The population of the metropolitan area, including the neighbouring San Andrés del Rabanedo and other smaller municipalities, accounts for around 200,000 inhabitants.

In 1188, the city hosted the first Parliament in European history under the reign of Alfonso IX, and this is why in 2010 it was acknowledged by professor John Keane, the King of Spain and the Junta of Castile and León, as the "cradle of Parliamentarism".

[4] The city's prominence began to decline in the early Middle Ages, partly due to the loss of independence after the union of the Leonese kingdom with the Crown of Castile, consolidated in 1301.

After a period of stagnation during the early modern age, it was one of the first cities to hold an uprising in the Spanish War of Independence, and some years later, in 1833 acquired the status of provincial capital.

The end of the 19th and the 20th century saw a significant acceleration in the rate of urban expansion, when the city became an important communications hub of the northwest due to the rise of the coal mining industry and the arrival of the railroad.

Some of the city's most prominent historical buildings are the Cathedral, one of the finest examples of French-style classic Gothic architecture in Spain, the Basilica of San Isidoro, one of the most important Romanesque churches in Spain and resting place of León's medieval monarchs, the Monastery of San Marcos, an example of plateresque and Renaissance Spanish architecture, and the Casa Botines, a Modernist creation of the architect Antoni Gaudí.

In the year 74 AD, the Legio VII Gemina —recruited from the Hispanics by Galba in 69 AD— settled in a permanent military camp that was the origin of the city.

[6] The Romans established the site of the city to protect the recently conquered territories of northwestern Hispania from the Astures and Cantabri, and to secure the transport of gold extracted in the province —especially in the huge nearby mines of Las Médulas— that was taken to Rome through Asturica Augusta (modern-day Astorga).

[7][8] Tacitus calls the legion Galbiana, to distinguish it from the old Legio VII Claudia, but this appellation is not found on any inscriptions.

Sacked by Almanzor in about 987, the city was reconstructed and repopulated by Alfonso V, whose Decree of 1017 regulated its economic life, including the functioning of its markets.

Free from the seigneuralisation process of the Late Middle Ages, towards the end of the era León had consolidated as one of the 13 cities in the Meseta enjoying the right to vote at the Cortes of Castile.

For the extent of the Early Modern period the city remained controlled by a reduced set of noble families by means of the regimientos and regidurías.

[19] Both the Convent of San Marcos, the old Santa Ana factory and the provincial prison were nonetheless rehabilitated as mass detention camps in the city by the Francoist side.

Leonese customs include the Semana Santa ("Holy Week"), featuring numerous processions through the centre of the city.

Frost is common in the early hours of the morning before the dawn during the coldest months of the winter, but normally melts after sunrise.

Other destinations directly reachable from León are Galicia (to the West), Asturias (to the North) and Valladolid (to the South-East, in the same route as Madrid).

[28] It is almost extinct, being known and spoken by only a very few elderly people who live isolated in the mountains of the northern part of the province of León.

León City Council and Leonese language associations like the Asociación Cultural de la Llingua Llïonesa El Fueyu are promoting its knowledge and use.

León is twinned with:[33] Within the wide range of Leonese cuisine the following dishes are the most representative: cecina (cured, smoked beef meat), morcilla (a blood sausage), botillo (a dish of meat-stuffed pork intestine), garlic soup, el cocido leonés (a mix of meat with vegetables and chickpeas, served after a vegetable-vermicelli soup) and mantecadas (pastry).