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Gijón () or () is a city and municipality in north-western Spain. It is the largest city and
municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality ...
by population 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 administr ...
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 coextensi ...
. It is located on the coast of the Cantabrian Sea in the Bay of Biscay, in the central-northern part of Asturias; it is approximately north-east 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 ...
, the capital of Asturias, and from Avilés. With a population of 271,780, Gijón is the 15th largest city in Spain. Gijón forms part of a large metropolitan area that includes twenty councils in the center of the region, structured with a dense network of roads, highways and railways and with a population of 835,053 inhabitants in 2011, making it the seventh largest in Spain. During the 20th century, Gijón developed as an industrial city in the steel and naval industries. However, due to the decline in manufacturing in these industries, in recent years Gijón is undergoing a transformation into an important tourist, university, commercial and R&D center. Gijón is the location of the Radiotelevisión del Principado de Asturias, the neighbourhood of Cimavilla, the Universidad Laboral de Gijón, the Revillagigedo Palace, and the adjoining Collegiate Church of San Juan Bautista. Gijón is part of the statistical (not yet developed from an administrative standpoint) ''comarca'' of Gijón.


Etymology

One theory based on some early medieval texts mention it as "Gigia", derived from the identical Greek and Latin term "gigias", meaning "giant", both of which refer to the Greek mythological giant Gigas. The medieval "Gigia" name, in turn, more specifically would refer to the ancient Roman wall built on the peninsula of the Cimavilla neighbourhood of Gijón. This wall was called the "Gegionem" by the Romans, and is itself a compound Latin term being either "geg-ionem", meaning "giant-ness/gigantic", "gegi-onem", meaning "concrete giant", or "gegio-nem" meaning "giant end". Presumably the use of the term meaning "giant" referred to either the pre-Germanic Astur peoples who inhabited the area being of large physical stature, or simply the largeness of the wall itself. The name of the city might also come from the hypothetical Roman actual name of the place "Sessio" which may have turned into the word "Xixón" as the centuries went by. Then the Spanish word "Gijón", which has been also written during the Middle age as "Jijón" or even "Jixón", would be a Castilianization of the Asturian name. This theory is nowadays known as the most acceptable.


History


Prehistory and Romanization

The first evidence of human presence in what is known nowadays as the municipality of Gijón is located on Monte Deva, where there exists a series of
tumuli A tumulus (plural tumuli) is a mound of earth and stones raised over a grave or graves. Tumuli are also known as barrows, burial mounds or '' kurgans'', and may be found throughout much of the world. A cairn, which is a mound of stones b ...
, and on Monte Areo, where there are some neolithic dolmens. These dolmens were discovered in 1990 and were supposedly built around 5000 BC. The first noticed settlement (Noega) is located in Campa Torres. It has its origin between the 6th and 5th centuries BC. It was populated by
Astures The Astures or Asturs, also named Astyrs, were the Hispano-Celtic inhabitants of the northwest area of Hispania that now comprises almost the entire modern autonomous community of Principality of Asturias, the modern province of León, and the ...
(''Cilúrnigos'') and later Romanized. Noega was progressively abandoned when the Roman wall in the peninsula of Cimavilla, called the ''Gegionem'', was built.


Middle Ages and modern era

The invasions of barbarian tribes in the 5th and 6th centuries left no traces. The region submitted to the power of the Visigoth king Sisebut in the 7th century. This period marks the beginnings of Christianization, one of the first Christian worshipping places being the Roman villa of Veranes. Gijón was capital of the Muslim territories on the Cantabric Sea, under the power of Munuza, for a short period between 713 and 718 or 722. In 722 the Asturians won the Battle of Covadonga which is regarded as the beginning of the Reconquista. The Asturian forces were led by
Pelagius Pelagius (; c. 354–418) was a British theologian known for promoting a system of doctrines (termed Pelagianism by his opponents) which emphasized human choice in salvation and denied original sin. Pelagius and his followers abhorred the moral ...
, who would become the first king of the Kingdom of Asturias. Until 1270 there were no reliable references to Gijón as a settlement, with only short mentions in some documents. In this year,
Alfonso X of Castile Alfonso X (also known as the Wise, es, el Sabio; 23 November 1221 – 4 April 1284) was King of Castile, León and Kingdom of Galicia, Galicia from 30 May 1252 until his death in 1284. During the April 1257 Imperial election, election of 1257, ...
gave it the status of ''puebla''. This documentation appears in the
Monastery of San Vicente de Oviedo San Vicente de Oviedo is a church and monastery in Oviedo, Spain. Its foundation, in 761, is recorded in a charter known as the ''Pacto monástico de Oviedo'' ("Monastic Pact of Oviedo") a copy made in the 12th century of the original that is da ...
. In the 14th century, the war between Alfonso Enríquez, Count of Gijón and Noreña and Henry III of Castile ended when the village of Gijón was burned and totally destroyed, practically disappearing. In the 15th and 16th centuries, Gijón reemerged. A new dock was built in the port adding fishing and commerce to the area. In the 17th and 18th centuries Gijón began to develop rapidly, growing out of the old city center, supported by the commercial links between the port of Gijón and the American colonies. In the 18th century, due to the French invasions, the wars and the financial trouble in the era, the development stopped until late in the century, when the Oviedo-Gijón road was created and the port was recognized as the best one in Asturias, favoring the start of industrial activities in the town.


Contemporary history

The 19th century brought with it great development, with the commerce of coal, the Gijón– León road and later the Langreo–Gijón railway. All this contributed to the quick expansion of the port, since the intensity of the traffic overflowed the port. A new port, El Musel, was built in 1893 and it was the first coal port of the peninsula. Gijón was going through a conversion to an industrial town with a new bourgeois and an urban development, opening new streets and squares, with new municipal equipments like water, garbage collection, lighting, and so on. All this industrial development brought new manpower to the city and the creation of new neighborhoods like Natahoyo, La Calzada, Tremañes or El Humedal. In the 20th century, with the
Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War ( es, Guerra Civil Española)) or The Revolution ( es, La Revolución, link=no) among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War ( es, Cuarta Guerra Carlista, link=no) among Carlism, Carlists, and The Rebellion ( es, La Rebeli ...
, the city supported the Republican faction. The army was located in El Coto. The resistance was eliminated in August 1936. Later, the village was the capital of the Sovereign Council of Asturias and León until 20 October 1937, when the troops of General
Francisco Franco Francisco Franco Bahamonde (; 4 December 1892 – 20 November 1975) was a Spanish general who led the Nationalist forces in overthrowing the Second Spanish Republic during the Spanish Civil War and thereafter ruled over Spain from 19 ...
occupied the city. Iron manufacture was the main industry of Gijón from the last years of the 19th century until the last decades of the 20th. Uninsa was created in 1971, and it merged with Ensidesa. In the last years of the century was converted in Aceralia, and integrated in Arcelor, along with the Luxembourg-based Arbed and the French company Usinor. The last decades of the century brought an industrial crisis affecting mainly iron manufacture and local shipbuilding. This brought new terrain for the creation of new beaches, parks and neighborhoods. It was also created a campus of the University of Oviedo.


Geography


Location

The city is situated on the coast of central Asturias, from sea level to an altitude of at ''Picu Samartín'' and at
Peña de los Cuatro Jueces Peña, meaning "rocky outcrop" or "rocky summit" in the Spanish language (Aragonese: ''Penya'', Catalan: ''Penya''). It may refer to: Mountains *Peña Montañesa, a mountain in the Pre-Pyrenees, Aragon, Spain *Peña de los Enamorados, a mountain ...
, bordered on the West by Carreño, the East by Villaviciosa, and to the South by Siero and Llanera. The city is situated along the Asturian coast and is distinguished by the peninsula of Cimavilla (the original settlement) which separates the beach of San Lorenzo and adjacent neighborhoods to the east from the beaches of Poniente and Arbeyal, the shipyards, and the recreational port and the Port of El Musel to the west. It is close to the other main Asturian cities,
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 Avilés.


Climate

Gijón has a temperate
oceanic climate An oceanic climate, also known as a marine climate, is the humid temperate climate sub-type in Köppen classification ''Cfb'', typical of west coasts in higher middle latitudes of continents, generally featuring cool summers and mild winters ...
(
Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, nota ...
''Cfb'') typical of the Atlantic coast of Spain, with cool summers and wet and mostly mild winters. The onshore flow from the Atlantic Ocean creates a cool summer and mild winter climate where severe heat and very cold temperatures are rare. The narrow temperature range is demonstrated by the record August temperature being only 6.4 °C warmer than the all-time record January temperature. The climate is wet and cloudy by Spanish standards, but is indeed drier than other locations on the Atlantic in the country. Humidity is high year-round. Summer temperatures are very consistent as proven by the fact that the all-time warmest month of August 1997 had an average temperature of and no month has ever been recorded at an average high above in comparison to the August normal high. Another clear underlining of the marine influence is that the coolest ever August has been as near the average as .


Districts

Gijón is divided in six districts: Center, East, South, West, El Llano and Rural. In this last one, all the
peri-urban Peri-urbanisation relates to the processes of scattered and dispersive urban growth that create hybrid landscapes of fragmented and mixed urban and rural characteristics. Origin The expression originates from the French word ' ("peri-urban" ...
zone and the rural parishes are integrated.


Neighborhoods and parishes


Demography

According to the 2021 Municipal Population Register (INE), the council had 268,896 inhabitants, of which 142,411 are women and 126,485 are men. The municipal population grew remarkably throughout the 20th century, especially between the 1960s and 1980s, a period in which it doubled. Starting in the 1990s, growth stagnated, reflecting the similar slowdown at the national level of Spain. However, due to immigration, both from other Asturias councils and from abroad, the population started to increase again at the turn of the 21st century.


Culture

Gijón is the cultural centre of the region of Asturias. Cultural activities are carried out throughout the year, which increase considerably in the summer months, especially in August due to the Feast of the Assumption, with parties, music and theater. This complements the continuous programming of the Teatro Municipal Jovellanos (Jovellanos Municipal Theater). The various festivities carried out in Gijón include: * The Iberoamerican Book Fair, in May * The
Semana Negra In Spain, a Semana Negra ("black week") is a literary festival that celebrates crime fiction and detective stories with a variety of events for literature, cinema, theater, photography and gastronomy. Aragonegro The Aragon festival was first he ...
in July * The Feria Internacional de Muestras de Asturias * The Gijón International Film Festival The Universidad Laboral de Gijón, completed in 1955, contains the LABoral Centro de Arte y Creación Industrial (Laboral Center of Art and Industrial Creation). The center was inaugurated on March 30, 2007 as an interdisciplinary space to promote artistic exchange and foster the relationship between society, art, science, technology and the creative industries. In recent years, Gijón has become a stop city for the
Cirque du Soleil Cirque du Soleil (, ; "Circus of the Sun" or "Sun Circus") is a Canadian entertainment company and the largest contemporary circus producer in the world. Located in the inner-city area of Saint-Michel, it was founded in Baie-Saint-Paul on 16 ...
. The performances of the Cirque du Soleil have been very successful in the city. In July 2004, Saltimbanco arrived and in the summer of 2007, they presented Alegría in Gijón, the first time that this tour stopped in northern Spain. During the summer of 2009, Cirque du Soleil returned to Gijón with the Varekai show. Gijón is the birth place of several notable people, like Gaspar Melchor de Jovellanos, statesman, author, philosopher and a major figure of the Age of
Enlightenment Enlightenment or enlighten may refer to: Age of Enlightenment * Age of Enlightenment, period in Western intellectual history from the late 17th to late 18th century, centered in France but also encompassing (alphabetically by country or culture): ...
.


Film

José Luis Garci filmed most of the footage from the film '' Volver a empezar'' in the city during the early 1980s. The film would later win an Academy Award for Best Foreign Film. In the early 1990s there was a boom in indie music bands in the town, which became known as the "Xixón Sound". The comedy Mortadelo & Filemon: The Big Adventure was also filmed in part in the City of Culture of Gijón. In 2009, the Laboral and its surroundings were converted to the University of Oxford for Fernando González Molina's film, Brain Drain.


Museums and art galleries

*
Museum of the Asturian People The Museum of the Asturian People (Asturian: Muséu del Pueblu d'Asturies) is a museum in Gijón Gijón () or () is a city and municipality in north-western Spain. It is the largest city and municipality by population in the autonomous communi ...
* Railway museum of Asturias *
Nicanor Piñole museum Nicanor or Nikanor is the name of: People Ancient history * Nicanor (father of Balacrus), 4th century BC * Nicanor (son of Parmenion) (4th-century–330 BC), 4th century BC; a Macedonian officer under Alexander * Nicanor of Stageira, 4th cen ...
* Roman Terms museum of Campo Valdés * Juan Barjola Museum (A museum about a local painter, also interested in
avant-garde The avant-garde (; In 'advance guard' or ' vanguard', literally 'fore-guard') is a person or work that is experimental, radical, or unorthodox with respect to art, culture, or society.John Picchione, The New Avant-garde in Italy: Theoretical ...
art) *
Evaristo Valle museum Evaristo is both a given name and a surname. Notable people with the name include: Given name: * Evaristo Avalos (born 1933), Mexican equestrian * Evaristo Barrera (1911–1982), Argentine football striker * Evaristo Baschenis (1617–1677), Itali ...
(Local painter museum placed in a mansion at the outskirts) *
International Bagpipe Museum The International Bagpipe Museum ( es, Museo internacional de la gaita) is located in Gijón, Asturias, Spain. The museum was founded in 1965, and moved to its current location, integrated in the Museum of the Asturian People, in 1975. The museu ...
contains bagpipes from around the world, focusing on the Asturian musical heritage and bagpipes. * Atlantic botanical garden * Archaeological park
Campa Torres Campa may refer to: * Asháninka, an indigenous people living in Peru and Acre (state), Brazil * Campa languages * CAMPA bill, India * Câmpa, a tributary of the river Jiul de Est in Romania * Campa Cola, a soft drink brand in India * The histor ...
. * Revillagigedo Palace and museum (At Marqués square, near the City Hall) * Gijón Aquarium *
Roman Town of Veranes 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 lett ...
* LABoral Centro de Arte y Creación Industrial (An exhibition center for contemporary art, science, technology and advanced visual industries)


Universities

There are two campuses located in Gijón, one of the University of Oviedo and other of the National University of Distance Education.


University of Oviedo

*
Gijón Polytechnic School of Engineering Gijón Polytechnic School of Engineering ( es, Escuela Politécnica de Ingeniería de Gijón), is one of the schools and faculties of the University of Oviedo. The school is located in Gijón, Asturias (Spain). In the academic year 2011-12 the sc ...
. Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Electronic Engineering, Computers and Systems Engineering, Chemical Engineering and Telecommunication Engineering. * School of Civil Navy. * Faculty of Commerce, Tourism and Social Sciences "Jovellanos". Public Administration and Management, Trade and Marketing, Tourism and Social work.


National University of Distance Education (UNED)

Gijón also has a delegation of the
UNED The National Distance Education University, known in Spanish as ''Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia'' (UNED), is a public research university of national scope. The university was founded in 1972 under the Ministry of Universit ...
, where different disciplines can be studied by distance.


Sports

In team sports, Gijón's professional football team, Sporting de Gijón, currently plays in the Spanish second division.
CP Gijón Solimar Club Patín Gijón Solimar, also known as Telecable Hockey Club by sponsorship reasons, is a Spanish roller hockey club based in Gijón, city in the autonomous community of Asturias (Spain). History Gijón Solimar was established in 1995 after th ...
is one of the most important women's roller hockey teams in Europe as it is five times champion of the
European Cup The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competi ...
. Círculo Gijón is the main
basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...
team of the city, and plays in Spanish basketball third tier. Gijón Baloncesto, folded in 2009, was the most important team of this sport in Gijón, and played four seasons in the Liga ACB, the most important national league in Europe. CSI Gijón is Spain's official show jumping
horse show A horse show is a judged exhibition of horses and ponies. Many different horse breeds and equestrian disciplines hold competitions worldwide, from local to the international levels. Most horse shows run from one to three days, sometimes longe ...
which is held annually in Gijón's equestrian facility. There is also a private
sports club A sports club or sporting club, sometimes an athletics club or sports society or sports association, is a group of people formed for the purpose of playing sports. Sports clubs range from organisations whose members play together, unpaid, and ...
in Gijón with more than 33,000 members, Real Grupo de Cultura Covadonga, the biggest club in Asturias. Its handball section plays in the third division, where also plays AB Gijón Jovellanos, and its women's volleyball team plays also in the Spanish second league. Not far from Gijón, there are several ski resorts in
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 coextensi ...
, the main being Valgrande-Pajares. The city's
marina A marina (from Spanish language, Spanish , Portuguese language, Portuguese and Italian language, Italian : ''marina'', "coast" or "shore") is a Dock (maritime), dock or basin with moorings and supplies for yachts and small boats. A marina dif ...
houses an important fleet of yachts and is the base for many water sports, being Royal Astur Yacht Club the most important yacht club in town. In 2022, the city will host an ATP tennis tournament for the first time.


Sports venues

The biggest sport centers in Gijón are Estadio El Molinón, with 30,000 seats, Plaza de Toros de El Bibio with 12,000 and Palacio de Deportes with 5,000 seats. Games were played in town during the 1982 FIFA World Cup. The city has in total 13 public sport centers (in Spanish: ''Centros Municipales Integrados'') with swimming pools, gyms and saunas. Swimming pools are free for children up to age 14.


Economy

For much of the 20th century the town was heavily dependent on mature heavy industries, but at the end of the Francoism, tertiary sector employment began to expand rapidly along with the city's population which by 2007 stood officially at 277,897 for Gijón proper, and approximately 380,000 for the total Gijón agglomeration. The port is at the center of many of the local businesses. Apart from directly port related activities, the economy is based on tourism, steel ( Arcelor), other metallurgy, livestock rearing and fisheries.


Transport


Airports

Gijón is served by Asturias Airport, about from the center of the city; it is located in the municipality of Castrillon. The airport is connected to the city by the A-8 motorway, the N-632 national highway and scheduled bus service ( Alsa).


Seaport

The service offered by LD Lines has been canceled in Gijón. The closest Ferry services are now in Santander and
Bilbao ) , motto = , image_map = , mapsize = 275 px , map_caption = Interactive map outlining Bilbao , pushpin_map = Spain Basque Country#Spain#Europe , pushpin_map_caption ...
. However, Gijón still has a good freight service by El Musel


Public transport

Gijón currently has 18 bus lines and four more (owl) lines. The owl services work on Friday and Saturday nights, and daily in the months of July and August.


Railway

The city is served by the Gijón Railway Station.


Roads and highways


Government

PSOE governed the city from 1979 to 2011, the longest continuous period since Spain's transition to democracy. Ana González Rodríguez, the current mayor, was elected mayor on 15 June 2019 and she is a member of PSOE.


Councillors distribution in local elections


Crime

It is one of Spain's safest cities. As of June 2022, last murder took place in February 2020.


International relations


Twin towns/Sister cities

Gijón is
twinned Twinning (making a twin of) may refer to: * In biology and agriculture, producing two offspring (i.e., twins) at a time, or having a tendency to do so; * Twin towns and sister cities, towns and cities involved in town twinning * Twinning inst ...
with: * Albuquerque, United States *
Havana 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 * Niort, France (since 1982) * Novorossiysk, Russia (since 1986) * Puerto Vallarta, Mexico * Smara, Western Sahara


References


External links


Gijón Municipality

Official Touristic website of Gijón
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gijon Municipalities in Asturias * Populated coastal places in Spain Port cities and towns on the Spanish Atlantic coast Populated places established in the 5th century BC