Omaña

Omaña is a comarca of the province of León, autonomous community of Castile and León, in Spain. It is a historical region without administrative recognition. The traditional capital of the region is Murias de Paredes, which was the head of the judicial district until well into the 20th century. Omaña is formed by the municipalities of Soto y Amío, Murias de Paredes, Riello and Valdesamario.
Although sometimes the municipality Las Omañas is considered part of Omaña, others place it, due to its physical character, on the Ribera del Órbigo.

Etymology

The toponym "Omaña"—''Oumaña'' in Leonese—comes from, the name given to the by the Romans inhabitants of this area: ''homus manium'' or "god men," for their hardness and resilience; This interpretation is doubtful, since the expression ''homus manium'' is not correct in Latin and is not consistent with other toponyms with the same roots. Other more rigorous etymological analyzes from the linguistic and historical points of view, they conclude that the name of the region comes from ''Aqua Mania'' or of ''Aqua Magna''—"great water," great river— which would be the old name of the river that runs through it; That is to say, the river lent its name to the region and not the other way around.

History

Ancient history

Although not many details are known about the ancient history of Omaña, the human presence seems to go back at least as far as the Bronze Age, judging by the archaeological finds of the region, among which are the cauldron of Villaceid, the idol of Rodicol and several bronze axes. Castros are numerous in the area. The Castro culture is associated with the astures, although many were used during the Roman occupation as bases to organize the intense mining exploitation of the area that took place at this time. As testimony of gold exploitation, there are traces of canals in Valdesamario and Valle Gordo, land clearings and removed sands in la Garandilla, Guisatecha, and Barrio de la Puente and remains of two branches of the Asturian Rodera, one that passed through Ponjos and Rosales and another that passed through Garandilla, Home, Castro, and Riello.

Middle ages

The absence of important population centers that could serve as basis for the effective domination of the population, together with the presence of ancient defensive structures, progress has been made as explanation of the resistance of this area to Muslim rule.

In any case, this circumstance was key for the defense of the new Kingdom of Asturias and the subsequent conquest of the territories of the Duero basin. From this time onwards, references began to be made to current populations, from Omaña, such as ''Vega de Arenza'' (Vegarienza), Murias de Paredes and ''Ameo'' ( Amío) already in the 9th century. The name ''Omania'' or ''Ommania'' or ''land of Omania'' appears in documents from 1154.

19th and 20th century

The political changes of the 19th century had little impact on Omaña, apart from the successive recompositions of its councils, grouped already in the middle of the century into municipalitiess; These adjustments in territorial administration were sometimes criticized as useless and disrespectful of traditional uses. No administration managed to implement positive policies for the region, which began to find itself increasingly marginalized. This situation led to the gradual depopulation of the territory due to emigration starting at the beginning of the 20th century; emigration accelerated in the second half of the same century, especially after the implementation of the Stabilization Plan of 1959, which sharpened the contrast between the way of life of Omaña, in many respects similar to that of several centuries. behind, and the progressive prosperity of other Spanish regions. It was not until the declaration as a "Special Action Region" in Royal Decree 3418 of December 29, 1978, that an effort was made to improve the infrastructure, measures that however arrived late to stop the depopulation process. .

Physical geography

Omaña is located in a mountainous area, on the southern limit of the Cantabrian Mountains and the northeastern limit of the Montes de León. The zone status border between two mountain systems and transition between lands of the northern subplateau and the Cantabrian mountain range provide it with a special interest.

Omaña is separated from most of the neighboring regions by mountain ranges. On the border with Babia, to the north, are the Alto de la Cañada and the Sierra de la Filera. To the south it borders la Cepeda and Boeza, highlighting the peaks of Pozo Fierro, el Suspiron and Arcos del Agua. To the west and northwest, the Fasgarón, the Nevadín, the Tambarón and Piedra Negra separate it from Laciana and the region of the High Sil. To the east and southeast, the terrain slopes more gently towards the Luna and the land of Ordás. The transition between the western elevations and the river valleys that extend towards the southeast is produced by a set of medium-altitude reliefs, formed by ancient erosion processes and called "panda mountain ranges"; The Cueto Rosales lies in one of these chordals, near the geographical center of Oman, and from its summit most of the county and its boundaries can be seen.

The county shares its name with the Omaña River, which constitutes its main axis. Around the valley of the Omaña are arranged the different valleys which compose the county, following the ancient network of fractures hercynics in northwest-southeast direction: El Valle Gordo, the Valle Chico, La Lomba and Valdesamario—occupied by the rivers Vallegordo, Sabugo River, Negro River and Valdesamario or Ponjos respectively— as well as the narrow valleys of the northern slope of the Omaña, all with a physical character of their own. A short distance from the mouth of the Valdesamario, the Omaña joins the Luna River in the municipality of las Omañas; Here the river valley widens considerably and the terrain takes on a more pronounced plain character, now being considered part of the Ribera del Órbigo.

Climate

The mountainous character of Omaña largely determines its climate, classified as continentalized Mediterranean, with winters cold and frequent frosts, and summers warm and dry. The annual thermal oscillation is around 15 °C while the daily temperature sometimes exceeds 20 °C. precipitation is distributed irregularly throughout the year, being scarcer in summer and concentrating at the end of autumn, in the winter months and at the beginning of spring.

According to Köppen climate classification, this comarca is in ''mild summer '' zone, that is, a transitional climate between the Mediterranean climate(Csa) and the oceanic climate (Cfb), with the average of the warmest month below 22 °C but above 10 °C for five or more months, and characterized by average annual temperatures below 9 °C, rainfall close to annually, winter snowfall and dry summers.

Access

The LE-493 highway crosses the region; Small regional roads connect this main axis with the different towns. The main access routes to Omaña are, from the east, the highway AP-66 or the CL-623 highway (León-Villablino), taking the LE-493 in the town La Magdalena. To the west, it is reached from Villablino, on the CL-631, through the Puerto de la Magdalena.

The closest airport is León, about .

Administration

The towns of Omaña are small and located within a short distance between them. This type of dispersed population is common to the entire area from the mountain of León. Each valley has a few villages, generally three to five, which are usually grouped under the same municipality. The number of populations grouped in a municipality (or, formerly, a council) varies quite a bit. For example, in the 19th century, Lomba de Campestedo had 7 towns, while that in the Council of Omaña there were 21. Throughout history, the municipalities that make up the region have experienced quite a few reorganizations. At the end of the 20th century, Riello became the municipality with greater number of towns, 31 in total, when Campo de la Lomba and Vegarienza merged with it.

Society in Omaña is fundamentally agrarian society. The administration of the different population units of the region was traditionally based on the open council formed by the neighbors. Village councils used to take place at the church entrance, summoned by a special ringing of the bell. In these meetings, the ordinancess and the uses and customs of the town were applied: issues concerning the herding of livestock, the use of communal lands and irrigation water were decided; ''facenderas'' or "hacenderas" were called to repair roads, fountains and bridges; Contraventions of the ordinances were judged and fines were imposed. In the town ordinances of the 17th and 19th centuries there was a marked primacy of collective interests over individual rights. During the 20th century, the peculiar social organization of the region was lost along with the traditional ways of subsistence, in decline due to the low profitability of minifundistas farms in a modern economy , and the subsequent depopulation of the area, which accelerates from the 60s onwards.

Demographics

The region had almost 11,000 inhabitants at the beginning of the 20th century. From then on, the population began to emigrate, mostly to Argentina, Brazil and Venezuela at the beginning, and to Europe and other regions of Spain and the province of León as the century progressed. The 1986 census already counted only 4,000 inhabitants. But by 2011, the population dropped to 2400. Emigration has led not only to the depopulation of the region, but also to the aging of the population, since mainly young people emigrate, which hinders the prospects for recovery.

Geology

An important part of the terrain of the Omaña basin is constituted by slates and schists Precambrians; in areas of the north, northwest and south of the county are quartzites, sandstones and slates of Cambrian and Ordovician origin. The southern limit between Precambrian and Cambrian rocks runs along the imaginary line that joins the towns of Posada de Omaña and Inicio; in this strip, the formation of Vegadeo limestone can be seen, with a high participation of carbonates. The reddish limestones and marbles found in Fasgar and Rosales correspond to the upper levels of this formation.Copper and gold minerals of low economic value have been found.

Arranged on the oldest rocks, outcrops of the Carboniferous are found in two areas:
#to the north, in Manzaneda de Omaña and Sosas del Cumbral, possibly part of the deposit from the Stephanian period that extends between La Magdalena and Villablino.
#to the south, in the Valdesamario valley; the latter can be highlighted for the economic importance of its coal deposits and for the presence of a site of fossilplants, discovered in 2006.

The glacial deposits are of little importance, concentrating near the Suspiran, in the Valle Gordo and on the western limits of the region, where glacial processes have shaped the valleys of Campo de Santiago and Fasgarón and Vivero, at the foot of the Nevadín. A notable geological event today is the river capture by the Sil River basin, which has a greater slope and has a greater erosive capacity; this turns out evident in the Puerto de la Magdalena, and in the municipality of Murias de Ponjos, municipality of Valdesamario. The same phenomenon is observed at the head of the Luna River

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