Pasaia ( es, Pasajes) is a town and

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the ...

located in the province of

Gipuzkoa Gipuzkoa (, , ; es, Guipúzcoa ; french: Guipuscoa) is a province of Spain and a historical territory of the autonomous community of the Basque Country. Its capital city is Donostia-San Sebastián. Gipuzkoa shares borders with the French de ...

in the Basque Autonomous Community of northern

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") , ...

. It is a fishing community, commercial port and the birthplace of the famous admiral Blas de Lezo. Pasaia lies approximately east of Donostia's centre, lying at the foot of Mount Ulia and the

Jaizkibel Jaizkibel is a mountain range of the Basque Country located east of Pasaia, north of Lezo and west of Hondarribia, in Spain, with at the highest point (peak Alleru). The range stretches south-west to north-east, where it plunges into the sea a ...

massif. The

numbers 16,056 inhabitants ( estimates), clustering around the Bay of Pasaia in four nuclei, namely Pasai San Pedro, Pasai San Juan (or Donibane in Basque), Antxo and Trintxerpe, with each part showing distinctive features.

History

Pasaia is mentioned in documentary records for the first time in 1203 as Oiarso. The name of the village was later changed to "Pasage", which means 'port' in Gascon. The Gascons had come to inhabit the area side by side with the Basque people at the beginning of the 13th century. The current name is first attested in the 15th century, when it was called the above "Pasage". It was a major source of revenue for the municipal coffers on the strength of its strategic position in the commercial sea-routes. It was the

Guipuzcoana Company The Royal Guipuzcoan Company of Caracas (modern spelling variant ''Gipuzkoan'', known also as the ''Guipuzcoana Company'', es, Real Compañia Guipuzcoana de Caracas; eu, Caracasko Gipuzkoar Errege Konpainia) was a Spanish Basque trading compan ...

's main port, numbering up to seven shipyards in the mid-17th century. Historically the area was controlled by two competing baronies, i.e. Hondarribia, controlling Donibane, the right bank, and Donostia (San Sebastián), with jurisdiction over San Pedro, the left bank. Donibane detached from Hondarribia in 1770, and San Pedro segregated from Donostia in 1805. The district of Antxo was formed in 1890, when the Irun-Madrid railway came through. Trintxerpe, next to San Pedro, was the last district to form. Trintxerpe and Antxo make up a continuous urban strip with the eastern districts of the city of Donostia.

References

External links

Official Website
Information available in Spanish and Basque.
PASAIA in the Bernardo Estornés Lasa - Auñamendi Encyclopedia (Euskomedia Fundazioa)
Information available in Spanish Municipalities in Gipuzkoa Fishing communities Port cities and towns on the Spanish Atlantic coast *''This article is based in part on material from the Spanish Wikipedia''. {{basqueCountry-geo-stub