Place:Vigo, Pontevedra, Galicia, Spain

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source: Family History Library Catalog

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Vigo is a city and municipality in the province of Pontevedra, within the autonomous community of Galicia, Spain. Located in the northwest of the Iberian Peninsula, it sits on the southern shore of an inlet of the Atlantic Ocean, the Ria de Vigo, the southernmost of the so-called Rías Baixas.

The municipality, with an area of and a population of 295,364 in 2019 including rural parishes, is the most populous municipality in Galicia. The area of the municipality includes the Cíes Islands, part of the Atlantic Islands of Galicia National Park.

Vigo is one of the region's primary economic agents, owing to the French Stellantis Vigo Plant and to its port. Close to the Portugal–Spain border, Vigo is part of the Galicia–North Portugal Euroregion. The European Fisheries Control Agency is headquartered in Vigo.

History

the text in this section is copied from an article in Wikipedia

In the Early Middle Ages, the small village of Vigo was part of the territory of Galician-speaking neighbouring towns, particularly Tui, and suffered several Viking attacks. However, its number of inhabitants was so small that, historically, it was not considered a real villa until around the 15th century, when the earliest records began.

In the 16th and 17th centuries, the city was attacked several times. In 1585 and 1589, during an unsuccessful attack by the English counter-Armada, Francis Drake raided the city and temporarily occupied it, burning many buildings. Several decades later a Turkish fleet tried to attack the city. As a result, the city's walls were built in 1656 in the reign of Philip IV of Spain. They are still partially preserved.

At this time, and in spite of the attacks, Vigo developed its earliest commerce and was given several privileges by the kings of Spain.

In 1702, the Battle of Vigo Bay occurred, and in 1719, because a Spanish fleet which departed from Vigo attempted to invade Scotland in support of the Jacobites, the city was occupied for ten days by a British force.^[1]

In 1808, the French Army annexed Spain to the Napoleonic Empire, although Vigo remained unconquered until January, 1809. Vigo was also the first city of Galicia to be freed from French rule, in what is annually celebrated on March 28 as the Reconquista (reconquest from the French in the context of the Peninsular War). In 1833, the city of Pontevedra was designated the provincial capital of the province of Pontevedra, within which lies Vigo.^[1]

Vigo grew very rapidly in the 20th century, thanks to the fact that the Franco government granted it a tax-free zone in 1947 allowing companies to be set up there for free, as well as an Industrial Development Pole in 1964, a very unusual case for a non-capital of a Spanish province. Continuous urban-planning changes left Vigo less structured than other Galician cities such as Pontevedra and A Coruña.

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