San Sebastián

San Sebastián, officially known by the bilingual name Donostia / San Sebastián (Basque: [doˈnos̺ti.a], Spanish: [san seβasˈtjan] ^ⓘ), is a city and municipality located in the Basque Autonomous Community, Spain. It lies on the coast of the Bay of Biscay, 20 km (12 miles) from the France–Spain border. The capital city of the province of Gipuzkoa, the municipality's population is 188,102 as of 2021, with its metropolitan area reaching 436,500 in 2010. Locals call themselves donostiarra (singular) in Basque, also using this term when speaking in Spanish. It is also a part of Basque Eurocity Bayonne-San Sebastián.

The economic activities in the city are dominated by the service sector, with an emphasis on commerce and tourism, as San Sebastián has long been well-known as a tourist destination. Despite the city's relatively small size, events such as the San Sebastián International Film Festival and the San Sebastian Jazz Festival have given it an international dimension. San Sebastián, along with Wrocław, Poland, was the European Capital of Culture in 2016.

In spite of appearance, both the Basque form Donostia and the Spanish form San Sebastián have the same meaning — Saint Sebastian. The dona/done/doni element in Basque place names signifies "saint" and is derived from Latin domine; the second part of Donostia contains a shortened form of the saint's name. There are two hypotheses regarding the evolution of the Basque name: one says it was *Done Sebastiáne > Donasa(b)astiai > Donasastia > Donastia > Donostia, the other one says it was *Done Sebastiane > *Done Sebastiae > *Done Sebastie > *Donesebastia > *Donasastia > *Donastia > Donostia.

The city is located in the north of the Basque Country, on the south-eastern coast of the Bay of Biscay. San Sebastián has three beaches, Concha, Ondarreta, and Zurriola, and is surrounded by hilly areas: Urgull (adjacent to the old part of the city), Mount Ulia (extending east to Pasaia), Mount Adarra (south of the city) and Igeldo (overlooking Concha Bay from the west).

San Sebastián lies at the mouth of the Urumea river, and it was in large part built on the river's wetlands during the last two centuries. The city centre and the districts of Amara Berri and Riberas de Loiola lie on the former riverbed, which was diverted to its current canalized course in the first half of the 20th century.

San Sebastián features an oceanic climate (Köppen Cfb) with warm summers and cool winters. Like many cities with this climate, San Sebastián typically experiences cloudy or overcast conditions for the majority of the year, typically with some precipitation. The city averages roughly 1,650 mm (65 in) of precipitation annually, which is fairly evenly spread throughout the year. However, the city is somewhat drier and noticeably sunnier in the summer months, experiencing on average approximately 100 mm (3.94 in) of precipitation during those months. Average temperatures range from 8.9 °C (48.0 °F) in January to 21.5 °C (70.7 °F) in August.

The first evidence of human stationary presence in the current city is the settlement of Ametzagaña, between South Intxaurrondo and Astigarraga. The unearthed remains, such as knapped stones used as knives to cut animal skin, date from 24,000 to 22,000 BC. The open-air findings of the Upper Paleolithic have revealed that the settlers were modern human (Homo sapiens) hunters, besides pointing to a much colder climate at the time.

There were Roman settlements (from around 50–200 AD) in what is now the Old Part of the city, according to excavations carried out in the convent of Santa Teresa, on the slopes of Urgull.