History

Remains of an ancient settlement were found on the top of mount Malmasín, dated around the 3rd or 2nd century BC. Burial sites were also found on mounts Avril and Artxanda, dated 6,000 years old. Some authors identify the old settlement of Bilbao as Amanun Portus, cited by Plyni the Elder, or with Flaviobriga, by Plothemy. There are also ancient walls, discovered below the Church of San Anton, dated around the 11th century.

Bilbao was one of the first towns that were born with a great foundational impulse that happened in the fourteenth century, which originated approximately 70% of the Biscayan municipalities, among them Portugalete in 1323, Ondarroain 1327, Lepeitio in 1335, and Mungia and Larrabetzu in 1376. The then Lord of Biscay, Dego Lopez de Haro, founded Bilbao through a municipal charter dated in Valladolid on June 15, 1300 and confirmed by king Ferdinand of Castle in Burgos, on January 4, 1301. Diego López stablished the new town on the right bank of the Nervion river, on grounds of the elizate of Begoña and granted it the fuero of Logroño, a compilation of rights and privileges that would prove fundamental to its later development