Liébana
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Liébana is a comarca of Cantabria (Spain).
It is one of the best defined comarcas of the region, with an extension of 570 square kilometers and localized to the southwest of Cantabria. It borders with Asturias, León and Palencia. It is made up of the municipalities of: Cabezón de Liébana, Camaleño, Cillorigo de Liébana, Pesaguero, Potes, Tresviso y Vega de Liébana.
It is a closed mountainous comarca, constituted by four valleys (Valdebaró, Cereceda, Piedrasluengas and Cillorigo) that connect in Potes, the center of the comarca. Its main rivers are the Deva River, the Quiviesa and the Buyón. From its steep relief stands out the limestone from the Carboniferous, affected by karstic processes. Shale and sandstone can be found in the bottom of the valleys.
Its condition of great deep valley, with big differences in altitude and steep slopes creates a great wide variety of environments which allow for a multitude of vegetable species: beeches, holm oaks, cork oaks and other types of oaks (Quercus robur, Quercus Pyrenaica and Quercus lusitania), grazing pastures and cultivation crops. Its narrow relief makes it have a microclimate different from the rest of the region, affected by an atlantic climate. So, while in the bottom of the valley of Liébana a Mediterranean climate can be enjoyed, it shiftes progressively as we ascend to a humid atlantic climate until reaching subalpine conditions in the high peaks of Picos de Europa. The average annual temperatures are 28ºC maximum and 8ºC minimum, with a lower precipitation rate than in other Cantabrian zones (800 mm annually versus 1,000 to 1,200 mm of average in the region).
The economy of the comarca of Liébana has shifted from the primary sector to the rural tourism boom, thanks to its landscapes and the appeal of the Picos de Europa National Park. Nevertheless, the development brought by the tourism has affected the township of Potes, capital of the comarca almost exclusively, in detriment of the rest of villages of the valley. Thus, as Potes enjoys population growth, the rest of population nuclei are decreasing in population.
At the end of the 14th century, King John I of Castile granted the lordship of Liébana to his cousin Don Juan Téllez of Castile, Lord of Aguilar de Campoo and son of the Infante Don Tello of Castile. Towards the half of the 15th century, the possession of the lordship of Liébana was origin to one of the frequent peerage wars of that time, and subsequently to a long lawsuit between the heirs of Don Juan Téllez of Castile (the Marquises of Aguilar de Campoo) and the successors of the second marriage of his wife Doña Leonor de la Vega (the Dukes of Infantado). In 1576 the courts passed sentence in favor of the House of Infantado.
[edit] See also
[edit] Bibliography
- Songbook of Liébana, Matilde Camus 1977
[edit] External links
- (Spanish) Cantabria 2007. Liébana land of joy.
- (Spanish) Liebana.net
- Liébana and Picos de Europa
- (Spanish) Center of Studies of Liébana
- (Spanish) 2006-2007 Liébanan Jubilee Year
- (Spanish) Economic Society Friends of Liébana Country
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