Huesca/Uesca Province | |
---|---|
Coordinates: 42°10′N0°10′W / 42.167°N 0.167°W | |
Country | Spain |
Autonomous community | Aragon |
Capital | Huesca |
Area | |
• Total | 15,626 km2 (6,033 sq mi) |
• Rank | Ranked 6th |
3.10% of Spain | |
Population (2018) | |
• Total | 219,345 |
• Rank | Ranked 43rd |
• Density | 14/km2 (36/sq mi) |
Demonym | Oscense |
Language(s) | Spanish, Aragonese, Catalan |
Huesca (Aragonese : Uesca; Catalan : Osca), officially Huesca/Uesca, [1] is a province of northeastern Spain, in northern Aragon. The capital is Huesca.
Positioned just south of the central Pyrenees, Huesca borders France and the French departments of Haute-Garonne, Pyrénées-Atlantiques, and Hautes-Pyrénées. Within Spain, Huesca's neighboring provinces are Navarre, Zaragoza, and Lleida.
Covering a primarily mountainous area of 15626 km², the province of Huesca has a total population of 219,345 in 2018, [2] with almost a quarter of its people living in the capital city of Huesca. The low population density, 14.62/km², has meant that Huesca's lush valleys, rivers, and lofty mountain ranges have remained relatively pristine and unspoiled by progress.
Home to majestic scenery, the tallest mountain in the Pyrenees, the Aneto; eternal glaciers, such as at Monte Perdido; and the National Park of Ordesa and Monte Perdido, rich in flora and protected fauna. Popular with mountaineers, spelunkers, paragliders, and white water rafters, it is also a popular snow skiing destination with notable resorts in Candanchú, Formigal, Astún, Panticosa, and Cerler.
The Romans colonised the province of Huesca, which formed the northern part of Hispania Tarraconensis, and continued to live there well into the 5th century until the arrival of the Visigoths. As a mountainous frontier region, it was difficult to dominate. The northern counties had at one time belonged to the Kingdom of Navarre but split off and managed to stem early Moorish invasions in the Middle Ages by forming alliances between themselves and with the Franks, to become Frankish feudal marches. The imperative of sovereignty, or independence, for the northern border counts, gave rise to the Kingdom of Aragon, which was the precursor to the Empire or Crown of Aragon, and ultimately the Kingdom of Spain.
The modern day province comprises 10 comarcas and 202 municipalities.
Comarca | Capital City |
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Alto Gállego | Sabiñánigo |
Bajo Cinca | Fraga |
Cinca Medio | Monzón |
Hoya de Huesca | Huesca |
Jacetania | Jaca |
La Litera | Tamarite de Litera |
Monegros | Sariñena |
Ribagorza | Graus, formerly Benabarre |
Sobrarbe | Ainsa and Boltaña |
Somontano de Barbastro | Barbastro |
The following comarcas having their capital in Huesca Province include municipal terms within Zaragoza Province:
The historical population is given in the following chart:
Spanish is the primary language in the province. However, the local linguistic varieties in the center and north of the province (often called fabla) belong to the Aragonese language, which now survives mainly in the northernmost comarcas, such as the Aragon Valley in Jacetania, the Alto Gallego, Sobrarbe, and Ribagorza, where hitherto landlocked and isolated villages have helped the language to thrive into the 21st century.
In the easternmost areas of the province, varieties of the Catalan language are spoken, with a few transitional dialects difficult to classify as Aragonese or Catalan.
Aragonese is a Romance language spoken in several dialects by about 12,000 people as of 2011, in the Pyrenees valleys of Aragon, Spain, primarily in the comarcas of Somontano de Barbastro, Jacetania, Alto Gállego, Sobrarbe, and Ribagorza/Ribagorça. It is the only modern language which survived from medieval Navarro-Aragonese in a form distinct from Spanish.
Aragon is an autonomous community in Spain, coextensive with the medieval Kingdom of Aragon. In northeastern Spain, the Aragonese autonomous community comprises three provinces : Huesca, Zaragoza, and Teruel. Its capital is Zaragoza. The current Statute of Autonomy declares Aragon a historic nationality of Spain.
Zaragoza, also called Saragossa in English, is a province of northern Spain, in the central part of the autonomous community of Aragon. Its capital is the city of Zaragoza, which is also the capital of the autonomous community. Other towns in the province include La Almunia de Doña Godina, Borja, Calatayud, Caspe, Ejea de los Caballeros, Tarazona, and Utebo.
Ribagorça or Ribagorza is a historical and natural region of Aragon and Catalonia. Located in the Pre-Pyrenees and Pyrenees area, most of its territory is mountainous. The region has been steadily losing population since mid 20th century.
In Spain, a comarca is either a traditional territorial division without any formal basis, or a group of municipalities, legally defined by an autonomous community for the purpose of providing common local government services. In English, a comarca is equivalent to a district, county, area or zone.
Roland's Breach is the name of a natural gap, 40 m across and 100 m high, at an elevation of 2,804 m in the Pyrenees on the border of Aragón, northern Spain, and Hautes-Pyrénées, southwestern France.
Sobrarbe is one of the comarcas of Aragon, Spain. It is located in the northern part of the province of Huesca, part of the autonomous community of Aragon in Spain. Many of its people speak the Aragonese language locally known as fabla.
Peña, meaning "rocky outcrop" or "rocky summit" in the Spanish language, may refer to:
Hoya de Huesca/Plana de Uesca is a comarca in the province of Huesca (Spain).
The Aragonese are the Romance people self-identified with the historical region of Aragon, in inland northeastern Spain. Their Aragonese language, which might have been spoken in the whole of the Kingdom of Aragon, Kingdom of Navarre and La Rioja in the Middle Ages, is nowadays a seriously endangered language, natively spoken only by around 25,000 people in the northern mountain area of the autonomous community of Aragon. In 2009, the Aragonese language was recognized by the regional government as the "native language, original and historic" of Aragon, and it received several linguistic rights, such as use in public administration. This legislation was repealed by a new law in 2013.
Sabiñánigo is a municipality located in the province of Huesca, Aragón, Spain, capital of the comarca of Alto Gállego. Formerly, the region was called Serrablo, hence the demonym "serrablese". Sabiñánigo is at an altitude of 780 m and lies 52 km from Huesca.
Sallent de Gállego is a municipality located in the province of Huesca, Aragon, Spain.
Somontano de Barbastro is a comarca in Province of Huesca, Aragon, Spain.
Alto Gállego is a comarca located in the north of the autonomous community of Aragón, Spain. It occupies practically the entirety of the upper basin of the Río Gállego.
La Jacetania is a comarca in northern Aragon, Spain. It is located in the northwestern corner of the Huesca and Zaragoza provinces. The administrative capital is Jaca, with 13,374 inhabitants the largest town of the comarca. The area is famous for its ski resorts.
The Aragonese language has many regional dialects, which can be grouped by valley or larger comarca areas. The area where Aragonese is spoken has quite a rugged relief and is generally sparsely populated with many tracts and valleys pretty isolated from each other. In the literature about the language, the term dialect is ambiguous and can be used to refer to well-known valley varieties, such as cheso or ansotano. Aragonese speakers can be classified into four groups or main dialectal areas following Francho Nagore: Western, Central, Eastern, and Southern. There is a centuries-old diglossia that has favored the lack of unitary awareness among Aragonese speakers; in areas where the language has been best preserved, Aragonese speakers often use local names for their dialect.
Ribagorza or Ribagorça is a comarca in Aragon, Spain, situated in the north-east of the province of Huesca. It borders the French département of the Haute-Garonne to the north and Catalonia to the east. Within Aragon its neighboring comarcas are Sobrarbe, Somontano de Barbastro, and La Litera. It roughly corresponds to the Aragonese part of the medieval County of Ribagorza. The administrative capital of Ribagorza is Graus, although the historical capital of the county was at Benabarre.
Plan is a municipality located in the Sobrarbe comarca, province of Huesca, Aragon, Spain. According to the 2010 census the municipality has a population of 336 inhabitants, and is the main populated center in the Gistau Valley. Its postal code is 22367.
Tour du Marboré or Tour de Gavarnie is a Pyrenean summit, culminating at 3,009 m (9,872 ft), located on the Franco-Spanish border crest in the Monte Perdido Range.
The Can de Chira or Perro pastor altoaragonés is a Spanish breed of herding dog from the mountainous Alto Aragon region in the northern part of the autonomous community of Aragon, in north-eastern Spain.