Vilasantar is a municipality of northwestern Spain in the province of A Coruña in the autonomous community of

Galicia Galicia may refer to: Geographic regions * Galicia (Spain), a region and autonomous community of northwestern Spain ** Gallaecia, a Roman province ** The post-Roman Kingdom of the Suebi, also called the Kingdom of Gallaecia ** The medieval King ...

. It belongs to the comarca of Betanzos.

Geography

Vilasantar is located in the south of the comarca of Betanzos. It is bordered to the north by the municipalities of Curtis and

Oza-Cesuras Oza-Cesuras is a municipality of northwestern Spain in the province of A Coruña, in the autonomous community of Galicia. It is located in the comarca of Betanzos. It arose from the merger on June 6, 2013 of Cesuras and Oza dos Ríos municipalit ...

; to the west by Mesía, to the east with Sobrado and to the south with

Boimorto Boimorto is a Municipalities of Spain, municipality in the A Coruña (province), province of A Coruña in the autonomous community of Galicia (Spain), Galicia in northwestern Spain. It is located in the Comarcas of Galicia, comarca of Arzúa. It h ...

. Its surface is 59.2 km². It is situated in an area of medium altitude, with most of the municipality being between 400 and 500 meters above sea level. The

Tambre river The Tambre is a coastal river that crosses Galicia, in northwestern Spain. Its basin covers . The river flows through the province of A Coruña; the municipalities along its course are Sobrado, Curtis, Vilasantar, Boimorto, Mesía, Frades, Ar ...

(which delimits the southern border with Boimorto), and its tributaries, including the Cabalar river and the Río das Gándaras river, are of great importance.

History

Megalith A megalith is a large stone that has been used to construct a prehistoric structure or monument, either alone or together with other stones. There are over 35,000 in Europe alone, located widely from Sweden to the Mediterranean sea. The ...

s are preserved, such as the mámoas de Vilariño, the mámoa de Pedriño or the medorra de Fanegas, in the parish of San Vicenzo de Curtis. Castros such as those in Vilariño or As Corredoiras are preserved from the Castro culture. Of the

romanization Romanization or romanisation, in linguistics, is the conversion of text from a different writing system to the Roman (Latin) script, or a system for doing so. Methods of romanization include transliteration, for representing written text, and ...

there are remains of the

Roman camp of Ciadella 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 lette ...

, the bigger of those discovered in Galicia, between the municipalities of Sobrado and Vilasantar. Pazo de Présaras en Vilasantar

In 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 ...

, these lands belonged to the county of Présaras, which had its origin in the Roman praessurae, desert lands offered to settlers to be populated and cultivated. The area was strongly linked to the

Sobrado Abbey Sobrado Abbey, ( es, Monasterio de Santa María de Sobrado de los Monjes or gl, Mosteiro de Santa María de Sobrado dos Monxes) is a Cistercian monastery in the province of La Coruña, Galicia, Spain. It is situated in the municipality of Sobr ...

and

Monastery of Santa María de Mezonzo The Monastery of Santa María de Mezonzo is a Spanish religious building in Romanesque style in the parish of Santa María de Mezonzo, in the municipality of Vilasantar. Although it probably dates back to the time of the Kingdom of the Suebi, th ...

. This last one may have its origin in the Suevian era, because the church retains two

capitals Capital may refer to: Common uses * Capital city, a municipality of primary status ** List of national capital cities * Capital letter, an upper-case letter Economics and social sciences * Capital (economics), the durable produced goods used f ...

of the sixth or seventh centuries and appears in Latin documents as monastery of Mosontio. In the middle of the tenth century, Pedro de Mezonzo, who became the

abbot Abbot is an ecclesiastical title given to the male head of a monastery in various Western religious traditions, including Christianity. The office may also be given as an honorary title to a clergyman who is not the head of a monastery. The fem ...

of the convent and

bishop of Compostela The Metropolitan Archdiocese of (Santiago de) Compostela ( la, Archidioecesis Compostellana), is the senior of the five districts in which the Catholic Church divides Galicia in North-western Spain.Modern Age The term modern period or modern era (sometimes also called modern history or modern times) is the period of history that succeeds the Middle Ages (which ended approximately 1500 AD). This terminology is a historical periodization that is applie ...

there were numerous

hidalgos Hidalgo may refer to: People * Hidalgo (nobility), members of the Spanish nobility * Hidalgo (surname) Places Mexico :''Most, if not all, named for Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla (1753–1811)'' * Hidalgo (state), in central Mexico * Hidalgo, Coah ...

in the municipality, as evidenced by several

manor house A manor house was historically the main residence of the lord of the manor. The house formed the administrative centre of a manor in the European feudal system; within its great hall were held the lord's manorial courts, communal meals w ...

s. Vilasantar was established as municipality in 1834. Its population grew until 1950, when it began to fall due to emigration. It was an area of great activity during the

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

and the postwar period. In 1938, the mayor of Vilasantar and neighbor of Présaras, Antonio Iglesias Corral, was executated in Miraz,

Friol Friol is a municipality in the Lugo province in Galicia. It is located in northwest Spain. It is bordered on the north by Begonte and Guitiriz, to the south by Palas de Rei and Guntín, to the east by Lugo and Outeiro de Rei and to the west by ...

. In the years following the war, the Guerrilla Army of Galicia took some actions in the municipality, as well as the mythical Foucellas, who acted in the area and lived a time hidden in the house of his cousin in Ru, Vilasantar. In the parish of Mezonzo was born other guerrilla, Manolito Bello.

Economy

The

primary sector The primary sector of the economy includes any industry involved in the extraction and production of raw materials, such as farming, logging, fishing, forestry and mining. The primary sector tends to make up a larger portion of the economy in de ...

and the

tertiary Tertiary ( ) is a widely used but obsolete term for the geologic period from 66 million to 2.6 million years ago. The period began with the demise of the non-avian dinosaurs in the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event, at the start ...

one have a predominant weight in the area, and in the

secondary sector In macroeconomics, the secondary sector of the economy is an economic sector in the three-sector theory that describes the role of manufacturing. It encompasses industries that produce a finished, usable product or are involved in construction. ...

the manufacture of wooden board stands out, due to the presence of the Losán Group in the municipality. During the first half of the 20th century, the

textile industry The textile industry is primarily concerned with the design, production and distribution of yarn, cloth and clothing. The raw material may be natural, or synthetic using products of the chemical industry. Industry process Cotton manufacturi ...

was very important because of the La Arzuana factory in Présaras, founded by

Luís Miranda Luis is a given name. It is the Spanish form of the originally Germanic name or . Other Iberian Romance languages have comparable forms: (with an accent mark on the i) in Portuguese and Galician, in Aragonese and Catalan, while is archai ...

and José Núñez de la Barca, and in which hundreds of people worked, most of them women.

Demography

According to the National Institute of Statistics, the population of Vilasantar in 2017 was 1,241 inhabitants. Evolution of the population in the last century: Colors= id:lightgrey value:gray(0.8) id:darkgrey value:gray(0.6) id:bar value:rgb(1,0.75,0.4) ImageSize = width:500 height:300 PlotArea = left:50 bottom:20 top:20 right:30 DateFormat = x.y Period = from:0 till:4500 TimeAxis = orientation:vertical AlignBars = justify ScaleMajor = gridcolor:darkgrey increment:500 start:0 ScaleMinor = gridcolor:lightgrey increment:100 start:0 BackgroundColors = canvas:white PlotData= color:bar width:20 align:left bar:1900 from:0 till:3020 bar:1910 from:0 till:3001 bar:1920 from:0 till:3197 bar:1930 from:0 till:3331 bar:1940 from:0 till:4073 bar:1950 from:0 till:4094 bar:1960 from:0 till:3869 bar:1970 from:0 till:2887 bar:1981 from:0 till:2368 bar:1991 from:0 till:1875 bar:2001 from:0 till:1639 bar:2009 from:0 till:1415 bar:2017 from:0 till:1241 PlotData= bar:1900 at: 3020 fontsize:S text:3.020 shift:(-10,5) bar:1910 at: 3001 fontsize:S text:3.001 shift:(-10,5) bar:1920 at: 3197 fontsize:S text:3.197 shift:(-10,5) bar:1930 at: 3331 fontsize:S text:3.331 shift:(-10,5) bar:1940 at: 4073 fontsize:S text:4.073 shift:(-10,5) bar:1950 at: 4094 fontsize:S text:4.094 shift:(-10,5) bar:1960 at: 3869 fontsize:S text:3.869 shift:(-10,5) bar:1970 at: 2887 fontsize:S text:2.887 shift:(-10,5) bar:1981 at: 2368 fontsize:S text:2.368 shift:(-10,5) bar:1991 at: 1875 fontsize:S text:1.875 shift:(-10,5) bar:2001 at: 1639 fontsize:S text:1.639 shift:(-10,5) bar:2009 at: 1415 fontsize:S text:1.415 shift:(-10,5) bar:2017 at: 1241 fontsize:S text:1.241 shift:(-10,5)

Parishes

The municipality is formed by the following seven parishes: * Armental (San Martiño). * Barbeito (San Salvador). * Mezonzo (Santa María). * Présaras (San Pedro). * San Vicenzo de Curtis (San Vicenzo). * Vilariño (Santa María). * Vilasantar (Santiago).

References

{{coord, 43, 04, N, 8, 06, W, region:ES_type:city_source:GNS-enwiki, display=title Municipalities in the Province of A Coruña