or Saragossa
City (pop., 2001: 614,905), northeastern Spain.
The capital of the Aragon autonomous community ( comunidad autónoma ), Zaragoza is located on the southern bank of the Ebro River . The Celtiberian town of Salduba at the site was taken by the Romans at the end of the 1st century BC and made a colony named Caesaraugusta, from which its present name derives. It became an episcopal see in the 3rd century AD, and it was taken by the Moors с 714. It was the capital of the kingdom of Aragon from the 12th to the 15th century. It underwent two sieges (1808–09) by the French, which were commemorated in Lord Byron 's Childe Harold . It is an industrial centre and the site of the annual National Trade Fair. Notable buildings include Romanesque and Gothic churches and palaces. Its university was founded in 1474.