- published: 05 Mar 2016
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Vigo (Galician: [ˈbiɣo], locally: [ˈbiħo] or [ˈbixo]; Spanish: [ˈbiɣo]) is a city and municipality in north-west Spain, in Galicia, situated on the ria of the same name on the Atlantic Ocean.
The city of Vigo has 297,124 inhabitants, with an extended metropolitan population of 468,654, making it the 14th-largest metropolitan area of Spain.
In 2010 there were 16,735 foreigners living in the city, representing a 5.6% of the total population. The main nationalities are Portuguese (16%), Brazilians (11%) and Colombians (7%).
By language, according to 2008 data, 7% of the population speak always in Galician, 43% speak always in Spanish and the rest use both interchangeably. This makes Vigo the least Galician-speaking city in Galicia.
The urban area of Vigo is built over both a hill-fort (Castro) and a Roman settlement. It is generally accepted that the name Vigo is derived from the Latin word vicus.
The standard pronunciation of Vigo in both Galician and Spanish is [ˈbiɣo].
During the Middle Ages the small village of Vigo was part of the territory of Portuguese speaking neighbouring towns, particularly Tui, and suffered several Viking attacks. However, the number of inhabitants was so small that, historically, Vigo was not considered to be a real village until around the 15th century, when the earliest records began.