Bilbao, (Bilbo or Bilbao in Basque), in the North of Spain, is the largest city in the Basque Country an the capital of the province of Biscay (Basque: Bizkaia). The city has 354,145 inhabitants (2006) and is the most financially and industrially active part of Greater Bilbao, the zone in which almost half of the Basque Country’s population lives. Greater Bilbao’s 946,829 inhabitants are spread along the length of the Nervión River, whose banks are home also to numerous business and factories, which during the industrial revolution brought heightened prosperity to the region.