The province of A Coruña ( ; ; historical ) is the northwesternmost province of

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

, and one of the four provinces which constitute 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 ...

of Galicia. This province is surrounded by the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the ...

to the west and north, Pontevedra Province to the south and Lugo Province to the east.

History

The history of this province starts at the end of the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...

during the reign of the

Catholic Monarchs of Spain The Catholic Monarchs were Queen Isabella I of Castile () and King Ferdinand II of Aragon (), whose marriage and joint rule marked the '' de facto'' unification of Spain. They were both from the House of Trastámara and were second cousins, ...

. During those years this province was far smaller than today. This is because in the

1833 territorial division of Spain The 1833 territorial division of Spain divided the country into provinces, in turn classified into "historic regions" ().

the entire Province of Betanzos together with half of the Mondoñedo were amalgamated into one single province with its capital city in A Coruña. Since 1833, the province has always been the one with the largest population and largest coast. Until the second half of the 20th century, this province was both the religious and cultural centre of the entire region. The University of Santiago de Compostela was the only university in North-western Spain until the arrival of democracy after the death of General

Francisco Franco Francisco Franco Bahamonde (born Francisco Paulino Hermenegildo Teódulo Franco Bahamonde; 4 December 1892 – 20 November 1975) was a Spanish general and dictator who led the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalist forces i ...

Population

Since 1877

Colors= id:lightgrey value:gray(0.9) id:darkgrey value:gray(0.7) id:sfondo value:rgb(1,1,1) ImageSize = width:600 height:auto barincrement:30 PlotArea = left:40 bottom:40 top:20 right:20 DateFormat = x.y Period = from:0 till:1200 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal AlignBars = late ScaleMajor = gridcolor:darkgrey increment:100 start:0 ScaleMinor = gridcolor:lightgrey increment:50 start:0 BackgroundColors = canvas:sfondo PlotData= color:skyblue width:20 shift:(-60,-5) fontsize:M anchor:till bar:1877 from:0 till: 612 text: 612,402 bar:1887 from:0 till: 635 text: 635,327 bar:1900 from:0 till: 682 text: 681,895 bar:1910 from:0 till: 727 text: 726,697 bar:1920 from:0 till: 772 text: 772,363 bar:1930 from:0 till: 836 text: 835,906 bar:1940 from:0 till: 913 text: 912,662 bar:1950 from:0 till: 972 text: 971,641 bar:1960 from:0 till:1036 text:1,035,619 bar:1970 from:0 till:1031 text:1,030,745 bar:1980 from:0 till:1093 text:1,093,121 bar:1990 from:0 till:1097 text:1,096,966 bar:2000 from:0 till:1096 text:1,096,027 bar:2010 from:0 till:1141 text:1,141,286 bar:2020 from:0 till:1121 text: 1,121,815 TextData= pos:(35,20) fontsize:M text:"Source: Instituto Nacional de Estadística, INE"

Main sights

The

cathedral of Santiago de Compostela The Santiago de Compostela Archcathedral Basilica (Spanish language, Spanish and Galician language, Galician: ) is part of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Santiago de Compostela, Metropolitan Archdiocese of Santiago de Compostela and is an inte ...

is the destination of the Way of St. James, a major historical

pilgrimage A pilgrimage is a travel, journey to a holy place, which can lead to a personal transformation, after which the pilgrim returns to their daily life. A pilgrim (from the Latin ''peregrinus'') is a traveler (literally one who has come from afar) w ...

route since the

which still gathers thousands of pilgrims each year from all over the world.

Parks

* Atlantic Islands of Galicia National ParkAtlantic Islands of Galicia National Park
. . is the only

national park A national park is a nature park designated for conservation (ethic), conservation purposes because of unparalleled national natural, historic, or cultural significance. It is an area of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that is protecte ...

in Galicia. It is shared between the Provinces of A Coruña and

Pontevedra Pontevedra (, ) is a city in the autonomous community of Galicia (Spain), Galicia, in northwestern Spain. It is the capital of both the ''Pontevedra (comarca), Comarca'' and Province of Pontevedra, and the capital of the Rías Baixas. It is als ...

. * The "Fragas" of the River Eume Natural Park extends itself throughout the Eume and Ferrol regions of Ferrolterra. * The Dunes of Corrubedo Natural Park (''Parque Natural das Dunas de Corrubedo e lagoas de Carregal e Vixán'') is a beach park at the very end of the Barbanza Peninsula.

Transport

Airports and airfields

* Aeroporto da Lavacolla in Santiago de Compostela * Aeroporto de Alvedro in the City of A Coruña * Heliporto da Graña in the Naval Base of A Graña (Ferrolterra) * Heliporto de Narón in Naron ( Ferrolterra)

Railway

* Spanish National Railway Network Linking every major city: Ferrol, Betanzos, A Coruña and Santiago de Compostela * Spanish Narrow-Gauge Railways Linking the City of Ferrol with different towns of Ferrol and Ortegal. This line is also known as Ferrol-

Irun Irun (, ) is a town of the Bidasoaldea region in the province of Gipuzkoa in the Basque Autonomous Community, Spain. History It lies on the foundations of the ancient Oiasso, cited as a Roman- Vasconic town. During the Spanish Civil War, ...

( Basque Country) * Spanish High Speed Railway Network (AVE) Linking most major cities of the province with

Lisbon Lisbon ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 567,131, as of 2023, within its administrative limits and 3,028,000 within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, metropolis, as of 2025. Lisbon is mainlan ...

and

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

is under construction.

Economy

Ports

A Coruña A Coruña (; ; also informally called just Coruña; historical English: Corunna or The Groyne) is a city and municipality in Galicia, Spain. It is Galicia's second largest city, behind Vigo. The city is the provincial capital of the province ...

– ''Major Commercial Port'' – Rías Altas * Malpica – ''Fishing Port'' – Costa da Morte * Camariñas – ''Fishing Port'' – Costa da Morte * Fisterra – ''Fishing Port'' – Costa da Morte * Ferrol – ''Major Commercial Ports'' (also:

Military A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. Militaries are typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with their members identifiable by a d ...

) – Rias altas * Cariño – ''Fishing Port'' – Rias altas * Espasante – ''Fishing Port'' – Rias altas * Cedeira – ''Fishing Port'' – Rias altas

Sport

Deportivo de La Coruña Real Club Deportivo de La Coruña (), commonly known as Deportivo La Coruña () or simply Depor, is a Spanish professional association football, football club based in the city of A Coruña, Galicia, that competes in the Segunda División, the ...

Spanish Primera Federación team from the City of A Coruña. *

Racing Ferrol Racing Club de Ferrol, commonly known as Racing de Ferrol, is a Spanish football team based in Ferrol, Province of A Coruña, in the autonomous community of Galicia. Founded in 1919, the club currently plays in , holding home games at '' E ...

Spanish

Segunda División The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Segunda División, commonly known as Segunda División or La Liga 2, and officially known as LaLiga HyperMotion for sponsorship reasons, is the men's second professional association football division of the Spa ...

team from the City of Ferrol. * SD Compostela Spanish Segunda Federación team from the City of Santiago de Compostela. *

Atlético Arteixo Club Atlético Arteixo is a Spanish football team based in Arteixo, A Coruña, in the autonomous community of Galicia. Founded in 1949 it currently plays in , holding home games at ''Campo Municipal Ponte dos Brozos'', with a capacity of 2,000 s ...

Spanish Tercera Federación team from the Municipality of Arteixo. * Bergantiños FC Spanish Tercera Federación team from the Municipality of Carballo. * SD Negreira Spanish Tercera Division team from the Municipality of Negreira. * Autos Lobelle de Santiago FS Spanish División de Honor of Futsal team from the City of Santiago de Compostela.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:A Coruna, Province of