1.
Basketball
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Basketball is a non-contact team sport played on a rectangular court by two teams of five players each. The objective is to shoot a ball through a hoop 18 inches in diameter and 10 feet high that is mounted to a backboard at each end of the court. The game was invented in 1891 by Dr. James Naismith, a team can score a field goal by shooting the ball through the basket being defended by the opposition team during regular play. A field goal scores three points for the team if the player shoots from behind the three-point line. A team can also score via free throws, which are worth one point, the team with the most points at the end of the game wins, but additional time is mandated when the score is tied at the end of regulation. The ball can be advanced on the court by passing it to a teammate and it is a violation to lift, or drag, ones pivot foot without dribbling the ball, to carry it, or to hold the ball with both hands then resume dribbling. The game has many techniques for displaying skill—ball-handling, shooting, passing, dribbling, dunking, shot-blocking. The point guard directs the on court action of the team, implementing the coachs game plan, Basketball is one of the worlds most popular and widely viewed sports. Outside North America, the top clubs from national leagues qualify to continental championships such as the Euroleague, the FIBA Basketball World Cup attracts the top national teams from around the world. Each continent hosts regional competitions for teams, like EuroBasket. The FIBA Womens Basketball World Cup features the top womens basketball teams from continental championships. The main North American league is the WNBA, whereas the EuroLeague Women has been dominated by teams from the Russian Womens Basketball Premier League, in early December 1891, Canadian Dr. He sought a vigorous indoor game to keep his students occupied, after rejecting other ideas as either too rough or poorly suited to walled-in gymnasiums, he wrote the basic rules and nailed a peach basket onto a 10-foot elevated track. Basketball was originally played with a soccer ball and these laces could cause bounce passes and dribbling to be unpredictable. Eventually a lace-free ball construction method was invented, and this change to the game was endorsed by Naismith, dribbling was not part of the original game except for the bounce pass to teammates. Passing the ball was the means of ball movement. Dribbling was eventually introduced but limited by the shape of early balls. Dribbling only became a part of the game around the 1950s
2.
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
3.
Promotion and relegation
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In sports leagues, promotion and relegation is a process where teams are transferred between two divisions based on their performance for the completed season. In some leagues, playoffs or qualifying rounds are used to determine rankings. This process can continue through several levels of divisions, with teams being exchanged between levels 1 and 2, levels 2 and 3, levels 3 and 4, the number of teams exchanged between the divisions is almost always identical. Such variations will almost inevitably cause an effect through the lower divisions. Even in the absence of such circumstances, the pyramid-like nature of most European football league systems can still create knock-on effects at the regional level. The system is said to be the characteristic of the European form of professional sports league organization. Promotion and relegation have the effect of allowing the maintenance of a hierarchy of leagues and divisions and they also maintain the importance of games played by many low-ranked teams near the end of the season, which may be at risk of relegation. In contrast, a low-ranked US or Canadian teams final games serve little purpose, although not intrinsic to the system, problems can occur due to the differing monetary payouts and revenue-generating potential that different divisions provide to their clubs. For example, financial hardship has sometimes occurred in leagues where clubs do not reduce their wage bill once relegated, some leagues offer parachute payments to its relegated teams for the following year. The payouts are higher than the money received by some non-relegated teams and are designed to soften the financial hit that clubs take whilst dropping out of the Premier League. However, in many cases these parachute payments just serve to inflate the costs of competing for promotion among the lower division clubs as newly relegated teams retain a financial advantage. If these are not satisfied, a team may be promoted in their place. While the primary purpose of the system is to maintain competitive balance. On several occasions, the Italian Football Federation has relegated clubs found to have involved in match-fixing. This occurred most recently in 2006, when the initial champions Juventus were relegated to Serie B. An exception is the proposed UEFA Nations League, which will feature promotion and relegation across four levels, in tennis, the Davis Cup has promotion and relegation where each group uses a knockout tournament format in which first-round losers play off to avoid relegation. In the United States, Canada, and Australia, teams are not promoted or relegated. The USL set up two leagues, now known as the United Soccer League and the Premier Development League, although the system is now in place, it is not compulsory and is rarely used
4.
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
5.
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
6.
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
7.
Navarre
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The first documented use of a name resembling Navarra, Nafarroa, or Naparroa is a reference to navarros, in Eginhards early 9th Century chronicle of the feats of the Holy Roman Emperor Charlemagne. Other Royal Frankish Annals feature nabarros, there are two proposed etymologies for the name. Basque nabar, brownish, multicolor (i. e. in contrast to the mountainous lands north of the original County of Navarre. Basque naba, valley, plain + Basque herri, the linguist Joan Coromines considers naba to be linguistically part of a wider Vasconic or Aquitanian language substrate, rather than Basque per se. During the Roman Empire, the Vascones, a tribe who populated the southern slopes of the Pyrenees. In the mountainous north, the Vascones escaped large-scale Roman settlement, not so the flatter areas to the south, which were amenable to large-scale Roman farming—vineyards, olives, and wheat crops. Neither the Visigoths nor the Franks ever completely subjugated the area, the Vascones included neighbouring tribes as of the 7th century. In AD778, the Basques defeated a Frankish army at the Battle of Roncevaux Pass and that kingdom reached its zenith during the reign of King Sancho III, comprising most of the Christian realms to the south of the Pyrenees, and even a short overlordship of Gascony. When Sancho III died in 1035, the Kingdom of Navarre was divided between his sons and it never fully recovered its political power, while its commercial importance increased as traders and pilgrims poured into the kingdom throughout the Way of Saint James. In 1200, Navarre lost the key western Basque districts to Alphonse VIII of Castile, Navarre then contributed with a small but symbolic force of 200 knights to the decisive Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa in 1212 against the Almohads. The native line of kings came to an end in 1234, however, the Navarrese kept most of their strong laws and institutions. To the south of the Pyrenees, Navarre was annexed to the Crown of Castile, but keeping a separate status. A Chartered Government was established, and the managed to keep home rule. After the 1839 Convention of Bergara, a version of home rule was passed in 1839. The relocation of customs from the Ebro river to the Pyrenees in 1841 prompted the collapse of Navarre’s customary cross-Pyrenean trade, amid instability in Spain, Carlists took over in Navarre and the rest of the Basque provinces. The end of the Third Carlist War saw a wave of Spanish centralization directly affecting Navarre. In 1893-1894 the Gamazada popular uprising took place centred in Pamplona against Madrids governmental decisions breaching the 1841 chartered provisions. Except for a faction, all parties in Navarre agreed on the need for a new political framework based on home rule within the Laurak Bat
8.
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
9.
Canary Islands
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The Canary Islands, also known as the Canaries, are an archipelago and autonomous community of Spain located on the Atlantic Ocean,100 kilometres west of Morocco. The Canaries are among the outermost regions of the European Union proper and it is also one of the eight regions with special consideration of historical nationality recognized as such by the Spanish Government. The main islands are Tenerife, Fuerteventura, Gran Canaria, Lanzarote, La Palma, La Gomera, the archipelago also includes a number of islands and islets, La Graciosa, Alegranza, Isla de Lobos, Montaña Clara, Roque del Oeste and Roque del Este. In ancient times, the chain was often referred to as the Fortunate Isles. The Canary Islands is the most southerly region of Spain and the largest and most populated archipelago of the Macaronesia region, the islands have a subtropical climate, with long hot summers and moderately warm winters. The precipitation levels and the level of maritime moderation varies depending on location and elevation, green areas as well as desert exist on the archipelago. Due to their location above the inversion layer, the high mountains of these islands are ideal for astronomical observation. For this reason, two professional observatories, Teide Observatory on the island of Tenerife and Roque de los Muchachos Observatory on the island of La Palma, have built on the islands. Las Palmas de Gran Canaria has been the largest city in the Canaries since 1768, between the 1833 territorial division of Spain and 1927 Santa Cruz de Tenerife was the sole capital of the Canary Islands. In 1927 a decree ordered that the capital of the Canary Islands be shared, the third largest city of the Canary Islands is San Cristóbal de La Laguna on Tenerife. This city is home to the Consejo Consultivo de Canarias. During the time of the Spanish Empire, the Canaries were the main stopover for Spanish galleons on their way to the Americas, who came south to catch the prevailing northeasterly trade winds. The name Islas Canarias is likely derived from the Latin name Canariae Insulae, meaning Islands of the Dogs, according to the historian Pliny the Elder, the Mauretanian king Juba II named the island Canaria because it contained vast multitudes of dogs of very large size. Another speculation is that the dogs were actually a species of monk seal, critically endangered. The dense population of seals may have been the characteristic that most struck the few ancient Romans who established contact with these islands by sea. Alternatively, it is said that the inhabitants of the island, Guanches, used to worship dogs, mummified them. The ancient Greeks also knew about a people, living far to the west, who are the dog-headed ones, who worshipped dogs on an island. Some hypothesize that the Canary Islands dog-worship and the ancient Egyptian cult of the god, Anubis are closely connected
10.
Castilla-La Mancha
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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
11.
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
