An ancient city in northeastern Spain; formerly the capital of Aragon; Also called: Saragossa.
(English Saragossa) Industrial city (iron, steel, chemicals, plastics, canned food, electrical goods) in Aragon, Spain; The medieval city walls and bridges over the river Ebro survive, and there is a 15th-century university.
history
A Celtic settlement known as Salduba was captured by the Romans in the 1st century BC; they named it Caesarea Augusta, after their leader; later it was captured by Visigoths and Moors and was taken 1118 by Alfonso the Warrior, King of Navarre and Aragon, after a nine-month siege. It remained the capital of Aragon until the end of the 15th century. From June 1808 to Feb 1809, in the Peninsular War, it resisted a French siege.