Osorno la Mayor is a municipio in Palencia province,

Castile and León Castile and León ( es, Castilla y León ; ast-leo, Castiella y Llión ; gl, Castela e León ) is an autonomous community in northwestern Spain. It was created in 1983, eight years after the end of the Francoist regime, by the merging of th ...

, Spain. The

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the eas ...

an city of Osorno and Osorno Province (

) are named after this place.

General information

*Covers 88.6 square kilometers and has roughly 1,500 residents. *The villages of Villadiezma, Las Cabañas de Castilla and Santillana de Campos are

hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...

s of Osorno la Mayor (they belong to the same municipal district). *Has easy access to the highways Autovía Camino de Santiago and Autovía Cantabria-Meseta, and also has a train station.

Location

Osorno la Mayor is located on the eastern edge of the province in a region called Tierra de Campos, 50 kilometers from the provincial capital Palencia. The town is considered a crossroad for its location on the natural path from the northern plateau to the

Bay of Biscay The Bay of Biscay (), known in Spain as the Gulf of Biscay ( es, Golfo de Vizcaya, eu, Bizkaiko Golkoa), and in France and some border regions as the Gulf of Gascony (french: Golfe de Gascogne, oc, Golf de Gasconha, br, Pleg-mor Gwaskogn), ...

, and from

Burgos Burgos () is a city in Spain located in the autonomous community of Castile and León. It is the capital and most populated municipality of the province of Burgos. Burgos is situated in the north of the Iberian Peninsula, on the confluence o ...

towards León and

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 ...

Local Economy

Economic activity in this region has historically been based on

agriculture Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people ...

, in particular the cultivation of grains, although this activity is now in decline. Construction, public works projects, and services are booming due to Osorno la Mayor's proximity to two highways (Burgos-León and Palencia-Santander) that pass nearby and the rail lines that follow the same route. The municipality also has an industrial park which drives significant economic activity.

Water

The township is irrigated by water from the Valdavia and Boedo rivers as well as the

Canal de Castilla The Canal of Castile (Canal de Castilla in Spanish) is a canal in the north of Spain. Constructed between the last half of the 18th century and the first half of the 19th century, it runs 207 km through the provinces of Burgos, Palencia and ...

. Lock number 15 of the north branch of the channel is located in the township. Only traces remain of the buildings that were on the site of the lock as they were demolished before it was declared a protected historical landmark.

History

Thanks to some artifacts that have been found on the township's land, it is known that it hosted a Roman settlement primarily of a military nature. The artifacts have appeared over the years, without any systematic archaeological dig. More recently, organized excavations have found traces of human settlement that may go as far back as the

Mesolithic The Mesolithic ( Greek: μέσος, ''mesos'' 'middle' + λίθος, ''lithos'' 'stone') or Middle Stone Age is the Old World archaeological period between the Upper Paleolithic and the Neolithic. The term Epipaleolithic is often used synonymo ...

Age. The area grew in importance starting 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 ...

, no doubt the result of its physical location. Today only the town hall and some elements of the municipal church, such as the baptismal font and the baroque altar, attest to a past with artistic or historical interest.

Holiday Celebrations

The most prominent holidays in Osorno la Mayor are the celebration of Our Lady of Ronte, the Pilgrimage of St. Pantaleón and the festivities of San Miguel de los Santos, which is held on the first weekend of July.

Easter Easter,Traditional names for the feast in English are "Easter Day", as in the '' Book of Common Prayer''; "Easter Sunday", used by James Ussher''The Whole Works of the Most Rev. James Ussher, Volume 4'') and Samuel Pepys''The Diary of Samue ...

is also celebrated with fervor; the township has one of the most striking Easter celebrations in the province.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Osorno La Mayor Municipalities in the Province of Palencia