Arechavaleta

Aretxabaleta / Arechavaleta (in Basque and officially Aretxabaleta) is a municipality in the province of Guipúzcoa, Basque Country (Spain). According to EUSTAT data, it has a population of 6,973 inhabitants.

Toponym

The toponym Arechavaleta is composed, according to Koldo Mitxelena, of three elements; areitz or aretx, which means oak in the western dialects of Basque (in Batúa Basque it is said haritz), although in the past it had a more meaning. wide as "tree"; the word zabal (width) and the suffix -eta that indicates place. The name, therefore, could be translated as "place of wide oaks", "place of wide trees" or a similar name.

The name has traditionally been transcribed as Arechavaleta, although in 1980 the city council officially adopted the form Aretxabaleta, which is an adaptation of the traditional name to the modern spelling rules of Basque. This variant was published in 1989 by the BOE, currently being the only official name of the municipality for all purposes.

When speaking in Basque, the syncopated form Atxabalta is usually used, but this has been considered a colloquial variant of the formal name and has never been made official. Similarly, the demonym is arechavaletano (in Basque aretxabaletarra), although in Basque the syncopated form atxabaltarra is more common.

Neighborhoods

The church buildings are old villages that were attached to the town of Arechavaleta when the University of Arechavaleta was formed in 1630. Throughout history they have maintained a strong personality of their own; Thus, for example, they still constitute different parishes from Arechavaleta. Currently, the growth of the urban core of the municipality together with the depopulation of the church buildings has turned them into small rural neighborhoods that make up just under 5% of the population and have lost importance in the municipality as a whole. However, most of the municipal area of Arechavaleta is territory of the parish churches:

• Aozaraza (Aozaratza): 53 inhabitants.
• ArcarasoArkarazo): 47 inhabitants.
• Arenaza (Areantza or Arientza): 36 inhabitants.
• Galarza^{[chuckles]required]} (Galartza): 55 inhabitants.
• Goroeta (Korueta): 28 inhabitants.
• Issurieta (Izurieta): 12 inhabitants.
• Larrino: 59 inhabitants

Monuments

• Tower House of the Otalora: in the foregoing of Aozaraza.
• Casa Torre de Galarza: in the foregoing of Galarza.

Administration

In the last municipal elections of 2015, four parties or coalitions participated in the elections in the municipality; EH Bildu, EAJ-PNV, PSE-EE, and Irabazi.

EAJ-PNV was declared the winner with 1,615 votes, 985 votes more than in the previous elections, surpassing EH Bildu. The head of the EAJ-PNV list, Unai Elkoro Oianguren, was proclaimed the new mayor.

Twinning

• Cadiz, Spain
• Palencia, Spain
• Bayona (Pontevedra) Spain
• Baza (Granada) Spain
• Bathrooms of Cerrato (Palencia) Spain
• Valencia de Don Juan (León) Spain