1.
Autonomous communities of Spain
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Spain is not a federation, but a highly decentralized unitary state. Some scholars have referred to the system as a federal system in all. There are 17 autonomous communities and two cities that are collectively known as autonomies. The two autonomous cities have the right to become autonomous communities, but neither has yet used this right and this unique framework of territorial administration is known as the State of Autonomies. The autonomous communities are governed according to the constitution and their own organic laws known as Statutes of Autonomy, since devolution was intended to be asymmetrical in nature, the scope of competences vary for each community, but all have the same parliamentary structure. Spain is a country made up of different regions with varying economic and social structures, as well as different languages. While the entire Spanish territory was united under one crown by the 16th century, the constituent territories—be it crowns, kingdoms, principalities or dominions—retained much of their former institutional existence, including limited legislative, judicial or fiscal autonomy. These territories also exhibited a variety of customs, laws. From the 18th century onwards, the Bourbon kings and the government tried to establish a more centralized regime, leading figures of the Spanish Enlightenment advocated for the building of a Spanish nation beyond the internal territorial boundaries. This culminated in 1833, when Spain was divided into 49 provinces and these were the Basque Country and Catalonia. This gave rise to peripheral nationalisms along with Spanish nationalism, therefore, economic and social changes that had produced a national cultural unification in France had the opposite effect in Spain. In a response to Catalan demands, limited autonomy was granted to Catalonia in 1913 and it was granted again in 1932 during the Second Spanish Republic, when the Generalitat, Catalonias mediaeval institution of government, was restored. During General Francos dictatorial regime, centralism was most forcefully enforced as a way of preserving the unity of the Spanish nation, peripheral nationalism, along with communism and atheism were regarded by his regime as the main threats. When Franco died in 1975, Spain entered into a phase of transition towards democracy, the then Prime Minister of Spain, Adolfo Suárez, met with Josep Tarradellas, president of the Generalitat of Catalonia in exile. An agreement was made so that the Generalitat would be restored and limited competencies would be transferred while the constitution was still being written. In the end, the constitution, published and ratified in 1979, found a balance in recognizing the existence of nationalities and regions in Spain, within the indissoluble unity of the Spanish nation. The starting point in the organization of Spain was the second article of the constitution. In order to exercise this right, the established a open process whereby the nationalities
Autonomous communities of Spain
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A map of
Iberia in 1757
Autonomous communities of Spain
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Galicia
Autonomous communities of Spain
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The Spanish Parliament, Congress of Deputies
Autonomous communities of Spain
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Pro-Catalan independence and pro-Spanish pertenence demonstrations in
Barcelona.
2.
Geographic coordinate system
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A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
Geographic coordinate system
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Longitude lines are perpendicular and latitude lines are parallel to the equator.
3.
Spain
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By population, Spain is the sixth largest in Europe and the fifth in the European Union. Spains capital and largest city is Madrid, other urban areas include Barcelona, Valencia, Seville, Bilbao. Modern humans first arrived in the Iberian Peninsula around 35,000 years ago, in the Middle Ages, the area was conquered by Germanic tribes and later by the Moors. Spain is a democracy organised in the form of a government under a constitutional monarchy. It is a power and a major developed country with the worlds fourteenth largest economy by nominal GDP. Jesús Luis Cunchillos argues that the root of the span is the Phoenician word spy. Therefore, i-spn-ya would mean the land where metals are forged, two 15th-century Spanish Jewish scholars, Don Isaac Abravanel and Solomon ibn Verga, gave an explanation now considered folkloric. Both men wrote in two different published works that the first Jews to reach Spain were brought by ship by Phiros who was confederate with the king of Babylon when he laid siege to Jerusalem. This man was a Grecian by birth, but who had given a kingdom in Spain. He became related by marriage to Espan, the nephew of king Heracles, Heracles later renounced his throne in preference for his native Greece, leaving his kingdom to his nephew, Espan, from whom the country of España took its name. Based upon their testimonies, this eponym would have already been in use in Spain by c.350 BCE, Iberia enters written records as a land populated largely by the Iberians, Basques and Celts. Early on its coastal areas were settled by Phoenicians who founded Western Europe´s most ancient cities Cadiz, Phoenician influence expanded as much of the Peninsula was eventually incorporated into the Carthaginian Empire, becoming a major theater of the Punic Wars against the expanding Roman Empire. After an arduous conquest, the peninsula came fully under Roman Rule, during the early Middle Ages it came under Germanic rule but later, much of it was conquered by Moorish invaders from North Africa. In a process took centuries, the small Christian kingdoms in the north gradually regained control of the peninsula. The last Moorish kingdom fell in the same year Columbus reached the Americas, a global empire began which saw Spain become the strongest kingdom in Europe, the leading world power for a century and a half, and the largest overseas empire for three centuries. Continued wars and other problems led to a diminished status. The Napoleonic invasions of Spain led to chaos, triggering independence movements that tore apart most of the empire, eventually democracy was peacefully restored in the form of a parliamentary constitutional monarchy. Spain joined the European Union, experiencing a renaissance and steady economic growth
Spain
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Lady of Elche
Spain
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Flag
Spain
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Altamira Cave paintings, in
Cantabria.
Spain
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Celtic castro in
A Guarda,
Galicia.
4.
Valladolid
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Valladolid is a city in Spain and the de facto capital of the autonomous community of Castile and León. It has a population of 309,714 people, making it Spains 13th most populous municipality and its metropolitan area ranks 20th in Spain with a population of 414,244 people in 23 municipalities. The city is situated at the confluence of the Pisuerga and Esgueva rivers, and located within five winegrowing regions, Ribera del Duero, Rueda, Toro, Tierra de León, Valladolid was originally settled in pre-Roman times by the Celtic Vaccaei people, and later the Romans themselves. It remained a settlement until being re-established by King Alfonso VI of Castile as a Lordship for the Count Pedro Ansúrez in 1072. The Catholic Monarchs, Isabel I of Castile and Ferdinand II of Aragon, married in Valladolid in 1469 and established it as the capital of the Kingdom of Castile and later of united Spain. Christopher Columbus died in Valladolid in 1506, while authors Francisco de Quevedo, the city was briefly the capital of Habsburg Spain under Phillip III between 1601 and 1606, before returning indefinitely to Madrid. The city then declined until the arrival of the railway in the 19th century, among the events that are held each year in the city there is Holy Week, Valladolid International Film Week, and the Theatre Festival and street arts. There is no evidence for the origin of the modern name of Valladolid. Another theory suggests that the name derives from the Arabic expression Ballad Al-Walid بلد الوليد, yet a third claims that it derives from Vallis Olivetum, meaning valley of the olives. In texts from the ages the town is called Vallisoletum, meaning sunny valley. The city is popularly called Pucela, a nickname whose origin is not clear. Another theory is that Pucela comes from the fact that Pozzolana cement was sold there, the Vaccaei was a Celtic tribe, the first people with stable presence on the sector of the middle valley of the River Duero documented in historical times. Remains of Celtiberian and of a Roman camp have been excavated near the city, the nucleus of the city was originally located in the area of the current San Miguel y el Rosarillo square, and was surrounded by a palisade. Archaeological proofs of the existence of three ancient lines of walls have been found, the area was captured from the Moors in the 10th century, and Valladolid was a village until King Alfonso VI of León and Castile donated it to Count Pedro Ansúrez in 1072. He built a palace for himself and his wife, Countess Eylo, the Collegiate of St. Mary, in 1469 Queen Isabella I of Castile and King Ferdinand of Aragon were married in the city, by the 15th century Valladolid was the residence of the kings of Castile. In 1506 Christopher Columbus died in Valladolid still convinced that he had reached the Indies in a house that is now a Museum dedicated to him and it was made the capital of the kingdom again between 1601 and 1606 by Philip III. The city was damaged by a flood of the rivers Pisuerga. Despite the damage to the old city by the 1960s economic boom, the Science Museum is next to the river Pisuerga
Valladolid
–
City Hall in the Plaza Mayor
Valladolid
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'A
jousting tournament in the main square of Valladolid', historical ceiling preserved in Prado Museum
Valladolid
–
Map of the territory of the
Vaccaei
Valladolid
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Winter in the city gardens
5.
List of Spanish autonomous communities by area
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This article includes several ranked indicators for Spains autonomous communities, as well as for the autonomous cities of Ceuta and Melilla. Spanish autonomies by length of coastline, Spanish autonomies by gross regional product in 2010 international dollars. Spanish autonomies by gross regional product per capita at purchasing power parity in 2010 international dollars, Spanish autonomies by unemployment rate, according to the Bank of Spain and EPA Spanish autonomies by real GRP growth rate. Ranked lists of Spanish municipalities List Spanish autonomous communities and cities by GDP National Institute of Statistics
List of Spanish autonomous communities by area
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Map of each community's population as of 2011
6.
Demonym
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A demonym is a word that identifies residents or natives of a particular place, which is derived from the name of that particular place. It is a neologism, previously gentilic was recorded in English dictionaries, e. g. the Oxford English Dictionary, thus a Thai may be any resident or citizen of Thailand, of any ethnic group, or more narrowly a member of the Thai people. Conversely, some groups of people may be associated with multiple demonyms, for example, a native of the United Kingdom may be called a British person, a Brit, or a Briton. In some languages, when a parallel demonym does not exist, in English, demonyms are capitalized and are often the same as the adjectival form of the place, e. g. Egyptian, Japanese, or Greek. Significant exceptions exist, for instance the adjectival form of Spain is Spanish, English widely includes country-level demonyms such as Ethiopian or Guatemalan and more local demonyms such as Seoulite, Wisconsinite, Chicagoan, Michigander, Fluminense, and Paulista. Some places lack a commonly used and accepted demonym and this poses a particular challenge to those toponymists who research demonyms. The word gentilic comes from the Latin gentilis and the English suffix -ic, the word demonym was derived from the Greek word meaning populace with the suffix for name. National Geographic attributes the term demonym to Merriam-Webster editor Paul Dickson in a recent work from 1990 and it was subsequently popularized in this sense in 1997 by Dickson in his book Labels for Locals. However, in What Do You Call a Person From, a Dictionary of Resident Names attributed the term to George H. Scheetz, in his Names Names, A Descriptive and Prescriptive Onymicon, which is apparently where the term first appears. Several linguistic elements are used to create demonyms in the English language, the most common is to add a suffix to the end of the location name, slightly modified in some instances. Cairo → Cairene Cyrenaica → Cyrene Damascus → Damascene Greece → Greek Nazareth → Nazarene Slovenia → Slovene Often used for Middle Eastern locations and European locations. Kingston-upon-Hull → Hullensian Leeds → Leodensian Spain → Spaniard Savoy → Savoyard -ese is usually considered proper only as an adjective, thus, a Chinese person is used rather than a Chinese. Monaco → Monégasque Menton → Mentonasque Basque Country → Basque Often used for French locations, mostly they are from Africa and the Pacific, and are not generally known or used outside the country concerned. In much of East Africa, a person of an ethnic group will be denoted by a prefix. For example, a person of the Luba people would be a Muluba, the plural form Baluba, similar patterns with minor variations in the prefixes exist throughout on a tribal level. And Fijians who are indigenous Fijians are known as Kaiviti and these demonyms are usually more informal and colloquial. In the United States such informal demonyms frequently become associated with mascots of the sports teams of the state university system. In other countries the origins are often disputed and these will typically be formed using the standard models above
Demonym
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Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary has not adopted the term "demonyn" for these adjectives and nouns
7.
Spanish language
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Spanish —also called Castilian —is a Romance language that originated in the Castile region of Spain, with hundreds of millions of native speakers around the world. It is usually considered the worlds second-most spoken native language after Mandarin Chinese and it is one of the few languages to use inverted question and exclamation marks. Spanish is a part of the Ibero-Romance group of languages, which evolved from several dialects of Vulgar Latin in Iberia after the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century. Beginning in the early 16th century, Spanish was taken to the colonies of the Spanish Empire, most notably to the Americas, as well as territories in Africa, Oceania, around 75% of modern Spanish is derived from Latin. Greek has also contributed substantially to Spanish vocabulary, especially through Latin, Spanish vocabulary has been in contact from an early date with Arabic, having developed during the Al-Andalus era in the Iberian Peninsula. With around 8% of its vocabulary being Arabic in origin, this language is the second most important influence after Latin and it has also been influenced by Basque as well as by neighboring Ibero-Romance languages. It also adopted words from languages such as Gothic language from the Visigoths in which many Spanish names and surnames have a Visigothic origin. Spanish is one of the six languages of the United Nations. It is the language in the world by the number of people who speak it as a mother tongue, after Mandarin Chinese. It is estimated more than 437 million people speak Spanish as a native language. Spanish is the official or national language in Spain, Equatorial Guinea, speakers in the Americas total some 418 million. In the European Union, Spanish is the tongue of 8% of the population. Spanish is the most popular second language learned in the United States, in 2011 it was estimated by the American Community Survey that of the 55 million Hispanic United States residents who are five years of age and over,38 million speak Spanish at home. The Spanish Constitution of 1978 uses the term castellano to define the language of the whole Spanish State in contrast to las demás lenguas españolas. Article III reads as follows, El castellano es la lengua española oficial del Estado, las demás lenguas españolas serán también oficiales en las respectivas Comunidades Autónomas. Castilian is the official Spanish language of the State, the other Spanish languages as well shall be official in their respective Autonomous Communities. The Spanish Royal Academy, on the hand, currently uses the term español in its publications. Two etymologies for español have been suggested, the Spanish Royal Academy Dictionary derives the term from the Provençal word espaignol, and that in turn from the Medieval Latin word Hispaniolus, from—or pertaining to—Hispania
Spanish language
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A page of
Cantar de Mio Cid, the oldest preserved Spanish
epic poem, in medieval Spanish.
Spanish language
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Spanish is sole official language at the national level
Spanish language
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Antonio de Nebrija, author of
Gramática de la lengua castellana, the first grammar of modern European languages.
Spanish language
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Miguel de Cervantes author of
Don Quixote, considered the first modern European novel.
8.
Leonese language
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Leonese is a set of vernacular Romance dialects spoken in the northern and western portions of the historical region of León in Spain and a few adjoining areas in Portugal. In this narrow sense Leonese is distinct from the dialects grouped under Asturian, the current number of Leonese speakers is estimated at 20,000 to 50,000. The westernmost fringes of the provinces of León and Zamora are in the territory of the Galician language, the Leonese and Asturian dialects have long been recognized as a single language, currently known as Astur-Leonese or Asturian-Leonese and formerly known as Leonese. Unlike Asturian, the Leonese dialects of Spain are not officially promoted or regulated, Menéndez Pidal used Leonese for the entire linguistic area, including Asturias. This designation has been replaced by Ibero-Romance scholars with Asturian-Leonese, but Leonese is still often used to denote Asturian-Leonese by non-speakers of Asturian or Mirandese. In Leonese, any of five vowel phonemes, /a, e, i, o, u/, may occur in stressed position, Leonese has two genders and two numbers. The main masculine noun and adjective endings are -u for singular, typical feminine endings are -a for singular and -as for plural. Masculine and feminine ending in -e in the singular take -es for the plural. Adjectives agree with nouns in number and gender, the native languages of Leon, Zamora, Asturias, and the Terra de Miranda in Portugal are the result of the evolution of Latin introduced by Roman conquerors in the region. Their colonization and organization led to the Conventus Astururum, with its capital at Asturica Augusta, the region remained unified until the seventh-century Islamic invasion. Around the 11th century, it began to be defined as Leonese territory roughly corresponding to the southern conventus, in medieval León, the Romance Galician, Asturian-Leonese, and Castilian languages evolved and spread south. After the 1230 union of Leon and Castile, Leonese had greater written and institutional use, Leonese became an oral, rural language with little literary development. At the beginning of the 20th century, it survived in northern and mid-western Leon and its scientific study and a nascent cultural movement began in the province of Leon in 1906. During the 1950s and 60s, the number of Leonese speakers, Julio Borrego Nieto, in Manual de dialectología española. Borrego Nieto describes another geographical circle, which he calls area 2 and it is extended to the regions between the interior area and the Ribera del Órbigo. In Zamora, the region of La Carballeda – with the subregion La Requejada - and Aliste and this area is characterized by a blur and progressive disappearance, greater as we move to the East, of the features still clearly seen in the previous area. The gradual and negative character of this characteristic explains how vague the limits are, a speaker of Leonese is defined here as a person who knows a variety of Leonese. There is no linguistic census of the number of Leonese speakers in the provinces of Leon and Zamora, *Refers only to the county of EL Bierzo and the valleys of Ribas de Sil, Fornela and La Cabrera
Leonese language
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Conventum Asturum in the first century BC.
Leonese language
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Reivindicative strikethrough signaling in Leonese language
9.
Galician language
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Galician is an Indo-European language of the Western Ibero-Romance branch. It is spoken by some 2.4 million people, mainly in Galicia, a community located in northwestern Spain. The divergence has continued to this day, producing the modern languages of Galician, the language is officially regulated in Galicia by the Royal Galician Academy. Modern Galician and its sibling, Portuguese, originated from a medieval ancestor designated variously by modern linguists as Galician-Portuguese. This common ancestral stage developed in the territories of the old Kingdom of Galicia, in the 13th century it became a written and cultivated language. In the past Galician and Portuguese formed a dialect continuum, for many scholars this continuum still exists today at the level of rural dialects. Others point out that modern Galician and Portuguese have diverged to such an extent during the past seven centuries that they now constitute two closely related but separate languages. During the 16th century the Galician language stopped being used in documentation, becoming de facto an oral language, with just some use in lyric, theatre. The linguistic status of Galician with respect to Portuguese is controversial, there are linguists who deal with modern Galician and modern Portuguese as norms or varieties of the same language. Fernández Rei in 1990 stated that the Galician language is, with respect to Portuguese, a language, a language through elaboration, and not an abstand language. Mutual intelligibility is very high between Galicians and Portuguese, on 20 October 2016, the city of Santiago de Compostela, the capital of Galicia, approved by unanimity a proposal to become an observer member of the Union of Portuguese-Speaking Capitals. On 1 November 2016, the Council of Galician Culture was admitted as an observer of the Community of Portuguese Speaking Countries. The official position of the Galician Language Institute is that Galician and these contrasting attitudes have distinct political implications. On the other hand, viewing Galician as a part of the Lusophony, while not denying its own characteristics and it is taught bilingually, alongside Castilian, in both primary and secondary education. It is also used at the three established in Galicia, having also the consideration of official language of the three institutions. Galician has also legal recognition in the Bierzo region in León, the other languages with official status elsewhere in Spain are Castilian, Catalan, Basque and Aranese. Galician has also been accepted orally as Portuguese in the European Parliament, having used by some Galician representatives, among others, José Posada, Camilo Nogueira. Controversy exists regarding the inclusion of Eonavian into the Galician language, there are those defending these linguistic varieties as dialects of transition to the Astur-Leonese group on the one hand, and those defending it as clearly Galician varieties on the other
Galician language
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Vindel's parchment, containing music and lyrics of several 13th-century cantigas by
Martin Codax
Galician language
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Distribution of the various dialects of Galician in
Spain and the extreme north of
Portugal.
Galician language
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One of the oldest legal charters written in Galician, the constitutional charter of the Bo Burgo (Good Burg) of
Castro Caldelas, 1228
Galician language
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Mediaeval Galician inscription in a 14th-century house, in
Noia: "ESTAS CASAS MANDOU FAZER VASCO DA COSTA, ERA DE MCCCLXXVII" These houses were ordered by Vasco da Costa,
era 1377 (1339 AD)
10.
Congress of Deputies (Spain)
–
The Congress of Deputies of Spain, commonly referred to as simply the Congress of Deputies is the lower house of the Cortes Generales, Spains legislative branch. It is located in the Palace of the Parliament and it has 350 members elected by constituencies by proportional representation using the DHondt method. The President of the Congress of Deputies is the analogue to a speaker, in the Congress, members of the Parliament from the political parties, or groups of parties, form parliamentary groups. The MPs belonging to parties who cannot create their own parliamentary group form the Mixed Group, the Spanish Constitution establishes in the Article 68.1 that the Congress of Deputies must be composed of among 300 deputies at least and 400 deputies at most. At present, the chamber has 350 deputies which is determinated by the General Electoral Regim Organic Law, the Spanish Constitution establishes that the deputies are chosen by universal, free, equal, direct and secret suffrage. The Election is held four years or before in case of snap election. The members of the Congress are elected by proportional representation with closed lists in each constituency, there are 52 polynominal constituencies for the Congress of Deputies which belong to the 50 provinces of Spain and the two autonomous cities. According to the Spanish Electoral Law, each province must elect two deputies at least, the two autonomous cities can only elect one each. In this way, there are 102 deputies already elected, the other 248 deputies are allocated proportionally to the citizenships. This distribution can change a bit in each election and it is specified in the Royal Decree Calling Elections, after the General Election, seats are assigned to the electoral lists in each constituency. For this distribution it is used the DHondt method in each constituency separately and this system guarantees that any elected candidate has got less votes than a non-elected candidate in that constituency. Moreover, there is a threshold of 3% that is to say that a political party needs the 3% of the valid votes emitted in its constituency at least to aim for the seats distribution. The last item is only applied in the provinces which elect 24 deputies at least, at present, this condition is only fulfilled by Madrid and Barcelona. 0. 1% of signatures of the register in each constituency are needed. Each citizen can only sign once for each candidacy, the Electoral Board will establish the details of the collection of signatures. Likewise, the most populated provinces are underrepresented and this system tends to favour the biggest political parties. In spite of using a representation system, the electoral system of the Congress of Deputies favours the creation of a two-party system. It is due to different reasons such as, The large disparity of population between the provinces, despite the smaller provinces are overrepresented, the number of deputies assigned to each one is small and tends to go to the two main parties
Congress of Deputies (Spain)
Congress of Deputies (Spain)
–
Congress of Deputies Congreso de los Diputados
Congress of Deputies (Spain)
–
The allegorical front of the building
11.
Spanish Senate
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The Senate is the upper house of Spains parliament, the Cortes Generales. It is made up of 265 members,208 elected by popular vote, all senators serve four-year terms, though regional legislatures may recall their appointees at any time. The Spanish senate was instituted by the constitution of 1837 under the regency of Maria Christina of the Two Sicilies and it remained under the regimes of the constitutions of 1845,1856,1869 and 1876. It was composed, at that time, of three main categories, senators by their own right, senators for life and senators elected. This chamber was suppressed after the coup of General Miguel Primo de Rivera in 1923, only after the Spanish transition to democracy in 1978 was it re-instituted. Senators form groups along party lines, parties with fewer than ten senators form the Mixed Group. If the membership of an existing group falls below six during a session, for example, Coalición Canaria lost its senate caucus in 2008 after electoral losses reduced its group from six to two. The PNV group is again under threshold after returning the borrowed Socialists, legally,133 seats are required for an absolute majority, vacant seats notwithstanding. Most members of the senate are elected by the people. Each province elects four senators without regard to population and this allocation is heavily weighted in favor of small provinces, Madrid, with roughly 6 million people, and Soria, with 100,000 inhabitants, are each represented by four senators. In non-insular constituencies, each party nominates three candidates, candidates names are organized in columns by party on a large ochre-colored ballot called a sábana or bedsheet. Each voter may mark up to three names, from any party. This is the occasion when Spanish voters vote for individuals rather than a party list. Panachage is allowed, but typically voters cast all three votes for candidates of a single party, as a result, the four Senators are usually the three candidates from the most popular party and the first placed candidate from the next most popular. Before 2011, a party could not choose the order of its candidates on the ballot paper, when a party did not get all three of its candidates elected, this arrangement favored candidates with surnames early in the alphabet. This was the case for 2nd placed parties in every province, demographic growth increased the combined size of the regional delegations from 51 to 56 in 2008 for the 9th term. Conventionally, the proportions of the regional delegations mimic their legislative assemblies, however, Autonomous Communities have considerable leeway, and a motion to appoint the delegation often requires no more than a plurality. This arrangement was part of a five-party coalition agreement and this anomaly was resolved in 2008, when the Balearic Islands gained a second senate seat which was filled by the PP
Spanish Senate
Spanish Senate
–
Senate Senado
Spanish Senate
–
The candidates sheet for Madrid with 3 votes cast
12.
First Spanish Republic
–
The next day,11 February the republic was declared by a parliamentary majority made up of radicals, republicans and democrats. The Constituent Cortes was called upon to write a federal constitution, the radicals preferred a unitary republic, with a much lesser role for the provinces, and once the republic had been declared the two parties turned against each other. Initially, the radicals were largely driven from power, joining those who had already driven out by the revolution of 1868 or by the Carlist War. The first republican attempt in the history of Spain was an experience, characterized by profound political and social instability. The period was marked by three civil wars, the Third Carlist War, the Cantonal Revolution, the Petroleum Revolution in Alcoy. The gravest problems for the consolidation of the regime were the lack of true republicans, the monarchists and Republicans refused, leaving the unitary Radicals and Constitutionalists as the only group willing to govern, again a narrow political base. General Francisco Serrano formed a new government and was appointed President of the Republic although it was a mere formality since the Cortes had been dissolved. However the other monarchists had taken the name of Alfonsists as supporters of Alfonso, the son of the former Queen Isabel, and were organised by Cánovas del Castillo. This period of the Republic lasted until Brigadier Martínez-Campos pronounced for Alfonso in Sagunto on 29 December 1874, the government collapsed, leading to the end of the republic and the restoration of the Bourbon monarchy with the proclamation of Alfonso XII as king. King Amadeo I abdicated from the Spanish throne on 11 February 1873, there also was a small republican minority in the National Assembly, ideologically divided between federalism and centralism. An Executive Power shall be elected directly by the Cortes, in the same session, the first government of the Republic was elected. Federal republican Estanislao Figueras was elected the first President of the Executive Power, no President of the Republic was ever elected, as the Constitution creating such office was never enacted. In his speech, Figueras said that the Republic was like a rainbow of peace, the passage of these resolutions surprised and stunned most Spaniards, as the recently elected Cortes had a wide majority of monarchists. The first government of the Republic was formed of federalists and progressives who had been ministers during the monarchy, four ministers, in particular, had served with King Amadeo, Echegaray, Becerra, Fernández de Córdoba and Berenguer. At the beginning, they were plagued by a terrible situation, with a 546M peseta budgetary deficit, 153M in debts requiring immediate payment. The Artillery Corps had been dissolved in the most virulent moment of the Carlist and Cuban wars, for there were not enough soldiers or armament. Besides, Spain was going through an economic crisis matching the Panic of 1873. This prompted the first remodeling of the government in which the progressives were ousted and replaced with federalists, twelve days after the establishment of the Republic, compulsory military service was removed and voluntary service set up with a daily salary of 1 peseta and one crust of bread
First Spanish Republic
–
Allegory of the Spanish Republic, published in a satirical and liberal magazine
First Spanish Republic
–
Flag
13.
European Union
–
The European Union is a political and economic union of 28 member states that are located primarily in Europe. It has an area of 4,475,757 km2, the EU has developed an internal single market through a standardised system of laws that apply in all member states. Within the Schengen Area, passport controls have been abolished, a monetary union was established in 1999 and came into full force in 2002, and is composed of 19 EU member states which use the euro currency. The EU operates through a system of supranational and intergovernmental decision-making. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community, the community and its successors have grown in size by the accession of new member states and in power by the addition of policy areas to its remit. While no member state has left the EU or its antecedent organisations, the Maastricht Treaty established the European Union in 1993 and introduced European citizenship. The latest major amendment to the basis of the EU. The EU as a whole is the largest economy in the world, additionally,27 out of 28 EU countries have a very high Human Development Index, according to the United Nations Development Programme. In 2012, the EU was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, through the Common Foreign and Security Policy, the EU has developed a role in external relations and defence. The union maintains permanent diplomatic missions throughout the world and represents itself at the United Nations, the World Trade Organization, the G7, because of its global influence, the European Union has been described as an emerging superpower. After World War II, European integration was seen as an antidote to the nationalism which had devastated the continent. 1952 saw the creation of the European Coal and Steel Community, the supporters of the Community included Alcide De Gasperi, Jean Monnet, Robert Schuman, and Paul-Henri Spaak. These men and others are credited as the Founding fathers of the European Union. In 1957, Belgium, France, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and West Germany signed the Treaty of Rome and they also signed another pact creating the European Atomic Energy Community for co-operation in developing nuclear energy. Both treaties came into force in 1958, the EEC and Euratom were created separately from the ECSC, although they shared the same courts and the Common Assembly. The EEC was headed by Walter Hallstein and Euratom was headed by Louis Armand, Euratom was to integrate sectors in nuclear energy while the EEC would develop a customs union among members. During the 1960s, tensions began to show, with France seeking to limit supranational power, Jean Rey presided over the first merged Commission. In 1973, the Communities enlarged to include Denmark, Ireland, Norway had negotiated to join at the same time, but Norwegian voters rejected membership in a referendum
European Union
–
In 1989, the
Iron Curtain fell, enabling the union to
expand further (
Berlin Wall pictured).
European Union
–
Flag
European Union
–
2009, the
Lisbon Treaty entered into force.
European Union
–
The 65,993 km (41,006 mi) coastline dominates the European climate (
Cyprus).
14.
World Heritage Site
–
A World Heritage Site is a landmark which has been officially recognized by the United Nations, specifically by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. Sites are selected on the basis of having cultural, historical, scientific or some form of significance. UNESCO regards these sites as being important to the interests of humanity. The programme catalogues, names, and conserves sites of outstanding cultural or natural importance to the common culture, under certain conditions, listed sites can obtain funds from the World Heritage Fund. The program was founded with the Convention Concerning the Protection of the Worlds Cultural and Natural Heritage, since then,192 state parties have ratified the convention, making it one of the most adhered to international instruments. As of July 2016,1052 sites are listed,814 cultural,203 natural, in 1959, the governments of Egypt and Sudan requested UNESCO to assist their countries to protect and rescue the endangered monuments and sites. In 1960, the Director-General of UNESCO launched an appeal to the Member States for an International Campaign to Save the Monuments of Nubia, the campaign, which ended in 1980, was considered a success. The project cost $80 million, about $40 million of which was collected from 50 countries, the projects success led to other safeguarding campaigns, saving Venice and its lagoon in Italy, the ruins of Mohenjo-daro in Pakistan, and the Borobodur Temple Compounds in Indonesia. UNESCO then initiated, with the International Council on Monuments and Sites, the United States initiated the idea of cultural conservation with nature conservation. The International Union for Conservation of Nature developed similar proposals in 1968, the Convention came into force on 17 December 1975. As of June 2016, it has been ratified by 192 states, including 188 UN member states plus the Cook Islands, the Holy See, Niue, a country must first list its significant cultural and natural sites, the result is called the Tentative List. A country may not nominate sites that have not been first included on the Tentative List, next, it can place sites selected from that list into a Nomination File. The Nomination File is evaluated by the International Council on Monuments and Sites and these bodies then make their recommendations to the World Heritage Committee. There are ten selection criteria – a site must meet at least one of them to be included on the list, up to 2004, there were six criteria for cultural heritage and four criteria for natural heritage. In 2005, this was modified so there is now only one set of ten criteria. Nominated sites must be of outstanding value and meet at least one of the ten criteria. Thus, the Geneva Convention treaty promulgates, Article 53, PROTECTION OF CULTURAL OBJECTS AND OF PLACES OF WORSHIP. There are 1,052 World Heritage Sites located in 165 States Party, of these,814 are cultural,203 are natural and 35 are mixed properties
World Heritage Site
–
Site #252:
Taj Mahal, an example of cultural heritage site
World Heritage Site
–
Logo of the
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)
World Heritage Committee
World Heritage Site
–
Site #156:
Serengeti National Park, an example of natural heritage site
World Heritage Site
–
Site #274:
Historic Sanctuary of Machu Picchu, an example of mixed heritage site
15.
Museum
–
Most large museums are located in major cities throughout the world and more local ones exist in smaller cities, towns and even the countryside. Museums have varying aims, ranging from serving researchers and specialists to serving the general public, the goal of serving researchers is increasingly shifting to serving the general public. There are many types of museums, including art museums, natural history museums, science museums, war museums, the city with the largest number of museums is Mexico City with over 128 museums. According to The World Museum Community, there are more than 55,000 museums in 202 countries, the English museum comes from the Latin word, and is pluralized as museums. The first museum/library is considered to be the one of Plato in Athens, however, Pausanias gives another place called Museum, namely a small hill in Classical Athens opposite to the Akropolis. The hill was called Mouseion after Mousaious, a man who used to sing on the hill, the purpose of modern museums is to collect, preserve, interpret, and display items of artistic, cultural, or scientific significance for the education of the public. The purpose can also depend on ones point of view, to a family looking for entertainment on a Sunday afternoon, a trip to a local history museum or large city art museum could be a fun, and enlightening way to spend the day. To city leaders, a healthy museum community can be seen as a gauge of the health of a city. To a museum professional, a museum might be seen as a way to educate the public about the museums mission, Museums are, above all, storehouses of knowledge. In 1829, James Smithsons bequest, that would fund the Smithsonian Institution, stated he wanted to establish an institution for the increase, Museums of natural history in the late 19th century exemplified the Victorian desire for consumption and for order. Gathering all examples of classification of a field of knowledge for research. As American colleges grew in the 19th century, they developed their own natural history collections for the use of their students, while many large museums, such as the Smithsonian Institution, are still respected as research centers, research is no longer a main purpose of most museums. While there is a debate about the purposes of interpretation of a museums collection, there has been a consistent mission to protect. Much care, expertise, and expense is invested in efforts to retard decomposition in aging documents, artifacts, artworks. All museums display objects that are important to a culture, as historian Steven Conn writes, To see the thing itself, with ones own eyes and in a public place, surrounded by other people having some version of the same experience can be enchanting. Museum purposes vary from institution to institution, some favor education over conservation, or vice versa. For example, in the 1970s, the Canada Science and Technology Museum favored education over preservation of their objects and they displayed objects as well as their functions. One exhibit featured a printing press that a staff member used for visitors to create museum memorabilia
Museum
–
The
Louvre Museum in
Paris (
France), one of the largest and most famous museums in the world.
Museum
–
The
Uffizi Gallery, the most visited museum in
Italy and an important museum in the world. View toward the
Palazzo Vecchio, in
Florence.
Museum
–
The
Museum Island in
Berlin.
Museum
–
The
British Museum in
London.
16.
Castle
–
A castle is a type of fortified structure built in Europe and the Middle East during the Middle Ages by European nobility. Scholars debate the scope of the castle, but usually consider it to be the private fortified residence of a lord or noble. Usage of the term has varied over time and has applied to structures as diverse as hill forts. Over the approximately 900 years that castles were built, they took on a great many forms with different features, although some, such as curtain walls. A European innovation, castles originated in the 9th and 10th centuries, after the fall of the Carolingian Empire resulted in its territory being divided among individual lords and princes. Although their military origins are often emphasised in castle studies, the structures served as centres of administration. Many castles were built from earth and timber, but had their defences replaced later by stone. Early castles often exploited natural defences, lacking features such as towers and arrowslits, in the late 12th and early 13th centuries, a scientific approach to castle defence emerged. This led to the proliferation of towers, with an emphasis on flanking fire, many new castles were polygonal or relied on concentric defence – several stages of defence within each other that could all function at the same time to maximise the castles firepower. These changes in defence have been attributed to a mixture of castle technology from the Crusades, such as concentric fortification, not all the elements of castle architecture were military in nature, so that devices such as moats evolved from their original purpose of defence into symbols of power. Some grand castles had long winding approaches intended to impress and dominate their landscape, while castles continued to be built well into the 16th century, new techniques to deal with improved cannon fire made them uncomfortable and undesirable places to live. As a result, true castles went into decline and were replaced by artillery forts with no role in civil administration, and country houses that were indefensible. From the 18th century onwards, there was a renewed interest in castles with the construction of castles, part of a romantic revival of Gothic architecture. The word castle is derived from the Latin word castellum, which is a diminutive of the word castrum, meaning fortified place. The Old English castel, Old French castel or chastel, French château, Spanish castillo, Italian castello, the word castle was introduced into English shortly before the Norman Conquest to denote this type of building, which was then new to England. In its simplest terms, the definition of a castle accepted amongst academics is a fortified residence. Feudalism was the link between a lord and his vassal where, in return for service and the expectation of loyalty. Castles served a range of purposes, the most important of which were military, administrative, as well as defensive structures, castles were also offensive tools which could be used as a base of operations in enemy territory
Castle
–
The
Alcázar of Segovia in Spain overlooking the city
Castle
–
Bodiam Castle in
East Sussex, England, surrounded by a water-filled
moat
Castle
–
The
Norman "White Tower", the
keep of the
Tower of London, exemplifies all uses of a castle including city defence, a residence, and a place of refuge in times of crisis.
Castle
–
Windsor Castle in England was founded as a fortification during the
Norman Conquest and today is one of the principal official residences of Queen
Elizabeth II.
17.
Cathedral
–
A cathedral is a Christian church which contains the seat of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, conference, or episcopate. The counterpart term for such a church in German is Dom from Latin domus ecclesiae or domus episcopalis, also Italian Duomo, Dutch Domkerk, when the church at which an archbishop or metropolitan presides is specifically intended, the term kathedrikos naos is used. In addition, both the Catholic Church and Orthodox churches have formed new dioceses within formerly Protestant lands for converts, consequently, it is not uncommon to find Christians in a single city being served by three or more cathedrals of differing denominations. In the Catholic tradition, the term cathedral correctly applies only to a church houses the seat of the bishop of a diocese. The abbey church of a territorial abbacy serves the same function, the Catholic Church also uses the following terms. A pro-cathedral is a parish or other church used temporarily as a cathedral, usually while the cathedral of a diocese is under construction, renovation and this designation applies only as long as the temporary use continues. A co-cathedral is a cathedral in a diocese that has two sees. A proto-cathedral is the cathedral of a transferred see. The cathedral church of a bishop is called the metropolitan cathedral. The term cathedral actually carries no implication as to the size or ornateness of the building, nevertheless, most cathedrals are particularly impressive edifices. The building is now under renovation and restoration for solemn dedication under the title Christ Cathedral in 2018, in the ancient world the chair, on a raised dais, was the distinctive mark of a teacher or rhetor and thus symbolises the bishops role as teacher. A raised throne within a hall was also definitive for a Late Antique presiding magistrate. The history of cathedrals starts in the year 313, when the emperor Constantine the Great personally adopted Christianity, in the third century, the phrase ascending the platform, ad pulpitum venire, becomes the standard term for Christian ordination. During the siege of Dura Europos in 256, a complete Christian house church, or domus ecclesiae was entombed in a bank, surviving when excavated. Otherwise the large room had no decoration or distinctive features at all, in 269, soon after Dura fell to the Persian army, a body of clerics assembled a charge sheet against the bishop of Antioch, Paul of Samosata, in the form of an open letter. Characteristically a Roman magistrate presided from a throne in a large, richly decorated and aisled rectangular hall called a basilica. The earliest of these new basilican cathedrals of which remains are still visible is below the Cathedral of Aquileia on the northern tip of the Adriatic sea. The three halls create a courtyard, in which was originally located a separate baptistery
Cathedral
–
São Paulo Cathedral, a representative modern cathedral built in Neo-Gothic style.
Cathedral
–
Interior of
St. Mary's Episcopal Cathedral,
Memphis, Tennessee with a procession.
Cathedral
–
The cathedral of the
Pope as Bishop of Rome, Cathedral of St. John Lateran
Cathedral
–
Cathedral Basilica of Saint Louis
18.
Romanesque art
–
Romanesque art is the art of Europe from approximately 1000 AD to the rise of the Gothic style in the 13th century, or later, depending on region. The preceding period is known as the Pre-Romanesque period, Romanesque art was also greatly influenced by Byzantine art, especially in painting, and by the anti-classical energy of the decoration of the Insular art of the British Isles. From these elements was forged a highly innovative and coherent style, outside Romanesque architecture, the art of the period was characterised by a very vigorous style in both sculpture and painting. In illuminated manuscripts, for which the most lavishly decorated manuscripts of the period were mostly bibles or psalters, more originality is seen, as new scenes needed to be depicted. The same applied to the capitals of columns, never more exciting than in this period, colours, which can be seen as bright in the 21st century only in stained glass and well-preserved manuscripts, tended to be very striking, and mostly primary. Stained glass became widely used, although survivals are sadly few, monasteries continued to be extremely important, especially those of the expansionist new orders of the period, the Cistercian, Cluniac, and Carthusian, which spread across Europe. No Romanesque royal palace has really survived, the lay artist was becoming a valued figure – Nicholas of Verdun seems to have been known across the continent. Most masons and goldsmiths were now lay, and lay painters such as Master Hugo seem to have been in the majority, at least of those doing the best work, the iconography of their church work was no doubt arrived at in consultation with clerical advisors. Metalwork, including decoration in enamel, became very sophisticated, many spectacular shrines made to hold relics have survived, of which the best known is the Shrine of the Three Kings at Cologne Cathedral by Nicholas of Verdun and others. The Stavelot Triptych and Reliquary of St. Maurus are other examples of Mosan enamelwork, large reliquaries and altar frontals were built around a wooden frame, but smaller caskets were all metal and enamel. A few secular pieces, such as cases, jewellery and clasps have survived. The bronze Gloucester candlestick and the font of 1108–17 now in Liège are superb examples, very different in style. The former is highly intricate and energetic, drawing on manuscript painting, while the font shows the Mosan style at its most classical and majestic. The bronze doors, a column and other fittings at Hildesheim Cathedral, the Gniezno Doors. The aquamanile, a container for water to wash with, appears to have introduced to Europe in the 11th century. Artisans often gave the pieces fantastic zoomorphic forms, surviving examples are mostly in brass, many wax impressions from impressive seals survive on charters and documents, although Romanesque coins are generally not of great aesthetic interest. Like many pieces it was partly coloured. The Lewis chessmen are well-preserved examples of small ivories, of many pieces or fragments remain from croziers, plaques, pectoral crosses
Romanesque art
–
Carving from
Maria Laach Abbey, in the
Eifel,
Rhineland.
Romanesque art
–
The "Morgan Leaf", detached from the
Winchester Bible of 1160−75. Scenes from the life of
David.
Romanesque art
–
Master of Pedret, The Virgin and Child in Majesty and the Adoration of the Magi,
apse fresco from Tredòs,
Val d'Aran,
Catalonia, c. 1100, now at
The Cloisters in
New York.
Romanesque art
–
Stavelot Triptych,
Mosan, Belgium, c. 1156–58. 48×66 cm with wings open,
Morgan Library, New York
19.
Tuscany
–
Tuscany is a region in central Italy with an area of about 23,000 square kilometres and a population of about 3.8 million inhabitants. Tuscany is known for its landscapes, traditions, history, artistic legacy, Tuscany produces wines, including Chianti, Vino Nobile di Montepulciano, Morellino di Scansano and Brunello di Montalcino. Having a strong linguistic and cultural identity, it is considered a nation within a nation. Tuscany is traditionally a popular destination in Italy, and the main tourist destinations by number of tourist arrivals are Florence, Pisa, Montecatini Terme, Castiglione della Pescaia and Grosseto. The village of Castiglione della Pescaia is also the most visited destination in the region. Additionally, Siena, Lucca, the Chianti region, Versilia and Val dOrcia are also internationally renowned, Tuscany has over 120 protected nature reserves, making Tuscany and its capital Florence popular tourist destinations that attract millions of tourists every year. In 2012, the city of Florence was the worlds 89th most visited city, roughly triangular in shape, Tuscany borders the regions of Liguria to the northwest, Emilia-Romagna to the north and east, Umbria to the east and Lazio to the southeast. The comune of Badia Tedalda, in the Tuscan Province of Arezzo, has an exclave named Ca Raffaello within Emilia-Romagna, Tuscany has a western coastline on the Tyrrhenian Sea, containing the Tuscan Archipelago, of which the largest island is Elba. Tuscany has an area of approximately 22,993 square kilometres, surrounded and crossed by major mountain chains, and with few plains, the region has a relief that is dominated by hilly country used for agriculture. Hills make up nearly two-thirds of the total area, covering 15,292 square kilometres, and mountains. Plains occupy 8. 4% of the total area—1,930 square kilometres —mostly around the valley of the River Arno, many of Tuscanys largest cities lie on the banks of the Arno, including the capital Florence, Empoli and Pisa. The pre-Etruscan history of the area in the late Bronze and Iron Ages parallels that of the early Greeks, following this, the Villanovan culture saw Tuscany, and the rest of Etruria, taken over by chiefdoms. City-states developed in the late Villanovan before Orientalization occurred and the Etruscan civilization rose, the Etruscans created the first major civilization in this region, large enough to establish a transport infrastructure, to implement agriculture and mining and to produce vibrant art. The Etruscans lived in Etruria well into prehistory, throughout their existence, they lost territory to Magna Graecia, Carthage and Celts. Despite being seen as distinct in its manners and customs by contemporary Greeks, the cultures of Greece, one reason for its eventual demise was this increasing absorption by surrounding cultures, including the adoption of the Etruscan upper class by the Romans. Soon after absorbing Etruria, Rome established the cities of Lucca, Pisa, Siena, and Florence, endowed the area with new technologies and development, and ensured peace. These developments included extensions of existing roads, introduction of aqueducts and sewers, however, many of these structures have been destroyed by erosion due to weather. The Roman civilization in the West collapsed in the 5th century AD, in the years following 572, the Longobards arrived and designated Lucca the capital of their Duchy of Tuscia
Tuscany
–
Hilly landscape in
Val d'Orcia
Tuscany
–
Tuscany Toscana
Tuscany
–
Tuscan landscape near
Siena
Tuscany
–
Cinerary urns of the
Villanovan culture
20.
Lombardy
–
Lombardy is one of the twenty administrative regions of Italy, in the northwest of the country, with an area of 23,844 square kilometres. Milan, Lombardys capital, is the second-largest city and the largest metropolitan area in Italy, the word Lombardy comes from Lombard, which in turn is derived from Late Latin Longobardus, Langobardus, derived from the Proto-Germanic elements *langaz + *bardaz, equivalent to long beard. Some sources derive the second element instead from Proto-Germanic *bardǭ, *barduz, Lombardy referred during the early Middle Ages to the entire territory of Italy ruled by the Lombards, a Germanic tribe who conquered much of the Italian peninsula beginning in the 6th century. During the late Middle Ages, the term shifted meaning and was used to identify the whole of Northern Italy, with a surface of 23,861 km2, Lombardy is the 4th largest region of Italy. It is bordered by Switzerland and by the Italian regions of Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol and Veneto, Emilia-Romagna, three distinct natural zones can be fairly easily distinguished in the Lombardy region, mountains, hills and plains – the latter being divided in Alta and Bassa. Inconsistent with the three distinctions above made is the subregion of Oltrepò Pavese, formed by the Apennine foothills beyond the Po River. The mighty Po river marks the border of the region for a length of about 210 km. In its progress it receives the waters of the Ticino River, the other streams which contribute to the great river are, the Olona, the Lambro, the Adda, the Oglio and the Mincio. The numerous lakes of Lombardy, all of glacial origin, lie in the northern highlands, from west to east these are Lake Maggiore, Lake Lugano, Lake Como, Lake Iseo, Lake Idro, then Lake Garda, the largest in Italy. A minor mountainous area, the Oltrepò Pavese, lies south of the Po, in the plains, intensively cultivated for centuries, little of the original environment remains. The most commons trees are elm, alder, sycamore, poplar, willow, in the area of the foothills lakes, however, grow olive trees, cypresses and larches, as well as varieties of subtropical flora such as magnolias, azaleas, acacias. Numerous species of flora in the Prealpine area include some kinds of saxifrage, the Lombard garlic, groundsels bellflowers. The highlands are characterized by the vegetation of the whole range of the Italian Alps. At a lower levels oak woods or broadleafed trees grow, on the slopes beech trees grow at the lowest limits. Shrubs such as rhododendron, dwarf pine and juniper are native to the summital zone, Lombardy has a wide array of climates, due to local variances in elevation, proximity to inland water basins, and large metropolitan areas. In addition, there is a seasonal temperature variation. A peculiarity of the climate is the thick fog that covers the plains between October and February. In the Alpine foothills, characterised by an Oceanic climate, numerous lakes exercise a mitigating influence, in the hills and mountains, the climate is humid continental
Lombardy
–
Mount Adamello
Lombardy
–
Lombardy Lombardia
Lombardy
–
Bridge over the
Ticino river
Lombardy
–
The
Alpine ibex (Capra ibex)
21.
Battle of Villalar
–
The Battle of Villalar was a battle in the Revolt of the Comuneros fought on April 23,1521 near the town of Villalar in Valladolid province, Spain. The royalist supporters of King Charles I won a victory over the comuneros rebels. Three of the most important rebel leaders were captured, Juan de Padilla, Juan Bravo and they were executed the next day, effectively ending armed resistance to Charles I. In late March 1521, the royalist side moved to combine their armies and threaten Torrelobatón, the Constable of Castile began to move his troops southwest from Burgos to meet with the Admirals forces near Tordesillas. The Constables army had approximately 3,000 infantry,600 cavalry,2 cannons,2 culverin and his army took up positions in Becerril de Campos, near Palencia. Meanwhile, the comuneros reinforced their troops at Torrelobatón, which was far less secure than the comuneros preferred and their forces were suffering from desertions, and the presence of royalist artillery would make Torrelobatóns castle vulnerable. The comuneros did neither, and thus allowed the Constable to approach nearly unchecked, the commander of the comunero armies, Juan de Padilla, considered withdrawing to Toro to seek reinforcements in early April, but wavered. He delayed his decision until the hours of April 23, losing considerable time. The Royalist army pursued the Comuneros, heavy rain slowed Padillas infantry more than the royalist cavalry and rendered the primitive firearms of the rebels 1,000 arquebusiers nearly useless. Padilla hoped to reach the safety of Toro and the heights of Vega de Valdetronco. He gave battle with the harrying royalist cavalry at the town of Villalar, Comuneros set up their artillery to try to blunt the cavalry charge, but this failed. According to some reports, the artillery did more damage to the comuneros than the royalist cavalry, sources differ on the reasons behind this. According to the account of Pedro de Alcocer, the Comuneros were betrayed, the artillery and some 300 soldiers had been bought off by the prior to the battle. The artillery intentionally fired high and destroyed their powder, a slightly more subdued theory blames the rain for the ineffectiveness of the Comunero artillery. Finally, it is possible that in the heat of the battle, the cavalry charges scattered the rebel ranks thus ending the battle and becoming a slaughter. There were an estimated 500–1,000 rebel casualties and many desertions, the three most important leaders of the rebellion were captured, Juan de Padilla, Juan Bravo, and Francisco Maldonado. They were beheaded the next morning in the Plaza of Villalar, the remains of the rebel army at Villalar fragmented, with some attempting to join Acuñas army near Toledo and others fleeing to Portugal. The rebellion was struck a crippling blow, demoralized, and without leaders or an army, the rebel cities of Old Castile soon surrendered to the Constables armies
Battle of Villalar
–
A 19th century work by Manuel Picolo López depicting the Battle of Villalar.
Battle of Villalar
–
Execution of the Comuneros of Castile, by
Antonio Gisbert.
Battle of Villalar
–
A floral offering at Villalar, on
Castile and León Day, April 23, 2006.
22.
Revolt of the Comuneros
–
The Revolt of the Comuneros was an uprising by citizens of Castile against the rule of Charles V and his administration between 1520 and 1521. At its height, the rebels controlled the heart of Castile, ruling the cities of Valladolid, Tordesillas, the revolt occurred in the wake of political instability in the Crown of Castile after the death of Queen Isabella I in 1504. Joanna the Mad, Isabellas daughter, inherited the throne with her Burgundian husband King Philip I, however, Philip died two years into their reign, and their son Charles was only six years old. Due to his youth and Joannas mental instability, Castile was ruled by the nobles and her father, King Ferdinand II of Aragon, after Ferdinands death in 1516, the sixteen-year-old Charles was proclaimed king of both Castile and Aragon. Charles had been raised in the Netherlands with little knowledge of Castilian and he arrived in Spain in October 1517 accompanied by a large retinue of Flemish nobles and clerics. These factors resulted in mistrust between the new king and the Castilian social elites, who could see the threat to their power, in 1519, Charles was elected Holy Roman Emperor. He departed for Germany in 1520, leaving the Dutch cardinal Adrian of Utrecht to rule Castile in his absence, soon, a series of anti-government riots broke out in the cities, and local city councils took power. The rebels chose Charles own mother, Queen Joanna, as an alternative ruler, the rebel movement took on a radical anti-feudal dimension, supporting peasant rebellions against the landed nobility. On April 23,1521, after nearly a year of rebellion, the following day, rebel leaders Juan de Padilla, Juan Bravo, and Francisco Maldonado were beheaded. The army of the comuneros fell apart, only the city of Toledo kept alive the rebellion, until its surrender in October 1521. The character of the revolution is a matter of historiographical debate, according to some scholars, the revolt was one of the first modern revolutions, notably because of the anti-noble sentiment against social injustice and its basis on ideals of democracy and freedom. Others consider it a more typical rebellion against high taxes and perceived foreign control, from the 19th century onwards, the revolt has been mythologized by various Spaniards, generally liberals who drew political inspiration from it. Conservative intellectuals have traditionally adopted more pro-Imperial stances toward the revolt, with the end of Francos dictatorship and the establishment of the autonomous community of Castile and León, positive commemoration of the Comunidades has grown. April 23 is now celebrated as Castile and León Day, discontent had been brewing for years before the Revolt of the Comuneros. The second half of the 15th century saw profound political, economic, economic growth created new urban industries and offered a route to power and wealth not tied to the aristocracy. Support from these urban elites was critical to Ferdinand and Isabellas centralization of power, and they acted as a counterweight to the landed aristocracy, however, with Queen Isabella Is death in 1504, this alliance between the national government and the budding middle class faltered. The Castilian government decayed with each successive administration, becoming rife with corruption, King Philip I ruled for a mere two years, he was replaced by Archbishop Cisneros as regent for a short time, and then by Isabellas widower Ferdinand who ruled from Aragon. The landed nobility of Castile took advantage of the weak and corrupt Royal Council to illegally expand their territory, in response, the towns signed mutual defense pacts, relying on each other rather than the national government
Revolt of the Comuneros
–
Execution of the Comuneros of Castile, by
Antonio Gisbert (1860)
Revolt of the Comuneros
–
San Pablo Church in
Valladolid, seat of a Cortes held in 1518. Protests emerged when the Flemish adviser Jean de Sauvage was named its president, presaging later troubles.
Revolt of the Comuneros
–
A 1516 portrait of
King Charles I of Castile and Aragon, later Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, by
Bernard van Orley. Charles would rule one of the largest empires in European history—through his father
Philip,
Burgundy and
the Netherlands; through his mother
Joanna, Castile, Aragon, and
Naples; and through his grandfather
Maximilian and his election in 1519 as Holy Roman Emperor, Germany, Austria, and much of Northern Italy.
Revolt of the Comuneros
–
Toledo, home of the first Comunidad
23.
Pico Almanzor
–
Pico Almanzor is the highest mountain in central Spain. Situated in the Sierra de Gredos in the province of Ávila, the mountain is also known as Pico de Almanzor and Moro Almanzor. The mountain got its name from Al-Mansur, Al-Mansur Ibn Abi Aamir was a general and statesman in Muslim Spain during the late 10th century. Muhammad bin Abi Amir was his name, the Moors in Spain gave him the title of Al-Mansur due to his victories over the Christians. During his many campaigns, Al-Mansur passed near this mountain and he was captivated by its beauty, Pico Almanzor was climbed for the first time in September 1899 by M. González de Amezúa and José Ibrián. Espada, Ontañon and Abricarro made the first winter ascent in 1903, in 1960, a 1 metre-tall iron cross was placed on the summit. Media related to Pico Almanzor at Wikimedia Commons
Pico Almanzor
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Pico Almanzor
24.
Sierra de Gredos
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The Sierra de Gredos is a mountain range in central Spain that spans the provinces of Ávila, Salamanca, Cáceres, Madrid, and Toledo. It is part of the much larger Central System of mountain ranges and its highest point is Pico Almanzor, at 2,592 metres and it has been declared a natural park by the Autonomous Community of Castile and León. The first known inhabitants were the Vettones, a pre-Roman Celtic people, the central part of the range encomprises the Sierra de Gredos Regional Park. The Sierra de Gredos comprises mainly granite, which is a type of intrusive, felsic, igneous rock which is granular. This rock consists mainly of quartz, mica, and feldspar, in some Gredos rocks the feldspar crystals are especially large, attaining a size of several centimeters in some cases. There is also some granodiorite and outcrops of metamorphic rocks and these sediments were fractured and folded due to the actions of the Variscan Orogeny and extensive areas emerged from the sea. At the end of the Paleozoic molten magma rose up turned into granite as it cooled. Erosion continued for a time until between 40 and 2 million years ago, when another convulsion, known as the Alpine Orogeny. The tectonic style of the Sierra de Gredos is the so-called Germanic style, i. e. with large upraised fault blocks, known as horst, rises in the south near the North Tietar fault. In ascending order, the species of trees can be found, holm oak, chestnut, alder, rowan, birch, aspen, willow, Pyrenean oak. At higher altitudes there are mostly bushes of the genus Cytisus, juniper, four different layers of vegetation have been identified
Sierra de Gredos
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Pico Almanzor rising over river Tiétar
Sierra de Gredos
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The South face of the Sierra de Gredos mountain range, seen from
Oropesa (Toledo).
25.
Sistema Central
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The Central System, Spanish and Portuguese, Sistema Central, is one of the main systems of mountain ranges in the Iberian Peninsula. 2,592 m high Pico Almanzor is its highest summit, the Central System is located just north of the 40th parallel and its ranges divide the drainage basin of the Tagus from the basin of the Douro. The Sistema Central is a feature of the Meseta Central. Unlike the neighboring Sistema Ibérico, the Sistema Central range is a homogeneous system. It consists of ranges that formed 25 million years ago as part of the Alpine orogeny.993 m. Other notably large ranges are Sierra de Gata and Sierra de Ayllón, the Central System links with the Sistema Ibérico at its eastern end through the Sierra de Pela, the Altos de Barahona and Sierra Ministra, the latter already fully part of the Iberian System. Sistema Central is a widely known academic geographical term, local inhabitants, however, generally refer to the Sistema Central by the names of its smaller constituent ranges. The main ranges of the Sistema Central from west to east followed by their highest points are, Serra da Lousã, Serra do Moradal Serra da Estrela, Torre,1,993 m. Sierra de Gata, Jálama,1,492 m, Sierra de la Canchera, Pico Tiendas,1,590 m Sierra de Francia, Pico de la Hastiala,1,735 m. Sierra de Béjar, Canchal de la Ceja,2,430 m, Sierra de Gredos, Pico Almanzor,2,592 m. Sierra de la Horcajada, Risco de la Umbrela,1,562 m, Sierra de Villafranca, Cerro Moros,2,059 m. Sierra de Piedra Aguda, Piedra Aguda,1,817 m, La Serrota, Cerro del Santo,2,294 m. Sierra de Hoyocasero, Navasolana,1,708 m, Sierra de la Paramera, Pico Zapatero,2,160 m. Sierra de Ávila, Cerro de Gorría,1,708 m, Sierra de Ojos Albos, Cruz de Hierro,1,657 m. Sierra de Malagón, Cueva Valiente,1,903 m, Sierra de San Vicente, Cruces,1,373 m. Sierra de Guadarrama, Peñalara,2,428 m, La Mujer Muerta, La Pinareja,2,197 m. Siete Picos, Siete Picos,2,138 m, cuerda Larga, Cabeza de Hierro Mayor,2,383 m. Sierra de la Morcuera, La Najarra,2,122 m, Sierra de Canencia, Mondalindo,1,831 m
Sistema Central
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View of La Serrota, 2.294 m, in
Ávila Province
Sistema Central
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View of the
Serra da Estrela, containing the highest point in continental
Portugal
Sistema Central
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Alpine lake at
Peñalara,
Sierra de Guadarrama
Sistema Central
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A view of the
Sierra de Gata peaks in the background over a mountain village
26.
Torre de Cerredo
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Torrecerredo or Torre de Cerredo is a mountain in northern Spain. The mountain has an elevation of 2,650 metres, the highest peak of the Picos de Europa, Torrecerredo is located on the central massif of the Picos de Europa, called Urrieles, on the limits of Asturias and the León provinces. Its summit towers 2,200 metres over the river Cares, and offers views over the western massif. Torrecerredo was first ascended by Aymar dArlot de Saint Saud, Paul Labrouche, Juan Suárez, de Espinama and Francois Salles, from Gavarnie, the easiest ascent route starts at Jou de Cerredo, the last 200 metres are an easy rock climb that does not require special equipment. The most common approach uses the refuges of Jou de los Cabrones, list of European ultra prominent peaks Media related to Torre de Cerredo at Wikimedia Commons Torrecerredo, Spain on Peakbagger
Torre de Cerredo
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Torrecerredo from Torre de la Párdida.
27.
Portugal
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Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. It is the westernmost country of mainland Europe, to the west and south it is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean and to the east and north by Spain. The Portugal–Spain border is 1,214 kilometres long and considered the longest uninterrupted border within the European Union, the republic also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of the Azores and Madeira, both autonomous regions with their own regional governments. The territory of modern Portugal has been settled, invaded. The Pre-Celts, Celts, Carthaginians and the Romans were followed by the invasions of the Visigothic, in 711 the Iberian Peninsula was invaded by the Moors, making Portugal part of Muslim Al Andalus. Portugal was born as result of the Christian Reconquista, and in 1139, Afonso Henriques was proclaimed King of Portugal, in the 15th and 16th centuries, Portugal established the first global empire, becoming one of the worlds major economic, political and military powers. Portugal monopolized the trade during this time, and the Portuguese Empire expanded with military campaigns led in Asia. After the 1910 revolution deposed the monarchy, the democratic but unstable Portuguese First Republic was established, democracy was restored after the Portuguese Colonial War and the Carnation Revolution in 1974. Shortly after, independence was granted to almost all its overseas territories, Portugal has left a profound cultural and architectural influence across the globe and a legacy of over 250 million Portuguese speakers today. Portugal is a country with a high-income advanced economy and a high living standard. It is the 5th most peaceful country in the world, maintaining a unitary semi-presidential republican form of government and it has the 18th highest Social Progress in the world, putting it ahead of other Western European countries like France, Spain and Italy. Portugal is a pioneer when it comes to drug decriminalization, as the nation decriminalized the possession of all drugs for use in 2001. The early history of Portugal is shared with the rest of the Iberian Peninsula located in South Western Europe, the name of Portugal derives from the joined Romano-Celtic name Portus Cale. Other influences include some 5th-century vestiges of Alan settlements, which were found in Alenquer, Coimbra, the region of present-day Portugal was inhabited by Neanderthals and then by Homo sapiens, who roamed the border-less region of the northern Iberian peninsula. These were subsistence societies that, although they did not establish prosperous settlements, neolithic Portugal experimented with domestication of herding animals, the raising of some cereal crops and fluvial or marine fishing. Chief among these tribes were the Calaicians or Gallaeci of Northern Portugal, the Lusitanians of central Portugal, the Celtici of Alentejo, a few small, semi-permanent, commercial coastal settlements were also founded in the Algarve region by Phoenicians-Carthaginians. Romans first invaded the Iberian Peninsula in 219 BC, during the last days of Julius Caesar, almost the entire peninsula had been annexed to the Roman Republic. The Carthaginians, Romes adversary in the Punic Wars, were expelled from their coastal colonies and it suffered a severe setback in 150 BC, when a rebellion began in the north
Portugal
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Citânia de Briteiros, in the
Minho Province, is the best preserved
Iron Age and
Castro culture site in Portugal.
Portugal
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Flag
Portugal
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The
Roman Temple of Évora, in the
Alentejo, is a symbol of
Lusitania, Roman rule in Portugal.
Portugal
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Monument in Porto to
Vimara Peres, first ruler of the County of Portugal
28.
Galicia, Spain
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Galicia is an autonomous community of Spain and historic nationality under Spanish law. It had a population of 2,718,525 in 2016 and has an area of 29,574 km2. Galicia has over 1,660 km of coastline, including its islands and islets, among them Cíes Islands, Ons, Sálvora, Cortegada. Galicia was incorporated into the Roman Empire at the end of the Cantabrian Wars in 19 BC, in 410, the Germanic Suebi established a kingdom with its capital in Braga, this kingdom was incorporated into that of the Visigoths in 585. The Governor also presided the Real Audiencia do Reino de Galicia, from the 16th century, the representation and voice of the kingdom was held by an assembly of deputies and representatives of the cities of the kingdom, the Cortes or Junta of the Kingdom of Galicia. This institution was forcibly discontinued in 1833 when the kingdom was divided into four provinces with no legal mutual links. During the 19th and 20th centuries, demand grew for self-government and this resulted in the Statute of Autonomy of 1936, soon frustrated by Francos coup detat and subsequent long dictatorship. After democracy was restored the legislature passed the Statute of Autonomy of 1981, approved in referendum and currently in force, the interior of Galicia is characterized by a hilly landscape, mountain ranges rise to 2,000 m in the east and south. The coastal areas are mostly a series of rías and cliffs. The climate of Galicia is usually temperate and rainy, with drier summers. Its topographic and climatic conditions have made animal husbandry and farming the primary source of Galicias wealth for most of its history, allowing for a relative high density of population. With the exception of shipbuilding and food processing, Galicia was based on a farming and fishing economy until after the mid-20th century, in 2012, the gross domestic product at purchasing power parity was €56,000 million, with a nominal GDP per capita of €20,700. There are smaller populations around the cities of Lugo and Ourense. The political capital is Santiago de Compostela, in the province of A Coruña, Vigo, in the province of Pontevedra, is the most populous municipality, with 292,817, while A Coruña is the most populous city, with 215,227. 56% of the Galician population speak Galician as their first language and these Callaeci were the first tribe in the area to help the Lusitanians against the invading Romans. The Romans applied their name to all the tribes in the northwest who spoke the same language. In any case, Galicia, being per se a derivation of the ethnic name Kallaikói, the name evolved during the Middle Ages from Gallaecia, sometimes written Galletia, to Gallicia. This coincides with the spelling of the Castilian Spanish name, the historical denomination Galiza became popular again during the end of the 19th and the first three-quarters of the 20th century, and is still used with some frequency today
Galicia, Spain
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A satellite view of Galicia
Galicia, Spain
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Flag
Galicia, Spain
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Bronze Age gold helmet from Leiro,
Rianxo
Galicia, Spain
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Palloza houses in eastern Galicia, an evolved form of the
Iron Age local
roundhouses
29.
Asturias
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Asturias, officially the Principality of Asturias, is an autonomous community in north-west Spain. It is coextensive with the province of Asturias, and contains some of the territory that was part of the larger Kingdom of Asturias in the Middle Ages. The most important cities are the capital, Oviedo, the seaport and largest city Gijón. Other municipalities in Asturias include Cangas de Onís, Cangas del Narcea, Gozón, Grado, Langreo, Llanera, Laviana, Lena, Llanes, Mieres, Siero, Valdés, Vegadeo, Asturias is also home to the Princess of Asturias Awards. In the Mesolithic period, a culture developed, that of the Asturiense. Today the Astur Celtic influence persists in place names, such as those of rivers, with the conquest of Asturias by the Romans under Augustus, the region entered into the annals of history. The Astures were subdued by the Romans but were never fully conquered, however, as it had been for the Romans and Visigoths, the Moors did not find mountainous territory easy to conquer, and the lands along Spains northern coast never fully became part of Islamic Spain. In the 10th century, the Kingdom of Asturias gave way to the Kingdom of León, through the rebellion of Henry II of Castile in the 14th century, the Principality of Asturias was established. The most famous proponents of independence were Gonzalo Peláez and Queen Urraca, after its integration into the Kingdom of Spain, Asturias provided the Spanish court with high-ranking aristocrats and played an important role in the colonization of America. Since 1388, the heir to the Castilian throne has been styled Prince of Asturias, in the 16th century, the population reached 100,000 for the first time, and within another century that number would double due to the arrival of American corn. During the 18th century, Asturias was one of the centres of the Spanish Enlightenment, the renowned Galician thinker Benito de Feijóo settled in the Benedictine Monastery of San Vicente de Oviedo. Gaspar Melchor de Jovellanos, a polymath and prominent reformer and politician of the late 18th century, was born in the town of Gijón. At the same time, there was significant migration to America and these entrepreneurs were known collectively as Indianos, for having visited and made their fortunes in the West Indies and beyond. Asturias played an important part in the events led up to the Spanish Civil War. For a month, a Popular Front Committee exercised control in southern Asturias, a war committee dominated by anarcho-syndicalist supporters took power in Oviedo. Troops under the command of a then unknown general named Francisco Franco Bahamonde were brought from Spanish Morocco to suppress the revolt, Franco applied tactics normally reserved for overseas colonies, using troops of the Spanish Legion and Moroccan troops, ferocious oppression followed. As a result, Asturias remained loyal to the government during the Spanish Civil War, and was the scene of an extraordinary defence in extreme terrain. With Franco eventually gaining control of all Spain, Asturias — traditionally linked to the Spanish Crown — was known merely as the Province of Oviedo from 1939 until Francos death in 1975, the provinces name was restored fully after the return of democracy to Spain, in 1977
Asturias
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Roman thermaes in Gijón, Asturias
Asturias
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Flag
Asturias
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Santa María del Naranco, ancient palace of Asturian Kings, 842 AD
Asturias
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Gaspar Melchor de Jovellanos
30.
Cantabria
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Cantabria is a historic Spanish community and autonomous community with Santander as its capital city. It is bordered on the east by the Basque Autonomous Community, on the south by Castile and León, on the west by the Principality of Asturias, and on the north by the Cantabrian Sea. The most significant site for cave paintings is that in the cave of Altamira, dating from about 37,000 BC and declared, along with nine other Cantabrian caves, the modern Province of Cantabria was constituted on 28 July 1778 at Bárcena la Puente, Reocín. The Organic Law of the Autonomy Statute of Cantabria was approved on 30 December 1981, numerous authors, including Isidore of Seville, Julio Caro Baroja, Aureliano Fernández Guerra and Adolf Schulten, have explored the etymology of the name Cantabria, yet its origins remain uncertain. It is generally accepted that the root cant- comes from Celtic for rock or stone, thus, Cantabrian could mean people who live in the rocks or highlanders, a reference to the steep and mountainous territory of Cantabria. Cantabria is a mountainous and coastal region, with important natural resources and it has two distinct areas which are well differentiated morphologically, Coast. Santander Bay is the most prominent indentation in the coastline, to the south, the coastal strip rises to meet the mountains. This is a barrier made up of abruptly rising mountains parallel to the sea. The mountains are made of limestone with karst topography. They form deep valleys running north-south, the torrential rivers are short, fast flowing and of great eroding power, so the slopes are steep. The valleys define different natural regions, delimited physically by the mountain ranges, Liébana, Saja-Nansa, Besaya, Pas-Pisueña, Miera, Asón-Gándara. To the mountain region belongs the Escudo Range, a range of 600 to 1,000 metres high that covers 15 or 20 km in a parallel line to the coast in the West part of Cantabria. Towards the south are higher mountains, the tops of which form the watershed between the basins of the Rivers Ebro, Duero and the rivers that flow into the Bay of Biscay. The great limestone masses of Picos de Europa also stand out in the southwest of the region, most of their summits exceed 2,500 m, and their topography is shaped by the former presence of glaciers. Due to the stream, Cantabria, as well as the rest of Green Spain, has a much more temperate climate than might be expected for its latitude. The region has a oceanic climate, with warm summers. Annual precipitation is around 1,200 mm at the coasts, the mean temperature is about 14 °C. Snow is frequent in higher zones of Cantabria between the months of October and March, some zones of Picos de Europa, over 2,500 metres high, have an alpine climate with snow persisting year round
Cantabria
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Panorama of the gateway to Alisas, in the
municipio of
Riotuerto, Cantabria
Cantabria
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Flag
Cantabria
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The
source of the Asón River
Cantabria
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Grassland in
Valdáliga
31.
Aragon
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Aragon is an autonomous community in Spain, coextensive with the medieval Kingdom of Aragon. Located in northeastern Spain, the Aragonese autonomous community comprises three provinces, Huesca, Zaragoza, and Teruel, the current Statute of Autonomy declares Aragon a nationality of Spain. Aragons northern province of Huesca borders France and is positioned in the middle of the Pyrenees, within Spain, the community is flanked by Catalonia to the east, Valencia and Castile–La Mancha to the south, and Castile and León, La Rioja, and Navarre to the west. Aragon is home to many rivers—most notably, the river Ebro, Spains largest river in volume and it is also home to the Aneto, the highest mountain in the Pyrenees. As of 2015, the population of Aragon was 1,317,847, with more than half of it living in Zaragoza. As of 2015, half of Aragons population,50. 45%, Huesca is the only other city in the region with a population greater than 50,000. The majority of Aragonese citizens,71. 8%, live in the province of Zaragoza,17. 1% in Huesca and 11. 1% in Teruel, the population density of the region is the second lowest in Spain, only 26, 8/km2, after Castilla La Mancha. Only four cities have more than 20,000 inhabitants, Zaragoza 700,000, Huesca 50,000, Teruel 35,000 and Calatayud 20,000. Spanish is the language in most of Aragon, and it is the only official language, understood. The strip-shaped Catalan-speaking area in Aragon is often called La Franja, with such a low population density large areas of Aragon remain wild and relatively untouched. It is a land of natural contrasts, both in climate and geologically, from the green valleys and snow-capped peaks of the Pyrenees to the dry plains. Aragons Pyrenees include splendid and varied mountain landscapes with soaring peaks, deep canyons, dense forests and its rugged peaks include the Aneto, the highest in the range, the misty Monte Perdido, Perdiguero, Cotiella and many others. The park is one of the last sanctuaries of birds of prey in the range. Many beautiful mountain butterflies and flowers can be seen in the summer, the principal valleys in the mountains include those of Hecho, Canfranc, Tena, Benasque and others. The green valleys hide pretty villages with nice Romanesque churches and typical Pyrenean houses with flowers on the balconies, the oldest Romanesque cathedral in Spain is located in the medieval town of Jaca in the very northern part of Huesca Province. In the Pyrenean foothills, or pre-Pyrenees, the Mallos de Riglos are a natural rock formation. Ancient castles nestle on lonely hills, the most famous being the magnificent Loarre Castle, further south, the Ebro valley, irrigated by the river Ebro, is a rich and fertile agricultural area covered with vast fields of wheat, barley and other fruit and vegetable crops. Many beautiful and little-known settlements, castles and Roman ruins dot the landscape here, some of the most notable towns here include Calatayud, Daroca, Sos del Rey Catolico, Caspe and others
Aragon
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Loarre, one of the most important Romanesque castles in Europe
Aragon
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Flag
Aragon
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View from Ordesa valley in the Aragonese Pyrenees
Aragon
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Circo de Soaso in
Ordesa y Monte Perdido National Park
32.
Basque Country (autonomous community)
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The Basque Country is an autonomous community of northern Spain. It includes the Basque provinces of Álava, Biscay and Gipuzkoa, the Basque Country or Basque Autonomous Community was granted the status of nationality within Spain, attributed by the Spanish Constitution of 1978. The term Basque Country may also refer to the cultural region, the home of the Basque people. The territory has three areas, which are defined by the two parallel ranges of the Basque Mountains. The main range of forms the watershed between the Atlantic and Mediterranean basins. The highest point of the range is in the Aizkorri massif, the three areas are, Formed by many valleys with short rivers that flow from the mountains to the Bay of Biscay, like the Nervión, Urola or Oria. The coast is rough, with cliffs and small inlets. The main features of the coast are the Bilbao Abra Bay and the Estuary of Bilbao, the Urdaibai estuary, between the two mountain ranges, the area is occupied mainly by a high plateau called Llanada Alavesa, where the capital Gasteiz is located. The rivers flow south from the mountains to the Ebro River, the main rivers are the Zadorra River and Bayas River. From the southern mountains to the Ebro is the so-called Rioja Alavesa, some of Spains production of Rioja wine takes place here. Precipitation average is about 1200 mm, the middle section is more influence by the continental climate, but with a varying degree of the northern oceanic climate. This gives warm, dry summers and cold, snowy winters, the Ebro valley has a pure continental climate, winters are cold and dry and summers very warm and dry, with precipitation peaking in spring and autumn. Precipitation is scarce and irregular, as low as 300 mm, almost half of the 2,155,546 inhabitants of the Basque Autonomous Community live in Greater Bilbao, Bilbaos metropolitan area. Of the ten most populous cities, six form part of Bilbaos conurbation, with 28. 2% of the Basque population born outside this region, immigration is crucial to Basque demographics. Over the 20th century most of this came from other parts of Spain, typically from Galicia or Castile. Over recent years, sizeable numbers of population have returned to their birthplaces and most immigration to the Basque country now comes from abroad. Roman Catholicism is, by far, the largest religion in Basque Country, bilbao-Bilbo Vitoria-Gasteiz San Sebastián-Donostia Barakaldo Getxo Irun Portugalete Santurtzi Basauri Errenteria Spanish and Basque are co-official in all territories of the autonomous community. The Basque-speaking areas in the autonomous community are set against the wider context of the Basque language, spoken to the east in Navarre
Basque Country (autonomous community)
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Txindoki mountain from Lazkaomendi
Basque Country (autonomous community)
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Flag
Basque Country (autonomous community)
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Basque coast near
Mundaka
Basque Country (autonomous community)
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Rioja vineyards near the Ebro
33.
La Rioja (Spain)
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La Rioja is an autonomous community and a province in Spain, located in the north of the Iberian Peninsula. Other cities and towns in the province include Calahorra, Arnedo, Alfaro, Haro, Santo Domingo de la Calzada and it has an estimated population of 322,415 inhabitants. It covers part of the Ebro valley towards its north and the Iberian Range in the south, the community is a single province, so there is no County Council, and it is organized into 174 municipalities. It borders the Basque Country to the north, Navarre to the northeast, Aragón to the southeast, the area was once occupied by pre-Roman Berones, Pellendones and Basques. After partial recapture from the Muslims in the tenth century, the region became part of the Kingdom of Pamplona, later being incorporated into Castile after a century. The name Rioja is first attested in 1099, the region is well known for its wines under the brand Denominación de Origen Calificada Rioja. In Roman times the territory of La Rioja was inhabited by the tribes of the Berones, Autrigones and it was part of the province of Hispania Tarraconensis. In medieval times La Rioja was often a disputed territory, the Visigoths created the Duchy of Cantabria that probably included most of La Rioja, as a border march against the Vascones. The area was invaded by the Muslims at the beginning of the eighth century, after the Muslim invasion of 711, La Rioja fell into the Muslim domains of Al Andalus. Most of the territory was reconquered in 923 by Sancho I of Pamplona, acting for the Kingdom of Pamplona together with the Kingdom of León, the lower region around Arnedo came under control of his allies the Banu Qasi of Tudela. The territory to the east of the Leza River remained under Muslim control, later there was a dispute between the Castilian Count Fernán González and the kings of Pamplona-Navarra, involving great battles. It was decided in favour of the Navarrese after the imprisonment of the Counts family in Cirueña, La Rioja briefly formed the independent Kingdom of Viguera from 970 to about 1005, at which point it became a part of the Kingdom of Pamplona. Sancho Garcés moved the capital of the Kingdom of Pamplona to Nájera, creating the so-called kingdom of Nájera-Pamplona which was, due to its large size, the first Spanish Empire. After the independence of Castile in 1035, this new kingdom fiercely fought against Pamplona for the possession of Bureba, La Rioja, in 1076, after the murder of Sancho VI, Navarre was divided among Castile and Aragon. Castile obtained La Rioja, together with other Navarrese lands, the name La Rioja first appears in written records in the Miranda de Ebro charter of 1099. The territory was centred on the site of Logroño, the 12th-century church Iglesia de Santa Maria de Palacio recalls its origin as a chapel of the administrative palace. The region was awarded to Castile in a judgement by Henry II of England and its importance lay in part in the pilgrimage route to Santiago de Compostela, the Camino de Santiago, which crossed the River Ebro on the stone bridge, the Puente de Piedra. Up to the 19th century the territory remained divided between the provinces of Burgos and Soria, the region was taken by Napoleonic forces in the Peninsular War and remained solidly in French hands until 1814
La Rioja (Spain)
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Footprints of a
Theropoda found near
Enciso.
La Rioja (Spain)
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Flag
La Rioja (Spain)
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Monasterios de San Millán de Yuso
La Rioja (Spain)
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Arnedillo, in La Rioja
34.
Community of Madrid
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The Community of Madrid is one of the seventeen autonomous communities of Spain. It is located in the centre of the Iberian Peninsula, and its capital is the city of Madrid, which is also the capital of the country. The Community of Madrid is bounded to the south and east by Castile–La Mancha and to the north and west by Castile and it was formally created in 1983, based on the limits of the province of Madrid, until then conventionally included in the historical region of New Castile. The Community of Madrid is the third most populous in Spain with 6,369,167 inhabitants mostly concentrated in the area of Madrid. It is also the most densely populated autonomous community, Madrids economy is of roughly equal size to Catalonias, which remains Spains largest. Madrid thus has the highest GDP per capita in the country, some notable discoveries of the region the bell-shaped vase of Ciempozuelos. During the Roman Empire, the region was part of the Citerior Tarraconese province, except for the south-west portion of it and it was crossed by two important Roman roads, the via xxiv-xxix (joining Astorga to laminium and via xxv, and contained some important conurbations. The city of Complutum became an important metropolis, whereas Titulcia, during the period of the Visigothic Kingdom, the region lost its importance. The population was scattered amongst several small towns, Alcalá de Henares was designated the bishopric seat in the 5th century by orders of Asturio, archbishop of Toledo, but this event was not enough to bring back the lost splendor of the city. The centre of the peninsula was one of the regions of the Al-Andalus until the 11th century when it became important. The Muslim governors created a system of fortresses and towers all across the region with which they tried to stop the advance of the Christian kingdoms of the north. The fortress of Mayrit was built somewhere between 860 and 880 AD, as a walled precinct where a military and religious community lived, and it soon became the most strategic fortress in defense of the city of Toledo above the fortresses of Talamanca de Jarama and Qal-at-Abd-Al-Salam. In 1083, king Alfonso VI of Castile conquered the city of Madrid, Alcalá de Henares fell in 1118 in a new period of Castilian annexation. The feudal and ecclesiastical lords came into constant conflict with the different councils that had granted the authority to repopulate. Specifically, Alcalá de Henares was under the hands of the archbishopric of Toledo, Castilian monarchs showed a predilection for the center of the peninsula, with abundant forests and game. El Pardo was a region visited frequently by kings since the time of Henry III, the Catholic Monarchs started the construction of the Royal Palace of Aranjuez. In the 16th century, San Lorenzo de El Escorial was built, besides its growing political importance, it also became a cultural center with the foundation of the University of Alcalá de Henares in 1508. In 1561, King Philip II made Madrid the capital of the empire, the surrounding territories became economically subordinated to the town itself, even beyond the present day limits of the Community of Madrid
Community of Madrid
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Prehistoric vessel from
Ciempozuelos, exhibited at the
National Archaeological Museum of Spain (Madrid)
Community of Madrid
–
Flag
Community of Madrid
–
City walls of
Buitrago del Lozoya
Community of Madrid
–
Castle of Manzanares el Real
35.
Castile-La Mancha
–
Castilla-La Mancha is a south-western European region that was part of the Kingdom of Castile. Nowadays it is established as a community of Spain. Castilla-La Mancha is bordered by Castile and León, Madrid, Aragon, Valencia, Murcia, Andalusia and it is one of the most sparsely populated of Spains autonomous communities. Albacete is the largest and most populous city and its capital city is Toledo, and its judicial capital city is Albacete. It is mostly in this region where the story of the famous Spanish novel Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes is situated, due to which La Mancha is internationally well-known. Although La Mancha is a windswept, battered plateau, it remains a symbol of Spanish culture with its vineyards, sunflowers, mushrooms, olive plantations, windmills, Manchego cheese, the history of Castilla-La Mancha has been significant. Its origin lay in the Muslim period between the 8th and 14th century, Castilla-La Mancha was the region of many historical battles between Christian crusaders and Muslim forces during the period from 1000 to the 13th century. It was also the region where the Crown of Castile and Aragon were unified in 1492 under Queen Isabel, Castilla-La Mancha is the successor to New Castile, which in turn traces back to the Muslim Taifa of Toledo, one of the taifas of Al Andalus. Alfonso VI conquered the region from the Muslims, taking Toledo in 1085, the Reconquista took Cuenca in 1177. That victory assured Castilian domination of the region and hastened the decline of the Almohad Dynasty, from the time of the Reconquista, Castilla-La Mancha formed part of the Kingdom of Castile. Four centuries later, in 1605, Cervantes Don Quixote gave the world a picture of La Mancha. In 1785, the organization by the reformer Floridablanca divided the region into the provinces of Cuenca, Guadalajara, Madrid, La Mancha. Albacete, Chinchilla, Almansa, Hellín and Yeste, however, Albacete, in turn, also incorporated parts of the territories of the old provinces of Cuenca and Murcia. Albacete was administered as part of the Region of Murcia until the 1978 configuration of autonomous regions, the Autonomous Community of Castilla-La Mancha dates from November 15,1978, as one of the many autonomous regions defined by the Spanish central government. The new, hyphenated name constituted an effort to two distinct regionalisms, that of the larger Castilla and that of the smaller onetime province of La Mancha. The Statute of Autonomy of Castilla–La Mancha was approved August 10,1982, Castilla-La Mancha is divided into 5 provinces named after their capital cities. 496 of these have less than 500 inhabitants,231 have between 501 and 2,000 inhabitants,157 between 2,000 and 10,000 inhabitants, and only 35 have more than 10,000 inhabitants. The municipalities in the north are small and numerous, while in the south they are larger and fewer and this reflects different histories of how these sub-regions were repopulated during the Reconquista
Castile-La Mancha
–
The Old City of
Toledo was declared a World Heritage Site for its extensive cultural and monumental heritage. Toledo is the capital of Castilla–La Mancha
Castile-La Mancha
–
Flag
Castile-La Mancha
–
Casas Colgadas in
Cuenca, Spain.
Castile-La Mancha
–
Group of
old windmills at
Consuegra in Castilla-La Mancha.
36.
Extremadura
–
Extremadura is an autonomous community of western Spain whose capital city is Mérida. Its component provinces are Cáceres and Badajoz and it is bordered by Portugal to the west. To the north it borders Castile and León, to the south, it borders Andalusia and it is an important area for wildlife, particularly with the major reserve at Monfragüe, which was designated a National Park in 2007, and the International Tagus River Natural Park. The government of Extremadura is called Gobierno de Extremadura, Extremadura is contained between 37° 57′ and 40° 85′ N latitude, and 4° 39′ and 7° 33′ W longitude. The area of Extremadura is 41,633 km2, making it the fifth largest of the Spanish autonomous communities and it is located in the Southern Plateau. In the north is the Sistema Central with the highest point in Extremadura,2,401 m high Calvitero, the main subranges of the Sistema Central in Extremadura are the Sierra de Gata and Sierra de Béjar. In the centre is the Sierra de las Villuercas which reaches an altitude of 1,603 m on the Pico de las Villuercas, other notable ranges are Sierra de Montánchez and the Sierra de San Pedro, which form part of the greater Montes de Toledo system. To the south rises the Sierra Morena which separates Extremadura from Andalusia with Sierra de Tentudía where the highest altitude of mountains in Extremadura is Pico Tentudía at 1,104 m. There are four different hydrographic basins, The basin of the Tagus, with two tributaries, on the right, the Tiétar and the Alagón, and on the left, the Almonte, Ibor, Salor. The tributaries on the right edge carry a quantity of water, which feed the gorges of the Sistema Central where the rainfall is abundant. The basin of the Guadiana, which has tributaries, to the right, Guadarranque and Ruecas to the left, Zújar River which is its plentiful tributary. The basin of the Guadalquivir with only 1,411 km2 in Extremadura, the basin of the Douro with only 35 km2 in Extremadura. The climate of Extremadura is Mediterranean, except to the north, where it is continental, and to the west, the yearly temperature fluctuates between an average minimum of 4 °C and an average maximum of 33 °C. In the north of Extremadura, the temperatures are lower than those in the south, with temperatures gradually rising south towards the Sierra Morena. During the summer, the temperature in July is greater than 26 °C. The winters are mild with the lowest temperatures being registered in the mountainous regions, the average snowfall is 40 cm, mainly occurring in January and February. As of January 1,2012, the population of Extremadura is 1,109,367 inhabitants, the population density is very low—25/km2 —compared to Spain as a whole. The most populous province is that of Badajoz, with a population of 691,715, with an area of 21,766 km2, it is the largest province in Spain
Extremadura
–
The Old city of
Cáceres
Extremadura
Extremadura
–
The city of
Guadalupe
Extremadura
–
Archaeological Roman Ensemble in Mérida, capital of the ancient Lusitania
37.
Meseta Central
–
With an area of 504,030 km², Spain is the fourth largest country in Western Europe and with an average altitude of 650 m. Its total area is 504,782 km2 of which 499,542 km2 is land and 5,240 km2 is water, Spain lies between latitudes 36° and 44° N, and longitudes 19° W and 5° E. Its Atlantic coast is 710 km long, the Pyrenees mountain range, extends 435 km from the Mediterranean to the Bay of Biscay. Most of Spains boundaries are water, the Mediterranean Sea on the south to the French border, the affiliation of Gibraltar has continued to be a contentious issue between Spain and Britain. The sovereignty of the plazas de soberanía on the Mediterranean coast of Morocco is disputed by Morocco, Spain also has a small boi exclave inside France called Llívia. The majority of Spains peninsular region consists of the Meseta Central, other landforms include narrow coastal plains and some lowland river valleys, the most prominent of which is the Andalusian Plain in the southwest. These are commonly grouped into four types, the Meseta Central and associated mountains, other regions, lowland regions. The Meseta Central is a vast plateau in the heart of peninsular Spain, rimmed by mountains, the Meseta Central slopes gently to the west and to the series of rivers that form some of the border with Portugal. The Sistema Central, described as the spine of the Meseta Central, divides the Meseta into northern and southern subregions. The Sistema Central rims the capital city of Madrid with peaks that rise to 2,400 m north of the city, west of Madrid, the Sistema Central shows its highest peak, Pico Almanzor, of 2,592 m. The mountains of the Sistema Central, which continue westward into Portugal, display some glacial features, the southern portion of the Meseta is further divided by twin mountain ranges, the Montes de Toledo running to the east with the Sierra de Guadalupe, to the west. Their peaks do not rise higher than 1,500 m. With many easy passes, including those that connect the Meseta with the Andalusian Plain and this chain of lower mountain ranges is separated from the Sistema Central to the north by the longest river in the Iberian Peninsula, the Tagus River. The mountain regions that rim the Meseta Central and are associated with it are the Sierra Morena, the Cordillera Cantábrica, the massif of the Sierra Morena extends northward to the Río Guadiana, which separates it from the Sistema Central. Despite their relatively low elevations, seldom surpassing 1,300 m, the Cordillera Cantábrica, a limestone formation, runs parallel to, and close to, the northern coast near the Bay of Biscay. Its highest points are the Picos de Europa, surpassing 2,600 m, the Cordillera Cantábrica extends 182 km and abruptly drops 1,500 m some 30 km from the coast. To the west lie the hills of the northwest region and to the east the Basque mountains that link them to the Pyrenees, the Sistema Ibérico extends from the Cordillera Cantábrica southeastward and, close to the Mediterranean, spreads out from the Río Ebro to the Río Júcar. The barren, rugged slopes of mountain range cover an area of close to 21,000 square kilometers
Meseta Central
–
Map of Spain and Portugal, Corrected and Augmented from the Map Published by D. Tomas Lopez. 1810.
Meseta Central
–
The
Picos de Europa in Northern Spain
Meseta Central
–
Teide, the highest mountain in Spain (
Tenerife,
Canary Islands)
Meseta Central
–
Santa Teresa flood.
38.
Iberian Peninsula
–
The Iberian Peninsula /aɪˈbɪəriən pəˈnɪnsjᵿlə/, also known as Iberia /aɪˈbɪəriə/, is located in the southwest corner of Europe. The peninsula is divided between Portugal and Spain, comprising most of their territory. With an area of approximately 582,000 km2, it is the second largest European peninsula, at that time, the name did not describe a single political entity or a distinct population of people. Strabos Iberia was delineated from Keltikē by the Pyrenees and included the land mass southwest of there. The ancient Greeks reached the Iberian Peninsula, of which they had heard from the Phoenicians, hecataeus of Miletus was the first known to use the term Iberia, which he wrote about circa 500 BC. Herodotus of Halicarnassus says of the Phocaeans that it was they who made the Greeks acquainted with. According to Strabo, prior historians used Iberia to mean the country side of the Ἶβηρος as far north as the river Rhône in France. Polybius respects that limit, but identifies Iberia as the Mediterranean side as far south as Gibraltar, elsewhere he says that Saguntum is on the seaward foot of the range of hills connecting Iberia and Celtiberia. Strabo refers to the Carretanians as people of the Iberian stock living in the Pyrenees, according to Charles Ebel, the ancient sources in both Latin and Greek use Hispania and Hiberia as synonyms. The confusion of the words was because of an overlapping in political, the Latin word Hiberia, similar to the Greek Iberia, literally translates to land of the Hiberians. This word was derived from the river Ebro, which the Romans called Hiberus, hiber was thus used as a term for peoples living near the river Ebro. The first mention in Roman literature was by the annalist poet Ennius in 200 BC. Virgil refers to the Ipacatos Hiberos in his Georgics, the Roman geographers and other prose writers from the time of the late Roman Republic called the entire peninsula Hispania. As they became interested in the former Carthaginian territories, the Romans began to use the names Hispania Citerior. At the time Hispania was made up of three Roman provinces, Hispania Baetica, Hispania Tarraconensis, and Lusitania, Strabo says that the Romans use Hispania and Iberia synonymously, distinguishing between the near northern and the far southern provinces. Whatever language may generally have been spoken on the peninsula soon gave way to Latin, except for that of the Vascones, the Iberian Peninsula has always been associated with the Ebro, Ibēros in ancient Greek and Ibērus or Hibērus in Latin. The association was so known it was hardly necessary to state, for example. Pliny goes so far as to assert that the Greeks had called the whole of Spain Hiberia because of the Hiberus River, the river appears in the Ebro Treaty of 226 BC between Rome and Carthage, setting the limit of Carthaginian interest at the Ebro. The fullest description of the treaty, stated in Appian, uses Ibērus, with reference to this border, Polybius states that the native name is Ibēr, apparently the original word, stripped of its Greek or Latin -os or -us termination
Iberian Peninsula
–
Satellite image of the Iberian Peninsula.
Iberian Peninsula
–
Iberian Peninsula and southern France, satellite photo on a cloudless day in March 2014
Iberian Peninsula
–
Map of Spain and Portugal, Atlas historique, dated approximately 1705–1739, of H.A. Chatelain.
Iberian Peninsula
–
An 18th-century map of the peninsula depicting various topographical features of the land, as published in Robert Wilkinson's General Atlas, circa 1794.
39.
Douro River
–
The Douro is one of the major rivers of the Iberian Peninsula, flowing from its source near Duruelo de la Sierra in Soria Province across northern-central Spain and Portugal to its outlet at Porto. The Latinized name Durius, likely came from the Celtic tribes that inhabited the area before Roman times, in modern Welsh, dŵr is water, as well as dour in modern Breton with cognate dobhar in Irish. In Roman times, the river was personified as a god, the Douro vinhateiro, an area of the Douro Valley in Portugal long devoted to vineyards, has been designated by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site. Traditionally, the wine was taken down river in boats called rabelos, to be stored in barrels in cellars in Vila Nova de Gaia. In the 1950s and 1960s, dams were built along the river, now Port wine is transported in tanker trucks. In 1998, Portugal and Spain signed the Albufeira Convention, an agreement on the sharing of trans-boundary rivers to include the Douro, Tagus, the convention superseded an original agreement on the Douro, signed in 1927, that was expanded in 1964 and 1968 to include tributaries. It is the third-longest river in the Iberian Peninsula after the Tagus and its total length is 897 kilometres, of which only sections of the Portuguese extension below the fall line are navigable, by light rivercraft. In this region, there are few tributaries of the Douro, the most important are the Pisuerga, passing through Valladolid, and the Esla, which passes through Zamora. This region is generally semi-arid plains, with wheat and in places, especially near Aranda de Duero, with vineyards. Sheep rearing is still important. For 112 kilometres, the forms part of the national border line between Spain and Portugal, in a region of narrow canyons. It formed a barrier to invasions, creating a cultural/linguistic divide. In these isolated areas, in which the Aldeadávila Dam impounds the river, there are protected areas, the International Douro Natural Park and the Arribes del Duero Natural Park. The Douro fully enters Portuguese territory just after the confluence with the Águeda River, once the Douro enters Portugal, except for Porto and Vila Nova de Gaia at the river mouth, the only population centres of any note are Foz do Tua, Pinhão and Peso da Régua. Tributaries here are small, merging into the Douro along the canyons, the most important are Côa, Tua, Sabor, Corgo, Tavora, Paiva, Tâmega, none of these small, fast-flowing rivers is navigable. The most populous cities along the Douro River are Valladolid and Zamora in Spain, the latter two are located at the mouth of the Douro at the Atlantic Ocean. In Portugal, the Douro flows through the districts of Bragança, Guarda, Viseu, Vila Real, Aveiro, Porto is the main hub city in northern Portugal. Its historic centre has designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site because of its significant architecture
Douro River
–
The river between
Porto (right) and
Vila Nova de Gaia (left), facing west
Douro River
–
A 1908 image of boats along the Douro River
Douro River
–
A SPOT Satellite image of the Douro River
Douro River
–
The Douro in
Zamora (
Spain)
40.
El Bierzo
–
El Bierzo is a comarca in the province of León, Spain. Its capital is the town of Ponferrada, other major towns are Bembibre and Villafranca del Bierzo, the historical capital. The territory of El Bierzo includes most of the basin of the Sil river. It is surrounded by mountains on all sides, which makes this area remarkably isolated from all neighbouring lands, in pre-Roman times the region was populated by the Astures, a Hispano-Celtic Gallaecian people. Numerous Roman mining sites are visible in the area, one of the most spectacular being Las Médulas. Romans also imported grapevines, and wine production thrived in the region until the propagation of Phylloxera at the end of the 19th century, El Bierzo developed its own peculiarities as Galician and Leonese traditions mixed under Castilian influence, and thus was granted the administrative status of comarca. Spanish is the language, but local dialects of Galician. In the 12th century there was a colony of immigrants from Poitou in the Bierzo, the status of El Bierzo as a shire is recognized by law, and it is the only one officially recognized in the autonomous community of Castile and León. The predominant language nowadays is Spanish but the local vernaculars can be classified as either Galician or Leonese, the use of Galician and Leonese in everyday speech has mixed usages. Although both have enjoyed a recent revival through the work of different associations that promote their use and study, Galician has been more favored, Leonese continues to have a very limited use. In addition to that, the Statute of Autonomy of Castile and Leon,5, states, Shall respect and protect the Galician language and language patterns in places where the language is habitually used. The number of Galician speakers in El Bierzo is estimated to be about 35,000 people concentrated in the westernmost municipalities of the region. Pachuezu or patsuezu is the western Asturleonese variant most entrenched in the north of El Bierzo, the railroad arrived in the region in 1881, and during World War I local tungsten deposits were exploited to supply the arms industry. In 1918 the Ponferrada Mining, Iron and Steel Company was founded to exploit coal deposits in the region, the Spanish National Energy Corporation was founded in 1944 and in 1949 it opened Spains first coal-fueled power plant in Ponferrada, Compostilla I. In 1960 the Bárcena Dam opened and by the half of the 20th century the economy of the region was mainly based on mining and electricity generation. Starting in the late 1980s most mines were closed, and after the collapse of the industry the region was for a while in a crisis. The economy is now based mainly on tourism, agriculture, wind power generation, montes Aquilanos Bercian dialect Bierzo Edict El Bierzo Regional Council Official Website Consejo Regulador de la Denominación de Origen Bierzo Instituto de Estudios Bercianos
El Bierzo
–
Panoramic view of
Las Médulas World Heritage Site
El Bierzo
–
Flag
El Bierzo
–
Montes Aquilanos with El Morredero peak to the left
41.
Laciana
–
Laciana, Tsaciana in Leonese language, is a comarca in the province of León, Spain. It had 11,904 inhabitants in 2005, the rivers of this comarca flow towards the Atlantic Ocean. Local people speak a variant of the Leonese language known as Patsuezo. Many areas in Laciana were degraded in the past by open-pit mining and this comarca was declared a Biosphere Reserve in 2003. The predominant language is Castilian which coexists with the native Leon variant known as the Patsuezu language, despite being endangered, there are various efforts being made to revitalize the traditional dialect of the area. A book entitled Street Cries of the Villablino Festivals by Emilce Núñez was written about these efforts, the region is an eminently mining region that has been hit by the economic crisis. Now it is committed to finding alternatives for the future. It is the headquarters of the mining companies Ponferrada,8 HCCSA and 9 HBG (Hijos de Baldomero Garcia Viloria Group. On July 10,2003, Laciana Valley was officially declared a Biosphere Reserve, the biosphere reserve of Laciana includes 21,700 hectares of the region, divided into several zones according to their ecological interest, Villablino is the main municipality
Laciana
–
View of Caboalles de Abajo, Laciana comarca.
Laciana
–
Location of the comarca in León Province.
42.
Burgos
–
Burgos is a city in northern Spain and the historic capital of Castile. It is situated on the confluence of the Arlanzón river tributaries and it has about 180,000 inhabitants in the actual city and another 20,000 in the metropolitan area. It is the capital of the province of Burgos, in the community of Castile. A large number of churches, palaces and other buildings from the medieval age remain, the city is surrounded by the Fuentes Blancas and the Paseo de la Isla parks. The city forms the principal crossroad of northern Spain along the Camino de Santiago and it has a well-developed transportation system, forming the main communication node in northern Spain. In 2008, the international Burgos Airport started to offer commercial flights, furthermore, AVE high speed trains are planned to start service in the near future, stopping at the newly-built Rosa de Lima train station. The Museum of Human Evolution was opened in 2010, unique in its kind across the world, the museum features the first Europeans, which lived in this area 800,000 years ago. Burgos was selected as the Spanish Gastronomy Capital of 2013, there are several possible origins for the toponymy. When the city was founded, the inhabitants of the country moved into the fortified village. The city began to be called Caput Castellae, early humans occupied sites around Burgos as early as 800,000 years ago. When the Romans took possession of what is now the province of Burgos, in Roman times, it belonged to Hispania Citerior and then to Hispania Tarraconensis. The region came to be known as Castile, i. e. land of castles, the city began to be called Caput Castellae. The county of Burgos, subject to the Kings of León, continued to be governed by counts and was extended, one of these counts, Fernán González. In the 11th century, the city became the see of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Burgos, throughout the 13th and 14th centuries, Burgos was a favourite seat of the kings of León and Castile and a favoured burial site. In 1285, Sancho IV added a new body to the consejo which came to dominate it, the jurado in charge of collecting taxes and overseeing public works, the alguacil was the royal official instituted to judge disagreements. On 9 June 1345, sweeping aside the city government, Alfonso XI established direct rule of Burgos through the Regimiento of sixteen appointed men. In 1574, Pope Gregory XIII made the bishopric a Metropolitan archbishorpic, Burgos has been the scene of many wars, with the Moors, the struggles between León and Navarre, and between Castile and Aragon. In the Peninsular War against Napoleonic France, the siege of Burgos was a scene of a withdrawal for Arthur Wellesley, again in the 19th-century Carlist civil wars of the Spanish succession Burgos was the scene of a battle
Burgos
–
Burgos Cathedral
Burgos
–
View of Burgos Castle, built in 884 AD
Burgos
–
Abbey of Santa María la Real de Las Huelgas, was founded in 1180.
Burgos
–
River Arlanzón in spring
43.
Valle del Tietar
–
Tiétar is a river of Spain. It is a tributary of the Tagus and its source is in the Sierra de Gredos mountain range and has a length of 170 km. It flows into the Tagus at Monfragüe, Monfragüe List of rivers of Spain Monfragüe National Park
Valle del Tietar
–
The Tiétar with the
Sierra de Gredos in the background
44.
Douro
–
The Douro is one of the major rivers of the Iberian Peninsula, flowing from its source near Duruelo de la Sierra in Soria Province across northern-central Spain and Portugal to its outlet at Porto. The Latinized name Durius, likely came from the Celtic tribes that inhabited the area before Roman times, in modern Welsh, dŵr is water, as well as dour in modern Breton with cognate dobhar in Irish. In Roman times, the river was personified as a god, the Douro vinhateiro, an area of the Douro Valley in Portugal long devoted to vineyards, has been designated by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site. Traditionally, the wine was taken down river in boats called rabelos, to be stored in barrels in cellars in Vila Nova de Gaia. In the 1950s and 1960s, dams were built along the river, now Port wine is transported in tanker trucks. In 1998, Portugal and Spain signed the Albufeira Convention, an agreement on the sharing of trans-boundary rivers to include the Douro, Tagus, the convention superseded an original agreement on the Douro, signed in 1927, that was expanded in 1964 and 1968 to include tributaries. It is the third-longest river in the Iberian Peninsula after the Tagus and its total length is 897 kilometres, of which only sections of the Portuguese extension below the fall line are navigable, by light rivercraft. In this region, there are few tributaries of the Douro, the most important are the Pisuerga, passing through Valladolid, and the Esla, which passes through Zamora. This region is generally semi-arid plains, with wheat and in places, especially near Aranda de Duero, with vineyards. Sheep rearing is still important. For 112 kilometres, the forms part of the national border line between Spain and Portugal, in a region of narrow canyons. It formed a barrier to invasions, creating a cultural/linguistic divide. In these isolated areas, in which the Aldeadávila Dam impounds the river, there are protected areas, the International Douro Natural Park and the Arribes del Duero Natural Park. The Douro fully enters Portuguese territory just after the confluence with the Águeda River, once the Douro enters Portugal, except for Porto and Vila Nova de Gaia at the river mouth, the only population centres of any note are Foz do Tua, Pinhão and Peso da Régua. Tributaries here are small, merging into the Douro along the canyons, the most important are Côa, Tua, Sabor, Corgo, Tavora, Paiva, Tâmega, none of these small, fast-flowing rivers is navigable. The most populous cities along the Douro River are Valladolid and Zamora in Spain, the latter two are located at the mouth of the Douro at the Atlantic Ocean. In Portugal, the Douro flows through the districts of Bragança, Guarda, Viseu, Vila Real, Aveiro, Porto is the main hub city in northern Portugal. Its historic centre has designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site because of its significant architecture
Douro
–
The river between
Porto (right) and
Vila Nova de Gaia (left), facing west
Douro
–
A 1908 image of boats along the Douro River
Douro
–
A SPOT Satellite image of the Douro River
Douro
–
The Douro in
Zamora (
Spain)
45.
Porto
–
Porto is the second largest city in Portugal after Lisbon and one of the major urban areas of the Iberian Peninsula. The urban area of Porto, which extends beyond the limits of the city, has a population of 2.1 million in an area of 389 km2. It is recognized as a global city by the Globalization and World Cities Study Group. Located along the Douro river estuary in Northern Portugal, Porto is one of the oldest European centres, the western part of its urban area extends to the coastline of the Atlantic Ocean. Its settlement dates back centuries, when it was an outpost of the Roman Empire. Its combined Celtic-Latin name, Portus Cale, has referred to as the origin of the name Portugal, based on transliteration. In Portuguese, the name of the city is spelled with a definite article, consequently, its English name evolved from a misinterpretation of the oral pronunciation and referred to as Oporto in modern literature and by many speakers. In 2014 and 2017, Porto was elected The Best European Destination by the Best European Destinations Agency, the history of Porto dates back to around 300 BC with Proto-Celtic and Celtic people being the first known inhabitants. Ruins of that period have been discovered in several areas, during the Roman occupation of the Iberian Peninsula the city developed as an important commercial port, primarily in the trade between Olissipona and Bracara Augusta. Porto fell under the control of the Moors during the invasion of the Iberian Peninsula in 711. In 868, Vímara Peres, a warlord from Gallaecia, and this included the area from the Minho to the Douro River, the settlement of Portus Cale and the area that is known as Vila Nova de Gaia. Portus Cale, later referred to as Portucale, was the origin for the name of Portugal. In 868, Count Vímara Peres established the County of Portugal, or, in 1387, Porto was the site of the marriage of John I of Portugal and Philippa of Lancaster, daughter of John of Gaunt, this symbolized a long-standing military alliance between Portugal and England. The Portuguese-English alliance, is the worlds oldest recorded military alliance, in the 14th and the 15th centuries, Portos shipyards contributed to the development of Portuguese shipbuilding. It was also from the port of Porto that, in 1415, Prince Henry the Navigator embarked on the conquest of the Moorish port of Ceuta, wine, produced in the Douro valley, was already in the 13th century transported to Porto in barcos rabelos. In 1703, the Methuen Treaty established the relations between Portugal and England. In 1717, a first English trading post was established in Porto, the production of port wine then gradually passed into the hands of a few English firms. To counter this English dominance, Prime Minister Marquis of Pombal established a Portuguese firm receiving the monopoly of the wines from the Douro valley
Porto
–
From the top left corner clockwise:
Clérigos Tower;
Palácio da Bolsa; Avenida dos Aliados;
Church of São Francisco;
Porto Cathedral; Porto City Hall; Ribeira
Porto
–
Porto Cathedral
Porto
–
Avenida dos Aliados
Porto
–
The iconic Majestic Café
46.
Pisuerga
–
The Pisuerga is a river in northern Spain, the Dueros second largest tributary. It rises in the Cantabrian Mountains in the province of Palencia, autonomous region of Castile and its traditional source is called Fuente Cobre, but it has been discovered that the real source is a glacier higher in the mountains. The river flows south into the Douro river shortly after passing through the city of Valladolid and its length is approximately 270 kilometres. Since the 1950s the water level of the river has very regular throughout the year due to the huge Aguilar de Campoo dam which collects all the water from the rivers rainy upper valleys. This regulation has allowed the creation of vast extensions of irrigated farmland along the Pisuergas course across the northern Castilian plain. The Spanish phrase aprovechando que el Pisuerga pasa por Valladolid is a way to point or acknowledge a non sequitur since the river has no bearing with the following consequence. Johnny Juerga y los que remontan el Pisuerga is a Spanish rock group known by their unusual band name
Pisuerga
–
The Pisuerga passing through
Valladolid.
47.
Esla (river)
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The Esla is a river in the provinces of León and Zamora in the northwest of Spain. It is a tributary of the Duero River that starts in the Cantabrian Mountains and is 275 kilometres long and its direction of flow is from north to south. It is the largest tributary of the Duero in terms of discharge, in fact, at its mouth at the confluence with the Duero, the most official source of the river is the “Fuente del Naranco” in Valdosín. This river was known as the Astura to the ancient Romans and they were ancestors of the modern inhabitants of Asturias and León, living on both sides of the Cantabrian Mountains. Many of the toponyms in the area owe their name to the river, for example, Villafalé, Vega del Esla, Mansilla del Esla, in the 19th century, the Canal del Esla was built to irrigate the Vega de Toral. In the 1980s, a dam and reservoir project to generate hydroelectric power required the submersion of seven villages along the Esla in León, new villages were built along the reservoir to replace these historic towns. The principal tributaries of the Esla are, Bernesga River Cea River Órbigo River Porma River Tera River Aliste River List of rivers of Spain
Esla (river)
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View of the Esla River
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Rainfall
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Rain is liquid water in the form of droplets that have condensed from atmospheric water vapor and then precipitated—that is, become heavy enough to fall under gravity. Rain is a component of the water cycle and is responsible for depositing most of the fresh water on the Earth. It provides suitable conditions for many types of ecosystems, as well as water for power plants. The major cause of production is moisture moving along three-dimensional zones of temperature and moisture contrasts known as weather fronts. If enough moisture and upward motion is present, precipitation falls from convective clouds such as cumulonimbus which can organize into narrow rainbands. On the leeward side of mountains, desert climates can exist due to the dry air caused by downslope flow which causes heating and drying of the air mass, the movement of the monsoon trough, or intertropical convergence zone, brings rainy seasons to savannah climes. The urban heat island effect leads to increased rainfall, both in amounts and intensity, downwind of cities, global warming is also causing changes in the precipitation pattern globally, including wetter conditions across eastern North America and drier conditions in the tropics. The globally averaged annual precipitation over land is 715 mm, climate classification systems such as the Köppen climate classification system use average annual rainfall to help differentiate between differing climate regimes. Rainfall is measured using rain gauges, rainfall amounts can be estimated by weather radar. Rain is also known or suspected on other planets, where it may be composed of methane, neon, sulfuric acid, or even iron rather than water. Air contains water vapor, and the amount of water in a mass of dry air. The amount of moisture in air is commonly reported as relative humidity. How much water vapor a parcel of air can contain before it becomes saturated, warmer air can contain more water vapor than cooler air before becoming saturated. Therefore, one way to saturate a parcel of air is to cool it, the dew point is the temperature to which a parcel must be cooled in order to become saturated. There are four mechanisms for cooling the air to its dew point, adiabatic cooling, conductive cooling, radiational cooling. Adiabatic cooling occurs when air rises and expands, the air can rise due to convection, large-scale atmospheric motions, or a physical barrier such as a mountain. Conductive cooling occurs when the air comes into contact with a surface, usually by being blown from one surface to another. Radiational cooling occurs due to the emission of infrared radiation, either by the air or by the surface underneath, evaporative cooling occurs when moisture is added to the air through evaporation, which forces the air temperature to cool to its wet-bulb temperature, or until it reaches saturation
Rainfall
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A rain shaft at the base of a
thunderstorm
Rainfall
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Torrential rain.
Rainfall
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A raindrop on a leaf
Rainfall
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Convective precipitation
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Palencia
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Palencia is a city south of Tierra de Campos, in north-northwest Spain, the capital of the province of Palencia in the autonomous community of Castile and León. The municipality had a population of 81,522 in 2011, Palencia is located approximately 190 km north of Madrid, and some 40 km north of the capital of Valladolid. Two hills surround the city in its north-east area, on the closest stands the 30 metre high statue of Christ known as the Cristo del Otero, the fourth tallest statue of Christ in the world. Palencia has a substantial forest of 1,438 hectares 6 km away on a plateau above the city and this park is a popular amusement area for the locals. The Canal de Castilla runs close to the city, Palencias municipality includes the village of Paredes de Monte,14 km away. Fogs are also frequent because of the Carrion river, summer tends to be warm with temperatures that consistently surpass 30 °C in July and that can rarely reach 38 °C. Due to Palencias altitude, nightly temperatures tend to be cooler, precipitation levels are moderated, but precipitation can be observed throughout the year. Summer and winter are the driest seasons, with most rainfall occurring in the autumn, the rain is very frequent in winter, and infrequent in summer. Rainfall is light but frequent during the months, and infrequent in summer with heavy thunderstorms. The snow is an unfrecuently and light phenomenon at the city and it usually falls some days per year, during December, January and February, but it´s common watching some snowfalls during November or March. The fortified Celtiberian settlement is mentioned as Pallantia by Strabo and Ptolemy and it was the chief town of the Vaccaei, although Strabo wrongly assigns it to the Arevaci. The city was starved into submission by the Romans in the 2nd century BCE and incorporated into the province of Hispania Tarraconensis, though the little Roman garrison city was an active mint, it was insignificant compared to the Roman villas of Late Antiquity in the surrounding territory. Archeologists have uncovered the remains of Roman villas at La Olmeda and at the Quintanilla de la Cueza, when the Visigoths conquered the territory, however, they retained the Roman rural villa system in establishing the Campos Góticos. The Catholic bishopric of Palencia was founded in the 3rd century or earlier, assuming that its bishop was among those assembled in the 3rd century to depose Basilides, the Priscillianists which originated in Egypt but came to Spain was declared a heresy by the emperor Gratian. It was mix of orthodox Catholic beliefs and Gnostic/Montanist teachings, priscillian was ordained priest and then consecrated bishop of Avila. The heresy was strongest in northwestern Spain, the declaration of it as a heresy was a political move by the Catholic usurper emperor Maximus to curry favor with the Catholic emperors Valentinian II and Theodosius I. After the establishment of effective Visigothic power Catholics disputed the bishopric of Palencia with the Arian Visigoths, maurila, an Arian bishop established in Palencia by Leovigild, followed King Reccareds conversion to Catholicism, and in 589 he assisted at the Third Council of Toledo. When the Moors arrived in the early 8th century, resistance was fragmented among bishops in control of the walled towns
Palencia
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Palencia
Palencia
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Cold and snow day at the centre of the city.
Palencia
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Rain is very frequent in Palencia, during autumn, winter and spring.
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listen); Leonese: Castiella y Llión [kasˈtjeʎa i ʎiˈoŋ]; Galician: Castela e León [kasˈtɛla e leˈoŋ]) is an autonomous community in north-western Spain. It was constituted in 1983, although it existed for the first time during the First Spanish Republic in the 19th century. León first appeared as a Kingdom in 910, whilst the Kingdom of Castile gained an independent identity in 1065 and was intermittently held in personal union with León before merging with it permanently in 1230. It is the largest autonomous community in Spain and the third largest region of the European Union, covering an area of 94,223 square kilometres (36,380 sq mi) with an official population of around 2.5 million (2011).
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