Cangas de Onís

Cangas de Onís
Cangues d'Onís
Municipality

The hump-backed "Roman Bridge" on the Sella River

Flag
Coat of arms
Cangas de Onís

Location in Spain

Coordinates: 43°21′N 5°8′W / 43.350°N 5.133°W / 43.350; -5.133
Country  Spain
Autonomous community  Asturias
Province Asturias
Comarca Oriente
Judicial district Cangas de Onís
Capital Cangas de Onís
Government
 • Alcalde Jose Manuel González Castro (PP)
Area
 • Total 212.75 km2 (82.14 sq mi)
Highest elevation 2,478 m (8,130 ft)
Population
 • Total 6,731
 • Density 32/km2 (82/sq mi)
Demonym(s) cangués
Time zone CET (UTC+1)
 • Summer (DST) CEST (UTC+2)
Postal code 33547 to 33559
Website Official website

Cangas de Onís (Asturian: Cangues d'Onís) is a municipality in the eastern part of the province and autonomous community of Asturias in the northwest of Spain. The capital of the municipality is also Cangas de Onís.

More than seventy square kilometres of the concejo form part of the Parque nacional de los Picos de Europa. Within the park is the village of Covadonga, where the battle of Covadonga (about 722), the first major victory by a Christian military force in Iberia after the Islamic conquest, marks the starting-point of the Reconquista.

Until 774, Cangas de Onís was the capital of the Kingdom of Asturias. It was the site of the first church constructed in post-conquest Iberia, Santa Cruz de Cangas de Onís (737), built on an ancient dolmen.

Etymology

The name of the town may very likely have originated as the Visigothic/Ancient Germanic affirmation "kuningaz ðeow nis", meaning "a king is not a slave". This slogan would commemorate the former capture and brief enslavement of the Asturian Visigoth king Pelayo (also known as Pelagius of Asturias) at the hands of the Islamic Moors, who had invaded and taken control of Spain from the years 711-718 AD.

Pelayo would soon escape from his enslavement in or around the year 720 AD and, after a long and dangerous cross-country evasion of his pursuing Moorish captors, eventually succeed in returning to his home territory in the mountains of Asturias. There he would lead his fellow Asturian Visigoths to victory against the Moors at the Battle of Covadonga. This victory would be the first of many all across Spain in the almost 800-year-long period of Reconquista which ultimately unified and reclaimed the entire nation for Christendom in 1491 AD.

Vegetation

Given its varied height it has many types of plants, including many mountain shrubs, heather; oak, have and ash trees, rounded by grassland and copes.

Economy

The main economic activities of this region are agriculture and cattle rearing along with rural tourism. The nearby Covadonga Sanctuary and its surrounding lakes are one of the main tourist destinations in Asturias.

Parishes

Cangas de Onís is divided in eleven parishes:

The capital of the municipality is the parish of Cangas de Onís. It is 27.22 km2 (10.51 sq mi) in size with a population of 4,326 (INE 2005). The postal code is 33550 and is divided in several villages:

Wikisource has the text of the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica article Cangas de Onís.

Coordinates: 43°21′00″N 5°07′00″W / 43.35°N 5.116667°W / 43.35; -5.116667

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