Castilla La Mancha Tourist Information
Castilla La Mancha, one of the most sparsely populated of Spain’s
autonomous Communities, is divided into five separate provinces – Albacete,
Ciudad Real, Cuenca, Guadalajara and Toledo, which is the capital city.
South of Madrid and north of Andalucía and Murcia, this is the land of Don
Quijote’s windmills and acres and acres of olive groves and sunflowers.
Geography of the Region
The geography of Castilla – La Mancha can be divided into two separate
regions – the extensive, flat plateau, the meseta, and the mountains encircling
it, which include parts of the Iberian Mountain range and the Sierra Morena. The
rivers Tagus and Guadiana both flow estwards through the region, whilst the
Jucar river heads east. Another geographical aspect of note is the area around
Cuenca created by erosion which includes such rocks formations as La Ciudad
Encantada, amongst others.
History of Castilla La Mancha
Before the Romans arrived in the area, this was a land of pasture only,
inhabited by Carpetani and Vetoni. The Romans introduced farming on a much more
organised level, and the farms created were then taken over by the more
significant of the Visigoth families and then, later still, to the Muslims.
Toledo became an important strategic position for the Romans and the Visigoths
recognised its importance by making it their chief city. Until taken by the
Christians in 1085 by Alfonso VI, it was the prominent city in the centre of
Muslim Spain. When Castile and Aragón were united under the Catholic monarchs in
1492, and Valladolid and Madrid received more royal patronage, the ´dry,
waterless land’ that is La Mancha began to lose its elevated position. It ceased
to exist completely in 1833, being absorbed into Madrid’s province, Castilla La
Nueva. When the autonomous communities were drawn up in 1982, the new region was
established. Map of Castilla La Mancha
Economy of Castilla La Mancha
This is one of the areas which suffered most from the drift of young people
into Madrid looking for work and there is still little industry in the region
outside the main cities and even there it is quite restricted. There is a large
petrol refinery at Ciudad Real and a nuclear power station at Zorita de los
Canes but the region as a whole lacks energy resources compared to most of the
rest of Spain. The most important agricultural products remain wheat, grapes,
olives, sunflowers and cotton, although this is also the centre of Spain for
saffron growing. Outside Toledo, tourism has not really developed as it has in
many other areas, although concerted efforts were made to attract visitors to
coincide with the four hundredth anniversary of the publication of Don Quijote
in 2005. Flag of Castilla La Mancha
Climate of Castilla La Mancha
Castilla – La Mancha has predominantly a Mediterranean climate, but also has
some Continental aspects. The further south you go in the Meseta, then the
longer the summers and the warmer the winters become. The mountain areas often
experience a high rainfall – with snow at the highest altitudes – whereas in the
central areas there is generally only between 300mm and 400mm annually.
See Also:
Castilla La Mancha Tourism |
