A Coruña  A Coruña (; ; historical ) is a city and municipality of Galicia, Spain. It is the second most populated city and the second most populated municipality in the autonomous community and seventeenth overall in the country. The city is the provincial capital of the province of the same name, having also served as political capital of the Kingdom of Galicia from the 16th to the 19th centuries, and as a regional administrative centre between 1833 and 1982, before being replaced by Santiago de Compostela. A Coruña is a busy port located on a promontory in the Golfo Ártabro, a large gulf on the Atlantic Ocean. It is the main industrial and financial centre of northern Galicia, and holds the headquarters of the Universidade da Coruña. There is no clear evidence as to what the name derives from. It seems to be from "Crunia", of unknown origin and meaning. At the time of Ferdinand II of León (reigned 1157–1188) the name "Crunia" was documented for the first time. As usual in Galician-Portuguese (as well as in Castilian Spanish), the cluster "ni" naturally evolved into the sound , written "n", "nn" or "nh" in old Galician orthography, "nn" in Spanish (later abbreviated to "ñ", like the original Latin cluster "nn"), and "nh" in Portuguese and alternative Galician spelling. ""A"" is the Galician article equivalent to English "the"; compare Castilian Spanish "la" ("the"). One proposed etymology derives "Crunia" from "Cluny", the town in France. During its height (c. 950–c.1130) the Cluniac religious movement became very prominent in Europe. There is another town named "Coruña" in Burgos Province. Another possibility is that the name means simply "The Crown". The Galician word for "crown" is "coroa". It is also possible it came about through changes to the French "La Couronne", also meaning "the Crown". It seems less likely that it traces back to the Galician "clunia". The name is reputedly from the Greek Κορώνα (Crown), referring to the crown of Geryon that was buried by Hercules under the lighthouse he built to his honour. The hero Hercules slew the giant tyrant Geryon after three days and three nights of continuous battle.