asturias. It discharges into the Bay of Biscay through an estuary called ''Ría de Navia''.
See also
* List of rivers of Spain
* Rive ...
. Nevertheless, from 1960 on and due to the closing of mines and to the changes experienced by the traditional agriculture, a very important migratory flow started.
Emigration
Emigration is the act of leaving a resident country or place of residence with the intent to settle elsewhere (to permanently leave a country). Conversely, immigration describes the movement of people into one country from another (to permanentl ...
has marked the municipality in different ways. By the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th one, the migratory flow went overseas, to the Americas, especially to
Argentina
Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...
and
Cuba
Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...
, from where emigrants kept their influence in the municipality. A proof of that are the very important money transferences they made and which allowed the construction of different buildings, as well as their promoting of the education of the remaining youth in Boal. All this flow of money was interrupted by the Cuban revolution.
By the middle of the 20th century emigration started again and strongly, but this time it was directed to different destinations: to the centre of
Europe
Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...
,
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
,
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
, and also to the main industrial towns and cities of Asturias, especially
Gijón
Gijón () or () is a city and municipality in north-western Spain. It is the largest city and municipality by population in the autonomous community of Asturias. It is located on the coast of the Cantabrian Sea in the Bay of Biscay, in the cent ...
and
Avilés
Avilés (; ) is a town in Asturias, Spain. Avilés is, along with Oviedo and Gijón, one of the main cities in the Principality of Asturias.
The town occupies the flattest land in the municipality, partially in a land that belonged to the sea, ...
, etc.
All these facts have brought a dramatic change in the demographic figure of the municipality, to the point that, as it can be observed on its representation, at present people over 60 years old constitute up to 42,7% of the total population, whereas people below 20 years old represent just as low as 8,4%.
Economy
Although the percentage of workers is clearly a majority in the
service sector
The tertiary sector of the economy, generally known as the service sector, is the third of the three economic sectors in the three-sector model (also known as the economic cycle). The others are the primary sector (raw materials) and the second ...
(see table), its weight is quite lower than the regional mean, and it is not crazy to state that still at present, economy in Boal is based to a large extent on cattle farming, which employs almost one third of the working population, and is mainly destined to milk production, being Boal the main producer among the western municipalities in Asturias.
In recent years
apiculture
Beekeeping (or apiculture) is the maintenance of bee colonies, commonly in man-made beehives. Honey bees in the genus '' Apis'' are the most-commonly-kept species but other honey-producing bees such as ''Melipona'' stingless bees are also kept. ...
has experienced a noticeable growth, becoming
honey
Honey is a sweet and viscous substance made by several bees, the best-known of which are honey bees. Honey is made and stored to nourish bee colonies. Bees produce honey by gathering and then refining the sugary secretions of plants (primar ...
one of the most typical products in the municipality. In spite of this, this activity is usually in a secondary place, constituting an extra-earnings source for many families, but not the main one. Nevertheless, as a proof of the importance of apiculture for the municipality, it is worth mentioning the famous Feria de la Miel (Honey Fair). Moreover, a few years ago it started working the company Boal Apícola, which markets about 20 tons of honey a year.
Politics
The political party that has been ruling during more time in the municipality of Boal since 1979 has been the
PSOE
The Spanish Socialist Workers' Party ( es, Partido Socialista Obrero Español ; PSOE ) is a social-democraticThe PSOE is described as a social-democratic party by numerous sources:
*
*
*
* political party in Spain. The PSOE has been in gov ...
. The current mayor is the socialist José Antonio Barrientos, who is in his office since 1999, having been re-elected three times.
Gastronomy
In this mainly agricultural and farming municipality we can taste infinity of natural products, among which it is worth mentioning its excellent
vegetables
Vegetables are parts of plants that are consumed by humans or other animals as food. The original meaning is still commonly used and is applied to plants collectively to refer to all edible plant matter, including the flowers, fruits, stems, ...
,
beans
A bean is the seed of several plants in the family Fabaceae, which are used as vegetables for human or animal food. They can be cooked in many different ways, including boiling, frying, and baking, and are used in many traditional dishes th ...
and the great quality
potatoes
The potato is a starchy food, a tuber of the plant ''Solanum tuberosum'' and is a root vegetable native to the Americas. The plant is a perennial in the nightshade family Solanaceae.
Wild potato species can be found from the southern United ...
. Thus, Boal’s traditional cooking makes use of all those resources to have among its most typical dishes the
stock
In finance, stock (also capital stock) consists of all the shares by which ownership of a corporation or company is divided.Longman Business English Dictionary: "stock - ''especially AmE'' one of the shares into which ownership of a company ...
with "cimois" (
rapini
Rapini or broccoli rabe () is a green cruciferous vegetables, cruciferous vegetable, with the leaves, buds, and stems all being edible; the buds somewhat resemble broccoli, but do not form a large head. Rapini is known for its bitter taste, and ...
) or
collard greens
Collard is a group of certain loose-leafed cultivars of ''Brassica oleracea'', the same species as many common vegetables including cabbage ( Capitata group) and broccoli ( Italica group). Collard is a member of the Viridis group of ''Brassica ...
.
Being this municipality rich in
meat
Meat is animal flesh that is eaten as food. Humans have hunted, farmed, and scavenged animals for meat since prehistoric times. The establishment of settlements in the Neolithic Revolution allowed the domestication of animals such as chic ...
, such as
veal
Veal is the meat of calves, in contrast to the beef from older cattle. Veal can be produced from a calf of either sex and any breed, however most veal comes from young male calves of dairy breeds which are not used for breeding. Generally, v ...
,
pork
Pork is the culinary name for the meat of the domestic pig (''Sus domesticus''). It is the most commonly consumed meat worldwide, with evidence of pig husbandry dating back to 5000 BCE.
Pork is eaten both freshly cooked and preserved; ...
,
kid
Kid, Kids, KIDS, and K.I.D.S. may refer to:
Common meanings
* Colloquial term for a child or other young person
** Also for a parent's offspring regardless of age
* Engage in joking
* Young goats
* The goat meat of young goats
* Kidskin, lea ...
,
lamb and mutton
Lamb, hogget, and mutton, generically sheep meat, are the meat of domestic sheep, ''Ovis aries''. A sheep in its first year is a lamb and its meat is also lamb. The meat from sheep in their second year is hogget. Older sheep meat is mutton. Gen ...
, etc., it is not surprising other dishes such as the meat or
sausages
A sausage is a type of meat product usually made from ground meat—often pork, beef, or poultry—along with salt, spices and other flavourings. Other ingredients, such as grains or breadcrumbs may be included as fillers or extenders.
W ...
pie
A pie is a baked dish which is usually made of a pastry dough casing that contains a filling of various sweet or savoury ingredients. Sweet pies may be filled with fruit (as in an apple pie), nuts ( pecan pie), brown sugar ( sugar pie), swe ...
, the
lacón with rapini and "
cachelos" (pieces of cooked potato) or the
corn
Maize ( ; ''Zea mays'' subsp. ''mays'', from es, maíz after tnq, mahiz), also known as corn (North American and Australian English), is a cereal grain first domesticated by indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 10,000 years ago. Th ...
"
rapa" (similar to a pie but using corn and
bacon
Bacon is a type of salt-cured pork made from various cuts, typically the belly or less fatty parts of the back. It is eaten as a side dish (particularly in breakfasts), used as a central ingredient (e.g., the bacon, lettuce, and tomato sand ...
) have a prominent place too.
Game
A game is a structured form of play (activity), play, usually undertaken for enjoyment, entertainment or fun, and sometimes used as an educational tool. Many games are also considered to be work (such as professional players of spectator s ...
constitutes another important chapter in Boal’s cooking, being frequent pieces such as
roe deer
The roe deer (''Capreolus capreolus''), also known as the roe, western roe deer, or European roe, is a species of deer. The male of the species is sometimes referred to as a roebuck. The roe is a small deer, reddish and grey-brown, and well-adapt ...
and
wild boar
The wild boar (''Sus scrofa''), also known as the wild swine, common wild pig, Eurasian wild pig, or simply wild pig, is a suid native to much of Eurasia and North Africa, and has been introduced to the Americas and Oceania. The species is ...
, apart from
partridge
A partridge is a medium-sized Galliformes, galliform bird in any of several genera, with a wide Indigenous (ecology), native distribution throughout parts of Europe, Asia and Africa. Several species have been introduced to the Americas. They a ...
,
Eurasian woodcock
The Eurasian woodcock (''Scolopax rusticola'') is a medium-small wading bird found in temperate and subarctic Eurasia. It has cryptic camouflage to suit its woodland habitat, with reddish-brown upperparts and buff-coloured underparts. Its eyes ...
and
hare
Hares and jackrabbits are mammals belonging to the genus ''Lepus''. They are herbivores, and live solitarily or in pairs. They nest in slight depressions called forms, and their young are able to fend for themselves shortly after birth. The ge ...
.
Regarding
sweets
Candy, also called sweets (British English) or lollies (Australian English, New Zealand English), is a confection that features sugar as a principal ingredient. The category, called '' sugar confectionery'', encompasses any sweet confection, i ...
and
pastry
Pastry is baked food made with a dough of flour, water and shortening (solid fats, including butter or lard) that may be savoury or sweetened. Sweetened pastries are often described as '' bakers' confectionery''. The word "pastries" suggests ma ...
, it is worth mentioning "
cocadas
Cocada are a traditional coconut confectionery found in many parts of Latin America. They are particularly popular in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Chile, Dominican Republic, Mexico, Panama, Venezuela and Ecuador. They are oven baked bu ...
", "
venera
The Venera (, , which means "Venus" in Russian) program was the name given to a series of space probes developed by the Soviet Union between 1961 and 1984 to gather information about the planet Venus. Ten probes successfully landed on the s ...
" (a kind of almond-based marzipan) and "
cereixolos". Moreover, honey has a huge variety of applications on the local cooking, which is not surprising taking into account that it is a typical product in the municipality having widely recognized quality. And, of course, it is possible in Boal to enjoy the rest of
asturian typical dishes.
Tourism
![Villa Damiana](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4b/Villa_Damiana.JPG)
Its most ancient signs are the cave paintings in the Cova del Demo. They are male, female and zoomorphic paintings. We can also find different architectural examples: palaces, large houses and churches, among which it is worth mentioning the following:
*The
Miranda Palace in Prelo, built during the 15th and 16th centuries and declared "well of cultural interest" in 1982. At first it consisted in a square tower with three floors that was subsequently extended. It had small openings that were later enlarged. The main body of the palace has two floors in the back side and one floor in the front side, due to the unevenness of the terrain. Above the entrance door it is placed a big coat of arms belonging to the family González de Prelo y Castrillón. Between the tower and the chapel there is an extra body, with corridors supported by stone columns. The chapel dates from 1776, having rectangle floor with two loopholes in both wings, and two
Rococo
Rococo (, also ), less commonly Roccoco or Late Baroque, is an exceptionally ornamental and theatrical style of architecture, art and decoration which combines asymmetry, scrolling curves, gilding, white and pastel colours, sculpted moulding, ...
-inspired altarpieces painted in black and white. The wooden sculptures from the 17th and 18th centuries were removed because of the bad situation of the ceiling.
*The
Berdín Palace in Doiras, from the 18th century, which attracts the attention because of its great size and its walls without any kind of decoration. It is constructed with masonry, with blocks of stone. Its floor has a U shape, and in the façade of the central courtyard there is a gallery above monolithic columns.
![Interior del lavadero público de Boal](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5f/Interior_del_lavadero_p%C3%BAblico_de_Boal.JPG)
*The Palace of Armal, with the typical structure of the rural large houses: rectangular floor, built with masonry and slate, and having very little decoration.
*Villa Anita: it was built in 1926 by an emigrant to Cuba. It is a villa with a T-shaped floor, with three floors, in which English influences can be observed, together with Japanese ones and others from the Middle Ages. The façade is decorated with white ceramics (glazed tiles from Talavera) on its wings, having the main façade plant patterns. There is a glazed balcony on the first floor. The roof has two wings and it is covered with slate, and over the eaves it has some wooden decoration made of cut borders. The inside is as rich and well-preserved as the outside.
*Villa Damiana, built in 1919, is also a wonderful example of the historically-inspired architecture.
*Old Elementary School "Escuelas Graduadas" in Boal: this school was built between 1930 and 1934, promoted as other public works in the municipality by the "Sociedad de Instrucción Naturales del Concejo de Boal", founded in
La Habana
Havana (; Spanish: ''La Habana'' ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of the La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center. , Cuba (this was due to the high number of emigrants from Boal who had gone to that country in search of fortune) although it had also money contribution from the state and from emigrants in
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...
. It is a great building constructed with stone, with large windows and two entrances framed by big porchs, because boys entered by one wing whereas girls entered by the opposite one. All the roofs have big wooden eaves.
*The Church of Santiago Apóstol in Boal, built between 1831 and 1837, with a
Latin cross
A Latin cross or ''crux immissa'' is a type of cross in which the vertical beam sticks above the crossbeam, with the three upper arms either equally long or with the vertical topmost arm shorter than the two horizontal arms, and always with a mu ...
-shaped floor and a lateral porch built of granitic blocks of stone.
*The public Washing House in Boal, built thanks to the money sent by emigrants to the Americas and inaugurated in 1928. It has been recently restored and transformed into the Center for the Interpretation of the Washing Houses in the municipality of Boal. The building exhibits an important constructive wealth with a functional style, having mouldings and pinnacles, and it is a good example of the charitable anxiety for their native villages and for the poorest people of the returning emigrants.
*
Casa de la Apicultura is an
apiculture
Beekeeping (or apiculture) is the maintenance of bee colonies, commonly in man-made beehives. Honey bees in the genus '' Apis'' are the most-commonly-kept species but other honey-producing bees such as ''Melipona'' stingless bees are also kept. ...
museum.
Festivities
The municipality of Boal hosts a great number of festivities and fairs. Among the most important ones we can stress the following:
*On May 15: the feast in honor of
San Isidro which is held close to its hermitage in the mountain near the Penouta range.
*On June 13 and 14: the feast in honor of
San Antonio
("Cradle of Freedom")
, image_map =
, mapsize = 220px
, map_caption = Interactive map of San Antonio
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name = United States
, subdivision_type1= U.S. state, State
, subdivision_name1 = Texas
, s ...
in Armal.
*On July 24, 25 and 26: the feast in honor of
Santiago Apóstol, in Boal. On July 21 and 22, the feast in honor of the
Virgen de la Magdalena in Doiras.
*On August 25: the feast in honor of
San Luis in the homonym village.
*In October/November: the
Feria de la Miel (Honey Fair) at the last weekend of October or the first one of November.
It is also worth mentioning the fortnightly market that takes place in Boal, hosted on every alternate Mondays. In addition, there are also several cattle markets during the year. Two of them are hosted in the fairground of Boal on the second Saturday of October and on the last one of April, and other two are hosted in the La Bobia range: on May 29, that of
San Fernando
San Fernando may refer to:
People
*Ferdinand III of Castile (c. 1200–1252), called ''San Fernando'' (Spanish) or ''Saint Ferdinand'', King of Castile, León, and Galicia
Places Argentina
*San Fernando de la Buena Vista, city of Greater Buenos ...
and on June 26 that of
San Pelayo.
People from Boal
*
Celestino Álvarez, writer and journalist immigrated to
Cuba
Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...
.
*
Carlos Bousoño
Carlos Bousoño Prieto (9 May 1923 – 24 October 2015) was a Spanish poet and literary critic. His work is frequently associated with the post-Spanish Civil War literary group.
Bousoño was a recipient of both the National Prize for Spanish Lite ...
, poet and literary critic.
See also
*
List of mayors of Boal
*
Castrillón (Boal)
References
External links
Federación Asturiana de Concejos (Asturian Association of Municipalities)Boal in asturiasturismo.comPersonal website about Boal, with infinity of pictures of the municipalityMonograph about Boal in the journal La Nueva EspañaFundación Parque Histórico del Navia (Foundation Historical Park of the Navia)Search engine of asturian place names in the journal La Nueva España
''This article incorporates material from th
Federación Asturiana de Concejos
which allowed through an authorization
Authorization or authorisation (see spelling differences) is the function of specifying access rights/privileges to resources, which is related to general information security and computer security, and to access control in particular. More for ...
the addition of contents and their publication under the GFDL
The GNU Free Documentation License (GNU FDL or simply GFDL) is a copyleft license for free documentation, designed by the Free Software Foundation (FSF) for the GNU Project. It is similar to the GNU General Public License, giving readers the r ...
license.''
{{authority control
Municipalities in Asturias
*