In 29 B. C. the city of León was founded between the VI Vitrix legion, which was installed in this territory as a base of operations for the campaign, and the Legio VII Gemina, which in 74 B. C.definitively occupied the enclave to become the military capital of the Hispanic province. The Roman camp would correspond today almost exactly to the historic center, countless remains such as thermal baths, aqueducts, walls, amphitheaters . . .
In the Middle Ages it was occupied by the Suevi and Visigoths until the entry of Muslims in the eighth century. Reconquered shortly after by Don Pelayo's son-in-law, Alfonso I of Asturias. In 910 King García I moved the capital of the kingdom of Asturias from Oviedo to León, beginning the history of the Kingdom of León. From here, we became the most important enclave of Christian society in theIberian Peninsula along with Santiago, leading the war againstMuslims, the kingdoms of Portugal and Castile.
Alfonso IX in 1188 instituted the first European courts in history, held in the Cloister of the Basilica of San Isidoro and where the people would have a voice and vote. Fact that in 2013 is recognized by Unesco under the title of Cradle of the Parliamentarianism.
Fernando III will unite the kingdom to the Castilian territories to give origin to the Crown of Castile "He had 24 kings, beforeCastile laws".
While the Gothic Cathedral of León was being built, the black plague ravaged Europe, and was being fed in Spain, especially in cities such as ours, which was already going through a period of bad harvests and which decimated its population considerably, which would only improve with the arrival of the 15th century and the entry of the Renaissance.
Although the city was still largely linked to the Roman wall, it continued to develop with the start of the construction of theConvent of San Marcos in 1515. This impulse towards modernity would witness a civil earthquake within Castilian limits, since in1520 the War of the Communities would begin. This conflict, which arose in opposition to King Charles I and in a special way in Léon, as this conflict would be exploited by the nobility to solve their differences based on iron and fire.
For León, the 17th and 18th centuries were a time of stagnation in which the population hardly grew due to the ruralisation of the economy and the epidemics that devastated the territory. Although the works of the Convent of San Marcos finish, as well as others as the City council or the Main Square.
With the disembarkation of the French in Spanish territory at the beginning of the 19th century, an era of profound urban and economic transformation began for the city. The War ofIndependence will see the heritage of León plundered and mistreated as well as that of so many Spanish cities, such as the exhumation and outrage of the millenary bones of their kings. In1833 León became the capital again, this time within the framework of the birth of the new communities, and later, with the arrival of the railway at the end of the century, the city would be reborn to industry and an important communications node would begin to form around it, for which an urban plan would be necessary to modernise it and expand its limits from the old walls outwards.
These transformations will follow their course throughout the first years of the 20th century with the plan of the Urban Expansion. The city saw the beginning of the civil war on the rebellious side and the decade of the 60's was a true demographic and social renaissance as never before seen, which would come from the hand of the nascent democracy to make it a mixture of artistic and cultural expressions that are reflected and proudly show their millenary history and culture in every corner of the city.
PHOTOGRAPH CEDED BY FERNANDO GAGO.
ROMAN WALL, 80'S. OF THE CUBES (LEÓN, SPAIN)
