HISTORY

In the year 1617, the most dramatic events that Cangas lived throughout its history took place. On December 4, eleven Turkish-Berber corsair ships anchored in the Cíes Islands with the purpose of causing the greatest possible damage to the possessions of the Spanish Crown.

The pirates tried to seize Vigo before directing their prows against Cangas, which was then a humble fishing village, totally unprotected, which did not have a fortified area, nor an artillery. In the early hours of the morning, around 1,000 men disembarked at Rodeira Beach and Punta Balea, before the terrified people of the place. The depleted troops were joined by numerous poorly armed neighbors, leading a desperate fight, in overwhelming numerical inferiority.

Within a few hours, those who managed to flee to the nearby mountains could see a frightful spectacle: the town burned on all four sides and dozens of corpses littered the streets. The Turks dedicated themselves to looting the surroundings for three days and with them they took a great booty, but also dozens of people facing the captivity of Algeria.

The town of Cangas took a long time to recover from that disaster.

María Soliña, the inquisition in Cangas

Between the years 1619 and 1628, many Cangas women were tried by the Inquisition for alleged “witchcraft”. Today we know that those wretches were actually victims of an invention of the inquisitors. The hunt for “witches” was directly caused by the general impoverishment that followed the Turkish invasion of the year 1617. Among all these women, María Soliño, the protagonist of several cantigas, stands out.

Battle of Rande

In 1702, the Cangas coast was the scene of one of the bloodiest naval battles that recalls the history of Europe. At that time, the succession to the Spanish Crown was at stake and the possibility that Felipe de Anjou, grandson of the Sun King, would gain access to the Spanish throne, provoked the energetic reaction of the other powers, fearful of seeing the two powers united.

On June 11, 1702, 19 Spanish galleons sailed from Havana, bound for Cádiz, escorted by 22 French ships, carrying the greatest treasures that had never crossed the Atlantic.

Although a little distant from the battle site, Cangas witnessed the important Battle of Rande, where a squad composed of English and Dutch ships confronted the Franco-Spanish squad that guarded the most valuable cargo that was brought from the lands of America.

It is a canning complex, opened in 1942, which had the latest technology and facilities for workers such as a kindergarten, dining areas and showers.
The Factoría Conservera Massó represents a clear example of the importance that fishing, salting and canning had in the development of the Galician industry. Massó created several factories distributed between the municipalities of Bueu and Cangas do Morrazo.