Late Bronze Age golden helmet.

Geography of the Castro Culture, and location of major oppida.

Castro culture (Galician: cultura castrexa, Portuguese: cultura castreja, Spanish: cultura castreña) is the archaeological term for naming the archaeological culture of the northwestern regions of the Iberian Peninsula (roughly present-day northern Portugal, together with Galicia, Asturias, and northern and western León in Spain) from the end of the Bronze Age (c. 9th century BC) until it was subsumed in local Roman culture. The most notable characteristics of this culture are, first, its walled oppida and hill forts, known locally as castros, from Latin castrum "castle", and second, the absence of visible burial practices, in spite of the frequent depositions of prestige items and goods, swords and other metallic riches in rocky outcrops, rivers and other aquatic contexts, since the Atlantic Bronze Age.^[1][2] This cultural area extended east to the Cares river, and south beyond the Douro.

The area of Ave Valley was the core region of this culture, with a large number of small Castro settlements, but also including larger and later oppida, the cividades (from Latin civitas, city), some known as citânias by archaeologists, due to their city-like structure: Cividade de Bagunte, Cividade de Terroso, Citânia de Briteiros, and Citânia de Sanfins.^[3]

History[link]

A Gallaecian warrior's head wearing a torc.

The Castro culture emerged during the first two centuries of the first millennium BCE, in the region extending from the Douro river up to the Minho, but soon expanding north along the coast, and east following the river valleys,^[4] reaching the mountain ranges which separate the Atlantic coast of the Iberian peninsula from the central plateau or meseta. It was the result of the autonomous evolution of Atlantic Bronze Age communities, after the local collapse of the long range Atlantic network of interchange of prestige items.^[5]

The end of the Atlantic Bronze Age[link]

A Bronze Age axe

From the Mondego river up to the Minho river, along the coastal areas of northern Portugal, during the last two centuries of the second millennium BCE a series of settlements were established in high, well communicated places,^[6] irradiating from a core area north of the Mondego, and usually specializing themselves in the production of Atlantic Bronze Age metallurgy: cauldrons, knives, bronze vases, roasting spits, flesh-hooks, swords, axes and jewelry, related to a noble elite who celebrated ritual banquets and who participated in an extensive network of interchange of prestige items, from the Mediterranean and up to the British Isles. These villages were closely related to the open settlements which characterized the first Bronze Age, frequently established near the valleys and the richer agricultural lands.

From the beginning of the first millennium, the network appears to collapse, probably because the Iron Age had outdated the Atlantic tin and bronze products in the Mediterranean region, and the large scale production of metallic items was reduced to the elaboration of axes and tools, which are still found buried in very large quantities all along the European Atlantic coast.

Formative period[link]

During the transition of the Bronze to the Iron Age, from the Douro in modern northern Portugal and up along the coasts of Galicia^[7] until the central regions of Asturias, the settlement in artificially fortified places substituted the old open settlement model.^[8] These early hill-forts were small (1 ha at most), being situated in hills, peninsulas or another naturally defended places, usually endued with long range visibility. Its artificial defenses were initially just composed of earthen walls, battlements and ditches, which enclosed an inner habitable space. This space was mostly void, non urbanized, used for communal activities, and it comprised just some few circular, oblong, or rounded squared huts, of some 5 to 15 meters (16–49 ft) of largest dimension,^[9] built with wood, vegetable materials and mud, sometimes reinforced with stony low walls. The major inner feature of these multi-functional undivided cabins were the hearth, circular or quadrangular, and which conditioned the uses of the other spaces of the room.

In essence, the main characteristic of this formative period is the assumption by the community of a larger authority at the expenses of the elites, reflected in the minor importance of the prestige items production, while the collective inverted important resources and labor in the communal spaces and defenses.^[10]

Second Iron Age[link]

Since the beginning of the 6th century BCE the Castro culture experimented an inner expansion: hundreds of new hill-forts were founded, while some older small ones were abandoned for new emplacements.^[11] These new settlements were founded near valleys, in the vicinity of the richest farmlands, and these are generally protected by several defence lines, composed of ramparts, ditches, and sound stony walls, probably built not only as a defensive apparatus but also as a feature which could confer prestige to the community. Sometimes, human remains have been found in cists or under the walls, implying some kind of foundational protective ritual.^[12]

Not only did the number of settlements grown during this period, but also their size and their internal density. First, the old familiar huts were frequently substituted by groups of family housing, composed generally of one or more huts with heath, plus round granaries, and elongated or square sheds and workshops. At the same time, these houses and groups tended to occupy most of the internal room of the hill-forts, reducing the communitarian open spaces, which in turn would had been substituted by other facilities such as saunas,^[13] communitarian halls, and shared forges.

Although most of the communities of this period had mostly self-sufficient isolated economies, one important change was the reactivation of the commerce with the Mediterranean by the now independent Carthage, a Western Mediterranean thriving power. Their merchants brought a number of Mediterranean imports (wine, glass, pottery...) commerced through a series of emporia, commercial post which sometimes included temples and other installations. At the same time, the archaeological register shows, trough the finding of large quantities of fibulae, pins, pincers for hair extraction, pendants, earrings, torcs, bracelets, and other personal objects, the on-growing importance of the individual and his or her physical appearance. While the communities of the Castro Iron Age shows themselves as very egalitarian, these findings imply the development of a privileged class with better access to prestige items.

Oppida

Monumental gate of the oppidum of San Cibrao de Lás

A partial view in Santa Tegra oppidum, A Guarda

A street in Citânia de Briteiros

Large communitarian building with built-in bench in Citânia de Briteiros

The oppida[link]

From the 2nd century BCE, specially in the south, some of the hill-forts turned into semi-urban fortified towns, oppida;^[14] their remains are locally known as cividades or “cidades”, cities, with populations of some few thousand inhabitants,^[15] such as Cividade de Bagunte (50 ha), Briteiros (24 ha), Sanfins (15 ha), San Cibrao de Lás (20 ha), or Santa Tegra (15 ha); some of them were even larger than the cities, Bracara Augusti and Lucus Augusti, that Rome established a century later.

These native cities were characterized by their size and by urban features such as paved streets equipped with channels for stormwater runoff, reservoirs of potable water, and evidence of urban planning. Many of them also presented an inner and upper walled space, relatively large and scarcely urbanized, called acrópole by local scholars. These oppida were generally surrounded by concentric ditches and stone walls, up to five in Briteiros, sometimes reinforced with towers. Gates to these oppida become monumental, and frequently have sculptures of warriors.

The oppida's dwelling areas are frequently externally walled, and kitchens, sheds, granaries, workshops and living rooms are ordered around an inner paved yard, sometimes equipped with fountains, drains and reservoirs.

Cividade de Bagunte was one of the largest cities with 50 hectares. The cities are surrounded by a number of smaller castros, some of which may have been defensive outposts of cities, such as Castro de Laundos, that was probably an outpost of Cividade de Terroso. A cividade may also have been the origin of Bracara Augusta, although there are no archaeological findings apart from an ancient parish name and pre-Roman baths. Bracara Augusta later became the capital of the Roman province of Gallaecia, which encompassed all the lands once participant of the Castro culture.

Urbanism

The baths of the city of Sanfins

Reservoir in Elviña's hill-fort, A Coruña

Reconstructed hut of a larger family nucleus in the Santa Tegra oppida

A family nucleus from cividade de Terroso

Cividade de Terroso

Roman era[link]

The first meeting of Rome with the inhabitants of the castros and cividades was during the Punic wars, when Carthaginians hired local mercenaries for fighting Rome in the Mediterranean and into Italy.

Later on, Gallaecians backed Lusitanians fighting Romans, and as a result the Roman general Decimus Junius Brutus Callaicus led a successful punishment expedition into the North in 137 BCE; the victory he celebrated in Rome granted him the title Callaicus (“Galician”). During the next century Gallaecia was still theatre of operation for Perpenna (73 BCE), Julius Caesar (61 BCE) and the generals of Augustus (29-19 BCE).^[16] But only after the Romans defeated the Asturians and Cantabrians in 19 BCE is evident—thought inscriptions, numismatic and other archaeological findings—the submission of the local powers to Rome.

While the 1st century BCE represents an era of expansion and maturity for the Castro Culture, under Roman influence and with the local economy apparently powered more than hindered by Roman commerce and wars, during the next century the control of Roma became political and military, and for the first time in more than a millennium new unfortified settlements were established in the plains and valleys, at the same time that numerous hill-forts and cities were abandoned. Strabo wrote, probably describing this process: "until they were stopped by the Romans, who humiliated them and reduced most of their cities to mere villages" (Strabo, III.3.5).

The culture went through somewhat of a transformation, as a result of the Roman conquest and formation of the Roman province of Gallaecia in the heart of the Castro cultural area; by the 2nd century CE most hill-forts and oppida had been abandoned or reused as sanctuaries or worshipping places, but some others kept being occupied up to the 5th century,^[17] when the Germanic Suevi established themselves in Gallaecia.

Economy and Arts[link]

As stated, while Bronze Age economy was based on the exploitation and exportation of mineral local resources, tin and copper, and on mass production and long range distribution of prestige items, Iron Age economy was based on a economy of necessity goods,^[18] as most items and productions were obtained in situ, or interchanged thought short range commerce.

Anyway, in the southern coastal areas the presence of Mediterranean merchants from the 6th century BCE onward, would had occasioned an increase in social inequality, bringing a large number of importations (fine pottery, fibulae, wine, glass and other products) and technological innovations, such as as round granite millstones, which would had merged with the Atlantic local traditions.

Ancient Roman military presence in the South and East of the Iberian peninsula since the 2nd century BCE would had reinforced the role of the autochthonous warrior elites, with better access to local prestige items and importations.

Stonework

Back of a sitting statue

Triskelion of the oppidum of Coeliobriga

A 'severed head' carving

A fragmentary warrior statue

A selection of motifs and carvings from the oppida region

Food and food production[link]

Pollen analyses confirms the Iron Age as a period of intense deforestation in Galicia and Northern Portugal, with meadows and fields expanding at the expense of woodland. Using three main type of tools, ploughs, sickles and hoes, together with axes for woodcutting, the Castro inhabitants grew a number of cereals: (wheat, millet, possibly also rye) for baking bread, as well as oats, and barley which they also used for beer production.^[19] They also grew beans, peas and cabbage, and flax for fabric and clothes production; other vegetables where collected: nettle, watercress. Large quantities of acorns have been found hoarded in most hill-forts, as they were used for bread production once toasted and crushed in granite stone mills.^[20]

The second pillar of local economy was animal husbandry. Gallaecians breed cattle for meat, milk and butter production; they also used oxen for dragging carts and ploughs,^[21] while horses were used mainly for human transportation. They also breed sheep and goats, for meat and wool, and pigs for meat. Wild animals like deer or boars were frequently chased. In coastal areas, fishing and collecting shellfish were important activities: Strabo wrote that the people of northern Iberia used boats made of leather, probably similar to Irish currachs and Welsh coracles, for local navigation.^[22] Archaeologists have found hooks and weights for nets, as well as open seas fish remains, confirming inhabitants of the coastal areas as fishermen.^[23]

Metallurgy[link]

Mining was an integral part of the culture, and it attracted Mediterranean merchants, first Phoenicians, later Carthaginians and Romans. Gold, iron, copper, tin, and lead were the most common ores mined. Castro metallurgy refined the metals from ores and cast them to make various tools.

During the initial centuries of the first millennium BCE bronze was still the most used metal, although iron was progressively introduced. Main products include tools (sickles, hoes, ploughs, axes), domestic items (knives and cauldrons), and weapons (antenna swords, spearheads). During the initial Iron Age the local artisans stopped producing some of the most characteristic Bronze Age items^[24] such as carp tongue, leaf shaped and rapier swords, double ringed axes, breastplates and most jewelery. At the same time new type of items, such as fibulae and pendant type earrings—initially based in Mediterranean models—were produced, while some other types were reactivated, mostly based on Central and Atlantic European models and under direct or indirect Mediterranean influences:^[25] gold torcs (some 120 ones are known, produced in three main regional styles^[26]) frequently having large, void terminals, containing little stones which allowed them to be also used as rattles; antenna-hilted swords and knives; Montefortino helmets with local decoration; and sacrificial or votive axes depicting themselves complex sacrificial scenes (similar to classical suovetaurilia), with torcs, cauldrons, weapons, animals of diverse species, and string-like motives.^[27]

Decorative motifs include rosettes, triskelions, swastikas, spirals, interlaces, as well as palm tree, herring bone and string motives, many of which were still carved in Romanesque churches, and are still used up to day in local folk art and traditional items in Galicia, Portugal and northern Spain.^[28][29] These same motifs were also extensively used in stone decoration. Castro sculpture also reveal that locals carved these figures in wood items, such as chairs, and weaved them into their clothes.

Metallurgy

A common knife

Torcs from Xanceda, Galicia

Torc terminal from the oppidum of Santa Tegra, A Guarda

Castro style pendant earrings

Stonework[link]

While the use of stone for constructions is an old tradition in the Castro culture, dating from the first centuries of the first millennium BCE, sculpture only became usual from the 2nd century BCE, specially in the southern half of the territory, associated to the oppida. Five main types are produced, all of them in granite stone:^[29]

• Guerreiros or 'Warrior statues', usually representing a male warrior in a standing pose, holding ready a short sword and a caetra (small local shield), and wearing a cap or helmet, torc, viriae (bracelets), and decorated shirt, skirt, and belt.
• Sitting statues: They usually depicts what is considered to be a god sitting on a decorated throne, wearing viriae or bracelets, and holding a cup or pot. Although the motives are autochthonous, their model are clearly Mediterranean; nevertheless, unlike the Gallaecian ones, the Iberian sitting statues usually depicts goddesses. Some few statues of feminine divinities are also known representing a standing nude woman only wearing a torc, as the male warrior statues.^[30]
• Severed heads: similar to the têtes coupées from France;^[31] they represent dead heads, and were usually located in walls of ancient hill-forts, and are still found reused near of them. Unlike all the other types, these are more common in the North.
• Pedras formosas (literally 'beauty stones'), or elaborated and sculpted slabs used inside saunas, as door frame of the inner room.
• Architectural decoration: The houses of the oppida of southern Galicia and northern Portugal frequently contains architectural elements engraved with geometric auspicious motives: rosettes, triskelions, wheels, spirals, swastikas, string like and interlaced designs, among others.^[32]

Pedra Formosa stonework

Pedra Formosa in Castro das Eiras, Portugal.

Pedra Formosa, Briteiros.

A sculpted stone reused in a 6th century Suevic church, in Dume, Braga

Pottery and other crafts[link]

Pottery from Terroso.

Pottery was produced locally in a variety of styles, although wealthier people also possessed imported Mediterranean products. The richest pottery was produced in the south, from the Rias Baixas region in Galicia to the Douro, where decoration was frequently stamped and incised into pots and vases.^[33] The patterns used often revealed the town where these were produced.

Language, society and religion[link]

Society and government[link]

At the beginning of our era more than 700,000 people were living in the main area of the Castro culture, in hill forts and oppida.^[34] Northern Gallaeci (Lucenses) were divided into 16 populi or tribes: Lemavi, Albiones, Cibarci, Egivarri Namarini, Adovi, Arroni, Arrotrebae, Celtici Neri, Celtici Supertamarci, Copori, Celtici Praestamarci, Cileni, Seurri, Baedui. Astures were divided in Augustani and Transmontani, comprising 22 populi: Gigurri, Tiburi, Susarri, Paesici, Lancienses, Zoelae, among others. Southern Gallaecians (Bracareses), comprising the area of the oppida, were composed of 24 civitates: Helleni, Grovi, Leuni, Surbi, Bracari, Interamnici, Limici, Querquerni, Coelerni, Tamagani, Bibali, Callaeci, Equasei, Caladuni...

Each populi or civitas was composed of a number of castella, each one comprehending one ore more hill-forts or oppida, by themselves an autonomous political chiefdom, probably under the direction of a chief and a senate. Under Roman influence the tribes or populi apparently ascended to a major role, at the expense of the minor entities.^[35] From the beginning of our era a few Latin inscriptions are known where some individuals declare themselves princeps or ambimogidus of a certain populi or civitas.

Onomastics and Languages[link]

Tombstone of Apana Ambolli, a woman of the Celtici Supertamarici, from Miobri (hill-fort)

The name of some of the castles and oppida are known through the declaration of origin of persons mentioned in epitaphs and votive Latin inscriptions^[36] (BERISAMO, LETIOBRI, ERCORIOBRI, LOUCIOCELO, OLCA, SERANTE, TALABRIGA, AVILIOBRIS, MEIDUNIO, DURBEDE...), through the epithets of local Gods in votive altars (ALANIOBRICA, VERUBRICO, AETIOBRIGO, VIRIOCELENSE...), and the testimony of classic authors and geographers (Adrobrica, Ebora, Abobrica, Nemetobriga, Brigantium, Olina, Caladunum, Tyde, Glandomirum, Ocelum...). Some more names can be inferred from modern place names, as those containing an evolution of the Celtic element brigs meaning "hill" and characteristically ligated to old hill-forts^[37][38] (Tragove, O Grove < Ogrobre, Canzobre < Caranzobre, Cortobe, Lestrove, Landrove, Iñobre, Maiobre...) Approximately half the pre-Latin toponyms of Roman Gallaecia were Celtic, while the rest were either non Celtic western Indo-European, or mixed toponyms containing Celtic and non-Celtic elements.^[39] These may have survived from the pre-Celtic period or have been borrowings from nearby non-Celtic languages like Lusitanian.

On the local personal names, less than two hundred are known,^[40] many of which are also present either in the Lusitania, or either among the Astures, or among the Celtiberians. Whilst many of them have a sure Celtic etymology,^[41][42] frequently related to war, fame or valour, others show preservation of /p/ and so are probably Lusitanian better than properly Celtic; in any case, many names could be Celtic or Lusitanian, or even belong to another indo-European local language. Among the most frequent names are Reburrus, Camalus (related to Old Irish cam 'battle, encounter'), Caturus (to Celtic *katu- 'fight'), Cloutius (to Celtic *klouto- 'renown', with the derivatives Clutamus 'Very Famous' and Cloutaius, and the composite Vesuclotus '(He who have) Good Fame'), Medamus, Boutius, Lovesius, Pintamus, Ladronus, Apilus, Andamus (maybe to Celtic and-amo- 'The Undermost'), Bloena, Aebura/Ebura, Albura, Arius, Caelius and Caelicus (to Celtic *kaylo- 'omen'), Celtiatis, Talavius, Viriatus, among others.

A certain number of personal names are also exclusive to Gallaecia, among these Artius (to Celtic *arktos 'bear'), Nantia and Nantius (to Celtic *nant- 'fight'), Cambavius (to Celtic *kambo- 'bent'), Vecius (probably Celtic, from PIE *weik- 'fight'), Cilurnius (to Celtic *kelfurn- 'cauldron'), Mebdius, Coralius (to PIE *koro- 'army'), Melgaecus (to PIE *hmelg- 'milk'), Loveius, Durbidia, Lagius, Laucius, Aidius (to Celtic *aidu- 'fire'), Balcaius; and the composites Verotius, Vesuclotus, Cadroiolo, Veroblius, among other composite and derivative names.

Very characteristic of the peoples of the Castro culture (Gallaecians and western Astures) is their onomastic formula. Whilst the onomastic formula among the Celtiberians usually is composed by a first name followed by a patronymic expressed as a genitive, and sometimes a reference to the gens, the Castro people complete name was composed as this:

Fist Name + Patronymic (genitive) + [optional reference to the populi or nation (nominative)] + 'castello' or its short form '>' + origin of the person = name of the castro (ablative)

So, a name such as CAELEO CADROIOLONIS F CILENVS > BERISAMO would stand for Cailios son of Cadroyolo, a Cilenian, from the hill-fort named Berisamos.^[43] Other similar anthroponymical patterns are known referring mostly to persons born in the regions in-between the rivers Navia in Asturias and Douro in Portugal, the ancient Gallaecia, among them:

• NICER CLVTOSI > CARIACA PRINCIPIS ALBIONUM: Nicer son of Clutosius, from (the hill-fort known as) Cariaca, prince of the Albions.
• APANA AMBOLLI F CELTICA SUPERTAM(ARICA)> [---]OBRI: Apana daughter of Ambollus, a Super-Tamaric Celtic, from (the hill-fort known as) [-]obri.
• ANCEITVS VACCI F LIMICVS > TALABRIC(A): Ancetos son of Vaccios, a Limic, from (the hill-fort known as) Talabriga.
• BASSVS MEDAMI F GROVVS > VERIO: Bassos son of Medamos, a Grovian, from (the hill-fort known as) Verio.
• LADRONU[S] DOVAI BRA[CA]RUS CASTELL[O] DURBEDE: Ladronos son of Dovaios, a Bracaran, from the castle Durbede.

Religion[link]

The religious pantheon was extensive, and included local and pan-Celtic gods. Among the later ones the most relevant was Lugus;^[44] 5 inscriptions^[45] are known with dedication to this deity, whose name is frequently expressed as a plural dative (LUGUBO, LUCOUBU). The votive altars containing this dedications frequently present three holes for gifts or sacrifices. Other pan-European deities include Bormanicus (a god related to hot springs), the Matres,^[46] and Sulis or Suleviae (SULEIS NANTUGAICIS).^[47]

More numerous are the votive inscriptions dedicated to the autochthonous Cosus, Bandua, Nabia, and Reue. Hundreds of Latin inscriptions have survived with dedications to gods and goddesses. Archaeological finds such as ceremonial axes decorated with animal sacrificial scenes, together with the severed head sculptures and the testimonies of classical authors, confirms the ceremonial sacrifice of animals, probably including humans, as among Lusitanians and Gauls.

The largest number of indigenous deities found in the whole Iberian Peninsula are located in the Lusitanian-Galician regions, and models proposing a fragmented and disorganized pantheon have been discarded, since the number of deities occurring together is similar to other Celtic peoples in Europe and ancient civilizations.

Cosus, a male deity, was worshipped in the coastal areas where the Celtici dwelt, from the region around Aveiro and Porto to Northern Galicia, but seldom inland, with the exception of the El Bierzo region in Leon, where this cult has been attributed^[48] to the known arrival of Galician miners, most notably from among the Celtici Supertamarici. This deity has not been recorded in the same areas as Bandua, Reue and Nabia deities occur, and El Bierzo follows the same pattern as in the coast. From a theonymical point of view, this suggest some ethno-cultural differences between the coast and inland areas. With the exception of the Grovii people, Pomponius Mela stated that all the populi were Celtic and Cosus was not worshipped there. Pliny also rejected that the Grovii were Celtic, he considered them to have a Greek origin.

Bandua is closely associated with Roman Mars and less frequently worshipped by women. The religious nature of Cosus had many similarities with that of Bandua. Bandua had a warlike character and a defender of local communities. The worship of these two gods do not overlap but rather complement each other, occupying practically the whole of the western territory of the Iberian Peninsula. Supporting the idea, no evidence has been found of any women worshipping at any of the monuments dedicated to Cosus. Cosus sites are found near settlements, such as in Sanfins and the settlement near A Coruña.

Nabia had double invocation, one male and one female. The supreme Nabia is related to Jupiter and another incarnation of the deity, identified with Diana, Juno or Victoria or others from the Roman pantheon, linked to the protection and defence of the community or health, wealth and fertility. Bandua, Reue, Arentius-Arentia, Quangeius, Munidis, Trebaruna, Laneana, and Nabia worshipped in the heart of Lusitania vanishes almost completely outside the boundary with the Vettones.

Bandua, Reue and Nabia were worshipped in the core area of Lusitania (including Northern Extremadura to Beira Baixa and Northern Lusitania) and reaching inland Galicia, the diffusion of these gods throughout the whole of the northern interior area shows a cultural continuity with Central Lusitania.

Funerary rites are mostly unknown except at few places, such as Cividade de Terroso, where cremation was practised.

Gods and Goddesses

Nabia Fountain in Braga. The deity probably had an association with water, the sky and the earth

Votive inscription to Lugus: LUCOUBU ARQUIEN(OBU) SILONIUS SILO EX VOTO

Votive inscription to Cosus: COSOU DAVINIAGO Q(uintus) V() C() EX VOTO

Major sites[link]

World heritage candidates in 2010:

• Citânia de Briteiros, Guimarães, Northern Portugal
• Citânia de Sanfins, Paços de Ferreira, Northern Portugal
• Citânia de Santa Luzia, Viana do castelo, Northern Portugal
• Citânia do Monte Mozinho, Penafiel, Northern Portugal
• Cividade de Terroso, Póvoa de Varzim, Northern Portugal
• Cividade de Bagunte, Vila do Conde, Northern Portugal
• Cividade de Âncora, Caminha and Viana do Castelo, Northern Portugal
• Santa Tecla, Foz do Minho, Galicia
• San Cibrán de Lás, Ourense, Galicia
• Castro de São Lourenço, Esposende, Northern Portugal
• Castro de Alvarelhos, Trofa, Northern Portugal
• Castro de Carmona, Barcelos, Northern Portugal
• Castro de Eiras, Vila Nova de Famalicão, Northern Portugal
• Castro de São Julião, Vila Verde, Northern Portugal
• Castromao, Ourense, Galicia
• Outeiro Lesenho, Boticas, Northern Portugal
• Outeiro Carvalhelhos, Boticas, Northern Portugal
• Outeiro do Pópulo, Alijó, Northern Portugal
• Outeiro de Romariz, Santa Maria da Feira, Northern Portugal
• Outeiro de Baiões, São Pedro do Sul, Northern Portugal
• Outeiro de Cárcoda, São Pedro do Sul, Northern Portugal
• Borneiro, Coruña, Galicia
• Cabeço do Vouga, Águeda, Northern Portugal
• Vilalonga, Lugo, Galicia

Hill fort of Baroña, Porto do Son, Galicia   Baths or sauna at Punta dos Prados hill-fort, Ortigueira, Galicia   Partial view of a castro at Coaña, Asturias   Citânia de Sanfins, Paços de Ferreira, Portugal   A romanized castro, at Viladonga, Castro de Rei, Galicia

See also[link]

• Castros in Spain
• Celts
• Gallaeci
• Galician Institute for Celtic Studies
• Gallaecian language
• Celtiberian language
• Lusitanian language

Notes[link]

Bibliography[link]

• Arias Vila, F. (1992). A Romanización de Galicia. A Nosa Terra. 1992. ISBN 84-604-3279-3.
• Ayán Vila, Xurxo (2008). A Round Iron Age: The Circular House in the Hillforts of the Northwestern Iberian Peninsula. In e-Keltoi, Volume 6: 903-1003. UW System Board of Regents, 2008. ISSN 1540-4889.
• Calo Lourido, F. (1993). A Cultura Castrexa. A nosa Terra. 1993. ISBN 84-89138-71-0.
• García Quintela (2005). Celtic Elements in Northwestern Spain in Pre-Roman times. In e-Keltoi, Volume 6: 497-569. UW System Board of Regents, 2005. ISSN 1540-4889.
• González García, F. J. (ed.) (2007). Los pueblos de la Galicia céltica. AKAL. 2007. ISBN 978-84-460-2260-2.
• González Ruibal, Alberto (2004). Artistic Expression and Material Culture in Celtic Gallaecia'. In e-Keltoi, Volume 6: 113-166. UW System Board of Regents, 2004. ISSN 1540-4889.
• Júdice Gamito, Teresa (2005). The Celts in Portugal. In e-Keltoi, Volume 6: 571-605. UW System Board of Regents, 2005. ISSN 1540-4889.
• Luján Martínez, Eugenio R. (2006) The Language(s) of the Callaeci. In e-Keltoi, Volume 6: 715-748. UW System Board of Regents, 2005. ISSN 1540-4889.
• Marco Simón, Francisco (2005). Religion and Religious Practices of the Ancient Celts of the Iberian Peninsula. In e-Keltoi, Volume 6: 287-345. UW System Board of Regents, 2005. ISSN 1540-4889.
• Olivares Pedreño, Juan Carlos (2002). Los dioses de la Hispania celtica. Madrid: Universitat de Alacant. ISBN 9788495983008. 
• Parcero-Oubiña C. and Cobas-Fernández, I (2004). Iron Age Archaeology of the Northwest Iberian Peninsula. In e-Keltoi, Volume 6: 1-72. UW System Board of Regents, 2004. ISSN 1540-4889.
• Prósper, B. M. (2002) Lénguas y religiones prerromanas del occidente de la península ibérica. Universidad de Salamanca. 2002. ISBN 84-7800-818-7.
• Rodríguez-Corral, Javier (2009). A Galicia Castrexa. Lóstrego. 2009. ISBN 978-84-936613-3-5.
• Romero, Bieito (2009). Xeometrías Máxicas de Galicia. Ir Indo. 2009. ISBN 978-84-7680-639-5.

External links[link]

• HILLFORT GUIDE: Galicia and Northwest Portugal (in English).
• Silva, A. J. M. (2009), Vivre au déla du fleuve de l'Oubli. Portrait de la communauté villageoise du Castro do Vieito, au moment de l'intégration du NO de la péninsule ibérique dans l'orbis romanum (estuaire du Rio Lima, NO du Portugal), Phd Thesis presented at Coimbra University in March 2009, 188p. PDF version.

Castro is a Romance (Italian, Portuguese, Spanish and Galician) word originally derived from Latin "Castrum", a pre-Roman military camp or fortification (cf: Greek: kastron; Proto-Celtic: *Kassrik; Breton: kaer, *kastro).

It may refer to:

People[link]

• Castro (surname)
• Prince Carlo, Duke of Castro, Head of the Royal House of Bourbon Two Sicilies of Naples
• Fidel Castro, former political leader of Cuba
• Raúl Castro, current political leader of Cuba
• House of Castro, Spanish noble family

Places[link]

Chile

• Castro, Chile

Italy

• Castro, Apulia, a comune in the province of Lecce
• Castro, Lazio, a destroyed town in the province of Viterbo
• Castro, Lombardy, a comune in the province of Bergamo
• Castel di Castro, 13th century fortified city at the site of modern Cagliari, Sardinia

Switzerland

• Castro, Ticino

United States

• Castro County, Texas
• Castro Cove, an embayment of the San Pablo Bay in Richmond, California
• Castro Creek, a creek in Richmond, California
• Castro Street Station, a Metro station in San Francisco, California
• Castro Theatre, a movie theater in San Francisco, California
• The Castro, San Francisco, a neighborhood in San Francisco, California
• Castro Valley, California, a census-designated place (CDP) in Alameda County

Other[link]

• Castro culture, Iron-Age, Bronze-Age and Celtic culture in the Northern Iberian Peninsula
  • Castros in Spain
  • Castro (village), types of settlements of the Castro culture
• Castro (clothing), an Israel-based clothing company
• Wars of Castro, conflict between the Papacy and the Farnese dukes of Parma
• Castro FC, Spanish football team

This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same title. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.

Berber village in Ourika valley, High Atlas, Morocco.

Masouleh village, Gilan Province, Iran

An alpine village in the Lötschental Valley, Switzerland

A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet with the population ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand (sometimes tens of thousands), Though often located in rural areas, the term urban village is also applied to certain urban neighbourhoods, such as the East Village in Manhattan, New York City and the Saifi Village in Beirut, Lebanon, as well as Hampstead Village in the London conurbation. Villages are normally permanent, with fixed dwellings; however, transient villages can occur. Further, the dwellings of a village are fairly close to one another, not scattered broadly over the landscape, as a dispersed settlement.

In the past, villages were a usual form of community for societies that practise subsistence agriculture, and also for some non-agricultural societies. In Great Britain, a hamlet earned the right to be called a village when it built a church.^[1] In many cultures, towns and cities were few, with only a small proportion of the population living in them. The Industrial Revolution attracted people in larger numbers to work in mills and factories; the concentration of people caused many villages to grow into towns and cities. This also enabled specialization of labor and crafts, and development of many trades. The trend of urbanization continues, though not always in connection with industrialisation. Villages have been eclipsed in importance as units of human society and settlement.

Traditional villages[link]

Although many patterns of village life have existed, the typical village was small, consisting of perhaps 5 to 30 families. Homes were situated together for sociability and defence, and land surrounding the living quarters was farmed. Traditional fishing villages were based on artisan fishing and located adjacent to fishing grounds.

South Asia[link]

A village in India, c. 1905

A village in central India.

India "The soul of India lives in its villages", declared M. K. Gandhi^[2] at the beginning of 20th century. According to the 2011 census of India, 68.84% of Indians (around 833.1 million people) live in 640,867 different villages.^[3] The size of these villages varies considerably. 236,004 Indian villages have a population less than 500, while 3,976 villages have a population of 10,000+. Most of the villages have their own temple, mosque or church depending on the local religious following.

East Asia[link]

Shirakawa-gō, Nagano Japan.

People's Republic of China

In mainland China, villages 村 are divisions under township Zh:乡 or town Zh:镇.

Republic of China (Taiwan) In the Republic of China (Taiwan), villages are divisions under townships or county-controlled cities. The village is called a tsuen or cūn (村) under a rural township (鄉) and a li (里) under an urban township (鎮) or a county-controlled city. See also Li (unit).

Japan

South Korea

Southeast Asia[link]

Thailand

Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore

The nagari of Pariangan, West Sumatra.

In Indonesia, depending on the principles they are administered, villages are called desa or kelurahan. A desa (a term that derives from a Sanskrit word meaning "country" that is found in a name such as "Bangladesh") is administered according to traditions and customary law (adat), while a kelurahan is administered along more "modern" principles. Desa are generally located in rural areas while kelurahan are generally urban subdivisions. A village head is respectively called kepala desa or lurah. Both are elected by the local community. A desa or kelurahan is itself the subdivision of a kecamatan (district), in turn the subdivision of a kabupaten (regency).

The same general concept applies all over Indonesia. How ever, there is some variation among the vast numbers of Austronesian ethnic groups. For instance, in Bali villages have been created by grouping traditional hamlets or banjar, which constitute the basis of Balinese social life. In the Minangkabau country in West Sumatra province traditional villages are called nagari (a term deriving from another Sanskrit word meaning "city", which can be found in a name like "Srinagar"). In some areas such as Tanah Toraja, elders take turns watching over the village at a command post.^{[citation needed]} As a general rule, desa and kelurahan are groupings of hamlets (kampung in Indonesian, dusun in the Javanese language, banjar in Bali).

In Malaysia, the term kampung (sometimes spelling kampong) in the English language has been defined specifically as "a Malay hamlet or village in a Malay-speaking country".^[4] In other words, a kampung is defined today as a village in Brunei, Indonesia, Singapore, and Malaysia. In Malaysia, a kampung is determined as a locality with 10,000 or fewer people. Since historical times, every Malay village came under the leadership of a penghulu (village chief), who has the power to hear civil matters in his village (see Courts of Malaysia for more details). A Malay village typically contains a "masjid" (mosque) or "surau" (Muslim chapel), paddy fields and Malay houses on stilts. Malay and Indonesian villagers practice the culture of helping one another as a community, which is better known as "joint bearing of burdens" (gotong royong),^[5] as well as being family-oriented (especially the concept of respecting one's family [particularly the parents and elders]), courtesy and believing in God ("Tuhan") as paramount to everything else. It is common to see a cemetery near the mosque, as all Muslims in the Malay or Indonesian village want to be prayed for, and to receive Allah's blessings in the afterlife. In Sarawak, some villages are called 'long' pronounced as 'long' in Chinese. These villages are mostly found in western Sarawak.

Singapore also follows the Malaysian kampung. However, there are only a few kampung villages remaining, mostly on islands surrounding Singapore such as Pulau Ubin. In the past, there was many kampung villages in Singapore but now there aren't many on the mainland.

Philippines

In urban areas of the Philippines, the term "village" most commonly refers to private subdivisions, especially gated communities. These villages emerged in the mid-20th century and were initially the domain of elite urban dwellers. Those are common in major cities in the country and their residents have a wide range of income levels. Such villages may or may not correspond to administrative units (usually barangays) and/or be privately administered. Barangays more correspond to the villages of old times, and the chairman (formerly a village datu) now settles intrapersonal matters or polices the village, though with much less authority and respect than in Indonesia or Malaysia.

Vietnam

Village, or "làng", is a basis of Vietnam society. Vietnam's village is the typical symbol^{[citation needed]} of Asian agricultural production. Vietnam's village typically contains: a village gate, "lũy tre" (bamboo hedges), "đình làng" (communal house) where "thành hoàng" (tutelary god) is worshiped, a common well, "đồng lúa" (rice field), "chùa" (temple) and houses of all families in the village. All the people in Vietnam's villages usually have a blood relationship. They are farmers who grow rice and have the same traditional handicraft. Vietnam's villages have an important role in society (Vietnamese saying: "Custom rules the law" -"Phép vua thua lệ làng" [literally: the king's law yields to village customs]). Everyone in Vietnam wants to be buried in their village when they die.^{[citation needed]}

Central and Eastern Europe[link]

Slavic countries[link]

Selo (Cyrillic: село; Polish: wieś, sioło) is a Slavic word meaning "village" in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Macedonia, Russia, Serbia, and Ukraine. For example there are numerous sela (plural of selo) called Novo Selo in Bulgaria, Croatia, Montenegro and others in Serbia, and Macedonia. In Slovenia, the word selo is used for very small villages (less than a thousand people) and in dialects; the Slovene word vas is used all over Slovenia.

Bulgaria[link]

Kovachevitsa, a village in southern Bulgaria

In Bulgaria, the different types of Sela vary from a small selo of 5 to 30 families to one of several thousand people. According to a 2002 census, in that year there were 2,385,000 Bulgarian citizens living in settlements classified as villages.^[6] A 2004 Human Settlement Profile on Bulgaria^[7] conducted by the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs stated that:

The most intensive is the migration "city – city". Approximately 46% of all migrated people have changed their residence from one city to another. The share of the migration processes "village – city" is significantly less – 23% and "city – village" – 20%. The migration "village – village" in 2002 is 11%.^[6]

It also stated that

the state of the environment in the small towns and villages is good apart from the low level of infrastructure.^[6]

In Bulgaria, it is becoming popular to visit villages for the atmosphere, culture, crafts, hospitality of the people and the surrounding nature. This is called selski tourism (Bulgarian: селски туризъм), meaning "village tourism".^{[citation needed]}

Russia[link]

The village of Zaponorye in Moscow Oblast

In Russia, as of the 2010 Census, 26.3% of the country's population lives in rural localities;^[8] down from 26.7% recorded in the 2002 Census.^[8] Multiple types of rural localities exist, but the two most common are derevnya (деревня) and selo (село). Historically, the formal indication of status was religious: a city (gorod) had a cathedral, a selo had a church, while a derevnya had neither.

The lowest administrative unit of the Russian Empire, a volost, or its Soviet or modern Russian successor, a selsoviet, was typically headquartered in a selo and embraced a few neighboring villages.

Between 1926 and 1989, Russia's rural population shrank from 76 million people to 39 million, due to urbanization, collectivization, dekulakization, and the World War II losses, but has nearly stabilized since.^{[citation needed]} During 1930–1937, mass starvation in Russia and other parts of the Soviet Union lead to the death of at least 14.5 million peasants (including 5–7 million in the Holodomor).^[9]

Most Russian rural localities have populations of less than 200 people, and the smaller places take the brunt of depopulation: e.g., in 1959, about one half of Russia's rural population lived in villages of fewer than 500 people, while now less than one third does.^{[citation needed]} In the 1960s–1970s, the depopulation of the smaller villages was driven by the central planners' drive to get the farm workers out of smaller, "prospect-less" hamlets and into the collective or state farms' main villages, with more amenities.^[10]

Most Russian rural residents are involved in agricultural work, and it is very common for villagers to produce their own food. As prosperous urbanites purchase village houses for their second homes, Russian villages sometimes are transformed into dacha settlements, used mostly for seasonal residence.

The historically Cossack regions of Southern Russia and parts of Ukraine, with their fertile soil and absence of serfdom, had a rather different pattern of settlement from central and northern Russia. While peasants of central Russia lived in a village around the lord's manor, a Cossack family often lived on its own farm, called khutor. A number of such khutors plus a central village made up the administrative unit with a center in a stanitsa (Russian: стани́ца; Ukrainian: станиця, stanytsia). Such stanitsasoften with a few thousand residents, were usually larger than a typical selo in central Russia.

The term aul/aal is used to refer mostly Muslim-populated villages in Caucasus and Idel-Ural, without regard to the number of residents.

Ukraine[link]

In Ukraine, a village, known locally as a "selo" (село), is considered the lowest administrative unit. Villages may have an individual administration (silrada) or a joint administration, combining two or more villages. Villages may also be under the jurisdiction of a city council (miskrada) or town council (selyshchna rada) administration.

There is, however, another smaller type of settlement which is designated in Ukrainian as a selysche (селище). This type of community is generally referred to in English as a "settlement". In comparison with an urban-type settlement, Ukrainian legislation does not have a concrete definition or a criterion to differentiate such settlements from villages. They represent a type of a small rural locality that might have once been a khutir, a fisherman's settlement, or a dacha. They are administered by a silrada (council) located in a nearby adjacent village. Sometimes the term "selysche" is also used in a more general way to refer to adjacent settlements near a bigger city, including urban-type settlements (selysche miskoho typu) and/or villages; however, ambiguity is often avoided in connection with urbanized settlements by referring to them using the three-letter abbreviation smt instead.

The khutir (хутір) and stanytsia (станиця) are not part of the administrative division any longer, primarily due to collectivization. Khutirs were very small rural localities consisting of just few housing units and were sort of individual farms. They became really popular during the Stolypin reform in the early 20th century. During the collectivization, however, residents of such settlements were usually declared to be kulaks and had all their property confiscated and distributed to others (nationalized) without any compensation. The stanitsa likewise has not survived as an administrative term. The stanitsa was a type of a collective community that could include one or more settlements such as villages, khutirs, and others. Today, stanitsa-type formations have only survived in Kuban (Russian Federation) where Ukrainians were resettled during the time of the Russian Empire.

Western & Southern Europe[link]

United Kingdom[link]

A village in the UK is a compact settlement of houses, smaller in size than a town, and generally based on agriculture or, in some areas, mining (such as Ouston, County Durham), quarrying or sea fishing.

The main street of the village of Castle Combe, Wiltshire, England.

The major factors in the type of settlement are location of water sources, organisation of agriculture and landholding, and likelihood of flooding. For example, in areas such as the Lincolnshire Wolds, the villages are often found along the spring line halfway down the hillsides, and originate as spring line settlements, with the original open field systems around the village. In northern Scotland, most villages are planned to a grid pattern located on or close to major roads, whereas in areas such as the Forest of Arden, woodland clearances produced small hamlets around village greens.^[11][12]

Some villages have disappeared (for example, deserted medieval villages), sometimes leaving behind a church or manor house and sometimes nothing but bumps in the fields.Some show archaeological evidence of settlement at three or four different layers, each distinct from the previous one. Clearances may have been to accommodate sheep or game estates, or enclosure, or may have resulted from depopulation, such as after the Black Death or following a move of the inhabitants to more prosperous districts. Other villages have grown and merged and often form hubs within the general mass of suburbia — such as Hampstead, London and Didsbury in Manchester. Many villages are now predominantly dormitory locations and have suffered the loss of shops, churches and other facilities.

For many British people, the village represents an ideal of Great Britain. Seen as being far from the bustle of modern life, it is represented as quiet and harmonious, if a little inward-looking. This concept of an unspoilt Arcadia is present in many popular representations of the village such as the radio serial The Archers or the best kept village competitions. The reality is that many villages are plagued by lack of access to public transport and local services, specially affecting the poor and elderly who cannot afford their own means of transport.^[13]

Bisley, Gloucestershire, a village in the Cotswolds

Many villages in South Yorkshire, North Nottinghamshire, North East Derbyshire, County Durham, South Wales and Northumberland are known as pit villages. These (such as Murton, County Durham) grew from hamlets when the sinking of a colliery in the early 20th century resulted in a rapid growth in their population and the colliery owners built new housing, shops, pubs and churches. Some pit villages outgrew nearby towns by area and population; for example, Rossington in South Yorkshire came to have over four times more people than the nearby town of Bawtry. Some pit villages grew to become towns; for example, Maltby in South Yorkshire grew from 600 people in the 19th century^[14] to over 17,000 in 2007.^[15] Maltby was constructed under the auspices of the Sheepbridge Coal and Iron Company and included ample open spaces and provision for gardens.^[16]

In the UK, the main historical distinction between a hamlet and a village was that the latter had a church,^[1] and so usually was the centre of worship for an ecclesiastical parish. However, some civil parishes may contain more than one village. The typical village had a pub or inn, shops, and a blacksmith. But many of these facilities are now gone, and many villages are dormitories for commuters. The population of such settlements ranges from a few hundred people to around five thousand. A village is distinguished from a town in that:

• A village should not have a regular agricultural market, although today such markets are uncommon even in settlements which clearly are towns.
• A village does not have a town hall nor a mayor.
• If a village is the principal settlement of a civil parish, then any administrative body that administers it at parish level should be called a parish council or parish meeting, and not a town council or city council. However, some civil parishes have no functioning parish, town, or city council nor a functioning parish meeting. In Wales, where the equivalent of an English civil parish is called a Community, the body that administers it is called a Community Council. However, larger councils may elect to call themselves town councils.^[17] Unlike Wales, Scottish community councils have no statutory powers.^[18]
• There should be a clear green belt or open fields, as, for example, seen on aerial maps for Ouston surrounding its parish^[19] borders. However this may not be applicable to urbanised villages: although these may not considered to be villages, they are often widely referred to as being so; an example of this is Horsforth in Leeds.

France[link]

Saint-Cirq-Lapopie (Lot) is one of "The Most Beautiful Villages in France".

Same general definition as in the UK.

An independent association named Les Plus Beaux Villages de France, was created in 1982 to promote assets of small and picturesque French villages of quality heritage. As of 2008, 152 villages in France have been listed in "The Most Beautiful Villages of France".

Spain[link]

Spain has plenty of little villages around its territory. The concept of village and country life is really present and usual in the North of the country (Atlantic area), especially in Galicia where villages are similar to English ones.

South of Barcelona is Spain's most romantic Mediterranean beach town, with a 2.5 km-long (1 1/2-mile) sandy beach and a promenade studded with flowers and palm trees. Sitges is a town with a rich connection to art; Picasso and Dalí both spent time here.^[20] Mérida is an important Roman town with great tapas. Barcena Mayor (Cantabria) has houses that date back to the sixth century with simple two floors constructions and rectangular form. Salamanca, an ancient Celtic town, is also a Renaissance city with striking architecture. Its sandstones buildings have a beautiful lustre giving the city the nickname, La Ciudad Dorado.^[21]

Morella, Castellón is a medieval village located in the region of "Comunitat Valenciana" with huge castles with a rich renaissance history.^[22] Rogueira pasturelands is one of the great ecological jewels of Galicia. Rivers, pools and springs abound in this verdant forest, as do underground water caves and caverns with a prehistoric past.^[23] San Marti Vell is a charming small village well known for its Gothic spire. La Bisbal should be next on the list. The town is worth visiting for its Main Square and the castle. This Romanesque castle is situated in the middle of the town, giving it a romantic look. There is also Palafrugell, Palau-sator, Sant Julia and Sant Feliu de Boada. They are all very important because of their medieval patrimony. Castelló d'Empúries has 13th century Gothic churches. Angles also possesses outstanding medieval constructions throughout its village.^[24] All villages have a church or hermitage.^{[citation needed]}

Portugal[link]

Villages are more usual in the northern and central regions and in the Alentejo. Most of them have a church and a "Casa do Povo" (people's house), where the village's summer romarias or religious festivities are usually held. Summer is also when many villages are host to a range of folk festivals and fairs, taking advantage of the fact that many of the locals who reside abroad tend to come back to their native village for the holidays.

Netherlands[link]

In the flood prone districts of the Netherlands, villages were traditionally built on low man-made hills called terps before the introduction of regional dyke-systems. In modern days, the term dorp (lit. "village") is usually applied to settlements no larger than 20,000, though there's no official law regarding status of settlements in the Netherlands.

Middle East[link]

Lebanon[link]

Like France, villages in Lebanon are usually located in remote mountainous areas. The majority of villages in Lebanon retain their Aramaic names or are derivative of the Aramaic names, and this is because Aramaic was still in use in Mount Lebanon up to the 18th century.^[25]

Many of the Lebanese villages are a part of districts, these districts are known as "kadaa" which includes the districts of Baabda (Baabda), Aley (Aley), Matn (Jdeideh), Keserwan (Jounieh), Chouf (Beiteddine), Jbeil (Byblos), Tripoli (Tripoli), Zgharta (Zgharta / Ehden), Bsharri (Bsharri), Batroun (Batroun), Koura (Amioun), Miniyeh-Danniyeh (Minyeh / Sir Ed-Danniyeh), Zahle (Zahle), Rashaya (Rashaya), Western Beqaa (Jebjennine / Saghbine), Sidon (Sidon), Jezzine (Jezzine), Tyre (Tyre), Nabatiyeh (Nabatiyeh), Marjeyoun (Marjeyoun), Hasbaya (Hasbaya), Bint Jbeil (Bint Jbeil), Baalbek (Baalbek), and Hermel (Hermel).

The district of Danniyeh consists of thirty six small villages, which includes Almrah, Kfirchlan, Kfirhbab, Hakel al Azimah, Siir, Bakhoun, Miryata, Assoun, Sfiiri, Kharnoub, Katteen, Kfirhabou, Zghartegrein, Ein Qibil.

Danniyeh (known also as Addinniyeh, Al Dinniyeh, Al Danniyeh, Arabic: سير الضنية) is a region located in Miniyeh-Danniyeh District in the North Governorate of Lebanon. The region lies east of Tripoli, extends north as far as Akkar District, south to Bsharri District and Zgharta District and as far east as Baalbek and Hermel. Dinniyeh has an excellent ecological environment filled with woodlands, orchards and groves. Several villages are located in this mountainous area, the largest town being Sir Al Dinniyeh.

An example of a typical mountainous Lebanese village in Dannieh would be Hakel al Azimah which is a small village that belongs to the district of Danniyeh, situated between Bakhoun and Assoun's boundaries. It is in the centre of the valleys that lie between the Arbeen Mountains and the Khanzouh.

Syria[link]

Syria contains a large number of villages that vary in size and importance, including the ancient, historical and religious villages, such as Ma'loula, Sednaya, and Brad (Mar Maroun’s time). The diversity of the Syrian environments creates significant differences between the Syrian villages in terms of the economic activity and the method of adoption. Villages in the south of Syria (Huran, Jabal Al-Arab), the north-east (the Syrian island) and the Orontes River basin depend mostly on agriculture, mainly grain, vegetables and fruits. Villages in the region of Damascus and Aleppo depend on trading. Some other villages, such as Marmarita depend heavily on tourist activity.

Mediterranean cities in Syria, such as Tartus and Latakia have similar types of villages. Mainly, villages were built in very good sites which had the fundamentals of the rural life, like water. An example of a Mediterranean Syrian village in Tartus would be Al-Annaze, which is a small village that belongs to the area of Al Sauda. The area of Al Sauda is called a nahiya, which is a subdistrict.

Australasia and Oceania[link]

The village of Puamau on Hiva Oa, Marquesas Islands, French Polynesia

Pacific Islands Communities on pacific islands were historically called villages by English speakers who traveled and settled in the area. Some communities such as several Villages of Guam continue to be called villages despite having large populations that can exceed 40,000 residents.

New Zealand The traditional Māori village was the pā, a fortified hill-top settlement. Tree-fern logs and flax were the main building materials. As in Australia (see below) the term is now used mainly in respect of shopping or other planned areas.

Australia The term village often is used in reference to small planned communities such as retirement communities or shopping districts, and tourist areas such as ski resorts. Small rural communities are usually known as townships. Larger settlements are known as towns.^{[citation needed]}

South America[link]

Argentina Usually set in remote mountainous areas, some also cater to winter sports and/or tourism, see: Uspallata, La Cumbrecita, Villa Traful and La Cumbre

North America[link]

Canada[link]

A Newfoundland fishing village

United States[link]

Incorporated villages

In twenty^[26] U.S. states, the term "village" refers to a specific form of incorporated municipal government, similar to a city but with less authority and geographic scope. However, this is a generality; in many states, there are villages that are an order of magnitude larger than the smallest cities in the state. The distinction is not necessarily based on population, but on the relative powers granted to the different types of municipalities and correspondingly, different obligations to provide specific services to residents.

In some states such as New York, Wisconsin, or Michigan, a village is an incorporated municipality, usually, but not always, within a single town or civil township. Residents pay taxes to the village and town or township and may vote in elections for both as well. In some cases, the village may be coterminous with the town or township. There are also many villages which span the boundaries of more than one town or township, and some villages may even straddle county borders.

There is no limit to the population of a village in New York; Hempstead, the largest village in the state, has 55,000 residents, making it more populous than some of the state's cities. However, villages in the state may not exceed five square miles (13 km²) in area.

In the state of Wisconsin, a village is always legally separate from the towns that it has been incorporated from. The largest village is Menomonee Falls, which has over 32,000 residents.

Michigan and Illinois also have no set population limit for villages and there are many villages that are larger than cities in those states. The village of Arlington Heights, IL had 75,101 residents as of the 2010 census.

Villages in Ohio are often legally part of the township from which they were incorporated, although exceptions such as Hiram exist, in which the village is separate from the township.^[27] They have no area limitations, but become cities if they grow a population of more than 5,000.^[28]

In Maryland, a locality designated "Village of ..." may be either an incorporated town or a special tax district.^[29] An example of the latter is the Village of Friendship Heights.

In states that have New England towns, a "village" is a center of population or trade, including the town center, in an otherwise sparsely-developed town or city — for instance, the village of Hyannis in the city of the Barnstable, Massachusetts.

Unincorporated villages

In many states, the term "village" is used to refer to a relatively small unincorporated community, similar to a hamlet in New York state. This informal usage may be found even in states that have villages as an incorporated municipality, although such usage might be considered incorrect and confusing.

See also[link]

Footnotes[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Villages

• Types of villages (anthropogenic biomes)