province of Palencia

File:Vega y Respenda.JPG and Respenda de la Peña in the north of the province.]]

Of the population of 176,125 (2002), 45% live in the capital, Palencia which is located on the Canal de Castilla. There are 191 municipalities in the province, of which more than half are villages with fewer than 200 people. The majority of the province is very sparsely-populated and has lost a significant proportion of its population since Francoist times due to rural to urban migration.

The major towns in the northern Montaña Palentina are: Guardo, a former coal mining town;{{cite book|last1=Wagner|first1=Robert Herman|last2=García|first2=L. G. Fernández|last3=Eager|first3=R. M. C.|title=Geology and Palaeontology of the Guardo Coalfield (NE Leon - NW Palencia), Cantabrian Mts|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sqPd8boDt1MC&pg=PA7|year=1983|publisher=IGME|isbn=978-84-7474-220-6|page=7}} Aguilar de Campoo, a historic town famous for its biscuit production and Cervera de Pisuerga, a tourist town situated at the beginning of the Ruta de los Pantanos (the Reservoirs Route) and Barruelo de Santullán, which, as the centre of the province's coal mining industry, was the largest town in the province until the 1960s. Towns in the centre of the province include: Saldaña, known for the famous mosaics at the nearby Roman villa of La Olmeda, Herrera de Pisuerga, a village known for its summer activities and Crab Festival and Carrión de los Condes, a key monastery town on the Camino de Santiago. To the south of the city of Palencia are Venta de Baños, an important railway and industrial exchange, as well as Villamuriel de Cerrato, a village to that owes its development to the Renault factory{{cite book|author=Bank of London & South America|title=Bank of London & South America Review|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gxNZAAAAYAAJ|volume=10|year=1976|publisher=Lloyds Bank International|page=417}} and its proximity to the capital.

During the Middle Ages, the Visigoths ruled Palencia. Basílica de San Juan, the oldest Visigothic church in Spain, was built in 661 in the province's Baños de Cerrato.{{cite book|last=Planet|first=Lonely|title=Lonely Planet Valencia: Chapter from Spain Travel Guide|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=82xt9gXuIAcC&pg=PT145|date=2012|publisher=Lonely Planet Publications|isbn=978-1-74321-263-9|page=145}} During the thirteenth century a university was founded in the province. It was the first university in Spain and one of the first in the world. It was later shifted to Valladolid.{{citation|last1=Devine|first1=Mary Elizabeth|last2=Summerfield|first2=Carol|title=International Dictionary of University Histories|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tntEAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA109|date=2013|publisher=Taylor & Francis|isbn=978-1-134-26217-5|page=109}}

The province is bordered on the north by Cantabria, on the west by the province of León, on the east by the province of Burgos and on the south by the province of Valladolid. Two exclaves of the province, Cezura, and Lastrilla, are enclaves within Campoo, Cantabria, with the former being under 200 metres and the latter being just over 200 metres from the border at their closest point.

In Palencia large protected areas such as the Natural Park of Fuentes Carrionas and Fuente Cobre-Montaña Palencia are located.{{citation|last1=García|first1=Carmelo Conesa|last2=Guevara|first2=Juan Bautista Martínez|last3=Rogel|first3=Yolanda Álvarez|title=Medio ambiente, recursos y riesgos naturales: análisis mediante tecnologia SIG y teledetección|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Cu9SxN3DuVQC&pg=PA84|year=2004|publisher=EDITUM|isbn=978-84-8371-485-0|page=84}} The term historical region in Palencia, refers to those regions created in the fourteenth century, under the name merindades. Cantabrian Mountains are located in the northerns parts of the province. The {{convert|8,268|ft|m|abbr=off}} high Curavacas peak is located in the province.{{cite web|url=http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/439357/Palencia|title=Palencia (Province, Spain)|publisher=Encyclopædia Britannica|access-date=30 September 2014}} The major commercial products produced in the province are barley, wheat, sugar beets, hemp, linen and woolen clothes, porcelain, leather, paper, and rugs. Food processing and metallurgy are major industries. The province has three judicial districts–one each in Palencia, Carrión de los Condes and Cervera de Pisuerga.{{cite web|title=Judicial Districts|url=http://www.cgpe.es/provincia.aspx?idprovincia=34|publisher={{Interlanguage link multi| Consejo General de Procuradores de España|es}}|access-date=30 September 2014|language=es}}

The historical population is given in the following chart:

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ImageSize = width:600 height:auto barincrement:30

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DateFormat = x.y

Period = from:0 till:240

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color:skyblue width:20 shift:(-50,-5) fontsize:M anchor:till

bar:1877 from:0 till:180 text:180,128

bar:1887 from:0 till:189 text:189,431

bar:1900 from:0 till:192 text:192,246

bar:1910 from:0 till:198 text:197,680

bar:1920 from:0 till:196 text:195,914

bar:1930 from:0 till:212 text:212,092

bar:1940 from:0 till:227 text:222,662

bar:1950 from:0 till:236 text:236,008

bar:1960 from:0 till:237 text:237,426

bar:1970 from:0 till:202 text:201,532

bar:1980 from:0 till:188 text:188,479

bar:1990 from:0 till:185 text:185,479

bar:2000 from:0 till:174 text:174,143

bar:2010 from:0 till:171 text:170,513

bar:2020 from:0 till:160 text:160,321

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pos:(35,20) fontsize:M

text:"Source: Instituto Nacional de Estadística, INE"

• List of municipalities in Palencia
• The Arauz Formation is situated in Palencia (Devonian of Spain).Silur und Devon im Arauz-Gebiet (Prov. Palencia, N-Spanien). H. Jahnke, A. Henn, H. Mader and J. Schweineberg, 1983, Newsletters on Stratigraphy, 13(1), pages 40-66, {{doi|10.1127/nos/13/1983/40}}
• El Golobar
• Siege of Pallantia

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{{Commons category-inline|Province of Palencia}}

{{Provinces of Spain}}

{{Municipalities in Palencia}}

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