Bilba'o (Span. Beel-bah'o), a town of Spain, the capital of the province of Vizcaya (Biscay), in a mountain gorge on the Nervion, 8 miles SE. of its mouth at Portugalete, and 63 miles N. by E. of Miranda by rail. Four bridges span the river, which divides the old town from the new. The city is purely commercial. There are docks for building merchant-vessels, and in the vicinity are iron and copper mines. The canalisation of the river in 1886 has since enabled steamers of 700 to 800 tons to come up to the town; but the narrow channel and the heavy sea on the bar still render the port equally difficult to enter or leave. Nevertheless, the annual amount of British tonnage entering Bilbao largely exceeds that of any other foreign port in Europe, except Antwerp. The chief imports are coal, coke, codfish, timber, petroleum, tin, sugar, coffee, and colonial goods. The exports, which include red wines and wool, are numerous and unimportant, with the exception of iron-ore, on which the prosperity of the port depends. Population, 75,000. Bilbao was founded in 1300 under the name of Belvao - i.e. 'the fine fort' - and soon attained great prosperity. It suffered severely in the wars with France, first in 1795, and again in 1808. During the Carlist struggles it stood two great sieges, Zumalacarreguy here receiving his death-wound in 1835, whilst in 1874 it was vainly besieged and bombarded by Don Carlos for four months.