Ribadeo

Ribadeo is a municipality inside the Spanish province of Lugo in Galicia. It has a population of 10,023 and a place of 106.2 km2. It is the capital of the A Marina Oriental comarca. The first well-known settlements date from Iron Age together with the Gallaecian hillforts of Grovas, Fornelo, Meirengos, Carcovas, Pumarega, Torre and Aira da Croa. All of them were inhabited by means of the Gallecian tribe of the Egovarri. During the sixth century the first texts referred to this county as part of Britonia.

During the thirteenth century, Ribadeo received privileges from the king Ferdinand II. The town started as a settlement beside the estuary, occupying what are now the docks of Porcillan and Cabanela, and later extended directly to higher land. It had a wall - extra for customs purposes than for defence - of which a few remains are still preserved. Along with Viveiro and Mondonedo, it became one of the 3 important medieval cities of the former province of Mondonedo.

It changed into granted a metropolis charter by way of Fernando III, allowing a weekly marketplace, which remains held. For some time the town was royal belongings and become then granted to a French nobleman, Pierre de Villeines, in popularity of his offerings to Enrique de Trastamara. After Villeines there have been numerous further transfers of possession; the county of Ribadeo became a possession of the House of Alba.