iberianature - Spanish history and culture

Castro - celtic hill fort

A dictionary of Spanish history and culture

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A circular fortified settlement usually sited on a hilltop or some other naturally easy defendable place. They were built by the Celts and are found principally north-west Spain.

This is where we get Castro, a common surname in Galicia, from where the Cuban leader’s ancestors hailed.

The word castro comes from Latin castrum, a fortification

External links

 Castros in Spain and Portugal (Wikipedia)

Castros were located on hilltops, which allowed tactical control over the surrounding countryside and provided natural defences. They invariably had a spring or small creek to provide water; some even had large reservoirs to use during sieges. Typically, a castro has a triple loose stone and earth wall, which complements the natural defenses of the hill. The houses inside are about 3.5–5 m long. Most of the houses are circular in shape, although some are rectangular and they are made out of stone with thatch roofs that rest on a wood column in the centre of the building. Their streets are somewhat regular, suggesting some form of central organization. Castros vary in diameter from dozens of metres to several hundred.

Castro de Baroña, Galicia

Castro culture (Wikipedia)

“The culture began to develop during the late Bronze Age as a result of strong cultural influence on the indigenous cultures coming from Central Europe and the Atlantic and Mediterranean areas. In the formative period that followed, which lasted until the 5th century BC, the castros extended from south to north and from the coast to the interior of the Iberian Peninsula. The culture continued to expand and develop for about two centuries, until it began to be influenced by the Roman Republic in the 2nd century BC. The culture went through somewhat of a transformation, as a result of the Roman conquest and formation of the Roman province of Gallaecia in the heart of the Castro cultural area, until it finally died out in the 4th Century AD.”