Otano, known in

Basque Basque may refer to: * Basques, an ethnic group of Spain and France * Basque language, their language Places * Basque Country (greater region), the homeland of the Basque people with parts in both Spain and France * Basque Country (autonomous co ...

as Otao, is a hamlet located in the municipality of Noáin, in

Navarre Navarre (; es, Navarra ; eu, Nafarroa ), officially the Chartered Community of Navarre ( es, Comunidad Foral de Navarra, links=no ; eu, Nafarroako Foru Komunitatea, links=no ), is a foral autonomous community and province in northern Spain, ...

province,

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 ...

. As of 2020, it has a population of 7.

Geography

Otano is located 20km south-southeast of

Pamplona Pamplona (; eu, Iruña or ), historically also known as Pampeluna in English, is the capital city of the Chartered Community of Navarre, in Spain. It is also the third-largest city in the greater Basque cultural region. Lying at near above ...

, in the valley of the river Elorz on the slopes of Mount Alaiz.''The Pilgrimage Road to Santiago: The Complete Cultural Handbook'', Gitlitz and Davidson, 2000
/ref>

History

Otano had a population of 64 in 1802.''Diccionario Geográfico-Histórico de España'', publ. for the Real Academia de la Historia 1802, Seccion I, vol.1, p. 212
/ref> It stands on the pilgrimage route the

Camino de Santiago The Camino de Santiago ( la, Peregrinatio Compostellana, "Pilgrimage of Compostela"; gl, O Camiño de Santiago), known in English as the Way of St James, is a network of pilgrims' ways or pilgrimages leading to the shrine of the apostle Saint ...

, which forms its main street. The village belonged in the Middle Ages to the

Knights Hospitaller The Order of Knights of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem ( la, Ordo Fratrum Hospitalis Sancti Ioannis Hierosolymitani), commonly known as the Knights Hospitaller (), was a medieval and early modern Catholic Church, Catholic Military ord ...

. Although reduced in population it is a parish, of which the 16th-century church is dedicated either to San Salvador or to the Ascension. There are also elements of a Romanesque bridge incorporated into the present one over the river Elorz.

Martín Javier Mina y Larrea General Martín Francisco Javier Mina y Larrea (July 1, 1789 – November 11, 1817), nicknamed ''El Mozo'' or ''El Estudiante'' (Student), was a Spanish lawyer and army officer, who later became a Mexican independence figure. Biography Francisc ...

was born in the hamlet in 1789.''Spanish Guerrillas in the Peninsular War 1808-1814'', Renè Chartrand, Osprey Publishing. London, 2004

References

Populated places in Navarre {{Navarre-geo-stub