Costa da Morte

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Costa da Morte on the map of Galicia
Dune landscape and nature reserve Arenal de Trece north of Camariñas

The Costa da Morte ( Galician ; Spanish Costa de la Muerte , "Coast of Death") is the part of the coast of Galicia (Spain) in the northwest of the Iberian Peninsula between Malpica west of A Coruña and Cape Finisterre . It got its name because of the difficult conditions for seafaring and the resulting shipwrecks and deaths.

There are almost no islands in front of the coastline, it borders directly on the Atlantic Ocean . The largest bays are the Ría de Camariñas and the Ría de Corme y Laxe , which, however, are less deeply cut into the country than the Rías Altas to the northeast and the Rías Baixas to the south .

The Costa da Morte is the furthest west coast of Spain. Its westernmost point is Cape Touriñán , but better known is Cape Finisterre, about 20 km further south . There leads Camino a Fisterra , one of Santiago de Compostela coming sequel to the Camino de Santiago . Fisterra is the Galician name of the cape; like the Spanish Finisterre , it is derived from the Latin finis terrae ( end of the earth ), which points to Roman and pre-Roman legends of the end of the world .

Several oil spills from tankers -Unglück the Prestige in 2002 affected the ecosystem of the coast .

The country was Christianized in the name of Jakobi , but the inhabitants still kept traditional ideas ( Santa Compaña , the giant Pedras de Abalar and the oscillating stones or that the wind causes wild nightmares ).

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Coordinates: 43 ° 10 ′ 0 ″  N , 9 ° 10 ′ 0 ″  W.