/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/larazon/2GOGP3RUBVANLPZBF3P23VZV4U.png "A map with all European cities with saints in their names")
Almost all professions have a patron saint, including cartography: San Isidro de Sevilla. In the seventh century, this scholar published his Etymology in which the map of Orbis Terrarum appeared for the first time, characterized by its high theological content. It was this work that earned San Isidro the title of patron saint of cartographers, among other things. Now, with data from US National Geospatial Intelligence Servicethe Biqdata website, has created a map with 20,808 European cities or towns that include the words San, Santo or Santa in their names.
This agency occupies a central place in the field of intelligence in the United States. They were responsible for identifying Russian missiles in Cuba, in 1962. Their software was crucial to developing what we know today as Google Earth and they also provided the information to locate Osama Bin Laden in Pakistan. Because it is an intelligence (and security) agency, its actual budget is unknown (estimated at close to 5 billion euros per year) and employs more than 14,000 people. To date, 204,000 maps have been created and have a permanent warning service for seafarers. They were the first to spot natural or man-made disasters thanks to their dozens of satellites… the exact number is clearly unknown.
France, recognized as an example of secularism, is the country leading the rankings with more than 40% of the places for a total of 8,963. They are followed by Spain, with 4,444 (21.5 of the total) and Italy (with 2,638). Switzerland, in 14th place, is the country to open the “less than 100” category of places with a religious toponym.
The map shows the distribution that reflects the history of the country: both in France and in Spain it can be seen that most of the cities shown are in the north, areas not occupied by Arabs (especially in Spain). In fact, Galicia emerges as one of the most densely populated areas in this sense.
Portugal is fourth, with only 3.8% of Europe’s total: “almost” 797 and they are mostly located on the coast and in the north. Germany, in 10th place), despite Charlemagne’s trail and its relationship with the church, in collaboration with 244 cities, slightly less than England, which in ninth place has 327. Austria (694), Belgium (664), Greece (646) and Hungary (646) occupy the fifth to eighth place. Liechtenstein, Norway and Sweden, in 35th place, close the list with just two cities.
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