A Coruña (province)

A Coruña province

A Coruña (Spanish, La Coruña), is a province of extreme northwestern Spain, in the northwestern part of the autonomous community of Galicia. It is bordered by the provinces of Lugo and Pontevedra, and by the Atlantic Ocean.

Name variants and historical references

In English texts, the name is sometimes set out as La Corunna.

In the Peninsular War, Sir John Moore headed a 30,000-strong British force, which attacked Napoleon near Burgos, but they were soon forced into a long retreat chased by the French, ending in an evacuation from La Coruña in January 1809, Moore being killed while directing the defence of the town. His burial inspired a well-known poem.

Much later, histories of the Spanish civil war describe the "Battle of the La Corunna Road".

The name is sometimes La Coruna, notably when describing the football team 'Deportivo de la Coruna'.

Geography

The province's population was 1,111,886 in 2002.

Its capital is the city of A Coruña, which contains one-fifth of the population of the province. Other cities in the province include Santiago de Compostela, capital of the autonomous community. See also the list of municipalities in A Coruña.

The province shares the Parque Nacional de las Islas Atlánticas de Galicia with Pontevedra province.