Ferrol, Galicia

Ferrol (Galician pronunciation: [feˈrɔl]), sometimes in Spanish El Ferrol, is a city in the province of A Coruña in Galicia, located on the Atlantic coast in north-western Spain. As of 2007^[update], it has an urban population of 77,859 and a metropolitan area population of over 241,528.

The city has been a major naval shipbuilding centre from the 18th century, being the capital of the Spanish Navy's Maritime Department of the North since the time of the early Bourbons. Today, the city is also known as the home of the shipbuilding yards of Navantia.^[1]

The city was the birthplace of the Spanish General Francisco Franco in 1892, and was officially known as El Ferrol del Caudillo from 1938 to 1982. It was also the birth place of the founder of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE), Pablo Iglesias, in 1850.

Toponym

The first mention of the city dates back to the year 1087, under the name sancto Iuliano de Ferrol, where Ferrol is probably the local evolution of the genitive form of the Latin anthroponym Ferreolus; as such, Ferrol was probably, in origin, the estate of one Ferreolus.^[2]

History

The existence of prehistoric human settlements in this green corner of Iberia is backed up by the abundance of burial chambers, megalithic monuments as well as Petroglyphs and other archaeological findings. The Phoenicians established in this area different dried and salted cod stations and their presence together with the presence of the Ancient Greeks is well documented by historians like Herodotus amongst others. In Roman times, in the 1st century BC, a fishing port existed in the bay of Ferrol. After the fall of the Western Roman Empire the whole Iberian Peninsula, including Ferrol, was raided by the Vandals and occupied in 411 by the Suebi; their kingdom was incorporated in 584 by Leovigild to the Visigothic kingdom of Spain.^[3]

Raided from 711 to 739 by the Arabs, Ferrol was ultimately recaptured by the Visigothic king of Asturias in 754 remaining onwards an integral part of Christian Spain.^[4]

The House of Asturias established an important Christian Outpost to protect their realms from the Arab invaders. In the 14th century Henry II gave the town to the powerful Andrade family.^[5]

In 1568^[6] a fire reduced to rubble the old medieval town; in the same period some parts of the existing fortifications at the entrance of the estuary were built.^[7] As a naval base, at that time the town was considered more important as a Royal Arsenal than as a safe harbour.

With the arrival of the Bourbons in the 18th century, Ferrol became a leading naval centre.^[8] Ferrol was made Capital of the Maritime Department of the North, formed under Ferdinand VI and Charles III for the defence of the Spanish Colonial Empire in America. Rapid improvements followed, notably under the leadership of the Marquis of Ensenada, and the position of Ferrol was made almost unassailable from the sea, the difficulties of disembarking troops on its precipitous coast being strengthened by a renewed line of fortresses and newly built castles, including that of San Carlos.

The Royal Dockyards of A Graña and Ferrol, built between 1726–1783,^[9] produced ships protected with copper sheets from the rolling mills of Xubia. In 1772, The Spanish Royal Academy of Naval Engineers of Ferrol, the first such academy in Spain, was created.

Ferrol was virtually impossible to blockade in the age of sail, as strong westerly winds would take any blockading force away along the treacherous north coast of Spain where they had no safe haven. The geography of Ferrol meant that an entire Spanish fleet could slip out on a single tide. By the time the British were able to resume the blockade, the Spanish would be safely away and out to sea. Despite these advantages, a decline set during the reign of Charles IV, and in 1800, after the defences had been reduced, a British fleet of 109 vessels landed troops on the beach of Doniños to take the Castle of San Felipe. Although only equipped with meagre artillery, the castle's small defence force under the command of Count Donadio together with a sizable number of volunteer citizens of Ferrol, successfully resisted the attack and the fleet withdrew. The alliance with the United Kingdom during the Peninsular War of 1808-14 failed to prevent the deterioration in the town’s fortunes. The arsenals and fortresses were abandoned and they were easily occupied by the French in 1809.

Under Ferdinand VII, Ferrol lost its title of capital. New activities sprang up, however, in the mid-19th century, during the administration of the Marquis de Molina,^[10] Spanish Minister for Naval affairs, which included amongst other political successes the construction and launch in the Royal Dockyards of Ferrol of Spain's first steam propelled ship in 1858.

The second half of the 19th century brought to the Royal Dockyards of Ferrol not just plenty of work but social and political tensions which ended up in the failed republican uprising of 1872.^[11]

Ten years after the Spanish-American War of 1898,^[12][13] in which Spain lost Cuba and the Philippines, the Antonio Maura Government, in an attempt to restore the Spanish Navy and Spanish shipbuilding industry hired the Spanish Society for Naval Construction, whose major investors were the British firms John Brown, Vickers and Armstrong^[14] the shipbuilding yards, workshops, foundries and dry docks in Ferrol.

For a period of sixteen years, all the technicians were exclusively British, and the situation was not altered till 1925 when the management was taken over by Spanish engineers, as one of the new policies introduced by the then newly created government, including ministers both civil and military, of the dictator Miguel Primo de Rivera (1923–1930). The arrival of the British coincided with the construction of a local electric-powered trolley streetcar’s line (1924–1961).^[15]

In sight of the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War, and because there was fear of social unrest in the naval station, the Foreign Office in London,^[16][17] organized a ship to repatriate all the remaining British citizens and on 22 July 1936 HMS Witch (D89)^[18] departed from Ferrol back to Britain. At the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939) the shipbuilding yards, workshops, foundries and dry docks in Ferrol were taken over by the state and fully nationalized in 1945 under the name "Bazàn", later renamed "IZAR", and, starting from January 2005, Navantia. The town was the birthplace of dictator Francisco Franco, after whom the city was officially known as El Ferrol del Caudillo from 1938 to 1982. The end of the dictatorship and the arrival of democracy in 1978 did not help Ferrol,^[19][20] and from 1982 to the early 1990s, the city confronted numerous problems due to a decline in the naval sector. The beginning of the new millennium however has been a time of economic expansion and prosperity in general.^[21] A new motorway and an outer-port^[22] have been built.

Ferrol hosted the large NATO Maritime Exercise Loyal Mariner (RN) in June 2008.^[23]

Climate

As in most of Galicia, Ferrol climate is a humid oceanic climate, characterized by year-long mild temperatures, rainy winters, and relatively dry summers.

Economy

Primary Industries include horse breeding, fish farming and fishing (specializing in the Atlantic shoals), mining (ENDESA), non-timber forest products, quarries and timber. Secondary Industries include shipbuilding, ship engines, wind turbines, electrical equipment, ironworks, Textiles, food (canned fish) and wood-made products.

Tertiary activities include mercantile, fishing and military ports, restaurants, media, hotels and tourism.

Sister cities

These are the official sister cities of Ferrol:

• Lugo, Spain, since 2000
• Mondoñedo, Spain, since 2004
• Adelaide, Australia, since 2010

Notable people

• Nacho Novo (born 1979), professional footballer
• Alonso Pita da Veiga
• Benito Vicetto Pérez (1824–1878), writer
• Jenaro Pérez Villaamil (1807–1854), painter
• Concepción Arenal (1820–1893), feminist activist
• José Canalejas Méndez (1854–1912), former Spanish Prime Minister died in office
• Patricio Montojo y Pasarón (1839–1917), admiral
• Pablo Iglesias Posse (1850–1925), politician
• Marquis of Amboage (1823–1892), multimillionaire and politician
• Frederick H. Shaw (1864–1924)
• Fernando Álvarez de Sotomayor y Zaragoza (1875–1960), painter
• Ramón Franco (1896–1938), aviator
• General Francisco Franco (1892–1975), ruled Spain as dictator after the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939).
• Ricardo Carvalho Calero, first ever professor of Galician literature and Linguistics - University of Santiago de Compostela (1910–1990)
• Gonzalo Torrente Ballester (1910–1999), writer
• Ángeles Alvariño Gozález (1916–2005), biologist and oceanographer (1916–2005)
• María Isabel Rivera Torres (born 1952), actress
• Jesús Vázquez Martínez (born 1965), TV presenter
• Paloma Pérez-Lago González (born 1967), one fashion model and TV presenter
• Carlos Jean (born 1973), electronic musician and music producer
• Paula Vázquez Picallo (born 1973), TV presenter and model

See also

• Sociedad Española de Construcción Naval
• School of Peritos Navales and Industriales
• Endesa Termic
• Racing Club de Ferrol
• El Correo Gallego
• El Ferrol Diario
• El Diario de Ferrol
• El Casino de Ferrol
• El Circulo Mercantil de Ferrol
• El Club Naval de Ferrol

Notes

References

•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. 

External links

• Official website (Spanish) (Galician)
• Green Tourism in Northern Spain 2005
• Site devoted to the art of landscape and nature of Ferrolterra (Spanish)