Pontevedra [key], city (1990 pop. 70,356), capital of Pontevedra prov., NW Spain, in Galicia, on the Atlantic Ocean at the mouth of the Lérez River. It is a major fishing port. Clothing, leather goods, and fertilizers are made, and farm products are traded. Among its many old structures are the Gothic Church of Santa María, the picturesque ruins of a 14th-century convent, and a Roman bridge. The city may have been Columbus's birthplace. His ship, the Santa Maria, was built there.
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