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Community of Madrid

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Community of Madrid
Comunidad de Madrid
Anthem: "Himno de la Comunidad de Madrid"
"Anthem of the Community of Madrid"
Location of the Community of Madrid within Spain
Location of the Community of Madrid within Spain
Coordinates: 40°30′N 3°40′W / 40.500°N 3.667°W / 40.500; -3.667Coordinates: 40°30′N 3°40′W / 40.500°N 3.667°W / 40.500; -3.667
CountrySpain
CapitalCity of Madrid
Government
 • PresidentIsabel Díaz Ayuso (PP)
 • LegislatureAssembly of Madrid
 • ExecutiveGovernment of the Community of Madrid
Area
 • Total8,028.19 km2 (3,099.70 sq mi)
 Ranked 12th, 1.6% of Spain
Population
 (2019)
 • Total6,661,949
 • Density829.62/km2 (2,148.7/sq mi)
 • Pop. rank
3rd
 • Percent
14.2% of Spain
DemonymMadrilenian • Madrilene madrileño • madrileña
GDP
 (PPA; 2021)
 • Per capita€47,041 Increase5.7%[1]
ISO 3166-2
ES-MD
Official languagesSpanish
Statute of Autonomy1 March 1983
HDI (2018)0.941[2]
very high · 1st
Congress seats37 (of 350)
Senate seats11 (of 265)
Websitecomunidad.madrid

The Community of Madrid (Spanish: Comunidad de Madrid [komuniˈðað ðe maˈðɾið] (listen)) is one of the seventeen autonomous communities of Spain. It is located in the centre of the Iberian Peninsula, and of the Central Plateau (Meseta Central). Its capital and largest municipality 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 Castilla–La Mancha and to the north and west by Castile and León. It was formally created in 1983, based on the limits of the province of Madrid, which was until then conventionally included in the historical region of New Castile.

The Community of Madrid is the third most populous in Spain with 6,661,949 (2019) inhabitants mostly concentrated in the metropolitan area of Madrid.[3] It is also the most densely populated autonomous community. In absolute terms, Madrid's economy has been, since 2018, slightly bigger in size than that of Catalonia.[4] Madrid has the highest GDP per capita in the country.[5]

It contains three World Heritage Sites: the Monastery and Royal Site of El Escorial, the University and historic centre of Alcalá de Henares, and the cultural landscape of Aranjuez. In addition, the Montejo Beech Forest [es] is part of the transnational Ancient and Primeval Beech Forests of the Carpathians and Other Regions of Europe world heritage site.

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Iberian Peninsula

Iberian Peninsula

The Iberian Peninsula, also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in south-western Europe, defining the westernmost edge of Eurasia. It is divided between Peninsular Spain and Continental Portugal, comprising most of the region, as well as Andorra, Gibraltar, and a small part of Southern France. With an area of approximately 583,254 square kilometres (225,196 sq mi), and a population of roughly 53 million, it is the second-largest European peninsula by area, after the Scandinavian Peninsula.

Meseta Central

Meseta Central

The Meseta Central is one of the basic geographical units of the Iberian Peninsula. It consists of a plateau covering a large part of the latter's interior.

Madrid

Madrid

Madrid is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and its monocentric metropolitan area is the second-largest in the EU. The municipality covers 604.3 km2 (233.3 sq mi) geographical area.

Castilla–La Mancha

Castilla–La Mancha

Castilla–La Mancha is an autonomous community of Spain. Comprising the provinces of Albacete, Ciudad Real, Cuenca, Guadalajara and Toledo, it was created in 1982. The government headquarters are in Toledo, and its largest city is Albacete.

Castile and León

Castile and León

Castile and León is an autonomous community in northwestern Spain.

New Castile (Spain)

New Castile (Spain)

New Castile is a historic region of Spain. It roughly corresponds to the historic Moorish Taifa of Toledo, taken during the Reconquista of the peninsula by Christians and thus becoming the southern part of Castile. The extension of New Castile was formally defined after the 1833 territorial division of Spain as the sum of the following provinces: Ciudad Real, Cuenca, Guadalajara, Madrid and Toledo.

Catalonia

Catalonia

Catalonia is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a nationality by its Statute of Autonomy.

Gross domestic product

Gross domestic product

Gross domestic product (GDP) is a monetary measure of the market value of all the final goods and services produced and sold in a specific time period by a country or countries, generally "without double counting the intermediate goods and services used up to produce them". GDP is most often used by the government of a single country to measure its economic health. Due to its complex and subjective nature, this measure is often revised before being considered a reliable indicator. GDP (nominal) per capita does not, however, reflect differences in the cost of living and the inflation rates of the countries; therefore, using a basis of GDP per capita at purchasing power parity (PPP) may be more useful when comparing living standards between nations, while nominal GDP is more useful comparing national economies on the international market. Total GDP can also be broken down into the contribution of each industry or sector of the economy. The ratio of GDP to the total population of the region is the per capita GDP.

El Escorial

El Escorial

El Escorial, or the Royal Site of San Lorenzo de El Escorial, or Monasterio del Escorial, is a historical residence of the King of Spain located in the town of San Lorenzo de El Escorial, 2.06 km (1.28 mi) up the valley from the town of El Escorial and about 45 kilometres northwest of the Spanish capital Madrid. Built between 1563 and 1584 by order of King Philip II, El Escorial is the largest Renaissance building in the world. It is one of the Spanish royal sites and functions as a monastery, basilica, royal palace, pantheon, library, museum, university, school, and hospital.

Alcalá de Henares

Alcalá de Henares

Alcalá de Henares is a Spanish city in the Community of Madrid. Straddling the Henares River, it is located 31 kilometres to the northeast of the center of Madrid. As of 2018, it has a population of 193,751, making it the region's third-most populated municipality.

Aranjuez

Aranjuez

Aranjuez is a city and municipality of Spain, part of the Community of Madrid.

Ancient and Primeval Beech Forests of the Carpathians and Other Regions of Europe

Ancient and Primeval Beech Forests of the Carpathians and Other Regions of Europe

Ancient and Primeval Beech Forests of the Carpathians and Other Regions of Europe is a transnational serial nature UNESCO World Heritage Site, encompassing 94 component parts in 18 European countries. Together, the sites protect the largest and least disturbed forests dominated by the beech tree. In many of these stands, these forests here were allowed to proceed without interruption or interference since the last ice age. These sites document the undisturbed postglacial repopulation of the species.

Geography

Relief map of the Community of Madrid

Despite the existence of a large city of 5 million people, the Community of Madrid still retains some remarkably unspoiled and diverse habitats and landscapes. Madrid is home to mountain peaks rising above 2,000 m, holm oak dehesas and low-lying plains. The slopes of the Guadarrama mountain range are cloaked in dense forests of Scots pine and Pyrenean oak. The Lozoya Valley supports a large black (monk) vulture colony, and one of the last bastions of the Spanish imperial eagle in the world is found in the Park Regional del Suroeste in dehesa hills between the Gredos and Guadarrama ranges. The recent possible detection of the existence of Iberian lynx in the area between the Cofio and Alberche rivers is testament to the biodiversity of the area. Taking advantage of the orography, there are several reservoirs and local dams, with the Santillana reservoir being the largest.

When looking at a map of the Province of Madrid, it can be seen that it is almost an equilateral triangle, in whose center would be the city. First, by the western side, it borders the "Sistema Central" (the Guadarrama mountain range), the southern border features a protrusion following the Tagus River in order to include the royal site of Aranjuez in the region; the eastern edge of the triangle comes from the rupture of the fluvial river basins. This autonomous community is located in the basin of the Tagus River. The Tagus passes through the southern border of the Autonomy in its path west toward the Atlantic Ocean, draining the waters of the Jarama River (collecting in turn the waters of the Lozoya, the Guadalix, the Manzanares, the Henares and the Tajuña), the Alberche and the Guadarrama in the Community.[6]

The Iberian ibex (Capra pyrenaica) in La Pedriza
The Iberian ibex (Capra pyrenaica) in La Pedriza

This autonomous community also includes the exclave of Dehesa de la Cepeda (part of the municipality of Santa María de la Alameda), a mostly open-area geographically located between the provinces of Ávila and Segovia in the autonomous community of Castile and León.

Province of Madrid occupies a surface area of approximately 8,028 km2 (3,100 sq mi) (1.6% of all Spanish territory). More specifically, the exact position of Madrid is 3° 40´ of longitude west of Greenwich, England, and 40° 23´ north of the equator.

Most of province lies between 600 and 1,000 m above sea level. However, there the altitude ranges from the 2,428 metres of Peñalara and the 430 metres of the Alberche river when it leaves Villa del Prado into the province of Toledo.[7] Other considerable heights, as well as being famous, are the Bola del Mundo ("Ball of the World") in Navacerrada, at a height of 2,258 m, the Siete Picos ("Seven Peaks") in Cercedilla, at 2,138 m, and the Peña Cebollera (2,129 m) at the northernmost end of the province, a tripoint between the Madrid region and the provinces of Segovia and Guadalajara.

Fauna

Among the protected species of birds nesting in the region stand out the Spanish imperial eagle, the golden eagle, the Bonelli's eagle, the cinereous vulture, the peregrine falcon and the black stork.[8]

Exotic invasive species of birds and mammals in the region include the red-eared slider, the monk parakeet, the common snapping turtle, the rose-ringed parakeet, the American mink and the raccoon.[9] Species described as "out of place" and with an increasing population include the black-headed gull, the lesser black-backed gull, the great cormorant and Eurasian collared dove,[10] while the emblematic iberian ibex is presented as a case of a species "gone out of control" in La Pedriza following its re-introduction in the region in 1990 after roughly a century disappeared from the Madrilenian mountains.[11]

The mountain amphibians living at a high altitude include the fire salamander, the marbled newt, the alpine newt, the iberian frog, the European tree frog or the common midwife toad.[12] At a middle elevation in the mountain reaches close to water streams there are species such as the Bosca's newt, the southern marbled newt, the mediterranean tree frog or the iberian midwife toad.[13] The common parsley frog and the Alytes obstetricans pertinax dwell in the limestone lowlands near the Tagus in the south-east of the region.[13] Among the all-around amphibians adaptable to different heights stand out the natterjack toad, the common toad and the iberian green frog.[13] Other species with a wide distribution range (although in this case restricted by altitude) are the gallipato, the iberian spadefoot toad, the iberian painted frog, and the Spanish painted frog.[13]

Regarding the reptiles, species such as the Cyren's rock lizard, the European wall lizard, the iberian emerald lizard, the deaf adder or snakes such as the smooth snake or the Vipera latastei dwell in the mountain heights.[14] At the lower reaches of the mountains the European pond turtle and the Brediaga's skink can be found, while the western false smooth snake is restricted to areas in the south of the region.[15] Among the species of all-around reptiles, adaptable to different biomes stand out the Spanish pond turtle, the salamanquesa, the western three-toed skink, the spiny-footed lizard, the ocellated lizard, the Algerian sand racer, Spanish psammodromus, the ubiquitous iberian wall lizard, the iberian worm lizard, the Coronella girondica, the Montpellier snake; grass snake and the viperine snake.[16]

The fish species are affected by the high number of reservoirs in the region.[6] Among the threatened species in the rivers stand out the European eel, the iberian barbel, the Squalius alburnoides, the Cobitis calderoni and, potentially, the Chondrostoma lemmingii.[17] Conversely the set of invasive species of fish includes pike, black bullhead catfish, pumpkinseed, zander, common bleak and black-bass.[17]

Vegetation
The summer drought is characteristic of the Madrid region's climate. Montejo Beech [es] (part of the transnational Ancient and Primeval Beech Forests of the Carpathians and Other Regions of Europe world heritage site) is a relict forest featuring a particular case of microclimate, allowing for Eurosiberian species that do not grow in the region in normal conditions.
The summer drought is characteristic of the Madrid region's climate. Montejo Beech [es] (part of the transnational Ancient and Primeval Beech Forests of the Carpathians and Other Regions of Europe world heritage site) is a relict forest featuring a particular case of microclimate, allowing for Eurosiberian species that do not grow in the region in normal conditions.

In the vicinity of the mountain peaks, oromediterranean vegetation such as Agrostis truncatula, Armeria caespitosa [es], Festuca indigesta, Jasione crispa [es], Jurinea humilis [es], Minuartia recurva, Pilosella vahlii, Plantago holosteum and the Thymus praecox is common.[18] Below the summit line, shrubby species such as the Cytisus oromediterraneus [es] and the common juniper as well as the Scots pine take over.[19] There are also masses of black pine and the pyrenean oak situated above the domain of the holm oak.[20]

Olive tree orchards in Arganda del Rey
Olive tree orchards in Arganda del Rey

Eurosiberian flora is not common in the region, and species such as the moor birch and the silver birch are restricted to very specific humid valley areas with special climate conditions.[21] The climax vegetation in the campiña is the holly oak. Some of the species that take over when the holly oak forest degrades are the "sticky shrub", the Retama sphaerocarpa [es], the French lavender, the Thymus mastichina and the Thymus zygis.[22]

The lower reaches of Guadarrama Mountain Range are populated by species such as the Juniperus thurifera, the maritime pine, the Portuguese oak, the stone pine; only in the somewhat more humid westernmost end of the region, near the Alto del Mirlo [es], there are forests of chestnut tree.[23]

54,4% of the surface of the region is soil categorised as forest areas of which the 51.4% (27.7% of the total of the region) it is already covered by forests, so there is room for tree re-population.[24] The first modest efforts towards tree re-population were taken in the Lozoya Valley in the late 19th century intending to achieve a purer water from the river,[25] that provided the capital with water for consumption. However the bulk of the process took place after the Spanish Civil War, with a largely successful repopulation with several species of conifers.[26]

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Quercus rotundifolia

Quercus rotundifolia

Quercus rotundifolia, the holm oak or ballota oak, is an evergreen oak native to the western Mediterranean region, with the majority on the Iberian Peninsula and minor populations in Northwest Africa. The species was first described by Jean-Baptiste Lamarck in 1785. It is the typical species of the Iberian dehesa or montado, where its sweet-astringent acorns are a source of food for livestock, particularly the Iberian pig. Its acorns have been used for human nourishment since the Neolithic era. It is placed in section Ilex. Some authors described it as a subspecies of Quercus ilex.

Oak

Oak

An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus Quercus of the beech family, Fagaceae. There are approximately 500 extant species of oaks. The common name "oak" also appears in the names of species in related genera, notably Lithocarpus, as well as in those of unrelated species such as Grevillea robusta and the Casuarinaceae (she-oaks). The genus Quercus is native to the Northern Hemisphere, and includes deciduous and evergreen species extending from cool temperate to tropical latitudes in the Americas, Asia, Europe, and North Africa. North America has the largest number of oak species, with approximately 160 species in Mexico of which 109 are endemic and about 90 in the United States. The second greatest area of oak diversity is China, with approximately 100 species.

Spanish imperial eagle

Spanish imperial eagle

The Spanish imperial eagle, also known as the Spanish eagle or Adalbert's eagle, is a species of eagle native to the Iberian Peninsula. The binomial commemorates Prince Adalbert of Bavaria. Due to its distinct "epaulettes", old literature often referred to this species as the white-shouldered eagle.

Iberian lynx

Iberian lynx

The Iberian lynx is a wild cat species endemic to the Iberian Peninsula in southwestern Europe. It is listed as Endangered on the IUCN Red List. In the 20th century, the Iberian lynx population had declined because of overhunting, poaching, fragmentation of suitable habitats, and the population decline of its main prey species, the European rabbit, caused by myxomatosis and rabbit haemorrhagic disease.

Alberche

Alberche

The Alberche is a river in the provinces of Ávila, Madrid and Toledo, central Spain. It begins its course at 1,800 m in Fuente Alberche, San Martín de la Vega del Alberche municipal term, Ávila Province. It forms the natural division between the Sierra de Gredos and the Sierra de Guadarrama, in the Sistema Central.

Santillana reservoir

Santillana reservoir

Santillana reservoir, also known as Manzanares el Real reservoir, is a body of water along the Manzanares river located in the municipalities of Manzanares el Real and Soto del Real, in the Community of Madrid, in the centre of Spain. It has a maximum surface of 1052 ha, the longest distance between opposites shores reaches 30 kilometres (19 mi), and the total volume of the reservoir is 91 hm³. The first dam was built in 1907, but in 1969 a new and higher dam was built. This new construction was 5 m higher, which allowed the reservoir to have a volume twice as large as before.

Peñalara

Peñalara

Peñalara is the highest mountain peak in the mountain range of Guadarrama, a subsection of Spain's larger Sistema Central mountain chain which lies at the center and divides the Iberian Peninsula. Straddling the provinces of Madrid and Segovia, Peñalara reaches a height of 2,428 metres above sea level. Consequently, it is one of the most emblematic and important peaks of the Guadarramas.

Sistema Central

Sistema Central

The Central System, Spanish and Portuguese: Sistema Central, is one of the main systems of mountain ranges in the Iberian Peninsula. The 2,592 m high Pico Almanzor is its highest summit.

Tagus

Tagus

The Tagus is the longest river in the Iberian Peninsula. The river rises in the Montes Universales near Teruel, in mid-eastern Spain, flows 1,007 km (626 mi), generally west with two main south-westward sections, to empty into the Atlantic Ocean in Lisbon. Its drainage basin covers 80,100 km2 (30,927 sq mi) – exceeded in the peninsula only by the Douro. The river is highly used. Several dams and diversions supply drinking water to key population centres of central Spain and Portugal; dozens of hydroelectric stations create power. Between dams it follows a very constricted course, but after Almourol, Portugal it has a wide alluvial valley, prone to flooding. Its mouth is a large estuary culminating at the major port, and Portuguese capital, Lisbon.

Aranjuez

Aranjuez

Aranjuez is a city and municipality of Spain, part of the Community of Madrid.

Atlantic Ocean

Atlantic Ocean

The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about 106,460,000 km2 (41,100,000 sq mi). It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the "Old World" of Africa, Europe, and Asia from the "New World" of the Americas in the European perception of the World.

Climate

The Madrid region features a climate marked by dry summers, while average temperature varies with altitude, marking different climate subtypes. Most of the region (including the capital) has a climate intermediate between a hot-summer mediterranean climate (Köppen Csa) and a cold semi-arid climate (Köppen BSk), with a dry summer and a moderate to low amount of rain primarily distributed throughout the rest of the year (in the case of the capital, roughly an equinoctial pattern of precipitation maximums), as well as summer temperature averages over 22 °C (with daily maximums consistently surpassing 30 °C in July and August). The areas at a higher altitude close to the Sierra de Guadarrama feature a colder climate, also generally with more precipitation (particularly in the winter), with climate subtypes ranging from the Csa to the warm-summer mediterranean climate (Köppen: Csb) and the dry summer continental climate (Köppen: Dsb) on the peaks of the mountain range, with temperature averages below freezing point during January and February in the later case.

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Köppen climate classification

Köppen climate classification

The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, notably in 1918 and 1936. Later, German climatologist Rudolf Geiger (1894–1981) introduced some changes to the classification system, which is thus sometimes called the Köppen–Geiger climate classification.

Sierra de Guadarrama

Sierra de Guadarrama

The Sierra de Guadarrama is a mountain range forming the main eastern section of the Sistema Central, the system of mountain ranges along the centre of the Iberian Peninsula. It is located between the systems Sierra de Gredos in the province of Ávila, and Sierra de Ayllón in the province of Guadalajara.

Continental climate

Continental climate

Continental climates often have a significant annual variation in temperature. They tend to occur in the middle latitudes, within large landmasses where prevailing winds blow overland bringing some precipitation, and temperatures are not moderated by oceans. Continental climates occur mostly in the Northern Hemisphere due to the large landmasses found there. Most of northern and northeastern China, eastern and southeastern Europe, Western and north western Iran, central and southeastern Canada, and the central and northeastern United States have this type of climate. Continentality is a measure of the degree to which a region experiences this type of climate.

Climate of Madrid

Climate of Madrid

Madrid and its metropolitan area has a Mediterranean climate which transitions to a cold semi-arid climate (BSk). According to the Troll-Paffen climate classification, Madrid has warm-temperate subtropical climate and according to the Siegmund/Frankenberg climate classification, Madrid has a subtropical climate. However, the most widespread climate classification is that Madrid presents a climate of transition between the Mediterranean climate and the cold semi-arid climate (BSk), with hot summers and relatively cool winters with somewhat frequent frosts and occasional snowfalls, with 3-4 snowy days on average.

History

Prehistory

Prehistoric vessel from Ciempozuelos, exhibited at the National Archaeological Museum of Spain in Madrid
Prehistoric vessel from Ciempozuelos, exhibited at the National Archaeological Museum of Spain in Madrid

The territory of the Community of Madrid has been populated since the Lower Paleolithic, mainly in the valleys between the rivers of Manzanares, Jarama, and Henares, where several archaeological findings have been made.

Some notable discoveries of the region the bell-shaped vase of Ciempozuelos (between 1970 and 1470 BCE),[27] from the Bell beaker culture.

Romans and Visigoths

A mosaic of the House of Dionysus in Complutum
A mosaic of the House of Dionysus in Complutum

During the Roman Empire, the region was part of the Citerior Tarraconese province, except for the south-west portion of it, which belonged to Lusitania. It was crossed by two important Roman roads, the via xxiv-xxix (joining Astorga to laminium and via xxv (which joined Emerita Augusta and Caesaraugusta), and contained some important conurbations. The city of Complutum (today Alcalá de Henares) became an important metropolis, whereas Titulcia and Miaccum were important crossroad communities.

During the period of the Visigothic Kingdom, the region lost its importance. The population was scattered amongst several small towns. Complutum 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.

Al-Andalus

The centre of the peninsula (the Middle Mark of Al-Andalus or aṯ-Ṯaḡr al-Awsaṭ) became a strategic military post in the 11th century. The Muslim rulers created a defensive 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 (Madrid) was built somewhere between 860 and 880 AD, as a walled precinct where a military and religious community lived, and which constituted the foundation of the city. It soon became the most strategic fortress in defense of the city of Toledo above the fortresses of Talamanca and Qal'-at'-Abd-Al-Salam (Alcalá de Henares). In 1083 (or 1085) Alfonso VI took the city of Madrid in the context of his wider campaign to conquer Toledo.[28] Alcalá de Henares fell in 1118 in a new period of Castilian annexation.

City walls of Buitrago del Lozoya
City walls of Buitrago del Lozoya

Christian repopulation

The recently conquered lands by the Christian kingdoms were desegregated into several constituencies, as a consequence of a long process of repopulation that took place over the course of four centuries. The feudal and ecclesiastical lords came into constant conflict with the different councils that had been granted the authority to repopulate.

In the 13th century, Madrid was the only town of the current-day region that preserved its own juridical personality, at first with the Old Fuero (Charter) and later with the Royal Fuero, granted by Alfonso X of Castile in 1262 and ratified by Alfonso XI in 1339. On the other hand, the town of Buitrago del Lozoya, Alcalá de Henares and Talamanca de Jarama, which were rapidly repopulated until that century, were under the dominion of the feudal or ecclesiastical lords. Specifically, Alcalá de Henares was under the hands of the archbishopric of Toledo and remained so until the 19th century.

Around the town of Madrid, an administrative territory was created known as Tierra de Madrid (Land of Madrid), the origin of the province that included the areas of the current municipalities of San Sebastián de los Reyes, Cobeña, Las Rozas de Madrid, Rivas-Vaciamadrid, Torrejón de Velasco, Alcorcón, San Fernando de Henares, and Griñón.

Madrid was in constant strife with the powerful council of Segovia, whose jurisdiction extended south of the Guadarrama Mountains; they both fought for the control of the Real de Manzanares, a large comarca (shire) that was finally given to the House of Mendoza.

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, in the 14th century. The Catholic Monarchs started the construction of the Royal Palace of Aranjuez.[29] In the 16th century, San Lorenzo de El Escorial was built and became another royal site of the province.

Early modern period

Panoramic view of Madrid, a 16th-century work by Anton van den Wyngaerde
Panoramic view of Madrid, a 16th-century work by Anton van den Wyngaerde

The town of Madrid, which was one of the eighteen cities with the right to vote in the Cortes of Castile, was seat of the Courts themselves on several occasions and was the residence of several monarchs, amongst them the emperor Charles I who reformed and expanded the Alcázar or Castle of the city. Alcalá de Henares grew in importance as cultural center since the foundation by the Cardinal Cisneros of its university.

Philip II supervises the works on El Escorial (by Luca Giordano)
Philip II supervises the works on El Escorial (by Luca Giordano)

In 1561, King Philip II made Madrid the capital of the Hispanic Monarchy. The surrounding territories became economically subordinated to the town itself, even beyond the present day limits of the Community of Madrid. But it was not a unified region as several lords and churches had jurisdiction over their own autonomous territories.

During the 18th century, the fragmented administration of the region was not solved despite several attempts. During the reign of Philip V, the intendencia was created as a political and administrative division. Nonetheless, the intendencia of Madrid did not fully solve the problem, and the region was still fragmented into several small dominions even though some processes were centralized. This territorial dispersion had a negative effect on its economic growth; while the town of Madrid received economic resources from the entire country as the capital, the surrounding territories—in hands of noblemen or the clergy—became impoverished.

During the eighteenth century, the town of Madrid was transformed through several grandiose buildings and monuments as well as through the creation of many social, economic, and cultural institutions, some of which are still operating. Madrid grew to a population of 156,672 inhabitants by the end of the eighteenth century.

Province

Manufacturing of big clay pots in Colmenar de Oreja (by Ulpiano Checa)
Manufacturing of big clay pots in Colmenar de Oreja (by Ulpiano Checa)

The current territory of the region was roughly defined with the 1833 reorganization of Spain into provinces promoted by Javier de Burgos, in which the province of Madrid was classified in the region of New Castile (lacking the later any sort of administrative institution at the regional level nonetheless). The government institution at the provincial level was the deputation (diputación). In addition to the former body, another provincial political authority was the civil governor discretionarily designated by the central government. A modest change to the 1833 provincial boundaries that concerned Madrid took place in 1850, when the small municipality of Valdeavero (19 km2), until then part of the province of Guadalajara, joined the province of Madrid.[30]

Construction of the bridge-aqueduct of the chasm, part of the Canal de Isabel II in 1854 (by Charles Clifford)
Construction of the bridge-aqueduct of the chasm, part of the Canal de Isabel II in 1854 (by Charles Clifford)

One of the limits so far for the growth of the capital, water supply, experienced a substantial change in 1858 following the arrival to the city of Madrid of water from the Lozoya River with the inauguration of the bringing of the Canal de Isabel II.[31]

Female workers in a phone-line factory managed by Ericsson in Getafe (1924)
Female workers in a phone-line factory managed by Ericsson in Getafe (1924)

In decadence since the middle 18th century, the city of Alcalá de Henares, experienced a relative demographic and economic upturn in the second half of the 19th century, based on its newly acquired condition of military outpost, to which an embrionary industrial nucleus was also added.[32]

During the reign of Ferdinand VII the south of the province was made up of small agricultural settlements of limited population. Among them, Getafe stood out in population,[33] and became the seat of a judicial district in 1834,[34] with the main economic activity of the former jurisdiction still being non-irrigated agriculture.[34] Rail transport arrived in 1851, with the Strawberry train, the railway connecting Madrid and Aranjuez.

Ruins of the headquarters of the provincial deputation in 1939
Ruins of the headquarters of the provincial deputation in 1939

During the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939), the territory was divided by the battlefront, with the southwest of the province controlled by the rebel faction, and the capital as well as a great part of the rest of the province by the side loyal to the Republic. The city of Madrid was target of many bombings during the conflict, becoming the first big city in Europe to suffer such systematic and massive air attacks.[35]

Since the 1970s, a process of a population transfer from the capital to the rest of municipalities of the metropolitan area emerged. This process accelerated when the autonomous community was founded, and it took placed along a strong decrease of birth rates.[36]

Autonomous community

The creation of the contemporary Community of Madrid was preceded by an intense political debate. Autonomous communities were to be created by one or more provinces with a distinct regional identity. Since the 1833 provincial organization, Madrid was part of the historical region of New Castile along with the provinces of Guadalajara, Toledo, Cuenca and Ciudad Real. Thus, it was first planned that the province of Madrid would be part of the future community of Castile–La Mancha (which was roughly similar to New Castile, with the addition of Albacete) but with some special considerations as the home of the national capital.[37] The other provinces that were to become part of the autonomous community of Castile–La Mancha expressed fears of inequality if Madrid were associated with them. These provinces opposed such a special status, and after considering other options for Madrid—like its inclusion in the community of Castile and León or its constitution as an entity similar to a federal district.[37]—it was decided that the province of Madrid would become a single-province autonomous community by virtue of Article 144 of the Constitution, which empowers the Cortes to create an autonomous community in the "nation's interest" even if it did not satisfy the requirement of having a distinct historical identity. Thus, in 1983, the Community of Madrid was constituted and a Statute of Autonomy was approved taking over all the competences of the old "Diputación Provincial" and the new ones the Statute considered.

Sunset in Las Tablas in 2015
Sunset in Las Tablas in 2015

During the first 25 years of the "autonomic" period, this autonomous community accounted for the biggest economic growth in Spain, becoming a platform for the internationalisation of the Spanish economy,[38] featuring a marked preponderance of the service sector.[39] By the turn of the 21st century, a strong boost to the construction sub-sector also took place.[40] During this period the Community of Madrid stood out due to its role as centre for welcoming immigration,[41] due to its condition as transport node vis-à-vis the Spanish geography,[42] and due to its condition as scientific and cultural centre of the country.[43]

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Ciempozuelos

Ciempozuelos

Ciempozuelos is a municipality in Spain located in the Community of Madrid. The municipality spans across a total area of 49.64 km2 and, as of 1 January 2020, it has a registered population of 25,104.

Lower Paleolithic

Lower Paleolithic

The Lower Paleolithic is the earliest subdivision of the Paleolithic or Old Stone Age. It spans the time from around 3 million years ago when the first evidence for stone tool production and use by hominins appears in the current archaeological record, until around 300,000 years ago, spanning the Oldowan and Acheulean lithics industries.

Manzanares (river)

Manzanares (river)

The Manzanares is a river in the centre of the Iberian Peninsula, which flows from the Sierra de Guadarrama, passes through Madrid, and eventually empties into the Jarama river, which in turn is a right-bank tributary to the Tagus.

Jarama

Jarama

Jarama is a river in central Spain. It flows north to south, and passes east of Madrid where the El Atazar Dam is built on a tributary, the Lozoya River. It flows into the river Tagus in Aranjuez. The Manzanares is a tributary of the Jarama.

Henares

Henares

The Henares is a river in Spain, tributary of the Jarama. It has its source in the Sierra Ministra, in the village of Horna, near Sigüenza, in the province of Guadalajara. Its tributaries are the Torote, the Sorbe, the Cañamares, the Salado, the Dulce, the Aliendre, and the Bornova.

Complutum

Complutum

Complutum was an ancient Roman city located in the present-day city of Alcalá de Henares, Spain. It has been partially excavated and the impressive remains can be seen today at the Complutum archaeological site south west of the current city, about a kilometre from the medieval centre.

Lusitania

Lusitania

Lusitania was an ancient Iberian Roman province located where modern Portugal and a portion of western Spain lie. It was named after the Lusitani or Lusitanian people.

Astorga, Spain

Astorga, Spain

Astorga is a municipality and city of Spain located in the central area of the province of León, in the autonomous community of Castilla y León, 43 kilometres (27 mi) southwest of the provincial capital. It is located in the transit between the Páramo Leonés and the mountains of León and acts as the backbone of the comarcas of Maragatería, La Cepeda and the Ribera del Órbigo. The city is the head of one of the most extensive and oldest dioceses of Spain, whose jurisdiction covers half of the province of León and part of Ourense and Zamora. It is also head of the judicial party number 5 of the province of León.

Alcalá de Henares

Alcalá de Henares

Alcalá de Henares is a Spanish city in the Community of Madrid. Straddling the Henares River, it is located 31 kilometres to the northeast of the center of Madrid. As of 2018, it has a population of 193,751, making it the region's third-most populated municipality.

Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Toledo

Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Toledo

This is a list of Bishops and Archbishops of Toledo. They are also the Primates of Spain. It was, according to tradition established in the 1st century by James the Great and was elevated to an archdiocese in 313 after the Edict of Milan. The incumbent Metropolitan Archbishop also bears the title Primate of Spain and since 1937 the title General Vicar of the Armies

Al-Andalus

Al-Andalus

Al-Andalus was the Muslim-ruled area of the Iberian Peninsula. The term is used by modern historians for the former Islamic states in modern Spain and Portugal. At its greatest geographical extent, it occupied most of the peninsula and a part of present-day southern France, Septimania. For nearly 100 years, from the 9th century to the 10th, al-Andalus extended its presence from Fraxinetum into the Alps with a series of organized raids. The name describes the different Muslim states that controlled these territories at various times between 711 and 1492. These boundaries changed constantly as the Christian Reconquista progressed, eventually shrinking to the south and finally to the Emirate of Granada.

Alfonso VI of León and Castile

Alfonso VI of León and Castile

Alfonso VI, nicknamed the Brave or the Valiant, was king of León (1065–1109), Galicia (1071–1109), and Castile (1072–1109).

Government and politics

Autonomous institutions of government

Hemicycle of the Assembly of Madrid, the autonomous legislature
Hemicycle of the Assembly of Madrid, the autonomous legislature
A meeting of the Council of Government presided by former President Ángel Garrido
A meeting of the Council of Government presided by former President Ángel Garrido

Like the rest of autonomous communities, the Community of Madrid is organized politically within a parliamentary system; that is, the head of government—known as the "president"—is dependent on the direct support from the autonomous legislature, whose members elect him by a majority.

The Statute of Autonomy of the Madrid Autonomous Community is the fundamental organic law in conjunction with (and subordinated to) the Spanish constitution. The Statute of Autonomy establishes that the powers through which the self-government of the autonomous community is exercised are the following institutions:

  • The Assembly of Madrid,[44] a directly elected body, represents the people of Madrid and exercises the legislative power of the community in approving and supervising the budget and in coordinating and controlling the actions of the government. The seat of the Assembly is located in Madrid, in the district of Puente de Vallecas. The members of the legislature (currently 132) are elected through proportional representation with closed-party lists and a 5% electoral threshold in a single region-wide constituency.[n. 1] The last election took place on 26 May 2019.
  • The President of the Community of Madrid is the supreme representative of the autonomous community and the ordinary representation of the State. It presides and heads the activities of the Madrilenian autonomous government, designates and dismisses the vice-presidents and the ministers (consejeros) which conform an executive cabinet. The investiture of the regional president, who is nominated as candidate by the Speaker of the Assembly among its members after holding consultations, is voted by a qualified majority of the plenary of the legislature (or, failing to achieve the former, a simple majority of 'yes' votes in a second round voting 48 hours later) and then formally appointed by the King through a Royal Decree. The seat of the Presidency is the Real Casa de Correos located at the Puerta del Sol at the center of Madrid.[46] Since 2019, the president is Isabel Díaz Ayuso, of the People's Party (PP).
  • The Government of the Community of Madrid is the collegiate body that heads the politics and the executive and administrative powers of the community. The incumbent Council of Government comprises the President, the Vice-President (assuming additional competences) and twelve more ministers.

Delegation of the Central Government

Since the creation of autonomous communities, the Government of Spain appoints a special representative to each region, the Government Delegate, part of the Peripheral State Administration. Unlike other single-province autonomous communities, the Government also appoints the Government Sub-delegate, the successor office to the provincial civil governor. The seats of both the delegation and the subdelegation are located at the Borghetto Palace [es] in Madrid.[47][48]

Administrative divisions

Municipal Map of the Community of Madrid.

The Community of Madrid, following the long-standing form of local government in Spain, is divided administratively into 179 municipalities (featuring 801 towns and entities). Its municipalities comprise 2.2% of the Spanish territory (8110). It is ranked 23rd amongst Spanish provinces in number of municipalities, which is slightly above average.[n. 2] The average is 165 municipalities by province. The ayuntamiento, presided by its alcalde (Mayor) is the formal institution charged with the government and administration of most municipalities. The municipal councillors forming the deliberative assembly of the ayuntamiento are directly elected through proportional representation with closed party lists and a 5% electoral threshold. In turn, the councillors are charged with electing from among themselves (by default candidates are the head of each electoral list) the Mayor presiding over the ayuntamiento.

There are twenty judicial districts (partidos judiciales), whose seats correspond to the municipalities of Alcalá de Henares, Alcobendas, Alcorcón, Aranjuez, Arganda del Rey, Collado Villalba, Colmenar Viejo, Coslada, Fuenlabrada, Getafe, Leganés, Madrid, Majadahonda, Móstoles, Navalcarnero, Parla, San Lorenzo de El Escorial, Torrejón de Ardoz, Torrelaguna, Valdemoro and Valdaracete (the historical judicial district of San Martín de Valdeiglesias is no longer a judicial district as of 1985). These jurisdictions relate to the judicial administration, with their seat having at least one court of first instance.

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Assembly of Madrid

Assembly of Madrid

The Assembly of Madrid or Madrid Assembly is the unicameral autonomous legislature of the Autonomous Community of Madrid since the approval of the Madrid Charter of Autonomy in 1983.

President of the Community of Madrid

President of the Community of Madrid

The president of the Community of Madrid is the highest-ranking officer of the Autonomous Community of Madrid and the head of the executive branch. The office is currently held by Isabel Díaz Ayuso of the People's Party.

Government of the Community of Madrid

Government of the Community of Madrid

The Government of the Community of Madrid is the collegiate body charged with the executive and administrative functions of the autonomous community of Madrid, Spain. Until the 1998 reform of the regional statute it was formally called Council of Government of the Community of Madrid.

Hemicycle

Hemicycle

In legislatures, a hemicycle is a semicircular, or horseshoe-shaped, debating chamber, where deputies (members) sit to discuss and pass legislation. Although originally of Ancient Greek roots, the term and modern design derive from French politics and practice.

Parliamentary system

Parliamentary system

A parliamentary system, or parliamentarian democracy, is a system of democratic governance of a state where the executive derives its democratic legitimacy from its ability to command the support ("confidence") of the legislature, typically a parliament, to which it is accountable. In a parliamentary system, the head of state is usually a person distinct from the head of government. This is in contrast to a presidential system, where the head of state often is also the head of government and, most importantly, where the executive does not derive its democratic legitimacy from the legislature.

Head of government

Head of government

The head of government is the highest or the second-highest official in the executive branch of a sovereign state, a federated state, or a self-governing colony, autonomous region, or other government who often presides over a cabinet, a group of ministers or secretaries who lead executive departments. In diplomacy, "head of government" is differentiated from "head of state" although in some countries, for example the United States, they are the same person.

Majority

Majority

A majority, also called a simple majority or absolute majority to distinguish it from related terms, is more than half of the total. It is a subset of a set consisting of more than half of the set's elements. For example, if a group consists of 20 individuals, a majority would be 11 or more individuals, while having 10 or fewer individuals would not constitute a majority. "Majority" can be used to specify the voting requirement, as in a "majority vote", which means more than half of the votes cast.

Statute of Autonomy

Statute of Autonomy

Nominally, a Statute of Autonomy is a law hierarchically located under the constitution of a country and, usually, over any other form of legislation. This legislative corpus concedes autonomy (self-government) to a subnational unit, and the articles usually mimic the form of a constitution, establishing the organization of the autonomous government, the electoral rules, the distribution of competences between different levels of governance and other regional-specific provisions, like the protection of cultural or lingual realities.

Puente de Vallecas

Puente de Vallecas

Puente de Vallecas is one of the 21 districts of the city of Madrid, Spain. It forms, with the district of Villa de Vallecas, the geographical area of Vallecas.

Proportional representation

Proportional representation

Proportional representation (PR) refers to a type of electoral system under which subgroups of an electorate are reflected proportionately in the elected body. The concept applies mainly to political divisions among voters. The essence of such systems is that all votes cast – or almost all votes cast – contribute to the result and are effectively used to help elect someone – not just a bare plurality, or (exclusively) the majority – and that the system produces mixed, balanced representation reflecting how votes are cast.

Electoral threshold

Electoral threshold

The electoral threshold, or election threshold, is the minimum share of all the votes cast that a candidate or political party requires to achieve before they become entitled to representation or additional seats in a legislature. This limit can operate in various ways, e.g. in party-list proportional representation systems where an electoral threshold requires that a party must receive a specified minimum percentage of votes, either nationally or in a particular electoral district, to obtain seats in the legislature. In Single transferable voting the election threshold is called the quota and it is possible to pass it by use of first choice votes alone or by a combination of first choice votes and votes transferred from other candidates based on lower preferences. In mixed-member-proportional (MMP) systems the election threshold determines which parties are eligible for top-up seats in the legislative body.

2019 Madrilenian regional election

2019 Madrilenian regional election

The 2019 Madrilenian regional election was held on Sunday, 26 May 2019, to elect the 11th Assembly of the Community of Madrid. All 132 seats in the Assembly were up for election. The election was held simultaneously with regional elections in eleven other autonomous communities and local elections all throughout Spain, as well as the 2019 European Parliament election.

Economy

Distrito Telefónica, the main headquarters of Telefónica, one of the  multinational corporations located in the region
Distrito Telefónica, the main headquarters of Telefónica, one of the multinational corporations located in the region

Madrid is the autonomous community with the highest income per capita in Spain at €35.041 ($42.800) in 2018 - significantly above the national average and ahead of the Basque Country, with €33.223, Navarra, €31,389, and Catalonia, €30.426.[49] In that year, the GDP growth was 1.0%.[49] Madrid has a GDP of 230.8 billion ($281 billion) as of 2018; making it the largest economy of Spain, ahead of Catalonia, where regional GDP amounted to €228.7 billion and the most populated Spanish region, Andalusia (€160.6 billion).[50][51]

Airbus A330-A340 horizontal stabilizer near the Getafe Airbus factory
Airbus A330-A340 horizontal stabilizer near the Getafe Airbus factory

In 2005, the Community of Madrid was the main receptor of foreign investment in the country, at 34.3% of the total. The community ranks 34th amongst all European regions (evaluated in 2002), and 50th amongst the most competitive cities-regions worldwide,[52] ahead of Barcelona and Valencia, the other two largest metropolitan areas of Spain. The strengths of the economy of the community are its low unemployment rate, its high investment in research, its high development, and the added-value services therein performed. Its weaknesses include the low penetration of broadband and new technologies of information and an unequal male to female occupation.[53]

Madrid Trade Fair
Madrid Trade Fair

The service, construction, and industry sectors are prominent in Madrid's commercial productive structure. According to the Directorio Central de Empresas (Central Companies Directory of the INE), Madrid's active businesses stand in third place nationally in terms of numbers as at 1 January 2006. The branches of activity with most active businesses are other business activities, retail trade, construction, wholesale trade, hospitality, property activities, land transport, and pipeline transport.

Madrid's levels of industrial activity set it at fourth place in Spain. The following areas predominate in terms of business numbers: publishing and graphic arts, manufacture of metal products (except machinery and equipment), manufacture of furniture and other manufacturing industries, wearing apparel and fur industry, and food product industry. The province also boasts a higher concentration of high and medium technology activities and services than the rest of Spain. This is the case in the following areas: manufacture of office machinery and IT equipment; manufacture of electronic products, manufacture of radio equipment, and devices; manufacture of medical and surgical, precision, optical and timekeeping equipment and instruments; post and telecommunications; IT activities; and research and development.[54]

Regional authorities have put a notable effort in the development of logistics infrastructures in both the region of Madrid and the city proper. These include the Coslada Dry Port, the freight zone of the Madrid-Barajas Airport, Mercamadrid, the Madrid-Abroñigal [es] logistics centre, the Villaverde's Logistics Centre and the Vicálvaro's Logistics Centre to name a few.[55] Overall, logistics companies has greatly developed along the A-2 highway (Coslada, San Fernando de Henares, Torrejón de Ardoz) in the eastern part of the region, the so-called "Henares Corridor" to become what has come to be termed as the "golden mile" of logistics and e-commerce in Spain.[56][57]

The unemployment rate stood at 10.0% in 2019 and was lower than the national average.[58]

Unemployment rate (December data) (%)
2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
6.5% 6.4% 10.0% 14.5% 15.5% 18.0% 19.3% 20.5% 18.0% 16.5% 14.6% 13.8% 11.5% 10.0%

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Telefónica

Telefónica

Telefónica, S.A. is a Spanish multinational telecommunications company headquartered in Madrid, Spain. It is one of the largest telephone operators and mobile network providers in the world. It provides fixed and mobile telephony, broadband, and subscription television, operating in Europe and the Americas.

Basque Country (autonomous community)

Basque Country (autonomous community)

The Basque Country, also called Basque Autonomous Community, is an autonomous community of Spain. It includes the provinces of Álava, Biscay, and Gipuzkoa, located in the north of the Iberian Peninsula, bordering on the autonomous communities of Cantabria, Castile and León, La Rioja, and Navarre, and the French region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine.

Catalonia

Catalonia

Catalonia is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a nationality by its Statute of Autonomy.

Euro

Euro

The euro is the official currency of 20 of the 27 member states of the European Union (EU). This group of states is known as the eurozone or, officially, the euro area, and includes about 344 million citizens as of 2023. The euro is divided into 100 cents.

Andalusia

Andalusia

Andalusia is the southernmost autonomous community in Peninsular Spain. It is the most populous and the second-largest autonomous community in the country. It is officially recognised as a "historical nationality". The territory is divided into eight provinces: Almería, Cádiz, Córdoba, Granada, Huelva, Jaén, Málaga, and Seville. Its capital city is Seville. The seat of the High Court of Justice of Andalusia is located in the city of Granada.

Foreign direct investment

Foreign direct investment

A foreign direct investment (FDI) is an investment in the form of a controlling ownership in a business, in real estate or in productive assets such as factories in one country by an entity based in another country. It is thus distinguished from a foreign portfolio investment or foreign indirect investment by a notion of direct control.

Barcelona

Barcelona

Barcelona is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within city limits, its urban area extends to numerous neighbouring municipalities within the Province of Barcelona and is home to around 4.8 million people, making it the fifth most populous urban area in the European Union after Paris, the Ruhr area, Madrid, and Milan. It is one of the largest metropolises on the Mediterranean Sea, located on the coast between the mouths of the rivers Llobregat and Besòs, and bounded to the west by the Serra de Collserola mountain range.

Coslada Dry Port

Coslada Dry Port

The Dry Port of Madrid, also known as the Dry Port of Coslada, is a logistics platform for the distribution of goods located in the Spanish municipality of Coslada, near Madrid.

Logistics center

Logistics center

A logistics center, or depot, is a facility dedicated to logistical operations. A logistics center might be a warehouse, freight forwarder, or a repair depot.

Mercamadrid

Mercamadrid

Mercamadrid is the main wholesale market of fresh products in Spain. Located in Madrid, it is a public enterprise jointly participated by the Ayuntamiento de Madrid and Mercasa, part of the SEPI.

Autovía A-2

Autovía A-2

The Autovía A-2 is a Spanish autovía and autopista route which starts in Madrid and ends in Barcelona. It replaces the former N-II.

San Fernando de Henares

San Fernando de Henares

San Fernando de Henares is a municipality in Spain, in the province and autonomous community of Madrid. It has an area of 39.9 km² and 41,380 inhabitants. Its agricultural production includes olives, cereals, vegetables, cattle and wool. Its industries include metalworking, mechanical engineering, food processing and graphic arts.

Demographics

Community of Madrid population pyramid in 2022
Community of Madrid population pyramid in 2022
Historical population
YearPop.±%
1900775,034—    
1910878,641+13.4%
19201,067,637+21.5%
19301,383,591+29.6%
19401,579,793+14.2%
19501,926,311+21.9%
19602,606,254+35.3%
19703,792,561+45.5%
19814,687,083+23.6%
19914,947,555+5.6%
20015,423,384+9.6%
20116,489,680+19.7%
20216,726,640+3.7%
Source: INE
Densidad de población de la Comunidad de Madrid (2017).svg

Population density by municipality
according to the Institute for Statistics of
the Community of Madrid (2017):

  ≥ 600/km²
  200-600/km²
  90-200/km²
  20-90/km²
  

The Community of Madrid is the third most populous region in Spain, after Andalusia and Catalonia, and the most populous province, with 6,661,949 inhabitants. Population density is 829.62 hab/km2, much higher than the national average of 93.8 hab/km2. Population density varies with the community itself; the municipality of Madrid has a density of 5,300 hab/km2, whereas the Sierra Norte has a population density of less than 10 hab/km2. The vast majority of the population lives in the capital and its metropolitan area, which is the most populated in Spain.

Madrid also has the greatest population density in Spain. Its inhabitants are mainly concentrated in the capital (which is the Spanish city with the highest resident population) and in a series of municipalities (Móstoles, Alcalá de Henares, Fuenlabrada, Leganés, Alcorcón, Getafe, Torrejón de Ardoz, and Alcobendas), as opposed to in rural areas with low population density. Its citizens have diverse origins, and Madrid is the province with the highest number of residents born outside its territory and with the largest foreign population (13.32%). It is a focus of attraction for those migrating for reasons of employment. Population growth in Madrid is mainly due to the arrival of foreigners.[59]

For most of its history, the Community of Madrid has been overwhelmingly Catholic,[60] with minority Jewish and Muslim populations.

The Community of Madrid is the EU-Region with the highest average life expectancy at birth. The average life expectancy was 82.2 years for males and 87.8 for females in 2016.[61]

 
 
Largest municipalities in the Community of Madrid
INE (1 January 2020)[62]
Rank Pop. Rank Pop.
Madrid
Madrid
Móstoles
Móstoles
1 Madrid 3,334,730 11 Las Rozas 96,113 Alcalá de Henares
Alcalá de Henares
Fuenlabrada
Fuenlabrada
2 Móstoles 210,309 12 San Sebastián de los Reyes 91,224
3 Alcalá de Henares 197,562 13 Rivas Vaciamadrid 90,973
4 Fuenlabrada 194,514 14 Pozuelo de Alarcón 87,165
5 Leganés 191,114 15 Coslada 81,391
6 Getafe 185,180 16 Valdemoro 77,270
7 Alcorcón 172,384 17 Majadahonda 72,155
8 Parla 133,482 18 Collado Villalba 64,378
9 Torrejón de Ardoz 132,853 19 Aranjuez 60,332
10 Alcobendas 118,417 20 Boadilla del Monte 56,734
Foreign population

As of 2018, the region had a foreign population of 826,456.[63] The largest groups of foreigners were those of Romanian, Moroccan, Chinese, Colombian, Ecuadorian, Venezuelan and Italian citizenship.[63]

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Instituto Nacional de Estadística (Spain)

Instituto Nacional de Estadística (Spain)

The Instituto Nacional de Estadística is the official agency in Spain that collects statistics about demography, economy, and Spanish society. It is an autonomous organization responsible for overall coordination of statistical services of the General State Administration in monitoring, control and supervision of technical procedures. Every 10 years, this organization conducts a national census. The last census took place in 2011.

Andalusia

Andalusia

Andalusia is the southernmost autonomous community in Peninsular Spain. It is the most populous and the second-largest autonomous community in the country. It is officially recognised as a "historical nationality". The territory is divided into eight provinces: Almería, Cádiz, Córdoba, Granada, Huelva, Jaén, Málaga, and Seville. Its capital city is Seville. The seat of the High Court of Justice of Andalusia is located in the city of Granada.

Catalonia

Catalonia

Catalonia is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a nationality by its Statute of Autonomy.

Madrid

Madrid

Madrid is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and its monocentric metropolitan area is the second-largest in the EU. The municipality covers 604.3 km2 (233.3 sq mi) geographical area.

Móstoles

Móstoles

Móstoles is a municipality of Spain located in the Community of Madrid. With over 200,000 inhabitants, it is the region's second most populated municipality after Madrid. Móstoles was a small town for a long time, but expanded rapidly in the second half of the 20th century.

Alcalá de Henares

Alcalá de Henares

Alcalá de Henares is a Spanish city in the Community of Madrid. Straddling the Henares River, it is located 31 kilometres to the northeast of the center of Madrid. As of 2018, it has a population of 193,751, making it the region's third-most populated municipality.

Fuenlabrada

Fuenlabrada

Fuenlabrada is a city and municipality of Spain located in the Community of Madrid. As of 2018, it has a population of 193,586, making it the region's fourth most populated municipality.

Leganés

Leganés

Leganés is a city in the Community of Madrid, Spain. Considered part of the Madrid metropolitan area, it is located about 11 km southwest of the centre of Madrid. As of 2018, it has a population of 188,425, making it the region's fifth most populated municipality. It covers an area of 43.09 km2 and it is located at 667 m over sea level.

Alcorcón

Alcorcón

Alcorcón is a city and municipality of Spain located in the Community of Madrid. as of 2020, it had a population of 172,384.

Getafe

Getafe

Getafe is a municipality and a city in Spain belonging to the Community of Madrid. As of 2018, it has a population of 180,747, the region's sixth most populated municipality.

Alcobendas

Alcobendas

Alcobendas is a municipality of Spain located in the Community of Madrid.

Life expectancy

Life expectancy

Life expectancy is a statistical measure of the average time an organism is expected to live, based on the year of its birth, current age, and other demographic factors like sex. The most commonly used measure is life expectancy at birth (LEB), which can be defined in two ways. Cohort LEB is the mean length of life of a birth cohort and can be computed only for cohorts born so long ago that all their members have died. Period LEB is the mean length of life of a hypothetical cohort assumed to be exposed, from birth through death, to the mortality rates observed at a given year.

Education

State Education in Spain is free and compulsory from six to sixteen years of age. The current education system is called LOMLOE (Ley Orgánica 3/2020, de 29 de diciembre, por la que se modifica la Ley Orgánica 2/2006, de 3 de mayo, de Educación).[64]

Levels

Secondary school in Torrejón de Ardoz
Secondary school in Torrejón de Ardoz
  • From three to six years - Educación Infantil (Preparatory School)
  • From six to twelve years - Educación Primaria (Primary School), years first through sixth
  • From twelve to sixteen years - Educación Secundaria Obligatoria (Compulsory Secondary School), years first through fourth
  • From sixteen to seventeen years - Bachillerato (Post-Compulsory School), years first and second

Children from three to five years old in Spain have the option of attending the pre-school stage, which is non-compulsory and free for all students. It is regarded as an integral part of the education system with infantil classes in almost every primary school. There are some separate Colegios Infantiles or nursery schools.

Spanish students aged six to sixteen undergo primary and secondary school education, which are compulsory and free of charge. Successful students are awarded a Secondary Education Certificate, which is necessary for entering further (optional) education as is Bachillerato for their University or Formación Profesional (vocational studies). Once students have finished their Bachillerato, they can take their University Entrance Exam (Pruebas de Acceso a la Universidad, popularly called Selectividad) which differs greatly from region to region.

The secondary stage of education is normally referred to by its initials, e.g. ESO or Educación Secundaria Obligatoria for secondary education.

EducaMadrid is the educational platform that offers teachers and students in these and other non-university studies (professional studies, arts, languages, adult education and others) a virtual environment with all the necessary Internet services, in compliance with GDPR. It is safe, free, sustainable and based on Open source software.

Universities

Madrid is home to a large number of public and private universities.

The Complutense University of Madrid is one of the most prestigious, and the largest, university in Spain and one of the oldest universities in the world. It has 10,000 staff members and a student population of 117,000. Nearly all academic staff are Spanish. It is located on two campuses, in the university quarter Ciudad Universitaria at Moncloa in Madrid, and in Somosaguas.[65] The Complutense University of Madrid was founded in Alcalá de Henares, old Complutum, by Cardinal Cisneros in 1499. Nevertherless, its real origin dates back from 1293, when King Sancho IV of Castile built the General Schools of Alcalá, which would give rise to Cisnero's Complutense University. During the course of 1509-1510 five schools were already operative: Artes y Filosofía (Arts & Philosophy), Teología (Theology), Derecho Canónico (Canonical Laws), Letras (Liberal Arts) and Medicina (Medicine). In 1836, during the reign of Isabel II, the University was moved to Madrid, where it took the name of Central University and was located at San Bernardo Street. Subsequently, in 1927, a new University City ("Ciudad Universitaria") was planned to be built in the district of Moncloa-Aravaca. The Spanish Civil War turned the University City into a war zone, with several faculties sustaining severe damage during the conflict. By 1943 the Central University started to be known as the University of Madrid.[66]

In 1970 the University of Madrid was renamed to Complutense University of Madrid. It was then when the new campus at Somosaguas was created in order to house the new School of Social Sciences. The old Alcalá campus was reopened as the independent University of Alcalá in 1977.[67]

The Severo Ochoa Centre for Molecular Biology, in the campus of the Autonomous University of Madrid
The Severo Ochoa Centre for Molecular Biology, in the campus of the Autonomous University of Madrid

Another important university is the Autonoma, perhaps Spain's best university for research along with the Complutense, was instituted under the leadership of the famous physicist, Nicolás Cabrera. The Autonoma is widely recognised for its research strengths in theoretical physics. Known simply as la Autónoma in Madrid, its main site is the Cantoblanco Campus, situated 15 kilometers to the north of the capital (M-607) and close to the municipal areas of Madrid, namely Alcobendas, San Sebastián de los Reyes, Tres Cantos and Colmenar Viejo. Located on the main site are the Rectorate building and the Faculties of Science, Philosophy and Fine Arts, Law, Economic Science and Business Studies, Psychology, Higher School of Computing Science and Engineering, and the Faculty of Teacher Training and Education. The Medical School is located outside the main site and beside the Hospital Universitario La Paz.[68]

The Magerit supercomputer, located in the Supercomputing and Visualization Center of Madrid, part of the Technical University of Madrid and located in Pozuelo de Alarcón
The Magerit supercomputer, located in the Supercomputing and Visualization Center of Madrid, part of the Technical University of Madrid and located in Pozuelo de Alarcón

Other local universities, among many others, are the Technical University of Madrid, as the result of merging the different Technical Schools of Engineering; the Universidad de Alcalá de Henares, founded in 1499; the Carlos III, whose philosophy is to create responsible free-thinking people with a sensitivity to social problems and an involvement in the concept of progress based on freedom, justice and tolerance and the Universidad Pontificia Comillas, involved in a number of academic exchange programmes, work practice schemes and international projects with over 200 Higher Education Institutions in Europe, South America, North America, and Asia.

Other universities in Madrid: Rey Juan Carlos University (public), Alfonso X El Sabio University, Universidad Antonio de Nebrija, Universidad Camilo José Cela, Universidad Francisco de Vitoria, Universidad Europea de Madrid, and Universidad San Pablo (all of them private).

Madrid is also home to the Escuela Superior de Música Reina Sofía, the Real Conservatorio Superior de Música de Madrid, and many other private educational institutions.

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Education in Spain

Education in Spain

Education in Spain is regulated by the Ley Orgánica 8/2013, de 9 de diciembre, para la mejora de la calidad educativa that expands upon Article 27 of the Spanish Constitution of 1978. The Spanish education system is compulsory and free for all children aged between 6 and 16 years and is supported by the national government together with the governments of each of the country's 17 autonomous communities.

Primary school

Primary school

A primary school, elementary school or grade school is a school for primary education of children who are four to eleven years of age. Primary schooling follows pre-school and precedes secondary schooling.

Secondary school

Secondary school

A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both lower secondary education and upper secondary education, i.e., both levels 2 and 3 of the ISCED scale, but these can also be provided in separate schools.

General Data Protection Regulation

General Data Protection Regulation

The General Data Protection Regulation is a Regulation in EU law on data protection and privacy in the EU and the European Economic Area (EEA). The GDPR is an important component of EU privacy law and of human rights law, in particular Article 8(1) of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union. It also addresses the transfer of personal data outside the EU and EEA areas. The GDPR's primary aim is to enhance individuals' control and rights over their personal data and to simplify the regulatory environment for international business. Superseding the Data Protection Directive 95/46/EC, the regulation contains provisions and requirements related to the processing of personal data of individuals, formally called "data subjects", who are located in the EEA, and applies to any enterprise—regardless of its location and the data subjects' citizenship or residence—that is processing the personal information of individuals inside the EEA.

Open-source software

Open-source software

Open-source software (OSS) is computer software that is released under a license in which the copyright holder grants users the rights to use, study, change, and distribute the software and its source code to anyone and for any purpose. Open-source software may be developed in a collaborative, public manner. Open-source software is a prominent example of open collaboration, meaning any capable user is able to participate online in development, making the number of possible contributors indefinite. The ability to examine the code facilitates public trust in the software.

Complutense University of Madrid

Complutense University of Madrid

The Complutense University of Madrid is a public research university located in Madrid. Founded in Alcalá in 1293, it is one of the oldest operating universities in the world. It is located on a sprawling campus that occupies the entirety of the Ciudad Universitaria district of Madrid, with annexes in the district of Somosaguas in the neighboring city of Pozuelo de Alarcón. It is named after the ancient Roman settlement of Complutum, now an archeological site in Alcalá de Henares, just east of Madrid.

Alcalá de Henares

Alcalá de Henares

Alcalá de Henares is a Spanish city in the Community of Madrid. Straddling the Henares River, it is located 31 kilometres to the northeast of the center of Madrid. As of 2018, it has a population of 193,751, making it the region's third-most populated municipality.

Isabella II of Spain

Isabella II of Spain

Isabella II, was Queen of Spain from 29 September 1833 until 30 September 1868. She is the only queen regnant in Spanish history.

Spanish Civil War

Spanish Civil War

The Spanish Civil War was a civil war in Spain fought from 1936 to 1939 between the Republicans and the Nationalists. Republicans were loyal to the left-leaning Popular Front government of the Second Spanish Republic, and consisted of various socialist, communist, separatist, anarchist, and republican parties, some of which had opposed the government in the pre-war period. The opposing Nationalists were an alliance of Falangists, monarchists, conservatives, and traditionalists led by a military junta among whom General Francisco Franco quickly achieved a preponderant role. Due to the international political climate at the time, the war had many facets and was variously viewed as class struggle, a religious struggle, a struggle between dictatorship and republican democracy, between revolution and counterrevolution, and between fascism and communism. According to Claude Bowers, U.S. ambassador to Spain during the war, it was the "dress rehearsal" for World War II. The Nationalists won the war, which ended in early 1939, and ruled Spain until Franco's death in November 1975.

Autonomous University of Madrid

Autonomous University of Madrid

The Autonomous University of Madrid, commonly known as simply la Autónoma, is a Spanish public university located in Madrid, Spain. The university was founded in 1968 alongside the Autonomous University of Barcelona, in Barcelona. UAM is widely respected as one of the most prestigious universities in Europe. According to the highly regarded QS World University Rankings 2022, UAM is ranked as the top university in Spain.

Nicolás Cabrera

Nicolás Cabrera

Nicolás Cabrera (1913–1989), was a Spanish physicist who did important work on the theories of crystal growth and the oxidisation of metals. He was the son of another famous Spanish physicist Blas Cabrera and the father of American Physicist Blas Cabrera Navarro. He spent many years in exile during the Francoist State. He was Professor of the Department of physics in the University of Virginia, where he worked from 1952. He became known for his interests in engineering and material science. He founded the physics department and was a professor at the Autonomous University of Madrid (UAM), from 1971. He is considered to have given an impulse to the study of physics in Spain from the time of his return. For a time Javier Solana, whom he met at the University of Virginia, was his assistant in Madrid. Solana has described him as being a brilliant man but badly organized. The Nicolás Cabrera Institute, founded in 1989 in the UAM, is named after him.

Alcobendas

Alcobendas

Alcobendas is a municipality of Spain located in the Community of Madrid.

Transportation

Air

Barajas Airport
Barajas Airport

Madrid is served by Barajas International Airport. Barajas is the main hub of Iberia Airlines and consequently serves as the main gateway to the Iberian peninsula from Europe, the Americas, and the rest of the world. Current passenger volumes range upwards of 52 million passengers per year, putting it in the top 10 busiest airports in the world.[69] Given annual increases close to 10%, a new fourth terminal has been constructed. It has significantly reduced delays and doubled the capacity of the airport to more than 70 million passengers per year. Two additional runways have also been constructed, making Barajas a fully operational four-runway airport.

Commuter rail

Commuter rail station in Parla
Commuter rail station in Parla

Cercanías Madrid is the commuter rail service that serves Madrid, the capital of Spain, and its metropolitan area. It is operated by Cercanías, the commuter rail division of Renfe, the former monopoly of rail services in Spain. The system is infamous for being the target of 11 March 2004 Madrid train bombings. The attacks triggered a small reduction in the ridership of the system, but it is still the most used and most profitable[70] (by 2004) of the commuter rail services in Spain. The total length spans 339.1 km (210.7 mi).

Spain's railway system, the Red Nacional de Ferrocarriles Españoles (Renfe), operates the vast majority of Spain's railways. In Madrid, the main rail terminals are Atocha in the south and Chamartín in the north.

High-speed rail

AVE trains in Atocha
AVE trains in Atocha

The crown jewel of Spain's next decade of infrastructure construction is the Spanish high-speed rail network, Alta Velocidad Española AVE. Currently, an ambitious plan includes the construction of a 7,000-kilometre (4,300 mi) network, centered on Madrid. The overall goal is to have all important provincial cities be no more than four hours away from Madrid and no more than six hours away from Barcelona. As of 2008, AVE high-speed trains link Madrid-Atocha station to Seville, Málaga, and Toledo in the south, Valencia, Albacete, Cuenca and Alicante in the east, and to Zaragoza, Tarragona, Girona, Leida, Huesca and Barcelona in the north-east. AVE trains also arrive to Segovia, Valladolid, Zamora and León.

Already connected by tunnels used by conventional rail lines, a tunnel link connecting the Atocha and Chamartín stations with high-speed rail services is finished but, as of August 2019, yet to be inaugurated.[71]

Metro

Serving the city's population of some six million, the Madrid Metro is one of the most extensive and fastest-growing metro networks in the world.[72] With the addition of a loop serving suburbs to Madrid's south-west "Metrosur", it is now the second largest metro system in Western Europe, second only to London's Underground. In 2007, Madrid's metro system was expanded, and it currently runs over 322 kilometers (200 mi) of line. The province of Madrid is also served by an extensive commuter rail network called Cercanías.

Metro fees are regulated by the Consorcio Regional de Transportes de Madrid (CRTM) jointly with fees for commuter rail, bus transport and light-rail.

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Airline hub

Airline hub

An airline hub or hub airport is an airport used by one or more airlines to concentrate passenger traffic and flight operations. Hubs serve as transfer points to help get passengers to their final destination. It is part of the hub-and-spoke system. An airline may operate flights from several non-hub (spoke) cities to the hub airport, and passengers traveling between spoke cities connect through the hub. This paradigm creates economies of scale that allow an airline to serve city-pairs that could otherwise not be economically served on a non-stop basis. This system contrasts with the point-to-point model, in which there are no hubs and nonstop flights are instead offered between spoke cities. Hub airports also serve origin and destination (O&D) traffic.

Cercanías Madrid

Cercanías Madrid

Cercanías Madrid is the commuter rail service that serves Madrid, the capital of Spain, and its metropolitan area. It is operated by Cercanías Renfe, the commuter rail division of Renfe, the former monopoly of rail services in Spain. Its total length is 370 km.

Parla

Parla

Parla is a municipality in the Community of Madrid, Spain. It is located in the southern part of the region, approximately 20 km from the capital, Madrid.

Commuter rail

Commuter rail

Commuter rail, or suburban rail, is a passenger rail transport service that primarily operates within a metropolitan area, connecting commuters to a central city from adjacent suburbs or commuter towns. Commuter rail systems are considered heavy rail, using electrified or diesel trains. Distance charges or zone pricing may be used.

Madrid

Madrid

Madrid is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and its monocentric metropolitan area is the second-largest in the EU. The municipality covers 604.3 km2 (233.3 sq mi) geographical area.

Cercanías

Cercanías

The commuter rail systems of Spain's major metropolitan areas are called Cercanías in most of Spain, Rodalia in the Valencian Community, Aldiriak in the Basque Country and Rodalies in Catalonia. There are twelve Cercanías systems in and around the cities of Asturias, Bilbao, Cádiz, Catalonia, Madrid, Málaga, Murcia/Alicante, Santander, San Sebastián, Seville, Valencia and Zaragoza. They are linked to Metro systems in Madrid, Barcelona, Bilbao and Valencia.

Renfe

Renfe

Renfe, officially Renfe-Operadora, is the national passenger railway company of Spain.

Madrid Atocha railway station

Madrid Atocha railway station

Madrid Atocha, also named Madrid Puerta de Atocha–Almudena Grandes, is the first major railway station in Madrid. It is the largest station serving commuter trains (Cercanías), regional trains from the south and southeast, intercity trains from Navarre, Cádiz and Huelva (Andalusia) and La Rioja, and the AVE high speed trains from Girona, Tarragona and Barcelona (Catalonia), Huesca and Zaragoza (Aragon), Sevilla, Córdoba, Málaga and Granada (Andalusia), Valencia, Castellón and Alicante. These train services are run by Spain's national rail company, Renfe. As of 2019, this station has daily services to Marseille, France.

Chamartín (Madrid)

Chamartín (Madrid)

Chamartín is an administrative district of Madrid, Spain and consists of the following neighborhoods: El Viso, La Prosperidad, Ciudad Jardín, Hispanoamérica, Nueva España, and Castilla. It was originally named Chamartín de la Rosa and remained an independent municipality until it was incorporated to Madrid in 1948.

AVE

AVE

Alta Velocidad Española (AVE) is a service of high-speed rail in Spain operated by Renfe, the Spanish national railway company, at speeds of up to 310 km/h (195 mph). As of December 2021, the Spanish high-speed rail network, on part of which the AVE service runs, is the longest HSR network in Europe with 3,762 km (2,338 mi) and the second longest in the world, after China's.

Barcelona

Barcelona

Barcelona is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within city limits, its urban area extends to numerous neighbouring municipalities within the Province of Barcelona and is home to around 4.8 million people, making it the fifth most populous urban area in the European Union after Paris, the Ruhr area, Madrid, and Milan. It is one of the largest metropolises on the Mediterranean Sea, located on the coast between the mouths of the rivers Llobregat and Besòs, and bounded to the west by the Serra de Collserola mountain range.

Culture

Symbols

The flag, coat of arms and hymn of the Community of Madrid were set through the regional Law 2/1983 published in the official regional gazette on 24 December 1983:[73]

Flag
Flag of the Community of Madrid waving at the outdoors of a building
Flag of the Community of Madrid waving at the outdoors of a building

The flag is described as follows: "the flag of the Community of Madrid is crimson red, with seven silver five-pointed stars, arranged 4 and 3 on the centre of the canvas".[73] According to the law, the flag should wave both at the outdoors (occupying a preferential place next to the flag of Spain) and at the indoors of every public building of the autonomous administration as well as every public building of the municipal administrations located within the territory of the autonomous community.

Coat of arms

The arms are described as follows: "The coat of arms of the Community of Madrid features just one partition gules, and on it, two paired, embattled, turreted, castles or, with port and windows tinctured azure, masoned sable, surmounted by seven five-pointed stars argent arranged four and three on chief."[74] The crest describes the heraldic representation of the royal crown of Spain.

Hymn

The official anthem was defined along the flag and coat of arms.[73] However it has very limited institutional use, and thus, it is barely known.

Cuisine

Although the region does not produce enough food to be self-sufficient, the varied territory of the region outside the urbanised centre provides enough food commodities to create its own cuisine: cheese of Campo Real, vine with Vinos de Madrid DO, strawberries and aspargus from Aranjuez, muskmelons from Villaconejos, artichokes from Ciempozuelos, judiones from Montejo de la Sierra, garlic from Chinchón, chickpeas from Navalcarnero, lentils from Colmenar de Oreja, cauliflower from Griñón or a number of vegetables from the Alberche Valley.[75]

In addition, due to the rich restaurant business in the region, "all the regional cuisines of Spain are represented in Madrid" according to José del Corral Raya [es].[76] As the madrilenian cuisine has absorbed much from the rest of regional cuisines of Spain, there is ambiguity when it comes to define the former; however, dishes such as the cocido madrileño, the potaje de garbanzos, the callos a la madrileña [es], the sopa de ajo or the tortilla de patatas are considered part of the madrilenian cuisine regardless of their geographical specificity.[77] By April 2011 the region had over 40,0000 bars, 2,700 coffee shops and nearly 10,000 restaurants.[78]

Religion

Catholic procession of the Virgen de Gracia at the plaza de la Cebada, Madrid (c. 1741)
Catholic procession of the Virgen de Gracia at the plaza de la Cebada, Madrid (c. 1741)

The majority of the religious population is Catholic, Roman Catholicism is, by far, the largest religion in Community of Madrid. According to a 2019 CIS poll, 18.9% of the surveyed people in the region identified as practising Catholic and 43.0% as non-practising Catholic.[79] The most important religious minorities are evangelicals, Jews and Muslims.[80]

Hare Krishna guru Giriraja Swami singing at the 1998 Ratha Yatra festival in Madrid
Hare Krishna guru Giriraja Swami singing at the 1998 Ratha Yatra festival in Madrid

Among the evangelical denominations the following denominations stand out: Spanish Evangelical Church (IEE), several Presbiterian or Reformed Churches, the Spanish Reformed Episcopal Church (IERE), Baptist and Free churches (Unión Evangélica Bautista Española, Federación de las Iglesias Evangélicas Independientes de España), the Asambleas de Hermanos), Pentecostal Churches (Asambleas de Dios, Iglesia de la Biblia Abierta, Iglesia Filadelfia, Iglesia Cuadrangular), Charismatic churches (Iglesias de Buenas Noticias, Asamblea Cristiana, Asamblea para la Evangelización Mundial para Cristo), minor churches such as The Salvation Army, Mennonite Churches and Hermanos en Cristo), non-grouped evangelical churches, and adventist churches.[81] Pentecostal churches have lately experienced a notable growth due to the arrival of immigrants from Latin-America.[82] Evangelicals also have a notable following among the Romani population.[83] The Muslim population includes the first contemporary Muslims in Spain (who came from Middle East and had middle class university background), converts (chiefly sunni Muslims) and representatives of a second arrival of Muslim economic migrants (with more of an economic migrant profile than the first wave).[84]

Jehovah's Witnesses literature in Madrid
Jehovah's Witnesses literature in Madrid

Since the second half of the 20th century the Jewish population in the region grew due to both Sephardi Jews that came from the MENA, as well as exiles from Latin America (mostly Argentinians) primordially Ashkenazim.[85]

There are also Greek, Romanian and Russian orthodox Christians, Jehovah Witnesses (15,031 according to 2001 estimations) and Mormons (6,700 according to 2007 estimations).[86] There are some buddhists (the majority of which have Spanish citizenship and are from the middle to uppermiddle class),[87] and small minorities of believers of religions of vedic origin: hinduism (primordially Sindhis),[88] sikhism, Hare Krishna and Brahma Kumaris. There are a scarce amount of believers of the Baháʼí Faith. Other confessions, often derided as "cults" (sectas) in the country, such as the Unification movement and Scientology, have a marginal presence.[89]

Feasts

Official feasts of the 2 de Mayo
Official feasts of the 2 de Mayo

The regional day is the 2 May, commemorating the Dos de Mayo Uprising of the citizens of Madrid against the French occupation in 1808 that triggered the wave of insurrections marking the beginning of the Peninsular War. It is a public holiday in the Community of Madrid since 1984, when it was approved by the regional legislature and sanctioned as law.[90]

A floral tribute is traditionally offered to the fallen "heroes" by the regional authorities. The ceremony of presentation of commemorative medals to stand out individuals also take place on this day in the Royal House of the Post Office.[91]

Sports

Practice of padel tennis in Madrid
Practice of padel tennis in Madrid

According to a 2010 study by the National Sports Council (CSD), madrilenians led the country in terms of grassroots sports practice.[92]

Roughly a 52% of the regional population between 15 and 75 years old practised one sports modality, while a 10% of the population between 15 and 75 years old practised two or more sports.[92] The most practised sports modalities were: fitness gymnastics (43.6%), football (22.1%), swimming (20.7%), cycling (19.6%), jogging/running (16.2%), padel (9.9%), athletics (8.3%), basketball (6.9%), other football modalities (6.6%), hiking (6.1%), martial arts (4.5%), body-building (3.5%), shooting/hunting (0.9%) and recreational fishing (0.2%).[92]

Association football is the most popular sport in Spain in terms of passive following. The Madrid Football Federation is the governing body of the sport of football in region. The Community of Madrid has its own autonomous team, the Madrid autonomous football team, taking part in friendly fixtures. It currently has 2 top flight men's football teams: Real Madrid and Atlético Madrid. The first of them, Real Madrid, has become one of the most valuable sports teams in the planet.[93]

The regional administration had its own big track and field stadium, "La Peineta", inaugurated in 1994. It was later transferred to the Madrid City Council, becoming the center of two unsuccessful bids of the city of Madrid to the Summer Olympics.

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Flag of the Community of Madrid

Flag of the Community of Madrid

The flag of the Community of Madrid is crimson red, with seven five-pointed stars in silver, placed four and three in the centre of the field.

Crimson

Crimson

Crimson is a rich, deep red color, inclining to purple. It originally meant the color of the kermes dye produced from a scale insect, Kermes vermilio, but the name is now sometimes also used as a generic term for slightly bluish-red colors that are between red and rose. It is the national color of Nepal.

Five-pointed star

Five-pointed star

A five-pointed star (☆), geometrically an equilateral concave decagon, is a common ideogram in modern culture. Comparatively rare in classical heraldry, it was notably introduced for the flag of the United States in the Flag Act of 1777 and since has become widely used in flags.

Flag of Spain

Flag of Spain

The national flag of Spain, as it is defined in the Constitution of 1978, consists of three horizontal stripes: red, yellow and red, the yellow stripe being twice the size of each red stripe. Traditionally, the middle stripe was defined by the more archaic term of gualda, and hence the popular name la Rojigualda (red-weld).

Coat of arms of the Community of Madrid

Coat of arms of the Community of Madrid

The Coat of arms of the Community of Madrid was adopted in 1983. The field is crimson red with two yellow or golden castles with seven five-pointed white or silver stars on top, arranged four and three. The crest is the Spanish Royal Crown.

Azure (heraldry)

Azure (heraldry)

In heraldry, azure is the tincture with the colour blue, and belongs to the class of tinctures called "colours". In engraving, it is sometimes depicted as a region of horizontal lines or else is marked with either az. or b. as an abbreviation. The term azure shares origin with the Spanish word "azul", which refers to the same color, deriving from hispanic Arabic lazawárd the name of the deep blue stone now called lapis lazuli. The word was adopted into Old French by the 12th century, after which the word passed into use in the blazon of coats of arms.

Chief (heraldry)

Chief (heraldry)

In heraldic blazon, a chief is a charge on a coat of arms that takes the form of a band running horizontally across the top edge of the shield. Writers disagree in how much of the shield's surface is to be covered by the chief, ranging from one-fourth to one-third. The former is more likely if the chief is uncharged, that is, if it does not have other objects placed on it. If charged, the chief is typically wider to allow room for the objects drawn there.

Crest (heraldry)

Crest (heraldry)

A crest is a component of a heraldic display, consisting of the device borne on top of the helm. Originating in the decorative sculptures worn by knights in tournaments and, to a lesser extent, battles, crests became solely pictorial after the 16th century.

Hymn of the Community of Madrid

Hymn of the Community of Madrid

The lyrics of the anthem of the Community of Madrid are a poem written by Agustín García Calvo. The music is a work of composer Pablo Sorozábal Serrano. It is the official anthem of the Community of Madrid since 24 December 1983, when it was published in the official regional gazette.

Campo Real

Campo Real

Campo Real is a town of around 6000 people in Spain, around 20 kilometers east of Madrid.

Denominación de origen

Denominación de origen

In Spain, the denominación de origen is part of a regulatory geographical indication system used primarily for foodstuffs such as cheeses, condiments, honey, and meats, among others. In wines, it parallels the hierarchical systems of France (1935) and Italy (1963), although Rioja (1925) and Jerez (1933) preceded the full system. In foods, it performs a similar role, regulation of quality and geographical origin of products from Spain. There are five other designated categories solely for wine and a further three specifically covering food and condiments, all recognised by the European Union (EU). In Catalonia, two further categories – labelled A and Q – cover traditional Catalan artisan food products, but were not recognised by the EU as of 2007. In recent decades, the concept of the denominación de origen has been adopted by other countries, primarily in Latin America. In 2016, the use of the Denominación de Origen (DO) for wines was registered as a European Union Protected Designations of Origin/Denominación de Origen Protegida (PDO/DOP), but the traditional Portuguese term of DO can still be used legally on labels.

Artichoke

Artichoke

The globe artichoke, also known by the names French artichoke and green artichoke in the U.S., is a variety of a species of thistle cultivated as food.

International relations

Twinning

Source: "Community of Madrid", Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, (2023, January 27th), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Community_of_Madrid.

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Notes
  1. ^ The elections have normally followed the default electoral calendar set for most autonomous communities (with the exception of Catalonia, the Basque Country, Galicia, and Andalusia). The only exception to this occurred in 2003, in which due to the refusal of two socialist deputies to follow party discipline after the May election prevented the formation of any government.[45] Therefore, new elections were held in October, outside the established electoral calendar.
  2. ^ In Madrid, the average area of a municipality is 44.8 km2 (17.3 sq mi), slightly larger than the national average. Madrid is by far the largest. Between 1948 and 1954, the city annexed the neighboring municipalities of Chamartín de la Rosa, Fuencarral, Barajas, El Pardo, Hortaleza, Canillas, Canillejas, Vicálvaro, Vallecas, Villaverde, Carabanchel Alto, Carabanchel Baja and Aravaca. The five largest municipalities by area are: Madrid 605.8 km2 (233.9 sq mi); Aranjuez 189.1 km2 (73.0 sq mi); Colmenar Viejo 182.6 km2 (70.5 sq mi); Rascafría 150.3 km2 (58.0 sq mi); and Manzanares el Real 128.4 km2 (49.6 sq mi). The smallest municipalities by area are: Casarrubuelos 5.3 km2 (2.0 sq mi); La Serna del Monte 5.4 km2 (2.1 sq mi); Pelayos de la Presa 7.6 km2 (2.9 sq mi); Madarcos 8.5 km2 (3.3 sq mi); and Torrejón de la Calzada 9.0 km2 (3.5 sq mi).
References
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