Reinosa

History

The first documents mentioning the town date back to the year 1000, when it was divided into four solars by Sancho García, the Count of Castile. By 1404, it was emerging as the main town of the region and was organised into seven Hermandades, military units aimed at retaining law and order. The procurators of these brotherhoods met once a month with the Corregidor to organise the town's affairs.

In 1497, Prince John, son of Queen Isabella I of Castile and King Ferdinand II of Aragon met his affianced wife Margaret of Austria here, the meeting or marriage ceremony probably taking place in La Casa de las Princesas.

In 1517 Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor was passing through the town when he was taken ill. He stayed for nine days at the Convento de San Francisco while he recovered. The convent was being built at the time, and a hundred years later had thirty friars while the town had five hundred inhabitants. In the eighteenth century, under the Bourbons, a new highway and a bridge over the River Ebro were built. These works contributed to an economic boom in the region and the town becomes a bustling and prosperous place, on one of the main routes to the port of Santander. In 1927 it received its charter as a city from King Alfonso XIII.

Geography

Reinosa is the largest town in this area of Cantabria and is on the main railway line and located close to the A67 motorway. The town contains a number of hotels and restaurants, and Montesclaros High School is located here. The source of the River Ebro is in the village of Fontibre where a stream emerges from the ground 3 km from the town; a large artificial lake Embalse del Ebro was created in the Franco era by damming the river just below Reinosa. This is one of the largest reservoirs in northern Spain and is mainly filled in spring as a result of the melting of the winter snow in the mountains. The lake is the uppermost of many reservoirs on the Ebro.

Twin towns

• ESP Deltebre, Spain, located at the mouth of the Ebro River.

References

References

1. [http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/03410b.htm Amadó, Ramón Ruiz. "Castile and Aragon." The Catholic Encyclopedia] Vol. 3. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1908.
2. María del Carmen González Echegaray. (1999). "Escudos de Cantabria". Ediciones Hidalguia.
3. María del Carmen González Echegaray. (1999). "Escudos de Cantabria". Ediciones Hidalguia.
4. (2009). "Northern Spain". New Holland Publishers.
5. "Centro de Visitantes del Embalse del Ebro". Tripadvisor.