Ajangiz ( es, Ajanguiz) is a town and municipality in the province of

Biscay Biscay (; eu, Bizkaia ; es, Vizcaya ) is a province of Spain and a historical territory of the Basque Country, heir of the ancient Lordship of Biscay, lying on the south shore of the eponymous bay. The capital and largest city is Bilbao. ...

, in the Basque Country. It is located in the

Busturialdea Busturialdea, also named ''Busturialde - Urdaibai'' is a comarca of the province of Biscay, in the Basque Country, Spain. It is the heir of "Busturia", one of the original ''merindades'' that used to compose the province of Biscay – this should ...

comarca, and was part of the municipality of Gernika-Lumo between 1940 and 1991.

Etymology

''Ajangiz'' is one of the Basque toponyms with an ''-iz'' suffix. Julio Caro Baroja argued that most of these toponyms come from the

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through ...

suffix ''-icus''. According to Baroja, Ajangiz might come from a

patronymic A patronymic, or patronym, is a component of a personal name based on the given name of one's father, grandfather (avonymic), or an earlier male ancestor. Patronymics are still in use, including mandatory use, in many countries worldwide, alt ...

form of ''Allianus'', a documented Latin name, which would become ''Allianicus'' with the -icus suffix and ''Allianici'' when referring to the descendants of Allianus. The oldest reference to the town is ''Axanguiz'', which might have evolved from Allianici; ''Allianici'' → ''Axianici'' → ''Axanguici'' → ''Axanguiz''.

History

The

region was heavily inhabited during the prehistory by groups of farmers and livestock farmers during the

neolithic The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several pa ...

and the

Bronze Age The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second pri ...

(between 5500 and 2800 BC), proved by the archeological sites found across the town. The first reference of the town comes from a document by

Friar A friar is a member of one of the mendicant orders founded in the twelfth or thirteenth century; the term distinguishes the mendicants' itinerant apostolic character, exercised broadly under the jurisdiction of a superior general, from the ...

Martín de Coscojales, who mentions how the "Lord of the High Asturias of

Oviedo Oviedo (; ast, Uviéu ) is the capital city of the Principality of Asturias in northern Spain and the administrative and commercial centre of the region. It is also the name of the municipality that contains the city. Oviedo is located a ...

" escaped from the

King King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen regnant, queen, which title is also given to the queen consort, consort of a king. *In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contempora ...

Asturias Asturias (, ; ast, Asturies ), officially the Principality of Asturias ( es, Principado de Asturias; ast, Principáu d'Asturies; Galician-Asturian: ''Principao d'Asturias''), is an autonomous community in northwest Spain. It is coextensiv ...

, reaching

and founding a house with his own name in the town of Axangiz, in the year 788. The town is further mentioned in several records of the War of the Bands. As it is recorded in the documents from the 16th Century, Ajangiz held the eleventh position at the Juntas of

Gernika Guernica (, ), official name (reflecting the Basque language) Gernika (), is a town in the province of Biscay, in the Autonomous Community of the Basque Country, Spain. The town of Guernica is one part (along with neighbouring Lumo) of the m ...

, with the legal status of "ledanía". Ajangiz would become an elizate in the 18th Century. A small hermitage held the ecclesiastical archives until the year 1844, when the parish church was finished. In 1943, the town was annexed to the municipality of

, it regained its autonomy in 1991.

Geography

Ajangiz is located in the northern half of the

province, in the northwestern Basque Country. The town is located on a hillside less than 4 km away from Gernika-Lumo, the capital of the

comarca. The boundary between Ajangiz and Gernika-Lumo is the River Oka. Ajangiz is divided into two neighborhoods, Mendieta, where is located the town hall, and Kanpantxu.

References

External links

AJANGIZ in the Bernardo Estornés Lasa - Auñamendi Encyclopedia (Euskomedia Fundazioa)
{{authority control Municipalities in Biscay