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Elgoibar / Elgóibar

eu: Elgoibar
es: Elgóibar
ru: Эльгойбар

Elgoibar (Basque, official name) (Elgóibar in Spanish) is situated at an elevation of 113 m on the Deba river in the province Gipuzkoa of the Basque Country. The municipality has a population of about 11,500 (2012).

Originally the town was called Villamayor de Marquina, but it had been founded in a place called before Elgoibar field. The town came to be known by this name a few centuries of its foundation. The town appears first under the name Elgoibar in the statutes of the Brotherhood of Gipuzkoa of 1457 and 1463. Since the very beginning of its establishment, the industrial nature was very relevant. Mining for minerals such as gold and silver and ironworks had been important for long. The industrialisation of the 19th century then transformed this protoindustry: Elgoibar especially became known for its machine tool factories, and still today Elgoibar is nicknamed the 'capital city of the machine tool'.

3443 Elgoibar / Elgóibar [Alzola]

Altzola / Alzola

Altzola (in Spanish: Alzola) is a neighbourhood within the town of Elgoibar, about 1.9 km from Elgoibar proper.

Altzola is located in a strategic place of the River Deva which has marked its history. The Deva was navigable to Altzola, where there was an important commercial port (there are still some remains). The importance of this port was that it was the point of embarkation of the wool that came from Castile and was exported to England and the iron ore that came from England and was distributed by the surrounding ferreries. This operation was carried out with flat boats, called barges. The wool that arrived until Altzola was gathered on the backs of mules and it was moved until Deva to embark it in boats, realizing the opposite operation with the iron. Along with iron and wool, other products were also marketed, such as cider, which was important in the fight against scurvy in navigation due to its vitamin C content. In 1846 the spa was opened, which was called Balneario de Urberuaga de Alzola, thanks to the spring of medicinal mineral waters that springs up beside the river. The Spa became the economic engine of the population that had up to 10 hotels and pensions. In 1976, the spa was closed and a bottling plant was installed. The company remained active until payments were suspended. In 2012, new investors bought it, re-launching it with the brand "Alzola Basque Water".

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elgoibar; http://fallingrain.com/world/SP/59/Elgoibar.html; https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alzola_(Elgóibar)]


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