Renteria

Rentería (officially in Basque Errenteria) is a Spanish town and municipality located in the eastern part of the San Sebastián region, in the province of Guipúzcoa, autonomous community of the Basque Country. It limits to the north with Lezo, to the west with Hernani, Astigarraga and the San Sebastian neighborhood of Alza, to the east with Oyarzun and to the north-northwest with the Bay of Pasajes.

The municipality of Rentería is one of the sixteen entities that make up the metropolitan area of San Sebastián, and includes the population centers of Rentería —municipal capital—, and Zamalbide.

Its population in 2017 was 39,439 inhabitants and it is the third most populous town in Guipúzcoa, after San Sebastián and Irún.

Toponymy

Throughout its history it has received various names. It was founded as a town by Alfonso XI of Castile in 1320 under the name Villanueva de Oiarso in the place where a small pre-existing population center called Orereta, this name to which the king expressly alludes in the founding letter when he orders the establishment of the town in «a land that they say Orereta (...) we order that it be named Villanueva de Oiarso». Oiarso was the name of the current town of Oyarzun and also that of the current Oyarzun river that gives its name to the valley in which both Rentería and Oyarzun are found. The etymological origin of Oiarso/Oyarzun is in the Basque word oihartzun ('eco') and which perhaps alluded to the sound effect that was generated in this part of the valley by the arrangement of the mountains that delimit it.

Despite this, almost from the moment it was founded, Villanueva de Oiarso also began to be known by the name of La Rentería: there is documentation that proves that the town already had that last name in 1340 (as a common place within the valley) and in 1368 (as a proper name equivalent to Villanueva de Oiarso). The reason for this place name must be found in the location in Villanueva de Oiarso of the office where the they collected for the crown taxes (called 'rentas reales') relating to the export of iron production from nearby forges.

Villanueva de Oiarso (also known as Villanueva de Oyarzun) maintained strong disputes almost from its foundation with the towns of the rest of the Oyarzun river valley from whose jurisdiction it had been separated when it was founded, which In 1453 King Juan II of Castile also granted the title of town to the rest of the valley, which became the town of Oiarso (later Oyarzun). Despite this, the conflicts over the use and distribution of the lands in the valley continued and would ultimately cause the inhabitants of Villanueva de Oyarzun to be especially interested in distinguishing themselves from those of Oyarzun (the rest of the valley) for which the denomination Rentería (now without the article 'la') ended up displacing from the XVIII century even officially to the original name with which the town had been founded.

From the end of the XVI century, together with the already widespread form of Rentería, the form Errenteria appears on some occasions (and even Errenteri or Errenderi), the Basque equivalent of the original Castilian form Renteria, with the initial prosthetic e- characteristic in Basque, which is so frequent in the case of loanwords that begin with erre in the language of origin (in this case, Spanish).

In 1998 the Rentería City Council made the decision to change the official name of the municipality and adopted the Basque name Errenteria as its sole form.

Despite this, the Abertzale Renteria left has been claiming that the true name of the town should be Orereta, the name that is expressly alluded to in the founding charter of the town to designate the land or village on which Villanueva de Oiarso was founded. In 1994, the Royal Academy of the Basque Language came to recognize Orereta as the historical name of Rentería, but restricting its use exclusively to designate the area where the historic center of the town is located today and preferring, instead, the form Errenteria as the authentic Basque name of the municipality.

At the beginning of the XX century, the inhabitants of Rentería were known as galleteros, since the famous Olibet biscuits were made in that town, the name of which would later give its name to a neighborhood in the town, built at the beginning of the 1970s on the land of this company..

Geography

Integrated into the Donostialdea region, it is located 11 kilometers from the center of San Sebastián. The municipal area is crossed by the Autopista del Norte AP-1, which from Vitoria connects with the Cantabrian AP-8 motorway towards France, by the GI-20 motorway, which connects with San Sebastián, and by the GI-636 provincial road. (old N-I) that runs parallel to the motorway in the direction of France.

The municipal area extends from a mountainous area to the south, which includes part of the Aiako Arria natural park, Mount Urdaburu and the upper course of the Urumea river, which forms the border with Navarra and includes the embalse de Añarbe that dams the waters of the Añarbe River before its mouth in the Urumea. To the north, where the historic center is located, the territory opens up to the mouth of the Oyarzun River in the Bay of Pasajes. The altitude of the territory oscillates between 625 meters in the mountainous area to the southeast and sea level in the Bay of Pasajes. The town center rises 12 meters above sea level, although in some areas it reaches 80 meters.

Northwest: San Sebastián	North: Passages and Lezo	Northeast: Lezo and Oyarzun
West: Astigarraga and San Sebastian (exclave)		This: Oyarzun
Southwest: Hernani, San Sebastian (exclave) and Arano (Navarra)	South: Arano (Navarra)	Sureste: Oyarzun

Neighborhoods

Barrio de Olibet-Casas Nuevas

Passage bay, view from Trincherpe. The towers on the right correspond to the Capuchinos neighborhood

Communications

The town of Rentería has an urban bus service managed by the company Herribus S.A.

Economy

The following Rentería companies have more than 50 workers, according to the Basque Industrial Catalogue:

• Beissier: paintings, decorative coatings, masks and plates.
• Elster Measurement: measuring devices and counters.
• Electrical materials: distribution of electrical material and electrical installations.
• Lekuona: making bread and pastry.
• Papresa: paper and press paper. It belongs to Grupo Alfonso Gallardo.
• Gureak Protected Workshops: Electric and mechanical assemblies. Riding and machining. Conditioning, packaging and packaging.
• Urkabe Benetan: sausages (Urkabe) and pre-cooked dishes (Benetan).

Administration and politics

The 2007 results gave the winner to Juan Carlos Merino, from the PSE-EE, who would run the mayoralty of the municipality in majority with the support of the councilors of the PNV and EA.

The 2011 results gave Julen Mendoza, from Bildu, as mayor, who runs the mayoralty of the minority municipality with the support of Ezker Anitza-IU councilor.

Heritage

Rent

Architecture

Culture

Festivities and traditions

Magdalenas de 2007 en la Plaza del Pueblo, opposite the consistorial house

It celebrates its festivities in honor of Santa María Magdalena (July 22). These begin on July 21 at 7 pm, at which time the "chupinazo" from the Balcony of the Town Hall, and last until July 25 at 12 midnight, when "El Centenario" is heard for the last time.

Notable people

Twinned cities

Renteria is twinned with: