Karrantza Harana/Valle de Carranza (in

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 ...

''Karrantza Harana'', in

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

''Valle de Carranza''), is a town and municipality located in the province of

Biscay Biscay ( ; ; ), is a province of the Basque Country (autonomous community), Basque Autonomous Community, heir of the ancient Lordship of Biscay, lying on the south shore of the Bay of Biscay, eponymous bay. The capital and largest city is Bilb ...

, in the Basque Country. It is located in the

comarca A ''comarca'' (, , , ) 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, mark ...

Enkarterri Enkarterri ( Spanish: ''Las Encartaciones'') is a comarca of the province of Biscay, in the Basque Country, Spain. It is one of the seven ''eskualdeak/comarcas'' or districts that make up the province of Biscay. Its administrative centre is Ba ...

and it is the westernmost and largest (by area) municipality of the province. Film director

Víctor Erice Víctor Erice Aras (; born 30 June 1940) is a Spanish film director. He is best known for his first two feature fiction films, '' The Spirit of the Beehive'' (1973), which many regard as one of the greatest Spanish films ever made, and '' El Sur' ...

was born there.

Etymology

The first recorded appearance of the toponym of Carranza is on the

Chronicle of Alfonso III The ''Chronicle of Alfonso III'' () is a chronicle composed in the early tenth century on the order of King Alfonso III of León with the goal of showing the continuity between Visigothic Spain and the later Christian medieval Spain. Intended as ...

, dated in the 10th Century, where it appears as ''Carrantia''. According to the text, ''Carrantia'' was one of the towns known to be populated during the reign of Alfonso I,

King King is a royal title given to a male monarch. A king is an Absolute monarchy, absolute monarch if he holds unrestricted Government, governmental power or exercises full sovereignty over a nation. Conversely, he is a Constitutional monarchy, ...

Asturias Asturias (; ; ) officially the Principality of Asturias, is an autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in northwest Spain. It is coextensive with the provinces of Spain, province of Asturias and contains some of the territory t ...

. The origin of ''Carrantia'' comes from the

Cantabri The Cantabri (, ''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. These peoples and their territor ...

an dialect, meaning "high rocks". From ''Carrantia'' it would evolve to Carranza, the current

toponym. ''Karrantza'' is the Basque toponym, an adaptation of Carranza following the Basque orthographic rules, and it is the official name of the municipality since 2001.

History

The first known vestiges of the human presence in the valley of Karrantza are some lithic tools, from the late

Middle Paleolithic The Middle Paleolithic (or Middle Palaeolithic) is the second subdivision of the Paleolithic or Old Stone Age as it is understood in Europe, Africa and Asia. The term Middle Stone Age is used as an equivalent or a synonym for the Middle P ...

.History of Karrantza
at the Karrantza's Town Hall official website (in Basque) In Karrantza is located the sanctuary of Venta Laperra, the oldest of the entire Basque Country, with several forms of

Paleolithic art The art of the Upper Paleolithic represents the oldest form of prehistoric art. Figurative art is present in Europe and Southeast Asia, beginning around 50,000 years ago. Non-figurative cave paintings, consisting of hand stencils and simple geom ...

. There is evidence of ancient pastoral activity, as well as art forms belonging to

hunter-gatherer A hunter-gatherer or forager is a human living in a community, or according to an ancestrally derived Lifestyle, lifestyle, in which most or all food is obtained by foraging, that is, by gathering food from local naturally occurring sources, esp ...

s from the

Neolithic The Neolithic or New Stone Age (from Ancient Greek, Greek 'new' and 'stone') is an archaeological period, the final division of the Stone Age in Mesopotamia, Asia, Europe and Africa (c. 10,000 BCE to c. 2,000 BCE). It saw the Neolithic Revo ...

and the

Bronze Age The Bronze Age () was a historical period characterised principally by the use of bronze tools and the development of complex urban societies, as well as the adoption of writing in some areas. The Bronze Age is the middle principal period of ...

. The oral traditions tells of the presence of

Romans 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 Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...

in the lands of the valley, which were interested in the exploitation of

galena Galena, also called lead glance, is the natural mineral form of lead(II) sulfide (PbS). It is the most important ore of lead and an important source of silver. Galena is one of the most abundant and widely distributed sulfide minerals. It crysta ...

from the Ubal mountains. Diggings effectuated in some of the caves within the municipality revealed

Roman pottery Pottery was produced in enormous quantities in ancient Rome, mostly for utilitarian purposes. It is found all over the former Roman Empire and beyond. Monte Testaccio is a huge waste mound in Rome made almost entirely of broken amphorae used fo ...

. In 1903 more than one hundred Roman coins were found, all dated from 238 to 260. The first records about the valley of Karrantza are from the 8th Century, when the

Alfonso I was conducting a series of resettlements on the Atlantic region of the

Iberian Peninsula The Iberian Peninsula ( ), also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in south-western Europe. Mostly separated from the rest of the European landmass by the Pyrenees, it includes the territories of peninsular Spain and Continental Portugal, comprisin ...

, as they were mentioned in the

one century later. The valley of Karrantza was incorporated to the

Lord of Biscay The Lordship of Biscay (, Basque: ''Bizkaiko jaurerria'') was a region under feudal rule in the region of Biscay in the Iberian Peninsula between 1040 and 1876, ruled by a political figure known as the Lord of Biscay. One of the Basque ''señor� ...

in the 12th Century. It belongs to the territory of the

, which was itself incorporated to Biscay in the 13th Century.

Population

* 1900 - 4,237 people * 1910 - 4,463 people * 1920 - 4,506 people * 1930 - 4,458 people * 1940 - 4,479 people * 1950 - 4,687 people * 1960 - 4,490 people * 1970 - 3,953 people * 1981 - 3,392 people * 1991 - 3,149 people * 2001 - 2,887 people * 2004 - 2,884 people * 2009 - 2,810 people * 2018 - 2,715 people

Geography

Karrantza is located in the westernmost part of the

region and is the largest (by area) of all the municipalities of

. Karratza is 54 kilometers away from the head of province

Bilbao Bilbao is a city in northern Spain, the largest city in the Provinces of Spain, province of Biscay and in the Basque Country (greater region), Basque Country as a whole. It is also the largest city proper in northern Spain. Bilbao is the List o ...

and limits at north by the

autonomous community The autonomous communities () are the first-level administrative divisions of Spain, created in accordance with the Spanish Constitution of 1978, with the aim of guaranteeing limited autonomy to the nationalities and regions that make up Sp ...

Cantabria Cantabria (, ; ) is an autonomous community and Provinces of Spain, province in northern Spain with Santander, Cantabria, Santander as its capital city. It is called a , a Nationalities and regions of Spain, historic community, in its current ...

, at east mostly with the Cantabrian exclave of Villaverde de Trucios, and the Basque municipalities of Turtzioz and Artzentales, at south with the

province of Burgos The province of Burgos is a Provinces of Spain, province of northern Spain, in the northeastern part of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Castile-Leon, Castile and León. It is bordered by the provinces of Palencia (p ...

and at west with the tiny municipality of

Lanestosa Lanestosa is a town and municipality located in the province of Biscay, in the autonomous community of Basque Country, northern Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territ ...

and the Cantabrian community.

Sports

The Karrantza CD football club is the most important sport club. It is in regional categories of Basque football.

References

External links

CARRANZA in the Bernardo Estornés Lasa - Auñamendi Encyclopedia (Euskomedia Fundazioa)
{{coord, 43, 12, 21, N, 3, 21, 48, W, source:kolossus-ruwiki, display=title Municipalities in Biscay