Mungia
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Mungia | |||||
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| Location | |||||
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 Location of Mungia in Biscay. |
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| Coordinates : Time zone : CET (GMT +1) - summer : CEST (GMT +2) |
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| General information | |||||
| Native name | Mungia (Basque) | ||||
| Spanish name | Munguía | ||||
| Postal code | 48100 | ||||
| Area code | +34 (Spain) + 94 (Biscay) | ||||
| Website | http://www.mungia.org/ | ||||
| Administration | |||||
| Country | Spain | ||||
| Autonomous Community | Basque Country | ||||
| Province | Biscay | ||||
| Comarca | Mungialdea | ||||
| Mayor | Izaskun Uriagereke Legarreta (PNV) | ||||
| Geography | |||||
| Land Area | 52.12 km² | ||||
| Altitude | m AMSL | ||||
| Population | |||||
| Population | 15,104 (2006) | ||||
| Density | 289.79 hab./Km2 hab./km² (2006) | ||||
Mungia [1] is a town and municipality located in the province of Biscay, in the autonomous community of Basque Country, northern Spain. The town has 15,000 inhabitants.
[edit] Geography
Located 20 metres above the sea, Mungia is an area full of open spaces, with small hollows and slopes one after another; among those we can quote Gondramendi (217 m.), Tallu (342 m.) and Berreaga (366 m.). The mountains we highlight are Sollube (684 m.) and Jata (592 m.). They all lie surrounding the valley of the Butroi river which is born at the Bizkargi mountain (536 m.) and after crossing the whole region flows to the sea at the Plentzia estuary.
Anyway, this is not the only water flow we discover in this area; quite the reverse, there are lots of small streams and subterranean springs, such as the Atxuri, Trobika, Lauromendi, Atebarri, or Mantzorriko Erreka, which are all tributaries of the Butroi river and provide water to the numerous fountains built in the town. Years and years ago those waters helped to run more than 20 mills, some of which are still standing today.
[edit] History
Although there are still tracks on the ground which clearly show that the area where Mungia stands today was inhabited in prehistoric times (there is a castro (a fortified place where an army used to camp) in Berreaga, and some steles of various chronology have been found in neighbouring towns) the first documented reference we have dates back to the year 1051, when an abbot from Mungia ( Mome Munchiensis abba ) confirmed a gift from the Lords of Biscay to the Monastery of the Cogolla.
We believe that, at the beginning, Mungia, whose name comes from Mune - Ganean (which refers to its location at the edge of the Butroi river), was not much more than a tiny village with very dispersed population. At that time the church was the agglutinative nucleus but, little by little, it started acquiring a relative significance, thanks to a greater condition of administrative and ecclesiastic centre (that is believed due to the presence of the abbot) and to its location in a strategic pass between the interior of the feudal state and the coast, mainly the coast of Bermeo, which, those days, started to stand out as a port consecrated to exports. Under these conditions, important families belonging to the nobility settled down in the surrounding areas of the village and built there their tower houses. The economic power of these noblemen was based on the exploitation of the land.
However, as a consequence of the stockbreeding and agricultural crisis happened at the end of the 13th century, those families witnessed the worsening of the economy and, as a result, their profits started to decrease. To face this situation they tried very hard to improve the different richness sources, and many times the easiest resource they had was the use of the violence. Taking as an excuse the fact of "being more wothy" they fought with each other and peasants were decimated and deprived of their scarce belongings. The noblemen got these peasants involved in the fights of factions, too.
In the area of Mungia, we find representatives of both factions, being the Billela family part of the Ganboar faction while the Butroi family led the faction of Oinaz. As the tower houses of both families were geographically next to each other their fights were a common event.
The borough of Mungia is born as a consequence of this situation given that some of the neighbours in the area, viewing the outrages made by the nobility, requested to the, at the time, Lord of Biscay , the Infante Juan, the title of borough for their town. This was made in order to wall in the town and defend themselves from the attacks of those who were trying to destroy their territory.
By this means, the 1st August 1376, the borough of Mungia was born (governed by the Fueros of Logroño -a number of local laws and traditions which the Monarchs of Castile were to respect) in the centre of the anteiglesia (a village or municipal district specific to the Basque provinces) of the same name. Both belonged to the merindad of Uribe ( this was an important and bigger borough which defended and governed all the towns and country houses inside its boundaries ) and each of them had an autonomous town hall. In the same way, they possessed different seats in the Juntas of Gernika ( governmental council representing the people of Biscay ), being the number 69 for the anteiglesia and the number 15 for the borough. But the fact of designating a borough did not avoid a great number of fights in the area. Thus, there were various episodes of different nature, arising from the wars among the faction-men. Among those wars, and just to name a few of the most important of those small skirmishes, we mention the battle of Berteiz or the one known as the battle of Mungia, which took place the 27th April 1479 and in which the factions of Oinaz and Ganboa, enemies up to that moment, formed an alliance to fight against the Earl of Haro.
Leaving these episodes aside, life in Mungia was, surely, quite calm. The economic activity was, mainly, based on farming, with a few mills located at the banks of the multiple streams which washed the area. Furthermore, we could not forget the small craft workshops settled down in the borough.
The daily evolution was rarely disturbed, once in 1602 due to a fire, or yet another time when a big fire broke out in 1778, precisely the 9th November ending with fourteen of the capital buildings in the village completely burned. Back to this times and to prevent accidents happening all inflammable products such as straw, wood and coal were stored in a place next to the borough. This site was known as "Atzekaldeta", a name which refers to the location of the place in the rear part of the town.
Forgetting similar sudden shocks, not very remarkable ones, time passed quietly for both; the borough of Mungia and the anteiglesia of the same name. They were independent entities, although they joined together to achieve some services and improvements. Thus, the school was common and, when the time to introduce the canalisation of the water from the Gondramendi mountain to the village arrived both town halls divided the expenditure. Little by little, more tasks were performed together and due to this co-operation even bigger problems arose. Finally, this led to the idea of joining both bodies and becoming one unique entity. This happened the 6th October 1900 when a ceremony was held; therefore, the borough and the anteiglesia merged and became only one for the future. The fountain which today is placed in Beko Kale, in front of Arnaga, is the symbol of this unity under the motto "Biak bat eta biena" (Both only one and for both).
Up to 1936 life for the inhabitants passed by without big events and based on an activity fundamentally rural and agricultural, but with an increasing development of craft activities and trade. During the war Mungia was one of the heavily punished towns in the bombardments by the fascist troops. Moreover, while withdrawing from Mungia anarchist groups out of control burned some of the buildings in the town.
The war stopped the growth taking place in Mungia. And yet, at the beginning of the 60s, the process of industrialisation in the area appealed to lots of workforce. Not only did the necessary workforce come from the rest of Spain, but also from the neighbouring towns and few years later a big number of new buildings and streets were erected, expanding the town centre remarkably.
The recession at the end of the 70s brought a period ( quite short ) of negative vegetative growth in Mungia, which had a repercussion in the whole town. Up to then and, mainly, during the past years, Mungia was experimenting a huge growth of population.
For the long years of Franco's dictatorship, the movement of resistance was based on civic associations. Various groups looked for help in institutions such as the Church which worked as an umbrella and helping group for cultural, sporting and educational activities. Those activities sought the preservation and recovery of the Basque culture and the existence in a democratic culture.
[edit] External links
- Official webpage
- MUNGIA in the Bernardo Estornés Lasa - Auñamendi Encyclopedia (Euskomedia Fundazioa) (Spanish)
