Valle de Villaverde (also, until 2005, Villaverde de Trucíos
cantabria102municipios.com. Accessed online 2010-01-04.) 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 go ...

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 ...

Cantabria Cantabria (, also , , Cantabrian: ) is an autonomous community in northern Spain with Santander as its capital city. It is called a ''comunidad histórica'', a historic community, in its current Statute of Autonomy. It is bordered on the east ...

, Spain. It is surrounded by the

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 ...

municipalities of Carranza, Arcentales, and Trucíos, but the town belongs to the administration of the

government of Cantabria , border = Autonomous government , image = , caption= Logo of the Government of Cantabria , date = , state = , address = C/ Peña Herbosa, 29, Santander , appointed = Monarch , leader_title ...

.Valle de Villaverde - Descripción General
cantabria102municipios.com. Accessed online 2010-01-04. Thus, it is an enclave of

Biscay Biscay (; eu, Bizkaia ; es, Vizcaya ) is a province of Spain and a historical territory of the Basque Country, heir of the ancient Lordship of Biscay, lying on the south shore of the eponymous bay. The capital and largest city is Bilbao. B ...

and an exclave of

. In the south of the municipality are the headwaters of the Río Agüera, whose valley includes altitudes of more than . The municipality is crossed from west to east by the

Santander Santander may refer to: Places * Santander, Spain, a port city and capital of the autonomous community of Cantabria, Spain * Santander Department, a department of Colombia * Santander State, former state of Colombia * Santander de Quilichao, a m ...

Bilbao ) , motto = , image_map = , mapsize = 275 px , map_caption = Interactive map outlining Bilbao , pushpin_map = Spain Basque Country#Spain#Europe , pushpin_map_caption ...

railway line operated by

FEVE Renfe Feve is a division of state-owned Spanish railway company Renfe Operadora. It operates most of Spain's of railway. This division of Renfe was previously a stand-alone company named FEVE (Ferrocarriles de Vía Estrecha,Law 11/1965 of ...

Localities

The municipality is made up of the following localities: * La Altura * El Campo * La Capitana * Los Hoyos * La Iglesia * Laiseca *

La Matanza ''La Matanza'' (Spanish for "The Massacre") refers to a communist- indigenous rebellion in El Salvador that took place between 22 and 25 January 1932. It was succeeded by large-scale government killings in western El Salvador, which resulted ...

(the capital) * Mollinedo * Palacio * Villanueva

History

The area was settled in pre-

Roman 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 ...

times not by the

Cantabri The Cantabri ( grc-gre, Καντάβροι, ''Kantabroi'') or Ancient Cantabrians, were a pre-Roman people and large tribal federation that lived in the northern coastal region of ancient Iberia in the second half of the first millennium BC. Thes ...

but by the

Autrigones The Autrigones were a pre-Roman tribe that settled in the north of the Iberian Peninsula, in what today is the western Basque Country (western regions of Biscay and Álava) and northern Burgos and the East of Cantabria, Spain. Their territory li ...

. It was colonized by Rome, and later became part of the

Kingdom of Asturias The Kingdom of Asturias ( la, Asturum Regnum; ast, Reinu d'Asturies) was a kingdom in the Iberian Peninsula founded by the Visigothic nobleman Pelagius. It was the first Christian political entity established after the Umayyad conquest of ...

, as did the rest of Las Encartaciones and the heart of

. The valley was purchased in the mid-15th century by Pedro Fernández de Velasco, at which point it ceased to be part of Biscay, the antecedent to its current status as an enclave. The

1822 Events January–March * January 1 – The Greek Constitution of 1822 is adopted by the First National Assembly at Epidaurus. *January 3 - The famous French explorer, Aimé Bonpland, is made prisoner in Paraguay accused of being a spy. ...

and 1833 territorial divisions of Spain gave it the name Villaverde de Trucíos; in 2005 it returned to its traditional name, Valle de Villaverde. The region was devastated in the

Carlist Carlism ( eu, Karlismo; ca, Carlisme; ; ) is a Traditionalist and Legitimist political movement in Spain aimed at establishing an alternative branch of the Bourbon dynasty – one descended from Don Carlos, Count of Molina (1788–1855) – ...

battles of 1875; as a result, few old buildings survive. One notable older building is the Church of Santa María, its interior in ruins due to the 1875 fighting and later abandonment.

Demography

Politics and government

As with the larger Enclave of Treviño (a Burgalese exclave surrounded by

Álava Álava ( in Spanish) or Araba (), officially Araba/Álava, is a province of Spain and a historical territory of the Basque Country, heir of the ancient Lordship of Álava, former medieval Catholic bishopric and now Latin titular see. Its c ...

Basque nationalists Basque nationalism ( eu, eusko abertzaletasuna ; es, nacionalismo vasco; french: nationalisme basque) is a form of nationalism that asserts that Basques, an ethnic group Indigenous peoples, indigenous to the western Pyrenees, are a nation an ...

wish to incorporate Valle de Villaverde into the surrounding Basque province, in this case Biscay. Also similarly, this intent is opposed by the Cantabrian government: Miguel Ángel Revilla, president of the autonomous community of Cantabria was clear in his unwillingness to cede the municipality. In 1979, deputies (congressmen) Xabier Arzalluz of the Basque Nationalist Party (PNV) and Juan María Bandrés of Euskadiko Ezkerra, affirmed that Article 8 of the then-new

Statute of Autonomy of the Basque Country {{Politics of Basque Country (autonomous community) The Statute of Autonomy of the Basque Country of 1979 ( eu, Euskal Autonomia Erkidegoko Estatutua; es, Estatuto de Autonomía del País Vasco), widely known as the Statute of Gernika ( eu, Gerni ...

was intended to integrate the enclave of Treviño into Álava and the enclave of Villaverde into Biscay. Mariano González Clavero
Partidos políticos en el proceso autonómico de Castilla y León. 1975 - 1983
, 2002 doctoral thesis at the

University of Valladolid The University of Valladolid is a public university located in the city of Valladolid, Valladolid province, autonomous region of Castile and Leon, Spain. Established in the 13th century, it is one of the oldest universities in the world. The u ...

, Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes. p. 501. This is page 517 of the PDF. Accessed online 2010-01-04. Although the leading political party in municipal elections in recent years has been the

Regionalist Party of Cantabria The Regionalist Party of Cantabria ( es, Partido Regionalista de Cantabria, PRC) is the second oldest political party in the Spanish Autonomous Community of Cantabria. The PRC originated in the Association in Defense of the Interests of Cantabr ...

, in decades past Valle de Villaverde (then Villaverde de Trucíos) was more inclined to integrate itself into the surrounding province of Biscay. Piedad González, mayor of Villaverde de Trucíos beginning in May 1983, originally as a member of the

Spanish Socialist Workers' Party The Spanish Socialist Workers' Party ( es, Partido Socialista Obrero Español ; PSOE ) is a social-democraticThe PSOE is described as a social-democratic party by numerous sources: * * * * political party in Spain. The PSOE has been in gove ...

"Referéndum sobre el «Trapaso» de un pueblo cántabro a Vizcaya", ''ABC'', national edition, 1986-10-02
p. 26
Accessed online 2010-01-05. and later as an independent socialist, was described by '' El País'' in 1987 as an "impenitent defender of integration into Biscay." The following tables show the results of the 2003 and 2007 municipal elections.Resultados electorales de Valle de Villaverde
in ''ABC''

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Valle De Villaverde Municipalities in Cantabria Enclaves and exclaves