León was founded in 68 CE. Its name is derived from the Latin legio, from Legio VII Gemina, the Roman legion recruited from Iberians, which established the site of the city to protect the territory from the wild mountaineers of Asturias and Cantabria, and to secure the transport of gold extracted in the province, especially in Las Médulas. The early history of the city is the history of the Kingdom of León, conquered by the Visigoth king Leovigild and then by the Muslims in 712.
Towards the year 846, a group of Muslim Arabs tried to repopulate the city, but a Muslim attack prevented that initiative. In the year 856, under the king Ordoño I of Asturias, another attempt at repopulation was made and was successful. Ordoño II made León the capital of his Kingdom of León (914) and the most important of the Christian cities in Iberia. Read More...
















