Zuia

Zuia (Spanish: Zuya) is a town and municipality located in the province of Álava, in the Basque Country, northern Spain.

History

The first mention of the Zuia Valley is in the document Reja de San Millan from the year 1025 (though some authors argue that it is posterior, probably twelfth century), a document conserved in the Monastery of San Millan (La Rioja). The document states that every ten neighbors must deliver a grating iron to a religious institution; according to the document, nine bars correspond to Zuia, 13 to Zigoitia, 12 to Kuartango, etc. In 1752, after repeated attempts, the king approved the establishment of a highway through the valley of Zuia to facilitate communication between Vitoria and Bilbao. Work was supposed to be completed by the year 1798. In 1763, they voted to enlarge the town hall, under Mayor Francisco Vea Murgia. In 1767 the city council house of Zuia was finished. However, in 1795, after 6 years of poor harvests and a draining war with France, the Valley remained mired in abject poverty, so they sold half of the town hall for 4300 ducats to Don Domingo Ortiz de Zarate, the patron of Luquiano, who lived in Murgia.