O Vicedo

O Vicedo
—  Municipality  —

Coat of arms
O Vicedo
Coordinates:
Country Spain
Community Galicia
Province Lugo
Comarca Mariña Occidental
Government
 • Mayor José Jesús Novo Martínez
Area
 • Total 75.96 km2 (29.3 sq mi)
Elevation 20 m (66 ft)
Population (2010)
 • Total 1,973
 • Density 26/km2 (67.3/sq mi)
Demonym Vicedenses
Time zone CET (UTC+1)
 • Summer (DST) CEST (UTC+2)
Postal code
Website Official website

O Vicedo [1] is a municipality located on the extreme northwestern coast of Galicia, Spain, in the province of Lugo.

Parishes

It is composed of the following "parroquias" or "freguesias" (parishes):

As Negradas, Cabanas, Mosende, San Román do Vale, Santo Estevo do Vale (O Vicedo), Riobarba, Suegos.

In the Middle Age the parishes that now compose all the municipality of O Vicedo belonged to different Lords, and were under their jurisdiction (As Negradas, Galdo, Viveiro, etc).

With the Constitution of 1812 the first municipalities were created. The territory that now occupies the municipality of O Vicedo was divided in to 3 municipalities: As Negradas, Val, and Cabanas.

A new municipal division was defined in 1835 when the present territory of the municipality was distributed to the following councils: Galdo (O Vicedo, Negradas and Vale) and Viveiro (Suegos, Mosende, Riobarba and Cabanas). This division lasted only 5 years and in 1840 the municipality of Riobarba appeared, reflected in the Government report on the Province of Lugo which defined the present parishes. In 1952 the Civil Governor of Lugo moved the municipality capital to O Vicedo.

Government

O Vicedo achieved some national notoriety within Spain during the 1990s when a corruption scandal developed, involving the then mayor Isaac Prado Villapol and other councillors from the Partido Popular (PP).

Name origin

O Vicedo seems to have its base in the Latin word "vitiates". Therefore, it can be translated as "the place where the 'vice' abounds". 'Vice' is an annual legume of the Papilionaceae subfamily that abounds in coastal zones all throughout Europe.