Zaragoza

The Iberian Sedetani had a town here called Salduie before Augustus founded the colony of Caesaraugusta, sometime between 25 and 11 BC, for veterans of the Cantabrian Wars; its name became Saraqusta in Arabic and Zaragoza in Spanish. The Roman city had a forum, baths, a river port and a theatre for 6,000 people. Christian tradition places here the apparition of the Virgin on a pillar to Saint James, and the martyrdom of Saint Engracia and her companions. The Goths took the city in the 5th century with little bloodshed.

Under Muslim rule from the 8th century it was the capital of the Upper March of al-Andalus, and in 1018 it became an independent taifa, ruled from 1039 by the Banu Hud, whose court built the Aljafería. The Almoravids took the city in 1110, and on 18 December 1118 Alfonso I of Aragon captured it and made it his capital. Its large Jewish community, with seven synagogues, left in July 1492 after the expulsion order.

Plague killed about 10,000 people in 1564. The city backed the Habsburg claimant in the War of the Spanish Succession and lost Aragon's own institutions under the Nueva Planta decrees. In 1808–09 it withstood two French sieges and surrendered only after some 50,000 defenders had died. Railways arrived in 1861 and 1863. The military coup of July 1936 succeeded here, and Zaragoza became a key industrial city for the Nationalist side, above all as an ammunition maker. Declared an industrial development pole in 1964, it doubled in population within a short time. A hotel fire in 1979 killed at least 80 people, and a bomb attack on a Civil Guard barracks in 1987 killed eleven, including children. General Motors opened a car plant at Figueruelas in 1982, and in 2008 the city hosted Expo 2008 on water and sustainable development.

Devotion to the Virgin of the Pillar shapes the city's identity. Tradition holds that a chapel built on its site by Saint James was the first church ever dedicated to Mary, and pilgrims have prayed before its statue for centuries. The Fiestas del Pilar, centred on 12 October, which is also Spain's national day, are among the most celebrated festivals in Spain: the Flower Offering covers a giant cloak for the Virgin with flowers, the Fruit Offering the next day brings produce from Aragon and other regions of Spain, and the days fill with jota dancing, processions of giants and big-heads, concerts and fireworks over the Ebro. Holy Week, with its hooded processions, has been of International Tourist Interest since 2014.

The Mudéjar churches and towers built by Muslim craftsmen after the Christian conquest, including parts of La Seo, San Pablo and La Magdalena, belong to a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and the Aljafería ranks with the Mosque–Cathedral of Córdoba and the Alhambra among the finest Hispano-Muslim buildings. Goya, born nearby at Fuendetodos, painted domes in the Pilar. Aragonese, long in retreat, has up to 7,000 speakers in the city.

Sport is followed closely. Real Zaragoza, winners of the Cup Winners' Cup in 1995 and six Spanish cups, dropped to the third tier in 2026 while La Romareda is rebuilt as a new stadium; Basket Zaragoza plays in the Liga ACB, the top basketball league.

About 699,000 people lived in the city in 2025, making it the fourth largest in Spain, and around 760,000 in the metropolitan area. It is divided into 15 urban districts and 14 rural neighbourhoods, and in 2017 Romanians were the largest group among foreign residents.

The economy rests on industry and logistics. The car plant at Figueruelas, the household-appliance maker Balay, the train builder CAF and the paper companies SAICA and Torraspapel are major employers. The PLAZA logistics platform and an airport that is one of the Iberian Peninsula's main cargo hubs exploit the city's position at the centre of a rough hexagon formed by Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, Bilbao, Bordeaux and Toulouse. The city is also home to the army's General Military Academy, an air base and the University of Zaragoza.

Most people live in flats in districts that spread out from the old town in the decades of rapid growth after 1964, including Delicias, Actur and newer areas reached by the tram. Life follows the climate: late evenings on terraces in summer, a near-empty city in August, and coats against the cierzo in winter.

Aragonese cooking is inland and hearty, and roast lamb, ternasco, is its most characteristic dish. Zaragoza's menus also feature pollo al chilindrón, chicken in a sauce of cured ham, tomatoes, onions and paprika; bacalao al ajoarriero, cod with garlic and eggs; huevos al salmorejo; lamb cooked a la pastora, shepherd's style; and migas a la aragonesa, crumbs scrambled with egg and chorizo. Longaniza and chorizo sausages are highly prized, and borrajas, borage, a vegetable eaten almost only in Aragon, is usually dressed simply with olive oil. Peaches in wine, melocotón con vino, are a classic dessert.

Tapas are the city's way of eating out. El Tubo, the knot of narrow lanes off the Plaza de España, is the oldest and best-known tapas district, home to Casa Lac, a restaurant dating from 1825, and the streets around the Plaza del Pilar are full of bars. A tabla is a wooden board of tapas such as cheese and sausage, often with a bottle of wine included. The Mercado Central, a market hall of 1903 restored in 2018–2019, is the central food market.

The sweet tooth is served by frutas de Aragón, candied fruit coated in chocolate; adoquines; guirlache, a nougat; and the plaited trenza de Almudévar. Ice-cream shops along Calle Don Jaime I include one opened in 1934.