Bilbao is a city in the Basque Country of northern Spain. It is the largest city in the Basque Country and the tenth largest in Spain. Bilbao was founded in 1300 as a fortified port village by Diego López V de Haro, the first Lord of Biscay. The city became an important center of trade and industry in the late nineteenth century, leading to an influx of workers and immigrants from all over Spain and abroad. Bilbao was the scene of heavy fighting during the Spanish Civil War. The city was rebuilt after the war, and experienced a period of rapid growth in the 1950s and 1960s. Bilbao was hit hard by the financial crisis of the early twenty-first century, but has since rebounded. The city is now a leading center of the arts and technology.