The ancient town of Palencia, once the stronghold of an Iberian tribe, the Vaccaei, under the name of Pallantia, lies between Burgos and Valladolid on the Meseta of Old Castile, on the left bank of the Río Carrión. Around it is the Tierra de Campos, a corn-growing plain made fertile by irrigation with
water from the Canal de Castilla. The town owes its industrial development to the textile and automobile industries. Palencia is now a lively modern town with few relics of its long history.
History
Palencia was destroyed three times in the course of its history - first by the Romans, then by the Visigoths and finally by the Moors. After this last visitation the town was not rebuilt until the 11th century. Its heyday was in the 12th century, when it was the residence of the kings of Castile and the meeting-place of the Castilian Cortes. In the 13th century Alfonso VIII of Castile founded Spain's first university in the town.
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