The privileged setting of Pamplona, located on a hill overlooking the Arga River that permitted it to dominate the surrounding valley, caused it to be populated from very remote times. Historians believe that this primitive nucleus could have been used as a stopover by the Celts, and there is no question that in the winter of 74-75 B.C., the area served as a camp for the Roman general Pompeyo. He is considered to be the founder of "Pompaelo" (Pamplona).

This important junction of roads between Gaul, the Cantabrian Sea and the Ebro River grew until it became an authentic Roman town with a forum and hot baths, reaching its greatest splendor in the second century. Pompaelo, which occupied the land where the Cathedral would later be built, suffered its first Germanic attacks around the year, 275, and in 409, invasions by the Alani, Vandals and Suevians. During the next few centuries, Pamplona is controlled by the Visigoths - it serves as an episcopal see from the end of the seventh century - and from the eighth century, it is under domination by the Moors, who, in exchange for tributes, permit the local nobles to practice their religion and enjoy a certain freedom of action. Following his expedition to Zaragoza in 778, Charlemagne tore down the walls surrounding Pamplona before suffering a bitter defeat at Roncesvalles that inspired La Chanson de Roland. In 781 Abd al-Rahman reconquered the city.

At the same time as the northern peninsula's offensive against the Moslems, around the beginning of the 10th century, an authentic western Pyrenees kingdom grew up, whose sceptre was held by the most important local clans. Initially called Pamplona, the name Navarra would be used around the middle of the 12th century.

MEDIEVAL BOROUGHS

Pamplona, destroyed by Abd al Rahman III in 924, was reduced to a small country village also called Iruña and later Navarreria It was under the temporary rule of a bishop until, in 1319, it came under regal control. The repopulation policy of the kings of

Pamplona, begun by Sancho Ramirez (1076), was favored by the spectacular boom of pilgrimages to Santiago, and gave rise to new city areas beside the original site. The first is the borough of San Cernin, to whose settlers - tradesmen and craftsmen, the majority Frankish -Alfonso I el Batallador governed with the law code of Jaca in 1129. The small hamlet of San Nicolás was added onto the dynamic and walled-in "burgo" or borough around the middle of the 12th century and was favored with the same privileges as the first. In 1189 the Navarrería also joined the other two. The town was completed with the addition of other smaller areas of population: the borough of San Miguel and the Jewish quarter, near the Navarrería, and the "Pobla Nova del Mercat", located on land used for a market in the borough of San Cernin and inhabited by farmers.

Backgrounds and different interests and occupations fueled frequent quarrels among the three main boroughs, and blood was even shed at times such as in the destruction of the Navarreria in 1276. King Carlos III "El Noble" put an end to these conflicts declaring in 1423 the perpetual uniting of "the city", "the borough" and "the population" in one town with a mayor and a judicial system with trials.

CITY EXPANSION

With Navarra joined to the Castilian crown as a kingdom with its own institutions and laws (Cortes de Burgos, 1515), the construction of the Ciudadela, begun in 1571, and the reinforcing of the exterior walls of the town in the 17th and the 18th centuries, Pamplona became a fortress on the Pyrenean border.

During the 18th century, several beautiful palaces were built in the capital of Navarra such as the Casa Consistorial or Town Hall in 1752.

The neoclassic facade of the Cathedral was undertaken in 1783, and the modernization of the town with such services as a sewer system (1772), water pipes (1790) and street lights (1799) was also completed in this century.

The city did not escape the conflicts in the 19th century. French troops that had taken the Ciudadela by surprise while pretending to be citizens playing nearby with snow balls remained in Pamplona until 1813. Next would come the assault by "Realist" troops on the "Liberal" garrison in Pamplona in 1823, and the Carlist Wars (1833, 1872) in which the capital would support the Isabelian monarchy as opposed to rural Navarra which fought in favor of the pretender to the throne, Don Carlos.

A BREACH IN THE WALLS

The confiscation of church properties in 1836 led to the destruction of several convents, such as that of the Carmelitas, and in its place was built the Palacio de la Diputación (1843) and the Teatro Principal (1841) -today located on the avenue of Carlos 111. Also the Convent of Santo Domingo became the Hospital Militar and the Convent of San Francisco, a school.

Until the past century, Pamplona had mainly grown in height, maintaining the medieval outlay of the town. A growing population, however, led to the demolition of part of the wall that surrounded Pamplona in order to create the first suburb in 1888, and the second, in 1915. City expansion continued with the development of a third suburb, outlying neighborhoods, and the creation of an industrial zone called the "polígono industrial de Landaben". The standard of living of the people of Pamplona has also grown as well as its urbanistic development. The city can boast of excellent hospitals and two universities: the Universidad de Navarra (1960), founded by the Opus Dei, and the Universidad Pública de Navarra, created by the government of Navarra in 1987.

© Larrión y Pimoulier Editores.