Editing Province of Palencia

{{Short description|Province of Castile and León, Spain}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2017}}
{{Infobox settlement
| name                   = Province of Palencia
| native_name            = {{native name|es|Provincia de Palencia}}
| type                   = [[Provinces of Spain|Province]]
| image_skyline          = 
| image_alt              = 
| image_caption          = 
| image_flag             = Bandera de la provincia de Palencia.svg
| flag_size              = 
| flag_alt               = 
| image_shield           = Coat of Arms of Palencia Province.svg
| shield_size            = 
| shield_alt             = 
| motto                  = 
| anthem                 = 
| image_map              = Palencia in Spain.svg
| map_alt                = 
| map_caption            = Map of Spain with Palencia highlighted
| pushpin_map            = 
| pushpin_map_caption    = 
| coordinates            = {{coord|42|25|N|4|30|W|region:ES_type:adm2nd_source:GNS-enwiki|display=it}}
| coordinates_footnotes  = 
| subdivision_type       = Country
| subdivision_name       = [[Spain]]
| subdivision_type1      = [[Autonomous community]]
| subdivision_name1      = {{flag|Castile and León}}
| established_title      = 
| established_date       = 
| seat_type              = Capital
| seat                   = [[Palencia]]
| government_type        = 
| government_footnotes   = 
| leader_party           = 
| leader_title           = President
| leader_name            = 
| area_footnotes         = 
| area_total_km2         = 8052
| area_rank              = [[List of Spanish provinces by area|Ranked 29th]]
| area_note              = 1.6% of Spain
| elevation_footnotes    = 
| elevation_m            = 
| blank_name_sec1        = Official language(s)
| blank_info_sec1        = [[Spanish language|Spanish]]
| population_as_of       = {{Spain metadata Wikidata|population_as_of}}
| population_footnotes   = {{Spain metadata Wikidata|population_footnotes}}
| population_total       = {{Spain metadata Wikidata|population_total}}
| population_rank        = [[List of Spanish provinces by population|Ranked 46th]]
| population_density_km2 = auto
| population_demonym     = 
| population_note        = 
| blank_name_sec2        = Parliament
| blank_info_sec2        = [[Cortes Generales]]
| blank1_name_sec2       = [[Congress of Deputies (Spain)|Congress seats]]
| blank1_info_sec2       = 
| blank2_name_sec2       = [[Spanish Senate|Senate seats]]
| blank2_info_sec2       = 
| blank3_name_sec2       = 
| blank3_info_sec2       = 
| time_zone              = 
| utc_offset             = 
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| postal_code            = 
| area_code_type         = 
| area_code              = 
| website                = [http://www.dip-palencia.es/diputacion/portada Diputación de Palencia] {{in lang|es}}
| footnotes              = 
}}

'''Palencia''' is a [[Provinces of Spain|province]] of northern [[Spain]], in the northern part of the [[Autonomous communities of Spain|autonomous community]] of [[Castile-Leon|Castile and León]] in the north of the [[Iberian Peninsula]]. It is bordered by the provinces of [[León (province)|León]], [[Cantabria]], [[Burgos (province)|Burgos]], and [[Valladolid (province)|Valladolid]].

== Overview ==
[[File:Vega y Respenda.JPG|thumb|left|View of [[Vega de Riacos]] and [[Respenda de la Peña]] in the north of the province.]]
Of the population of 176,125 (2002), 45% live in the capital, [[Palencia]] which is located on the [[Canal de Castilla]]. There are 191 municipalities in the province, of which more than half are villages with fewer than 200 people. The majority of the province is very sparsely-populated and has lost a significant proportion of its population since Francoist times due to rural to urban migration.

The major towns in the northern Montaña Palentina are: [[Guardo]], a former coal mining town;<ref name="WagnerGarcía1983">{{cite book|last1=Wagner|first1=Robert Herman|last2=García|first2=L. G. Fernández|last3=Eager|first3=R. M. C.|title=Geology and Palaeontology of the Guardo Coalfield (NE Leon - NW Palencia), Cantabrian Mts|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sqPd8boDt1MC&pg=PA7|year=1983|publisher=IGME|isbn=978-84-7474-220-6|page=7}}</ref> [[Aguilar de Campoo]], a historic town famous for its biscuit production and [[Cervera de Pisuerga]], a tourist town situated at the beginning of the Ruta de los Pantanos (the Reservoirs Route) and [[Barruelo de Santullán]], which, as the centre of the province's coal mining industry, was the largest town in the province until the 1960s. Towns in the centre of the province include: [[Saldaña, Palencia|Saldaña]], known for the famous mosaics at the nearby Roman villa of La Olmeda, [[Herrera de Pisuerga]], a village known for its summer activities and Crab Festival and [[Carrión de los Condes]], a key monastery town on the [[Camino de Santiago]]. To the south of the city of Palencia are [[Venta de Baños]], an important railway and industrial exchange, as well as [[Villamuriel de Cerrato]], a village to that owes its development to the Renault factory<ref>{{cite book|author=Bank of London & South America|title=Bank of London & South America Review|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gxNZAAAAYAAJ|volume=10|year=1976|publisher=Lloyds Bank International|page=417}}</ref> and its proximity to the capital.

During the Middle Ages, the [[Visigoths]] ruled Palencia. Basílica de San Juan, the oldest Visigothic church in Spain, was built in 661 in the province's [[Baños de Cerrato]].<ref name="Planet2012">{{cite book|last=Planet|first=Lonely|title=Lonely Planet Valencia: Chapter from Spain Travel Guide|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=82xt9gXuIAcC&pg=PT145|date=2012|publisher=Lonely Planet Publications|isbn=978-1-74321-263-9|page=145}}</ref> During the thirteenth century a university was founded in the province. It was the first university in Spain and one of the first in the world. It was later shifted to Valladolid.<ref name="DevineSummerfield2013">{{citation|last1=Devine|first1=Mary Elizabeth|last2=Summerfield|first2=Carol|title=International Dictionary of University Histories|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tntEAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA109|date=2013|publisher=Taylor & Francis|isbn=978-1-134-26217-5|page=109}}</ref>

The province is bordered on the north by [[Cantabria (province)|Cantabria]], on the west by the province of [[León (province)|León]], on the east by the province of [[Burgos (province)|Burgos]] and on the south by the province of [[Valladolid (province)|Valladolid]]. Two exclaves of the province, [[:es:Cezura|Cezura]], and [[:es:Lastrilla|Lastrilla]], are enclaves within [[Campoo]], Cantabria, with the former being under 200 metres and the latter being just over 200 metres from the border at their closest point.

In Palencia large protected areas such as the Natural Park of Fuentes Carrionas and Fuente Cobre-Montaña Palencia are located.<ref name="GarcíaGuevara2004">{{citation|last1=García|first1=Carmelo Conesa|last2=Guevara|first2=Juan Bautista Martínez|last3=Rogel|first3=Yolanda Álvarez|title=Medio ambiente, recursos y riesgos naturales: análisis mediante tecnologia SIG y teledetección|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Cu9SxN3DuVQC&pg=PA84|year=2004|publisher=EDITUM|isbn=978-84-8371-485-0|page=84}}</ref> The term historical region in Palencia, refers to those regions created in the fourteenth century, under the name merindades. Cantabrian Mountains are located in the northerns parts of the province. The {{convert|8,268|ft|m|abbr=off}} high Curavacas peak is located in the province.<ref name="Britannica">{{cite web|url=http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/439357/Palencia|title=Palencia (Province, Spain)|publisher=Encyclopædia Britannica|access-date=30 September 2014}}</ref> The major commercial products produced in the province are barley, wheat, sugar beets, hemp, linen and woolen clothes, porcelain, leather, paper, and rugs. Food processing and metallurgy are major industries.<ref name="Britannica" /> The province has three judicial districts–one each in Palencia, Carrión de los Condes and Cervera de Pisuerga.<ref>{{cite web|title=Judicial Districts|url=http://www.cgpe.es/provincia.aspx?idprovincia=34|publisher={{Interlanguage link multi| Consejo General de Procuradores de España|es}}|access-date=30 September 2014|language=es}}</ref>

===Population development===
The historical population is given in the following chart:
<timeline>
Colors=
 id:lightgrey value:gray(0.9)
 id:darkgrey value:gray(0.7)
 id:sfondo value:rgb(1,1,1)

ImageSize  = width:600 height:auto barincrement:30
PlotArea   = left:40 bottom:40 top:20 right:20
DateFormat = x.y
Period     = from:0 till:240
TimeAxis   = orientation:horizontal
AlignBars  = late
ScaleMajor = gridcolor:darkgrey increment:20 start:0
ScaleMinor = gridcolor:lightgrey increment:5 start:0
BackgroundColors = canvas:sfondo

PlotData=
  color:skyblue width:20 shift:(-50,-5) fontsize:M anchor:till
 bar:1877 from:0 till:180 text:180,128
 bar:1887 from:0 till:189 text:189,431
 bar:1900 from:0 till:192 text:192,246
 bar:1910 from:0 till:198 text:197,680
 bar:1920 from:0 till:196 text:195,914
 bar:1930 from:0 till:212 text:212,092
 bar:1940 from:0 till:227 text:222,662
 bar:1950 from:0 till:236 text:236,008
 bar:1960 from:0 till:237 text:237,426
 bar:1970 from:0 till:202 text:201,532
 bar:1980 from:0 till:188 text:188,479
 bar:1990 from:0 till:185 text:185,479
 bar:2000 from:0 till:174 text:174,143
 bar:2010 from:0 till:171 text:170,513
 bar:2020 from:0 till:160 text:160,321
TextData=
 pos:(35,20) fontsize:M
 text:"Source: Instituto Nacional de Estadística, INE"
</timeline>

== See also ==
* [[List of municipalities in Palencia]]
* The [[Arauz Formation]] is situated in Palencia (Devonian of Spain).<ref>Silur und Devon im Arauz-Gebiet (Prov. Palencia, N-Spanien). H. Jahnke, A. Henn, H. Mader and J. Schweineberg, 1983, Newsletters on Stratigraphy, 13(1), pages 40-66, {{doi|10.1127/nos/13/1983/40}}</ref>
* [[El Golobar]]
* [[Siege of Pallantia]]

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
{{Commons category-inline|Province of Palencia}}

{{Provinces of Spain}}
{{Municipalities in Palencia}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Palencia, Province of}}
[[Category:Province of Palencia| ]]