The Villa

OUR HISTORY

In the north of Laracha and forming part of the Bergantiños region, we find the small parish of Caión, whose full name is Santa María do Socorro de Caión. It is a typical Galician fishing village of small size, where all its neighbours know each other, as there are no more than 821 inhabitants living in its 4.75 square kilometres of surface area, distributed among its six population entities.

CAIÓN, A FORMER WHALING PORT

Caión used to be an important harbour in the whaling business, but right now focuses on activities such sports as surfing, paddlesurf, kayak..

To know the history of Caión we must go back to the Middle Ages, where the origin of this coastal town dates back to the first settlements of people who were dedicated to fishing. It was in the middle of the 16th century when Basque sailors arrived in the town to hunt whales, as recorded by Licenciado Molina in his “Description of the Kingdom of Galicia” in 1550, where he documented the existence of the whaling port of Caión.

This was the peak of whaling off the Galician coast, an activity that would continue until the end of the 19th century, as described by the historian Felipe Valdés Hansen in his book “Los balleneros en Galicia” (The whalers in Galicia) and which can be seen more visually in the documentary “La memoria del arpón” (The memory of the harpoon), about whaling in Spain.

In the case of Caión, whaling or whaling was carried out by Basque and Caionese fishermen between the 16th and early 18th centuries, focusing on the Basque whales that came to this stretch of sea, the so-called Eubalaena glacialis. This activity generated an important commercial movement in the area, being a source of work for the inhabitants of Caión and the nearby towns.

This was a great period for Caión, which remembers its whaling past with the presence of a whale on the coat of arms of its town hall.

Later, with the ceasing of cetacean hunting, the town turned to purse seine fishing and the capture of octopus and goose barnacles. In the 20th century, fish salting factories sprang up, mainly sardines and anchovies.

SOURCE: QUINCEMIL

EMMA SEXTO