Belmonte de Miranda ( Asturian: ''Miranda'') is a municipality in the

Autonomous Community eu, autonomia erkidegoa ca, comunitat autònoma gl, comunidade autónoma oc, comunautat autonòma an, comunidat autonoma ast, comunidá autónoma , alt_name = , map = , category = Autonomous administra ...

of the

Principality of 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 ...

, Spain. It is bordered on the north by Salas, on the east by

Grado Grado may refer to: People * Cristina Grado (1939–2016), Italian film actress * Jonathan Grado (born 1991), American entrepreneur and photographer * Francesco De Grado ( fl. 1694–1730), Italian engraver * Gaetano Grado, Italian mafioso * ...

, to the south by

Somiedo Somiedo ( Asturian: Somiedu) is a municipality in the Autonomous Community of the Principality of Asturias, Spain. It is bordered on the north by Belmonte de Miranda, on the east by Teverga, on the west by Tineo and Cangas del Narcea, and on the ...

and

Teverga Teverga ( Asturian: Teberga) is a municipality in the Autonomous Community of the Principality of Asturias, Spain. It is bordered on the north by Belmonte de Miranda, Grado, Yernes y Tameza, and Proaza; to the south by León province, to the ...

, and on the west by Tineo.

Geography

The municipality is crossed from south to north by the basin of the river Pigüeña, a trout-rich tributary of the Narcea, the river which forms the northern border with Salas, and which is usually fished for salmon. The southeast part of the municipality forms part of the

Somiedo Natural Park Somiedo Natural Park (Spanish: Parque Natural de Somiedo) is a protected area located in the central area of the Cantabrian Mountains in the Principality of Asturias in northern Spain. As well as being designated a natural park, it is protecte ...

. In it are a great variety of native forest species: oaks, chestnuts, and so forth. Here the fauna is varied and abundant, including wolves, foxes, badgers, roe deer, boars, and

brown bear The brown bear (''Ursus arctos'') is a large bear species found across Eurasia and North America. In North America, the populations of brown bears are called grizzly bears, while the subspecies that inhabits the Kodiak Islands of Alaska is ...

Demography

The inhabitants of the municipality are in 66 principal villages divided into 15 parishes, the largest of which is Belmonte, with 32.1 km². Like many of the municipalities in the mountains of Asturias, Belmonte de Miranda is losing population. At the turn of the twentieth century, it numbered over 7000. Emigration was a major cause of population decline, especially in the 1940s. In the final decades of the twentieth century, the population of the capital seems to have become fixed at around 800.

Economy

Agriculture is the most developed economic activity in the region. It is done on small ranches and many of the ranchers are of advanced age, which endangers the future of the enterprise. In the industrial sector, the most notable company is Río Narcea Gold Mines. Nearly a third of the population works in the service sector, especially in the burgeoning hospitality businesses.

Famous people

* P. José Alvarez Fernandez O.P. (May 16, 1890 – October 19, 1970), Dominican missionary, active in the Amazon for 53 years, until his death in

Lima Lima ( ; ), originally founded as Ciudad de Los Reyes (City of The Kings) is the capital and the largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón, Rímac and Lurín Rivers, in the desert zone of the central coastal part of ...

. * Alvaro de Cienfuegos y Sierra (February 27, 1657 – August 19, 1739), cardinal and archbishop of Rome. * Xose Alvarez Fernandez ''Pin'' (1948-), Asturian writer, known for his works (1980) and (1981). * Ángeles Villarta, writer, journalist, and director * Celso Alvarez Alvarez, forensic doctor, ex-director of the Service of Internal Medicine at the Hospital Covadonga and the Hospital Central de Asturias in Oviedo.

Parishes

References

External links

Federación Asturiana de Concejos

Belmontedemiranda.net

DOLIA, Belmonte de Miranda
{{authority control Municipalities in Asturias *