Santander
Santander, capital of the Autonomous Community of Cantabria and capital of a metropolitan area of 300,000 inhabitants, is a coastal city, which took off from the eighteenth century, when, after establishing itself as a significant commercial emporium, it became one of the ports responsible for channeling the Indian traffic. This paved the way for Santander to become an active bourgeois city in the 19th century. One of its characteristics will be given by the early development of tourism, first around its spas and, later, around the so-called wave baths, able to attract the most favored layers of Spanish society. In the 20th century, tourism, which became more and more generalized, would end up defining the city, while the latter acquired a relevant cultural profile, especially after the birth of the Summer University in 1931, whose name from 1945 would become the Menéndez Pelayo International University.
The combination of tourism and culture, together with the academic seal provided by the University of Cantabria, since its birth in 1972, have given Santander an image that, however, does not hide the remarkable economic and financial dynamism of the city. The unique aesthetic values of the city, the importance of its cultural and natural heritage, its mild and temperate climate, its halo as a city of congresses, exhibitions and meetings, and its generous leisure offer, have made Santander a city that attracts the attention of scientific and academic meetings. Railroad and bus connections with other cities, taking advantage of the Meseta and Cantabrian highways, as well as the airport and even the port, thanks to the international ferry port, complete this attractive offer of the city of Santander.
Next summer 2025, between 1st and 4th of July, the University of Cantabria and the School of Philosophy and Letters (Interfaculty Building) will host the 11th AIBR Congress of Anthropology, which will take place in Santander and will welcome a large group of attendees from Latin America, Spain and other European countries, thus continuing with a congress trajectory initiated years ago, to which the organizational experience has not been alien.
