Cerca de Villaño

The Cerca de Villaño (Basque: Villañoko esparrua^[2]) is a small exclave belonging to Orduña, itself an exclave of Biscay (a province of the Basque Country, Spain). It is located in Villaño, a hamlet in Valle de Losa, Burgos. Its area and limits aren't known with certainty, and due to its small size and obscurity it isn't shown in most maps.^[3]

Cerca de Villaño
Enclave and exclave
A ruined house in the exclave
Cerca de Villaño Location within the Basque Country
Coordinates: 42°58′09″N 3°07′21″W
Country	Spain
Autonomous community	Basque Country
Province	Biscay
Comarca	Arratia-Nerbioi
Municipality	Orduña
Area [1]
• Total	0.36 ha (0.89 acres)
Elevation	807 m (2,648 ft)

The early history of the enclave is unclear, but it was part of Orduña by the early sixteenth century.^[1] The municipal authorities of Orduña used to visit the exclave regularly until 1951 in order to check the border markers.^[4] Around the same time, in 1950, the few inhabitants of the enclave were registered as inhabitants of Valle de Losa, and the exclave fell into obscurity.^[5]

In 2015, a member of the Juntas Generales of Biscay requested the Biscayan government to reaffirm the exclave's status as part of Biscay, but his proposal was rejected.^[6] In 2022, the municipality of Orduña started the procedures to survey the exclave and include it in its urban planning documentation.^[7]