LUGO, a maritime province of north-western Spain, formed in 1833 of districts taken from the old province of Galicia, and bounded north by the Atlantic, east by Oviedo and Leon, south by Orense, and west by Pontevedra and Corunna. Pop. (1920) 469,705; area, 3,814 sq.m. The coast, which extends for about m. from the estuary of Rivadeo to Cape de Vares, is ex tremely rugged and inaccessible, and few of the inlets, except those of Rivadeo and Vivero, admit large vessels. The province, especially in the north and east, is mountainous, being traversed by the Cantabrian chain and its offshoots ; the sierra which sep arates it from Leon attains in places a height of 6,000 ft. A large part of the area is drained by the Mirio. This river, formed by the meeting of many smaller streams in the northern half of the province, follows a southerly direction until joined by the Sil, which for a considerable distance forms the southern boundary. Of the rivers flowing north into the Atlantic, the most important are the Navia, which has its lower course through Oviedo; the Eo, for some distance the boundary between the two provinces; the Masma, the Oro and the Landrove.
The principal agricultural wealth is on the Mifio and Sil, where rye, maize, wheat, flax, hemp and a little silk are produced. Agri culture is in a very backward condition, mainly owing to the extreme division of land that prevails throughout Galicia. Iron is found at Caurel and Incio, arsenic at Castroverde and Cer vantes, argentiferous lead at Riotorto. There are also quarries of granite, marble and various kinds of slate and building stone. There are manufactures of leather, preserves, coarse woollen and linen stuffs, timber and osier work.
Lugo, the capital (pop., 1930, 31,137), and the important towns of Chantada (14,694), Fonsagrada (15,807), Mondofiedo (8,673), Monforte (15,453), Panton (10,217), Villalba (26,308) and Vi vero (12,429) are described in separate articles. The province contained in 1930 forty-one towns of more than 5,000 inhabitants. LUGO, capital of the above Spanish province, is situated on the left bank of the river Milio and on the railway from Corunna to Madrid. Pop. (1930) 31,137. Lugo (Lucus Augusti) was a flourishing city under Roman rule (c. 19 B.c.–A.D. 409) and was made by Augustus the seat of a conventus iuridicus (assize). Its sulphur baths were even then well known. It was sacked by barbarian invaders in the 5th century, and suffered greatly in the Moorish wars of the 8th century.
Lugo is an episcopal see, and was formerly the capital of Galicia. Suburbs have grown up round the original town, the form of which, nearly quadrangular, is defined by a massive Roman wall 3o to 4o ft. high and 20 ft. thick, with projecting semicircular towers which numbered 85 as late as 1809, when parts of the fortifications were destroyed by the French. The wall now serves as a promenade. The Gothic cathedral, on the south side of the town, dates from the 12th century, but was modernized in the 18th The principal industries are tanning, and the manufacture of linen and woollen cloth. About I m. S., on the left bank of the Mifio, are the famous hot sulphur baths of Lugo.