Routes of Santiago de Compostela: Camino Francés and Routes of Northern Spain

In the 9th century a tomb believed to be that of the apostle James the Greater was found in Galicia, and pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela began. Most of the Iberian peninsula was then under Muslim rule, and the northern routes were developed and promoted by the Kingdom of Asturias. Compostela came to rank with Jerusalem and Rome as a place of pilgrimage.

In the 11th century the 738 km French Route, the Camino Francés, overtook the northern routes as the main way. Book five of the Codex Calixtinus, compiled around 1140, is a pilgrims' guide and describes four routes from France meeting at Puente la Reina. Churches, hospitals, hostels, monasteries and bridges from the Romanesque to the Baroque line the way.

In 1987 the Council of Europe made the route its first European Cultural Route. The Camino Francés was inscribed as a World Heritage site in 1993, and in 2015 four northern routes, including the Coastal and Primitive ways, added almost 1,500 km. More than 300,000 people set out on the pilgrimage in 2017.