BARACALDO, a river-port of north-eastern Spain, in the province of Biscay, 5m. by rail N.W. of Bilbao. Pop. (1930), 34,209. The municipality of Baracaldo comprises a number of vil lages spread over the fertile flats—covered with maize, pod fruit and vines—at the confluence of the rivers Cadagua and Galindo with the Nervion. The industrialization of the district by the es tablishment of iron and steel works on the banks of these rivers has led to the very rapid increase of population in the last half century ; this is characteristic of the Biscayan metallurgical area.