La Coruña (also Corunna), city, northwestern Spain. The city is the capital of La Coruña Province, in Galicia, a seaport on a peninsula in the Bay of Coruña (an inlet of the Atlantic Ocean). Fish, livestock, and wine are exported from La Coruña. It is also an important fishing center and has fish-processing plants. Other industries include shipyards, metalworks, and tobacco-processing factories. Miradors, or glazed window-balconies, are characteristic of the houses in La Coruña. Located in the city are the Tower of Hercules, a lighthouse built by the Romans and still in use; the 12th-century Church of Santiago; the 13th-century Church of Santa María del Campo; and a technical university.
The city is probably of Celtic origin. It came under Roman control in the 1st century BC. La Coruña was the port from which the Spanish Armada sailed against England in 1588. In 1589 the port was taken and almost totally destroyed by the English navigator Sir Francis Drake. In 1809, during a battle of the Peninsular War between the British and the French, the British general Sir John Moore was killed and buried in La Coruña. Population (1998 estimate) 243,134.
