The name
“Cambados” probably comes from the Spanish word “combado”, that’s to say round,
because the town lies in a bay with a round shape.
The history
of Cambados may begin in prehistoric times; 'the most ancient monuments in the town are its
pathways', as Luis Rei, a historian from “O Grove” likes to say . The road from 'A Modia' (a little hill in the east) to the shore, where Cambados lies today,
is the oldest road in town. 'Modia' comes from the word in Galician language: 'mámoa', an ancient stone monument built between neolitic and bronze age (at
the same time as Stonehenge in England).
Nothing remained of this monument but the name of the place. However, there
is some evidence that something was there in the past. The older archeological sites that we have in the town
are ' O Castro de Sete Pías ' ,
located (not by chance) near 'A Modia'.
Castros were little villages lying at the top of a hill for defensive reasons.
People who lived in those villages were warriors who cultivated land and reared cattle, they also
caught food from the sea: fish and seafood. The culture of these people has
similarities with other Celtic tribes of Europe (for example they used iron)
but we are not sure if there was a Celtic ethnic group in Galicia in
those times or if it is only cultural influence.
Phoenicians
and Romans were here in ancient times, they came here looking for tin, lead and
other metals. Pliny, Avieno and other Roman historians talked about 'The
Cassitérides' (tin islands) located in the northwest of Spain, and
Sálvora, an island that is opposite Cambados could be one of these islands.
Both Phoenicians and Romans, took also salt from the flat lands in the mouth of
River Umia, and the name of the county ('O Salnés') where Cambados is placed, comes from this
ancient activity. Xaquín Sánchez-Peña, a local historian who wrote in the early
20th century, talked about a Roman
bridge located in the borough of Fefiñáns, but according to him it was
demolished at the beginning of the 20th
century. A Roman road went from Bracara Augusta (Braga)
to Lucus Augusti (Lugo). It is not impossible that a secondary road connected Aquis Celenis (Caldas or Cuntis now) with the coast. Some people say that the name of the promenade 'A Calzada' comes from the fact that this Roman road crossed the town through this
walk.
During the
Middle Ages German tribes settled here and became great land owners. Some
historians think that the name of Fefiñáns (a borough of Cambados) comes from
the word 'faffilanis' that is to say, The 'villae' of Faffila, a land owner
with German origins. Later, these lands passed down to the Church. Many sources
talk about St Rosendo’s family (the founder of Celanova’s benedictine
monastery) as important land owners in the 9th and 10th century in this area;
this fact perhaps explains the building of the church dedicated to St. Benedict
in Fefiñáns square. The archbishop of Santiago de Compostela was an important
land owner as well; many fortresses were built by the bishops along the Ría (bay) of Arousa to defend the city from Viking's attacks that tried
to reach the city of Santiago and steal its
treasures. During many years people have thought that the Tower of s. Sadurniño was one of these fortresses but the historian Gumersindo Mosteiro proved recently that it was built during the late 15th or early 16th century. It was the house-tower of the Soutomaior family.
The tower of s. Sadurniño, Santomé, Cambados
