El Franco is a municipality 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 coextensiv ...

. It is bordered on the north by the

Cantabrian Sea The Cantabrian Sea; french: Mer Cantabrique, gl, Mar Cantábrico, ast, Mar Cantábricu, eu, Kantauri. is the term used mostly in Spain to describe the coastal sea of the Atlantic Ocean that borders the northern coast of Spain and the southwe ...

, and to the west by Tapia de Casariego, to the south by

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 Boal, and to the east by

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 ...

. El Franco is part of the

Comarca A ''comarca'' (, or , or ) is a traditional region or local administrative division found in Portugal, Spain and some of their former colonies, like Brazil, Nicaragua, and Panama. The term is derived from the term ''marca'', meaning a "march, ...

Eo Navia. The Porcia and Mazo Rivers pass through the municipality.

History

Artifacts from

Neolithic Age 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 ...

book an early settlement of the region. Still today rests of

Hill fort A hillfort is a type of earthwork used as a fortified refuge or defended settlement, located to exploit a rise in elevation for defensive advantage. They are typically European and of the Bronze Age or Iron Age. Some were used in the post-Roma ...

s, in Arancedo as well as in the neighbouring Coaña and Mohias are visible. In the 18th century the old gold mines which are in use until today were found near the embankment castle of Arancedo. During the Middle Ages El Franco was split in the dioceses by Lugo and Oviedo, the administrative capital was in this time,

. In 1852 the administrative seat was laid to El Franco finally in the Parroquia La Caridad where it is still today. El Franco is the birthplace of

Corín Tellado María del Socorro Tellado López (25 April 1927 in El Franco, Asturias, Spain – 11 April 2009), known as Corín Tellado, was a prolific Spanish writer of romantic novels and photonovels that were best-sellers in several Spanish-language ...

, one of the world best-selling writers in

Spanish language Spanish ( or , Castilian) is a Romance language of the Indo-European language family that evolved from colloquial Latin spoken on the Iberian peninsula. Today, it is a global language with more than 500 million native speakers, mainly in th ...

Demographics

Economy

At the top of the employees lies the

Livestock Livestock are the domesticated animals raised in an agricultural setting to provide labor and produce diversified products for consumption such as meat, eggs, milk, fur, leather, and wool. The term is sometimes used to refer solely to animal ...

and Fishery. The milk industry is provided here still with the highest growth, after in the fishing the preventive measures of the EU started to reach. The tourism industry and administrative companies form the second largest position of the employers and the tourism shows the biggest growth of the region. Smaller, commercial companies and production companies are found predominantly in the small industrial parks of the adjoining municipality.

Politics

Parishes

* Arancedo * A Braña * A Caridá * Llebredo * Miudes * San Xuan de Prendonés * Valdepares * Villalmarzo

Points of interest

* La iglesia (Church) de Santa María, built on romanic Basementen finished in the 18th century * El palacio de Miudes from the 16th century * El palacio de Fonfría from the 16th century * El palacio de Jardón * La torre (Tower) Valdepares

Fiestas and Ferias

* 24. June - San Juan de Prendones in Valdepares. * 16. July, el Carmen - in Miudes. * 2. August, Santo Ángel in Viavélez * from 8. September on: el día de los Remedios

References

External links

Federación Asturiana de Concejos

{{DEFAULTSORT:Franco, El Municipalities in Asturias *