page_title: Biscay
section_title: Historical
hierarchical_section_title: Biscay / Administrative divisions / Historical
context_page_description: Biscay is a province of Spain, lying on the south shore of the eponymous bay. The name also refers to a historical territory of the Basque Country, heir of the ancient Lordship of Biscay. Its capital city is Bilbao. It is one of the most prosperous and important provinces of Spain as a result of the massive industrialization in the last years of the 19th century and first half of the 20th century. Since the deep deindustrialization of the 1970s, the economy has come to rely more on the services sector.
context_section_description: Historically, Biscay was divided into merindades (called eskualdeak in Basque), which were two, the Constituent ones and the ones incorporated later.
  The constituent ones were (the number indicates their position on the map):
  Uribe¹
  Busturia²
  Markina³
  Bedia⁴
  Amorebieta (also Zornotza)⁵
  Arratia⁶
  Incorporated later:
  Durango
  Enkarterri
  Orozko
  Orduña
  Some other independent cities and towns.
caption: Map of Biscay's regions or "comarcas".
exif: {}