The Mining Basins (also known as the Asturian Mining Basins or the Cuenques Mineres and Cuencas Mineras in Asturian and Spanish) is the name traditionally given to the historical territory located in the Central Coal Basin (Cuenca Hullera Central in Spanish) of the Principality of Asturias. It corresponds to one of the most heavily industrialized areas in Spain, especially linked to coal and ferrous metallurgy.[1]
Although more than 20 Asturian municipalities are officially considered mining councils, in different categories, the municipalities that make up the two regions most directly linked to coal and which have had the greatest historical importance in economic, social and cultural matters are popularly referred to as mining councils, such as Caudal Valley (Mieres, Lena, Aller, Ribera de Arriba, Morcín and Riosa) and Nalón Valley (Langreo, San Martín del Rey Aurelio and Laviana).[2]
Description
Location
The Asturian mining basins are located in the two central valleys that connect the Cantabrian mountains range to the central Asturian plateau, where Oviedo is located. These are the valleys of the Nalón river and Caudal river, as well as their tributaries (mainly the Aller, Candín and Samuño rivers). However, there are populations that have been economically and socially part of this territory, even though administratively they were already in other municipalities (mainly areas of Oviedo and Siero, where coal was also exploited). On the other hand, some municipalities in the Nalón valley region, such as Caso and Sobrescobio, maintained an economic activity not very closely related to industry and without large urban centers.
Industrialization
In the late 18th century, the properties of the hard coal from these valleys - studied by Jovellanos and others - started to be scientifically known.[3] According to numerous testimonies, coal was used to heat homes in this area since the Middle Ages, and it was not until 1787 when Antonio Carreño y Cañedo reported a fire "that would not be extinguished" that his grandfather had witnessed in Carbayín (due, in fact, to the proximity of a subway coal seam).
Systematic exploitation would not arrive until the 19th century with various state laws and policies aimed at this end. Up to mid-century, mining was carried out in deposits at the surface of the earth or in small wells and shacks. In mid 1848, the blast furnace of the Asturian Mining Company in Ablaña was started up - to later give way to the Mieres Factory - and a few years later the Felguera Factory was founded,[4] under which coal mining increased and the expansion of numerous secondary industries (such as chemical, metallurgical, machinery, food, ceramics, energy, etc.) took place. The exploitation of other deposits, such as mercury, was of lesser importance.[5]
In 1854, the Langreo Railway was inaugurated, the third to start operations in the peninsula, which two years later connected the Nalón Basin to the Gijón port. Shortly after, more railway lines were built, also connecting the Caudal to the coast and the plateau, and the Nalón to Oviedo, at the same time that different mining railroads were built, crossing the valleys carrying ore, weaving a map of hundreds of kilometers of tracks. Throughout the 19th century, numerous mining companies were born, some of them with foreign capital. The most outstanding were Carbones Santa Ana, Carbones de Langreo y Siero, Duro Felguera, Hulleras de Turón or Felgueroso Hermanos...). During the First World War the increase of extracted tons in these two valleys was very significant due to the neutrality of Spain in the war, meaning most of the coal that was exploited in all of Spain. It was at this time that the vertical shafts began to deepen to the detriment of mountain mining, giving rise to the recognizable silhouette of the headframe in the landscape. Some of these mines, such as María Luisa or Candín, are more than 600 meters deep from the surface. The situation was sustained thanks to the protectionist policies of Primo de Rivera, the Second Republic, the upturn due to the Second World War and Franco's autarchy,[6] which made it the area of greatest mineral production in Spain. In parallel, the growth or consolidation of secondary industries, gaining importance in chemical and energy production. For more than a century, thousands of families from the rest of Spain settled in the Mining Basins, with special relevance to the waves of immigrants arriving in the 1940s and 1950s from Andalusia, Extremadura and Galicia.
The industrial progress of the area materialized in many other aspects. The growth of a huge mass of workers, the creation of political, trade union and cultural associations (there were a large number of cinemas, theaters, gatherings, libraries and workers' athenaeums in the Basins), urban growth, especially relevant in places like Mieres, La Felguera, Sama or El Entrego, the proliferation of religious, business and public schools, schools for foremen and arts and crafts, paternalistic political policies (the paradigm of the workers' town Bustiello among them),[7] etc. In the post-war period, immigrant families had to cram into small houses and even occupy hurrians, until the proliferation of cheap housing in company-State collaboration, in the 40s and 50s, popularly known in Asturias as barriadas. The workers' struggle was significant, from timid strikes in the 19th century to the strikes of the beginning of the 20th century (especially relevant "La Huelgona of 1912"), the relevance of the October Revolution of 1934 or the Strike of 1962,[8] the first big strike during Franco's regime.
Decline
With market liberalization, a bleak future loomed for these regions, despite the creation of the public company Hunosa in 1967, which nationalized coal production and grouped together almost all the mining companies that existed in this area. In the 1960s, the public steel companies Uninsa (Unión de Siderúrgicas Asturianas Sociedad Anónima) and Ensidesa (Empresa Nacional Siderúrgica, S.A.) were born,[9] which concentrated production in Gijón and Avilés. At first they acquired the assets of the basins but gradually closed and moved services to the coast in the 70's,[10] which meant the beginning of the closure of dozens of workshops, factories, the demolition of the Mieres factory and the closure and partial demolition of La Felguera.
The population began to move in large numbers to the coast as well. From the 80s and 90s onwards, the closures of loss-making mining shafts began, especially in the last decade, until the closure of the last mine in 2019, with the exception of the Nicolasa shaft, which maintains some extractive activity.[11] They caused great social conflict between unions, citizens and the different autonomous and state governments. Conflict diminished thanks to the different coal plans and the granting of early retirement, in many cases at an early age.[12]
At the end of the 1990s, the Mining Funds (Fondos Mineros) granted by the Institutes for Coal Restructuring and Alternative Development were created for the restructuring of the mining areas throughout Spain, with a high incidence in Asturias, and the search for an alternative economic fabric to the closure of the industries. These funds, however, were managed with little responsibility, subject to continuous delays or systematic stoppages, especially on the part of the regional government, when they were not used for many projects independent of the economic regeneration of the Mining Basins.[13][14] The then President of the Principality, Vicente Álvarez Areces, announced during the 2007 election campaign the construction of two large technology parks in the basins (Figaredo in Mieres and Langreo Norte in Langreo), which have not been built.[15]
During the government of José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero these funds were frozen in practice[16][17] and finally the closure of the mining industry was signed in 2010. In 2011, the European Union ruled the closure of all unprofitable mines by 2018, establishing a timetable from 2013 for the seven remaining wells in Caudal and Nalón, and later projected the end of the aid in 2014.[18] In 2012, faced with the beginning of Mariano Rajoy's government's policy of cuts in mining, there was a great escalation of conflict[19] with a total strike at Hunosa (as in other mining areas of Spain), the regular blocking of road and rail communication routes in the Principality and very violent clashes between authorities and miners in the mountains and in the town center, causing numerous injuries and arrests, as had already occurred in the early 90s.
This region has developed a marked culture based on the intense industrial activity, which can be seen in poetry, song, literature, etc. Sometimes inspired by mining accidents, the laborious working world, industrial progress, the contrast with the rural world (which Armando Palacio Valdés captured in his Aldea perdida) and the struggle for rights and improvements in living conditions. Well known in Asturias and León is the mining hymn of Santa Bárbara Bendita.
In spite of the demolitions carried out in recent years, the basins conserve large groups of industrial heritage (numerous mine shafts and small mountain and open-well mines, La Felguera factory, Nitrastur factory, stations, bridges, workers' quarters, engineers' cottages, workshops, etc.) Of course, many of its wells are still closed, most of them in a state of abandonment. Under the basins there are 5,000 kilometers of galleries,[20] that is to say, more kilometers than roads on the surface. These are the ones that still have their headframes and extraction towers:
Asturias, officially the Principality of Asturias, is an autonomous community in northwest Spain with rich Celtic history.
Mieres is a municipality of Asturias, northern Spain, with approximately 38,000 inhabitants. The municipality of Mieres is made up of the capital, Mieres del Camino and the villages of Baiña, Figaredo, Cenera, Loredo, La Peña, La Rebollada, Santullano, Santa Rosa, Seana, Ujo, Urbies, Valdecuna, Santa Cruz, Ablaña, Turón, Gallegos, Bustiello.
Langreo or Llangréu (Asturian) is a municipality and town in northern Spain, in Asturias. It is the 4th largest town of Asturias with 43,000 inhabitants. Langreo is located in the centre of Asturias, approximately 20 kilometres (12 mi) south-east of Oviedo. It was an important mining and metallurgical center.
Laviana is a municipality in the Autonomous Community of the Principality of Asturias, located in Spain. It is bordered on the north by Bimenes and Nava, on the south by Aller, on the east by Piloña and Sobrescobio, and on the west by San Martín del Rey Aurelio and Mieres.
Sobrescobio is a municipality in the Autonomous Community of the Principality of Asturias, Spain. It is bordered on the north by Piloña, on the east by Caso, on the south by Aller, and on the west by Laviana. It is situated in the southeast section of Asturias, at the eastern limit of the Nalón mineral basin.
La Felguera is a parish of Langreo, and the most important district in the municipality of Langreo in northern Spain, with 21.000 inhabitants. It is located 18 minutes by car to Oviedo, the capital of Asturias. La Felguera is close to the Nalón River.
The Divisiones Regionales de Fútbol in the Community of Asturias, organized by Real Federación de Fútbol del Principado de Asturias:
Tuilla (Spanish) or Tiuya (Asturian) is a small parish and former mining village in the municipality of Langreo, Asturias, North Spain. It is located to the southeast of the center of the city of Oviedo, near La Felguera-Langreo, and had a population of 1,491 in 2009. In the past Tuilla was a significant in the mining industry, with the coal mines of El Terrerón, Mosquitera and La Braña.
Barros is one of eight parishes in the Asturian city of Langreo, a municipality within the province and autonomous community of Asturias, in northern Spain and a parish of the same name. It is located between the districts of Riaño and La Felguera.
Barredos is a place in the parish of Tiraña in Laviana, a municipality within the province and autonomous community of Asturias, in northern Spain. The population is 1,677 people.
The Asturian derby, is the name given to any association football match contested between Sporting de Gijón and Real Oviedo, the two biggest clubs in Asturias. The rivalry is well-known as one of the strongest, most heated in Spanish football.
The History of Asturias includes everything from when the Paleolithic tribes settled in the Cantabrian Coast to the modern post-industrial society of today. On the etymology of the term "Asturias", some think that its origin can be traced back to the name of the Astura river, whose inhabitants were called "astures" by the Roman authors.
This is the results breakdown of the local elections held in Asturias on 10 June 1987. The following tables show detailed results in the autonomous community's most populous municipalities, sorted alphabetically.
This is the results breakdown of the local elections held in Asturias on 28 May 1995. The following tables show detailed results in the autonomous community's most populous municipalities, sorted alphabetically.
This is the results breakdown of the local elections held in Asturias on 13 June 1999. The following tables show detailed results in the autonomous community's most populous municipalities, sorted alphabetically.
This is the results breakdown of the local elections held in Asturias on 25 May 2003. The following tables show detailed results in the autonomous community's most populous municipalities, sorted alphabetically.
This is the results breakdown of the local elections held in Asturias on 27 May 2007. The following tables show detailed results in the autonomous community's most populous municipalities, sorted alphabetically.
This is the results breakdown of the local elections held in Asturias on 22 May 2011. The following tables show detailed results in the autonomous community's most populous municipalities, sorted alphabetically.
This is the results breakdown of the local elections held in Asturias on 24 May 2015. The following tables show detailed results in the autonomous community's most populous municipalities, sorted alphabetically.
The COVID-19 pandemic in Asturias was part of the Spanish outbreak of the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic.
References
↑ "Historia". Minas de Asturias (in Spanish). Retrieved February 20, 2022.
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