Oviedo

Historia

Oviedo is the capital city of the Principality of Asturias in northern Spain and the administrative and commercial centre of the region. It is also the name of the municipality that contains the city. Oviedo is located approximately 20km to 25km south of neighbouring cities Gijón and Avilés, which lie on the shoreline of the Bay of Biscay. Its proximity to the ocean causes Oviedo to have a maritime climate, in spite of it not being located on the shoreline itself.HistoryThe Kingdom of Asturias began in 720, with a Visigothic Aristocrat Pelagius's (685-737) revolt against the Muslims occupying most of Spain at the time. The Moorish invasion of the Iberian Peninsula in 711 took control of most of the peninsula until the revolt in the northern mountains by Pelagius. The resulting Kingdom of Asturias, located in an economically poor region of the peninsula, was largely ignored by the Muslims. In 720, the area where Oviedo is now located was still uninhabited.It is said that two monks, Máximo and Fromestano, founded the city in 761. That settlement was soon to be completed with the construction of a small church dedicated to Saint Vincent. Oviedo was established on an uninhabited hillside, with no Visigothic or Roman foundation before it became an Asturian city. Following Pelagius, who died in 737, Alfonso I (739-57) founded a dynasty that would last until 1037. The Asturian Kingdom was on hostile terms with southern Moorish Spain. In 794, Oviedo was sacked and pillaged by Caliph Hisham I in one of his numerous campaigns against the Christian kingdoms.