O Castriño Fortification

About this heritage

The fortification known as O Castriño is one of the five fortifications that sit opposite the coast of Vigo. It is located in the parish of Coia. A number of castro pottery fragments of varied categories, together with foreign ceramic remains, mainly Punic amphorae, were found in the O Castriño fortification. These findings temporarily situate this fortification between the 4th and 2nd centuries B.C. Today, a promontory barely exists between buildings, although it is still recognisable through its natural traces.

For centuries, the Phoenicians maintained trading relations with the Gallic forts. Their geographical situation favoured these contacts.

To learn more

The Phoenicians were outstanding navigators and merchants. Their specialisation in certain manufactures enabled them to engage in highly profitable trade with neighbouring kingdoms and overseas. The Phoenicians provided cedar wood, fabrics (including the famous purple ones), carved ivory, furniture made of hard wood, pendants, bowls and jars made of gold and silver, and in general, valuable handcrafts. Besides this, they exchanged silver, lead and tin that they obtained in Spain, wheat and linen from Egypt, balsams and honey from Israel, horses and mules from Anatolia, ivory and slaves from Africa, oil and cereals from Greece.

Metals were their primary target on the Atlantic route. They were the maritime transmitters of the new metal, revolutionary both in war and in the countryside: iron, which was used for the first time in the Hittite country. The Phoenicians also went in search of tin, an indispensable material for making bronze by alloying it with copper, reaching the Cassiterides Islands.

Tin could be found only 30 kilometers off the Galician coast. In addition, the area of the Rías Baixas had a fluvial route, the river Miño, to enter the interior, and the estuaries had extraordinary natural ports to be able to anchor and trade with the indigenous communities. According to Herodotus, the Phoenicians lit bonfires on the beaches and left the goods there to exchange their products. It is difficult to know if this is the case, although Punic and Neopunic ceramics from the 6th to 1st centuries BC have been found on the fossil beaches of O Arenal in Vigo.

Trade between the Phoenicians and the peninsular northwest intensified after the First Punic War (264-241 B.C.). The loss of some Mediterranean territories and the Roman irruption as a new power, forced the Phoenician merchants to look for other destinations where they could obtain raw materials in exchange for their products. It was in this search that the mercantile routes were established bringing to the northwest an abundant number of materials and objects of Mediterranean origin.

To know it better

The castro culture merged with the Roman culture, giving rise the known Galician-Roman culture. In the Galician city of Vigo, to be more precise, between Tomás Alonso and the area of Coya, is the Castro O Castriño park. This ancient fortification is one of the five settlements in the area, in which the ceramics found there, position the castrum in the 4th and 2nd centuries B.C.

When we speak of castra (ancient fortifications), we are referring to fortified villages which inhabitance began in the 6th century B.C. These were generally circular constructions, and their roofs were made from branches, mud and twigs.

At present, the O Castriño castrum goes unnoticed, due to the level of urbanization in its surrounding areas. The neighbourhood has, in fact, requested that the city council carry out various clean-ups of the park, in order to avoid losing something so valuable as is this small castrum.