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Bilbao (;〔(【引用サイトリンク】 Define Bilbao )〕 ; (バスク語:Bilbo) (:bilβo)) is a municipality and city in Spain, a major city in the province of Biscay in the autonomous community of the Basque Country. It is the largest municipality of the Basque Country and the tenth largest in Spain, with a population of 353,187 in 2010.〔(【引用サイトリンク】 List of place names )〕 The Bilbao metropolitan area has roughly 1 million inhabitants,〔(Proyecto Audes ) 〕 making it one of the most populous metropolitan areas in northern Spain; with a population of 875,552 the comarca of Greater Bilbao is the fifth-largest urban area in Spain. Bilbao is also the main urban area in what is defined as the Greater Basque region. Bilbao is situated in the north-central part of Spain, some south of the Bay of Biscay, where the estuary of Bilbao is formed. Its main urban core is surrounded by two small mountain ranges with an average elevation of .〔Quiroga 2001: 17〕 After its foundation in the early 14th century by Diego López V de Haro, head of the powerful Haro family, Bilbao was a commercial hub of the Basque Country that enjoyed significant importance in Green Spain. This was due to its port activity based on the export of iron extracted from the Biscayan quarries. Throughout the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth, Bilbao experienced heavy industrialisation, making it the centre of the second-most industrialised region of Spain, behind Barcelona.〔De La Puerta Rueda 1998: 73〕〔Gómez Piñeiro 1979: 169〕 At the same time an extraordinary population explosion prompted the annexation of several adjacent municipalities. Nowadays, Bilbao is a vigorous service city that is experiencing an ongoing social, economic, and aesthetic revitalisation process, started by the iconic Bilbao Guggenheim Museum,〔 and continued by infrastructure investments, such as the airport terminal, the rapid transit system, the tram line, the Alhóndiga, and the currently under development Abandoibarra and Zorrozaurre renewal projects. Bilbao is also home to football club Athletic Club de Bilbao, a significant symbol for Basque nationalism due to its promotion of Basque players and one of the most successful clubs in Spanish football history. == Etymology == The official name of the town is Bilbao, as known in most languages of the world. Euskaltzaindia, the official regulatory institution of the Basque language, has agreed that between the two possible names existing in Basque, ''Bilbao'' and ''Bilbo'', the historical name is ''Bilbo'', while ''Bilbao'' is the official name. Although the term ''Bilbo'' does not appear in old documents, in the play ''The Merry Wives of Windsor'' by William Shakespeare, there is a reference to swords presumably made of Biscayan iron which he calls "bilboes", suggesting that it is a word used since at least the sixteenth century.〔Beascoechea 1999: 138〕 There is no consensus among historians about the origin of the name. Generally accepted accounts state that prior to the 12th century the independent rulers of the territory, named Senores de Zubialdea, were also known as Senores de Bilbao la Vieja. The symbols of their patrimony are the tower and church used in the shield of Bilbao to this day.〔Historia de Vizcaya a través de la prensa, Volume 2〕 One possible origin was suggested by the engineer Evaristo de Churruca. He said that it was a Basque custom to name a place after its location. For Bilbao this would be the result of the union of the Basque words for river and cove: ''Bil-Ibaia-Bao''.〔Quiroga 2001: 41〕 The historian José Tussel Gómez argues that it is just a natural evolution of the Spanish words ''bello vado'', beautiful river crossing.〔Tusell 2004: 22.〕 On the other hand, according to the writer Esteban Calle Iturrino, the name derives from the two settlements that existed on both banks of the estuary, rather than from the estuary itself. The first, where the present Casco Viejo is located, would be called ''billa'', which means stacking in Basque, after the configuration of the buildings. The second, on the left bank, where now Bilbao La Vieja is located, would be called ''vaho'', Spanish for mist or steam. From the union of these two derives the name Bilbao,〔 which was also written as ''Bilvao'' and ''Biluao'', as documented in its municipal charter. An ''-ao'' ending is also present in nearby Sestao and Ugao, that could be explained from Basque ''aho'', "mouth". 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Bilbao」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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