Karrantza Harana/Valle de Carranza (in Basque ''Karrantza Harana'', in Spanish ''Valle de Carranza''), is a town and municipality located in the province of

Biscay Biscay (; eu, Bizkaia ; es, Vizcaya ) is a province of Spain and a historical territory of the Basque Country, heir of the ancient Lordship of Biscay, lying on the south shore of the eponymous bay. The capital and largest city is Bilbao. ...

, in the Basque Country. It is located in the comarca of

Enkarterri Enkarterri ( Spanish: ''Las Encartaciones'') is a comarca of the province of Biscay, in the Basque Country, Spain. It is one of the seven ''eskualdeak/comarcas'' or districts that make up the province of Biscay. Its administrative centre is Balm ...

and it is the westernmost and largest (by area) municipality of the province. Film director Víctor Erice was born there.

Etymology

The first recorded appearance of the toponym of Carranza is on the

Chronicle of Alfonso III The ''Chronicle of Alfonso III'' ( la, Chronica Adefonsi tertii regis) is a chronicle composed in the early tenth century on the order of King Alfonso III of León with the goal of showing the continuity between Visigothic Spain and the later Chris ...

, dated in the 10th Century, where it appears as ''Carrantia''. According to the text, ''Carrantia'' was one of the towns known to be populated during the reign of Alfonso I,

King King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen regnant, queen, which title is also given to the queen consort, consort of a king. *In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contempora ...

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 coextensiv ...

. The origin of ''Carrantia'' comes from the

Cantabri The Cantabri ( grc-gre, Καντάβροι, ''Kantabroi'') or Ancient Cantabrians, were a pre-Roman people and large tribal federation that lived in the northern coastal region of ancient Iberia in the second half of the first millennium BC. Thes ...

an dialect, meaning "high rocks". From ''Carrantia'' it would evolve to Carranza, the current Spanish toponym. ''Karrantza'' is the Basque toponym, an adaptation of Carranza following the Basque orthographic rules, and it is the official name of the municipality since 2001.

History

The first known vestiges of the human presence in the valley of Karrantza are some lithic tools, from the late

Middle Paleolithic The Middle Paleolithic (or Middle Palaeolithic) is the second subdivision of the Paleolithic or Old Stone Age as it is understood in Europe, Africa and Asia. The term Middle Stone Age is used as an equivalent or a synonym for the Middle Paleol ...

.History of Karrantza
at the Karrantza's Town Hall official website (in Basque) In Karrantza is located the sanctuary of Venta Laperra, the oldest of the entire Basque Country, with several forms of

Paleolithic art The art of the Upper Paleolithic represents the oldest form of prehistoric art. Figurative art is present in Europe and Southeast Asia, beginning between about 40,000 to 35,000 years ago. Non-figurative cave paintings, consisting of hand ...

. There is evidence of ancient pastoral activity, as well as art forms belonging to

hunter-gatherer A traditional hunter-gatherer or forager is a human living an ancestrally derived lifestyle in which most or all food is obtained by foraging, that is, by gathering food from local sources, especially edible wild plants but also insects, fung ...

s from 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 pa ...

and 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 ...

. The oral traditions tells of the presence of Romans in the lands of the valley, which were interested in the exploitation of

galena Galena, also called lead glance, is the natural mineral form of lead(II) sulfide (PbS). It is the most important ore of lead and an important source of silver. Galena is one of the most abundant and widely distributed sulfide minerals. It cr ...

from the Ubal mountains. Diggings effectuated in some of the caves within the municipality revealed

Roman pottery Pottery was produced in enormous quantities in ancient Rome, mostly for utilitarian purposes. It is found all over the former Roman Empire and beyond. Monte Testaccio is a huge waste mound in Rome made almost entirely of broken amphorae used for ...

. In 1903 more than one hundred Roman coins were found, all dated from 238 to 260. The first records about the valley of Karrantza are from the 8th Century, when the

Alfonso I was conducting a series of resettlements on the Atlantic region of the

Iberian Peninsula The Iberian Peninsula (), ** * Aragonese and Occitan: ''Peninsula Iberica'' ** ** * french: Péninsule Ibérique * mwl, Península Eibérica * eu, Iberiar penintsula also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in southwestern Europe, def ...

, as they were mentioned in the

one century later. The valley of Karrantza was incorporated to the

Lord of Biscay The Lordship of Biscay ( es, Señorío de Vizcaya, Basque: ''Bizkaiko jaurerria'') was a region under feudal rule in the region of Biscay in the Iberian Peninsula between 1040 and 1876, ruled by a political figure known as the Lord of Biscay. On ...

in the 12th Century. It belongs to the territory of the

, which was itself incorporated to Biscay in the 13th Century.

Population

* 1900 - 4,237 people * 1910 - 4,463 people * 1920 - 4,506 people * 1930 - 4,458 people * 1940 - 4,479 people * 1950 - 4,687 people * 1960 - 4,490 people * 1970 - 3,953 people * 1981 - 3,392 people * 1991 - 3,149 people * 2001 - 2,887 people * 2004 - 2,884 people

Geography

Karrantza is located in the westernmost part of the

region and is the largest (by area) of all the municipalities of

. Karratza is 54 kilometers away from the head of province

Bilbao ) , motto = , image_map = , mapsize = 275 px , map_caption = Interactive map outlining Bilbao , pushpin_map = Spain Basque Country#Spain#Europe , pushpin_map_caption ...

and limits at north by 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 ...

Cantabria Cantabria (, also , , Cantabrian: ) is an autonomous community in northern Spain with Santander as its capital city. It is called a ''comunidad histórica'', a historic community, in its current Statute of Autonomy. It is bordered on the east ...

, at east mostly with the Cantabrian exclave of Villaverde de Trucios, and the Basque municipalities of

Turtzioz Trucios-Turtzioz (Turtzioz in Basque; Trucios in Spanish; Trucíos in Cantabrian) is a town and municipality located in the province of Biscay, in the Autonomous Community of Basque Country, northern Spain, surrounded by other municipalities of B ...

and Artzentales, at south with the province of Burgos and at west with the tiny municipality of Lanestosa and the Cantabrian community.

Sports

The Karrantza CD football club is the most important sport club. It is in regional categories of Basque football.

References

External links

CARRANZA in the Bernardo Estornés Lasa - Auñamendi Encyclopedia (Euskomedia Fundazioa)
{{authority control Municipalities in Biscay