Ponferrada

History

The place traces its origin back to 928 gifting to the of a villa between the Sil and the Boeza by Lupo and his wife, which possessed ferrum (iron) and was located at the feet of an abandoned castrum. The name of the city derives from the iron reinforcements added to the ancient bridge over the river Sil (Latin pons for "bridge" and ferrata for "iron"), commissioned in 1082 by Bishop Osmundo of Astorga to facilitate the crossing of the Sil to pilgrims in their way to Santiago de Compostela. From 1211 to 1312, Ponferrada was a holding of the Order of the Temple. The railroad arrived in Ponferrada in 1881, and during World War I local tungsten deposits were exploited to supply the arms industry. In 1918, the Ponferrada Mining, Iron and Steel Company (') was founded to exploit coal deposits in the region, and it grew to become Spain's largest coal mining corporation. The Spanish National Energy Corporation (Endesa) was founded in 1944, and in 1949, it opened Spain's first coal-fueled power plant in Ponferrada, Compostilla I. In 1960, the Bárcena Dam (') opened and by the second half of the 20th century the economy of the city was mainly based on mining and electricity generation, both hydroelectric and coal-fueled. Starting in the late 1980s, most mines were closed, and after the collapse of the mining industry Ponferrada was in a crisis for a while. However, in the late 1990s, the city underwent a major transformation with the establishment of several industrial and service firms, the reintroduction of commercial wine production, the opening of a local branch of the University of León offering several undergraduate degrees, and in general, an improvement of the town's infrastructure. The economy is now based mainly on tourism, agriculture (fruit and wine), wind…

Most-observed species

• Eurasian Blackbird

  Turdus merula Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  682
• European Robin

  Erithacus rubecula (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  596
• Common Chaffinch

  Fringilla coelebs Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  567
• Carrion Crow

  Corvus corone Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  491
• Eurasian Blackcap

  Sylvia atricapilla (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  467
• Great Tit

  Parus major Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  440
• House Sparrow

  Passer domesticus (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  403
• European Serin

  Serinus serinus (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  398

Most recent

• M 4 — 2023-09-30
  4 km NNW of Igüeña, Spain
• M 2.8 — 2008-08-04
  10 km WNW of Cobreros, Spain
• M 2.7 — 2008-05-18
  10 km W of Encinedo, Spain
• M 2.5 — 2007-12-29
  6 km SW of Becerreá, Spain
• M 3.1 — 2007-12-09
  6 km WSW of Becerreá, Spain
• M 2.9 — 2007-11-05
  2 km N of Becerreá, Spain