| Huesca/Uesca Province | |
| Type: | Province |
| Coordinates: | 42.1667°N -10°W |
| Subdivision Type: | Country |
| Subdivision Name: | Spain |
| Subdivision Type1: | Autonomous community |
| Subdivision Name1: | Aragon |
| Seat Type: | Capital |
| Seat: | Huesca |
| Area Total Km2: | 15626 |
| Area Rank: | Ranked 6th |
| Area Note: | 3.10% of Spain |
| Blank Name Sec1: | Language(s) |
| Blank Info Sec1: | Spanish, Aragonese, Catalan |
| Population Total: | 219,345 |
| Population As Of: | 2018 |
| Population Rank: | Ranked 43rd |
| Population Density Km2: | auto |
| Population Demonym: | Oscense |
Huesca (Aragonese: Uesca, Catalan; Valencian: Osca), officially Huesca/Uesca,[1] is a province of northeastern Spain, in northern Aragon. The capital is Huesca.
Positioned just south of the central Pyrenees, Huesca borders France and the French departments of Haute-Garonne, Pyrénées-Atlantiques, and Hautes-Pyrénées. Within Spain, Huesca's neighboring provinces are Navarre, Zaragoza, and Lleida.
Covering a primarily mountainous area of km², the province of Huesca has a total population of 219,345 in 2018,[2] with almost a quarter of its people living in the capital city of Huesca. The low population density, 14.62/km², has meant that Huesca's lush valleys, rivers, and lofty mountain ranges have remained relatively pristine and unspoiled by progress.
Home to majestic scenery, the tallest mountain in the Pyrenees, the Aneto; eternal glaciers, such as at Monte Perdido; and the National Park of Ordesa and Monte Perdido, rich in flora and protected fauna. Popular with mountaineers, spelunkers, paragliders, and white water rafters, it is also a popular snow skiing destination with notable resorts in Candanchú, Formigal, Astún, Panticosa, and Cerler.
The Romans colonised the province of Huesca, which formed the northern part of Hispania Tarraconensis, and continued to live there well into the 5th century until the arrival of the Visigoths. As a mountainous frontier region, it was difficult to dominate. The northern counties had at one time belonged to the Kingdom of Navarre but split off and managed to stem early Moorish invasions in the Middle Ages by forming alliances between themselves and with the Franks, to become Frankish feudal marches. The imperative of sovereignty, or independence, for the northern border counts, gave rise to the Kingdom of Aragon, which was the precursor to the Empire or Crown of Aragon, and ultimately the Kingdom of Spain.
The modern day province comprises 10 comarcas and 202 municipalities.
| Comarca | Capital City | |
|---|---|---|
| Sabiñánigo | ||
| Fraga | ||
| Monzón | ||
| Huesca | ||
| Jaca | ||
| Tamarite de Litera | ||
| Sariñena | ||
| Graus, formerly Benabarre | ||
| Ainsa and Boltaña | ||
| Barbastro |
The historical population is given in the following chart:
ImageSize = width:600 height:auto barincrement:30PlotArea = left:40 bottom:40 top:20 right:20DateFormat = x.yPeriod = from:0 till:280TimeAxis = orientation:horizontalAlignBars = lateScaleMajor = gridcolor:darkgrey increment:50 start:0ScaleMinor = gridcolor:lightgrey increment:10 start:0BackgroundColors = canvas:sfondo
PlotData= color:skyblue width:20 shift:(-50,-5) fontsize:M anchor:till bar:1877 from:0 till:256 text:256,425 bar:1887 from:0 till:261 text:260,585 bar:1900 from:0 till:255 text:255,100 bar:1910 from:0 till:265 text:264,984 bar:1920 from:0 till:266 text:265,603 bar:1930 from:0 till:258 text:257,777 bar:1940 from:0 till:247 text:247,135 bar:1950 from:0 till:238 text:237,681 bar:1960 from:0 till:234 text:234,014 bar:1970 from:0 till:222 text:221,761 bar:1980 from:0 till:215 text:214,907 bar:1990 from:0 till:208 text:207,810 bar:2000 from:0 till:207 text:206,502 bar:2010 from:0 till:226 text:225,962 bar:2020 from:0 till:223 text:222,687TextData= pos:(35,20) fontsize:M text:"Source: Instituto Nacional de Estadística, INE"
Spanish is the primary language in the province. However, the local linguistic varieties in the center and north of the province (often called fabla) belong to the Aragonese language, which now survives mainly in the northernmost comarcas, such as the Aragon Valley in Jacetania, the Alto Gallego, Sobrarbe, and Ribagorza, where hitherto landlocked and isolated villages have helped the language to thrive into the 21st century.
In the easternmost areas of the province, varieties of the Catalan language are spoken, with a few transitional dialects difficult to classify as Aragonese or Catalan.