BARACALDO  , a

river-port of north-eastern Spain, in the province of Biscay; on the left bank of the river Nervion or Ansa (in Basque, Ibaizabal), 5 M. by rail N.W. of Bilbao . Pop . (1900) 15,013 . Few Spanish towns have developed more rapidly than Baracaldo, which nearly doubled its population between 188o and 1900 . During this period many immigrant labourers settled here; for the ironworks and dynamite factory of Baracaldo prospered greatly, owing to the increased output of the Biscayan mines, the extension of railways in the neighbourhood, and the growth of shipping at Bilbao . The low flat country round Baracaldo is covered with maize, pod fruit and vines .