Editing Cantabria (section)

==History==
===Roman Empire===
{{main|Hispania Tarraconensis|Cantabri}}
[[File:Iberia 300BC-en.svg|left|200px|thumb|Language groups of [[Pre-Roman Peoples of the Iberian Peninsula|Pre-Roman Iberia]]]]
[[File:Cantabria prerromana.svg|right|thumb|200px|Cantabria during the Cantabrian Wars. This map shows the borders of the Cantabrian territory relative to modern Cantabria as well as the different tribes who inhabited it, the neighboring towns, and geographic features with their Latin names.]]
The first written reference to the name Cantabria emerges around 195 BC, in which the historian [[Cato the Elder]] speaks in his book ''[[Origines]]'' about the source of the Ebro River in the country of the [[Cantabri]]:{{blockquote|...The Ebro River starts in the land of the [[Cantabri]], large and beautiful, with abundant fish...|Cato the Elder, ''Origines: VII''{{refn|group=n|Latin: {{lang|la|...fluvium Hiberum; is oritur ex Cantabris; magnus atque pulcher, pisculentus...}}}}}}

There are about 150 references to Cantabria or the Cantabri in surviving [[Ancient Greek|Greek]] and [[Latin]] texts. The Cantabri were used as [[mercenary|mercenaries]] in various conflicts, both within the Iberian Peninsula and elsewhere. It is certain that they participated in the [[Second Punic War]], from references by [[Silius Italicus]]<ref>{{citation |author=Silius Italicus |at=Bk III |title=Cantabria}}</ref> and [[Horace]].<ref>{{citation |author=Horace |at=Bk IV, Ode xiv|title=Cantabria }}</ref> When [[Gaius Hostilius Mancinus|C. Hostilius Mancinus]] was besieging [[Numantia]], he withdrew upon learning that Cantabri and [[Vaccaei]] were present among his [[Roman auxiliaries|auxiliaries]]. The [[Cantabrian Wars]] began in {{nowrap|29 BC.}}<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Polito|first=Eugenio|date=30 December 2012|title=Iconografía triunfal augustea y las guerras cántabras: algunas observaciones sobre escudos redondos y puntas de lanza representados en monumentos de la Península Ibérica e Italia|url=http://aespa.revistas.csic.es/index.php/aespa/article/view/201|journal=Archivo Español de Arqueología|language=en|volume=85|pages=141–148|doi=10.3989/aespa.085.012.008|issn=1988-3110|doi-access=free}}</ref> They were defeated by [[Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa|Agrippa]] with great slaughter in {{nowrap|19 BC}}, but they revolted again under [[Tiberius]] and were never entirely subdued.{{sfnp|''EB''|1878}}

In older geographers, the term Cantabria referred to an expansive country bounded by the Cantabrian Sea (the [[Bay of Biscay]]), the western side of the [[Sella River|Sella valley]] in [[Asturias]], the [[hillfort]] of [[Peña Amaya]] in [[Burgos (province)|Burgos]], and along the [[Aguera River]] almost as far as [[Castro Urdiales]].<ref>{{Cite web|last=Cadavieco|first=Miguel López|title=Guerras Cántabras - La lucha contra el imperio Romano|url=http://www.regiocantabrorum.es/historia/guerras_cantabras.php|access-date=10 June 2021|website=www.regiocantabrorum.es|language=es}}</ref> It thus included areas of [[Asturias]], [[Santander, Spain|Santander]], [[Biscay]], and [[Guipuzcoa]]. Following the [[Roman conquest of Spain]], however, it was restricted to the area of [[Santander, Spain|Santander]] and eastern [[Asturias]], forming a part of [[Hispania Tarraconensis]] ("[[Tarragona]]n Spain").{{sfnp|''EB''|1878}} The principal tribes of the area were the [[Pleutauri]], the [[Varduli]], the [[Autrigones]], the [[Tuisi]], and the [[Conisci]] or [[Concaui]], who were known for [[blood drinking|feeding on their horses' blood]].{{refn|group=n|{{langx|la|...laetum equino sanguine Concanum...}}}} The area was well settled, with the largest city being [[Juliobriga]],{{sfnp|''EB''|1878}} and the local mountains exploited for [[lead]] mines.{{sfnp|''EB''|1911}}

===Middle Ages===
{{unreferenced section|date=August 2015}} 
[[File:Ducado de Cantabria.png|left|thumb|200px|Borders of the [[Duchy of Cantabria]]]]
Following the collapse of the Roman Empire, Cantabria regained its independence from the rule of the [[Visigoths]]. In 574, King [[Liuvigild]] attacked Cantabria and managed to capture the south of the country, including the city of [[Amaya (Burgos)|Amaya]], where he established a Visigothic province called the [[Duchy of Cantabria]] (see picture), which would serve as a [[Limes (Roman Empire)|limes]] or frontier zone to contain the Cantabri as well as their neighbors the [[Vascones]]. To the north of this cordon, however, the Cantabri continued to live independently until the Arab invasion. In 714, a mixed [[Arab]]/[[Berber people|Berber]] army of [[Muslim]] Moors invaded the upper valleys of the Ebro and succeeded in capturing Amaya, the Cantabrian capital, forcing the Cantabrians back to their traditional frontiers, where they joined forces with the [[Kingdom of Asturias]]. In the first chronicles of the [[Reconquista]], Cantabria still appears to be acknowledged as a region. In the ''Albendense Chronicle'', when speaking of [[Alfonso I of Asturias|Alfonso I]], it says, "This was the son of [[Peter of Cantabria|Peter]], the duke of Cantabria".{{refn|group=n|{{langx|la|...iste Petri Cantabriae ducis filius fuit...}}}}

During the 9th century, on mentioning the monastery of Saint Zacharias, in a letter sent to [[Wiliesind]], bishop of Pamplona, [[Eulogius of Córdoba]] pinpoints it in ''Seburim'' (maybe [[Zubiri, Navarre|Zubiri]]) on the [[Arga (river)|river Arga]], "waters all of Cantabria", suggesting a region stretching out far into the east. From this period on, source documents barely reference Cantabria by name, with ''Asturias'' featuring in names of the ''comarcas'' called ''[[Asturias de Santillana]]'', ''Asturias de Trasmiera'' and ''Asturias de Laredo''.
[[File:Bataille de la Rochelle.jpg|200px|thumb|[[Battle of La Rochelle]]. Castilian army, formed by Cantabrians from the [[Brotherhood of the Four Cities]], defeated the English army, getting the control of the [[English Channel]] for the [[Crown of Castile]].]]

From a central core formed by the ''Hermandad de las Cuatro Villas'' (''Brotherhood of the Four Cities'') (Santander, Laredo, Castro Urdiales and [[San Vicente de la Barquera]]), the ''Hermandad de las Marismas'' (''Brotherhood of the Marshes'') was created, thereby uniting all the important seaports to the East of Asturias. During the period of the Reconquista, the Four Cities actively participated in the re-settling of Andalusia, dispatching men and ships. The coastal port cities of [[Cádiz]] and [[El Puerto de Santa María]] were settled by families from the Cantabrian Sea ports. Ships from the Four Cities took part in the taking of [[Seville]], destroying the ship bridge linking [[Triana (Seville)|Triana]] and Sevilla, a victory that is represented by the [[Carrack]] and the [[Torre del Oro]] of Sevilla in the coat of arms of [[Coat of arms of Santander|Santander]], [[Coat of arms of Cantabria]] and [[Avilés]] (Asturias).

===16th to 18th centuries===
{{unreferenced section|date=August 2015}}
In the 16th century, the name ''La Montaña'' (''The Mountain'') was widespread in popular usage and in literature, as a designation of the Ancient Cantabria, as opposed to [[Castile (historical region)|Castile]], which referred solely to the [[Geography of Spain#The Inner Plateau and associated mountains|Central Plateau]]. This distinction has survived into modern times.
[[File:Hermandad de las Cuatro Villas.svg|thumb|left|200px|[[Brotherhood of the Four Cities]], antecedent to the Cantabrian region and the main Castilian port at the time.]]

With the rise of the [[Catholic Monarchs]], the Brethren of the Marshes disappeared, leaving the Coregiment of the Four Villas, which included the whole area of influence of the old Brethren of the Four Villas (almost all of Cantabria). During the ''[[Ancien Régime|ancien régime]]'', the greatest jurisdictional lordships of Cantabria were mainly under the control of three of the [[Grandee|Grandee families]] of Spain: that of '''Mendoza''' ([[Dukedom of Infantado|Dukes of Infantado]], Marquises of Santillana), of '''Manrique de Lara''' (Marquises of Aguilar de Campoo, [[Count of Castañeda|Counts of Castañeda]]), and to a lesser extent that of '''Velasco''' ([[Dukedom of Frías|Dukes of Frías]], [[Constable of Castile|Constables of Castile]]).<ref>Antonio Bar Cendón, ''De la montaña a Cantabria: la construcción de una comunidad autónoma'' (Santander: University of Cantabria Press, 1995), 201-3. {{ISBN|8481021121}}, 9788481021127</ref>

From the 16th century on, there was renewed interest in studying Cantabria and the Cantabri, particularly concerning the precise location of the territory that this people had occupied. It was not until the 18th century that the debate about the location and size of Ancient Cantabria was settled in a series of works which described the history of the region such as ''La Cantabria''<ref>Enrique Flórez. ''La Cantabria. Disertación sobre el sitio y extensión que tuvo en tiempos de los romanos la región de los cántabros, con noticia de las regiones cofinantes y de varias poblaciones Antiguas'' (The Cantabria. Dissertation of the place and extension that the land of the Cantabri had in times of the Romans, with notice of the adjacent regions and of several Ancient villages. Madrid. 1768</ref> by the Augustinian father and historian Enrique Flórez de Setién. Concurrent with the resurgence of this interest in the Cantabrians and the clarification of the aforementioned polemic, many institutions, organizations and jurisdictions in the mountainous territory received the name of "Cantabrian" or "of Cantabria".{{citation needed|date=August 2015}}

In 1727, the first attempt to unify what would later become the province of Cantabria occurred. Despite this, the high level of autonomy that the small entities of the fractured estate of Cantabria enjoyed, combined with a lack of resources, continued to be the main reason for Cantabria's weakness, aggravated by the progressive advance of the [[House of Bourbon|Bourbonic]] [[Unitary state|centralism]] and its administrative efficiency. The latter continually emphasised the impossibility of the smaller territories facing a multitude of problems on their own: from communications to the exercise of justice, from putting aside adequate reserves for hard times to the indiscriminate [[levée en masse|levees]] for soldiers, and above all the progression of fiscal impositions. All of this led to an acceleration of contact between villas, valleys and jurisdictions, which tended to focus on the Assemblies of the provinces of the Nine Valleys, led by the deputies elected by the traditional entities of self-government.{{citation needed|date=August 2015}}

There were two events that triggered the culmination of the integration process in this second attempt:
*On the one hand, the collective interest in avoiding making contributions to the reconstruction of the bridge of [[Miranda de Ebro]], imposed by order of the Intendant of [[Burgos]] on 11 July 1775, the same year that Cantabria suffered two tremendous floods, on 20 June and on 3 November. There was a need to face as the banditry that operated with impunity in Cantabria as a result of a lack of local juridical resources. After the General Deputy of Nine Valleys gathered the affected jurisdictions to the assembly that was to take place in Puente San Miguel on 21 March 1777, they sent their respective deputies with sufficient authority to join with the Nine Valleys.{{citation needed|date=August 2015}}

In this General Assembly a framework was established and formal steps began to be taken, leading to administrative and legal unity in 1778. This all culminated in the success of the Assembly held in the Assembly House of ''Puente San Miguel'' on 28 July 1778, where the province of Cantabria was constituted. It was achieved by passing the common ordinances which had been developed to that end, and which had been discussed and approved previously in councils of all the villas, valleys and subscribed jurisdictions. They were, in addition to the Nine Valleys: Rivadedeva, Peñamellera, the province of Liébana, Peñarrubia, Lamasón, Rionansa, the Villa of San Vicente de la Barquera, Coto de Estrada, Valdáliga, the Villa of Santillana del Mar, Lugar de Viérnoles, the Villa of Cartes and environs, the Valley of Buelna, the Valley of Cieza, the Valley of Iguña with the Villas of San Vicente and Los Llares, the Villa of Pujayo, the Villa of Pie de Concha y Bárcena, the Valley of Anievas, and the Valley of Toranzo.

[[File:Cnt-baston.PNG|left|thumb|200px|
{{Legend|#FA8072|Party and Baton of [[Laredo, Cantabria|Laredo]] (Province of Cantabria)}}
{{Legend|#90EE90|[[Merindad]] of [[Campoo]] (Province of Toro).}}]]
Having learned lessons from the failed attempt of 1727, the first objective of the new entity was to obtain approval from King [[Charles III of Spain|Charles III]] for the union of all the Cantabrian jurisdictions into one province. The royal ratification was granted on 22 November 1779.

The 28 jurisdictions that initially comprised the province of Cantabria were clear in their intention that all the other jurisdictions that formed the ''Party and Baton of the Four Villas of the Coast'' should be included in the new province. To this end they set out the steps needed for this to happen as soon as those jurisdictions should request it. They would have to abide by the ordinances, having the same rights and duties as the founders, all on an equal footing. Thus, the following joined in quick succession: the Abbey of [[Santillana del Mar|Santillana]], the Valleys of [[Tudanca]], [[Polaciones]], [[Herrerías]], [[Castañeda]], the Villa of [[Torrelavega]] and environs, [[Val de San Vicente]], [[Valle de Carriedo]], [[Tresviso]], and the Pasiegan Villas of [[La Vega, Cantabria|La Vega]], [[San Roque, Cantabria|San Roque]] and [[San Pedro, Cantabria|San Pedro]], as well as the city of Santander with its abbey.

Competition between the townships of Laredo and Santander led to the latter, having initially allowed the name of Cantabria for the province created at the beginning of the 19th century, later retracting its consent and demanding that it bear the name of Santander, so there would be no doubt as to which was the capital. When in 1821 the Provincial Council presented before the constitutional [[Cortes Generales|Courts]] its definitive plan for the provincial borders and legal entities, it proposed the name of province of Cantabria, to which the Township of Santander replied that "''this province must retain the name of Santander''". However, many newspapers still showed in their headings the name of Cantabria, or Cantabrian.

===19th century===
{{unreferenced section|date=August 2015}}
[[File:Estatua de Pedro Velarde - Santander.jpg|thumb|200px|A statue in Santander erected in honor of Cantabrian artillery captain [[Pedro Velarde y Santillán]], hero of the [[Peninsular War|Spanish war of independence]], who died 2 May 1808, during the uprising against the French occupation of Madrid.]]
During the [[Peninsular War|War of Independence]] (1808–1814), Bishop Rafael Tomás Menéndez de Luarca, a strong defender of absolutism, promoted himself as the "Regent of Cantabria" and established the ''Cantabrian Armaments'' in Santander, a section of the army whose purpose was to travel to all the mountain passes from the Central Plateau to detain any French troop.

Although defeated, he managed later to regroup in Liébana under the command of General Juan Díaz Porlier, calling his forces the ''Cantabrian Division'', in which there were various regiments and battalions, such as the ''[[Hussar]]s of Cantabria'' ([[cavalry]]) or the ''Shooters of Cantabria'' ([[infantry]]). During the [[First Carlist War|Carlist wars]] they formed a unit called the ''Cantabrian Brigade''.

===20th century===
{{unreferenced section|date=August 2015}}
The use of terms with ancestral resonance through the 18th and 19th centuries continued during the 20th century, taking on a political tone that was distinctly regionalist, until 1936. In fact, the ''Republican Federal Party'' produced an autonomy statute for a Cantabrian-Castilian Federal State that year, which would include present-day Cantabria and any neighbouring areas from [[Castile (historical region)|Castile]] and [[Asturias]] willing to join it. It could not be passed because of the [[Spanish Civil War|Civil War]]. Following the war and the subsequent marginalization of such efforts under the [[Spain under Franco|Francoists regime]], the use of the name of Cantabria decreased, to the point that for official purposes it was relegated to sports associations, the only arena in which Cantabria was noted as a region.

In 1963, the president of the Provincial Council, Pedro Escalante y Huidobro, proposed reapplying the name of Cantabria to the [[Province of Santander]], as suggested in an academic report written by the historian Tomás Maza Solano. Although further steps were taken and many of the townships were in favour of the move, the petition did not succeed, mostly due to the opposition of Santander City Council. On 30 December 1981, a process that had been started in April 1979 by the Council of [[Cabezón de la Sal]], under the presidency of Ambrosio Calzada Hernández, culminated in the granting of self-rule to Cantabria, outlined in Article 143 of the [[Spanish Constitution]].
Cantabria based its claim to autonomy on the constitutional precept that made provision for self-government for "''provinces with a historic regional character''".

A Mixed Assembly formed out of provincial deputies and national members of parliament began the task of drawing up an [[Statute of Autonomy of Cantabria|Autonomy Statute]] on 10 September 1979. Following the approval of the General Courts on 15 December 1981, the [[Juan Carlos I|King of Spain]] signed the corresponding Organic Law of Autonomy Statute for Cantabria on 30 December of the same year. Thus, the province of Santander broke its link to Castile, and left the former region of Castile and León to which it had belonged up to that time, together with the provinces of [[province of Ávila|Ávila]], [[province of Burgos|Burgos]], [[province of León|León]], [[La Rioja (Spain)|Logroño]], [[province of Palencia|Palencia]], [[province of Salamanca|Salamanca]], [[province of Segovia|Segovia]], [[province of Soria|Soria]], [[province of Valladolid|Valladolid]] and [[province of Zamora|Zamora]].

On 20 February 1982, the first Regional Assembly (now Parliament) was formed, with provisional status. From this time, the former province of Santander has been known as Cantabria and has thereby regained its historic name. The first home-rule elections were held in May 1983. The 4th Legislature (1995–1999) brought into effect the first great reform of the Autonomy Statute of Cantabria, approved by all the parliamentary groups.