BILBAO, formerly sometimes written Bilboa, the capital of the province of Biscay, in northern Spain. Pop. (193o), 161,987. Bilbao is one of the principal seaports of Spain, and the greatest of Basque towns. It is situated picturesquely among hills on both sides of the river Nervion and about 8m. from the mouth of the river in the Bay of Biscay. The old town on the right bank in cludes the 14th century Siete Galles (Seven Streets), and its extensions to the north, which date from the i6th century on wards. The Siete Calles is one of the most remarkable examples of a mediaeval site laid out entirely to plan, remarkable both for its regularity and for the care taken by careful levelling to secure drainage and ventilation; its paved streets were long closed to horsemen and to wheeled traffic, and their cleanliness was the wonder of all visitors. With its high houses and narrow streets, the old town is to-day the principal business and shopping centre. The prosperity which followed the World War has led to far reaching proposals for its alteration, in particular for the improve ment of through communications by cutting two broad streets from the Puente de San Anton in the south, leading respectively to the Puente de la Merced and to the Puente de Isabel Segunda, the most important bridge carrying traffic to the new town. The new town (Ensanche) stands a little lower down the river on the left bank; it is built on modern and spacious lines, in rectangu lar blocks with main arteries of traffic radiating from central plazas. The plan for the new town was approved in 1876, and was conceived on a scale adequate to the subsequent needs of the town. At Olaveaga, about a mile off, is the Jesuit university, at tended by 85o students. During the second half of the 19th cen tury the population of Bilbao increased nearly fivefold, prin cipally because of the development of the mining and metallur gical industries. The mining industry, producing chiefly iron ore, has declined in the present decade in sympathy with the depressed state of the British foundries which consume three-fourths of the ore produced, and in face of increased cost of production and of the growing competition from North Africa ; the high-class ores are also becoming worked out. More satisfactory is the condi tion of the metallurgical industry, which has applied to moderni zation of plant a large portion of the enormous profits made during the World War. The exports are chiefly iron; the imports coal; large quantities of wine from Navarre and the Ebro valley are also sent abroad, and the importation of timber of all kinds from Scandinavia and Finland, and coastwise from Asturias, is of great importance. In the coasting trade the exports are mostly pig-iron, codfish and some products of local industries and agri culture. The port of Bilbao includes an outer harbour (with free port), protected by a breakwater and counter-mole constructed outside the bar of the river Nervion, between Santurce and the opposite headland at Algorta ; the depth at low water alongside the quay of the free port is 33ft. At Bilbao itself there are quays, 6, 56of t. in length, chiefly on the left bank; the depth alongside at low water varies from 13 to I 5 f t. Five dry docks are now avail able, varying in length from 3 2 5f t. to 614ft. and in depth from 2 I f t. to 2 5 f t. In 1925, 1,304 ships engaged in foreign trade, of a total registered tonnage of 1,9o5,766, entered the port ; of these 477 were Spanish and 278 British, the respective tonnages being and 319,535. Both the shipping and ship-building indus try of the port are beginning to revive, after a period of decline, under the influence of the government bounties accorded by Decree-law of 1925. Besides the mining and metallurgic indus tries, Bilbao has breweries, tanneries, flour mills, glass works, brandy distilleries, and paper, soap, cotton and mosaic factories.
Bilbao was founded by Don Diego Lopez de Haro about 1300, and was given special privileges which enabled it soon to out strip Portugalete, the port at the river mouth. Its importance was greatly increased by the establishment in 1511 of a Consulado modelled on that of Burgos. The code of commercial regula tions, drawn up first in 1459 by the merchant guild and revised from time to time by the Consulado, became in its final form— the Ordenanzas de Bilbao of 1737—the basis of the mercantile law of Spain and of many of the South American republics. This code had the advantage over its rival the Libro del Consulado del Mar of Barcelona—that it embraced both land and sea trade. Bilbao suffered notable sieges by the Carlists in 1835-36 and 1874.
See O. Jiirgens, Spanische Stadee (Hamburg, 1921 bibl.) .