Burela is a municipality in the Galician province of

Lugo Lugo (, ) is a city in northwestern Spain in the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Galicia (Spain), Galicia. It is the capital of the Lugo (province), province of Lugo. The municipality had a population of 100,060 in 2024, ...

. It is in the

comarca A ''comarca'' (, , , ) is a traditional region or local administrative division found in Portugal, Spain, and some of their former colonies, like Brazil, Nicaragua, and Panama. The term is derived from the term ''marca'', meaning a "march, mark ...

A Mariña Central A Mariña Central is a comarca in the Galician Province of Lugo. The overall population of this local region is 28,955 (2019). This region is a political-administrative division of A Mariña de Lugo macro-region. To the north and northeast the reg ...

. Burela is a coastal town on the shores of the

Cantabrian Sea The Cantabrian Sea is the term used mostly in Spain to describe the coastal sea of the Atlantic Ocean that borders the northern coast of Spain and the southwest side of the Atlantic coast of France, included in the Bay of Biscay. It extends from ...

. An extension area of 8.2 square kilometers was created in 1994, following the segregation of the municipality of Cervo. Its fishing port is one of the most important of the Galician coast and has a large fleet of ships. Its economy is based mainly on

fishing Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are often caught as wildlife from the natural environment (Freshwater ecosystem, freshwater or Marine ecosystem, marine), but may also be caught from Fish stocking, stocked Body of water, ...

, in particular,

albacore The albacore (''Thunnus alalunga''), known also as the longfin tuna, is a species of tuna of the order Scombriformes. It is found in temperate and tropical waters across the globe in the epipelagic and mesopelagic zones. There are six distinct ...

("bonito del norte") and hake are delivered daily to the rest of Spain. As a result, a canning industry has developed. Due to the high demand for personnel to work at sea, Burela is a multicultural town which has many residents from

Cape Verde Cape Verde or Cabo Verde, officially the Republic of Cabo Verde, is an island country and archipelagic state of West Africa in the central Atlantic Ocean, consisting of ten volcanic islands with a combined land area of about . These islands ...

and has recently had an influx of

immigrants Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not usual residents or where they do not possess nationality in order to settle as permanent residents. Commuters, tourists, and other short- ...

from Peru, Indonesia, and other places. The population grew considerably in the latter part of the twentieth century.

History

The history of Burela dates to pre-

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...

times. The oldest evidence of people found in the area was a fort at the end of the cape. The inhabitants of these forts left one of the emblems of the city, a torque, a piece of

Iron Age The Iron Age () is the final epoch of the three historical Metal Ages, after the Chalcolithic and Bronze Age. It has also been considered as the final age of the three-age division starting with prehistory (before recorded history) and progre ...

culture, which is currently in the Provincial Museum of Lugo and is also part of the coat of arms of Burela. The first written reference to Burela is in a document dated back to 1096, where it is referred to as Burellum. The origin of the name Burela is still unknown. Burela got independence from Cervo in 1994. Near these

remains is a "vilaris" and a Roman villa. This small settlement gave rise to a rural population that became a parish under the protection of Mary and belongs to the Diocese of Saint Martin of Mondoñedo. Burela was under the jurisdiction of the church until Felipe II, in 1593, incorporated the jurisdiction of the Royal Crown preserve of the round of St. Mary of Burela and granted a charter in favor of the Bishop of Mondoñedo. With the Constitution of the Courts of Cadiz (1812) the old jurisdictions and lordships finished and new councils arrived. A list of new councils in 1835 are published in 1835 and the municipalities of San Cibrao and Nois appeared, the latter belonging to the parish of Burela.

Demography

Burela currently has more than 9,000 inhabitants. The population has an average age of 36 years which constitutes the younger half of the province. The population of the town had a large increase in the late 1970s and 80s with the arrival of families from other areas of the peninsula, especially

Asturias Asturias (; ; ) officially the Principality of Asturias, is an autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in northwest Spain. It is coextensive with the provinces of Spain, province of Asturias and contains some of the territory t ...

and

Castile and León Castile and León is an Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in northwestern Spain. Castile and León is the largest autonomous community in Spain by area, covering 94,222 km2. It is, however, sparsely populated, with a pop ...

, due to the settlement of the public company Alúmina Alumino in San Cibrao (now privatized as

Alcoa Alcoa Corporation (an acronym for "Aluminum Company of America") is an American industrial corporation. It is the world's eighth-largest producer of aluminum. Alcoa conducts operations in 10 countries. Alcoa is a major producer of primary alu ...

). From this time on, the

population began to grow into a community of greater significance.

References

{{authority control Municipalities in the Province of Lugo