Castile and León
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| Comunidad de Castilla y León | |||
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| — Autonomous Community — | |||
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| Coordinates: 41°23′N 4°27′W / 41.383°N 4.45°WCoordinates: 41°23′N 4°27′W / 41.383°N 4.45°W | |||
| Capital | Valladolid | ||
| Government | |||
| - President | Juan Vicente Herrera (PP) | ||
| Area (18.6% of Spain; Ranked 1st) | |||
| - Total | 94,222 km2 (36,379.3 sq mi) | ||
| Population (2005) | |||
| - Total | 2,510,849 | ||
| - Density | 26.6/km2 (69/sq mi) | ||
| - Pop. rank | 6th | ||
| - Percent | 5.7% of Spain | ||
| ISO 3166-2 | CL | ||
| Parliament | Cortes Generales | ||
| Congress seats | 33 of 350 | ||
| Senate seats | 30 of 259 | ||
| Website | Junta de Castilla y León | ||
Castile and León (Spanish: Castilla y León), known formally as the Community of Castile and León, is one of the 17 autonomous communities of Spain. It was constructed from Old Castile (Spanish: Castilla la Vieja) and León, first as a preautonomía—a "pre-autonomous" region—in 1978 and then as an autonomous community in 1983. It is the largest autonomous community in Spain, covering an area of 94,223 square kilometres (36,380 sq mi) with an official population of around 2.5 million (2005).
The supreme law of Castile and León, under the Spanish Constitution of 1978, is the region's Statute of Autonomy. The statute lays out the basic laws of the region and defines a series of essential values and symbols of the inhabitants of Castile and León, such as their linguistic patrimony (the Castilian language, which English-speakers common refer to simply as "Spanish", as well as Leonese and Galician), as well as their historic, artistic, and natural patrimony. Other symbols alluded to are the coat of arms, flag, and banner; there is also allusion to a regional anthem, though as of 2009 none has been adopted. April 23 is designated Castile and León Day, commemorating the defeat of the comuneros at the Battle of Villalar during the Revolt of the Comuneros, in 1521.
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[edit] Geography
Castile and León borders on Asturias and Cantabria to the north; Aragon, the Basque Country, and La Rioja to the east; the autonomous community of Madrid and Castile-La Mancha to the southeast; Extremadura to the south; and Portugal and Galicia to the west.
Castile and León is roughly coterminous with the Spanish part of the Douro River basin, on the northern half of the Meseta Central, a vast plateau in the middle of the Iberian Peninsula. It also extends to some adjoining valleys, such as El Bierzo (León) and many secluded mountain valleys including Laciana (León), Valle de Mena (Burgos), and Valle del Tiétar (Ávila).
[edit] Terrain
Most of the terrain of Castile and León consists of a large portion of Spain's Meseta Central, surrounded by mountainous regions. The Meseta is a dry, arid high plain, with an average altitude of about 800 metres (2,600 ft), covered by deposits of clay soil.
In the north are the mountains of the provinces of Palencia and León, with high, spindly peaks and the mountains of the province of Burgos, divided in two by the Pancorbo Pass, leading from Castile to the Basque Country. Of those two parts, the more northerly belongs to the Cantabrian Range and continues to the city of Burgos; the mountains of the east and southeast are part of the Sistema Ibérico. In the northeast are the mountains of Zamora, whose peaks have been eroded into mesas. In the east, the mountains of Soria are also part of the Sistema Ibérico, including its highest peak, El Moncayo. Separating the northern Meseta from the southern and from Castile-La Mancha and Madrid, the Sistema Central includes the Sierra de Gata and the Sierra de Gredos in the western half and the Sierra de Guadarrama and Sierra de Ayllón in the eastern half.
[edit] Geological evolution
The northern Meseta is constituted of Paleozoic plinths. After the Variscan orogeny raised Central Europe and the Galician area of Spain at the beginning of the Mesozoic, deposits were eroded away by rivers. During the Alpine orogeny, the materials that formed the plateau were broken at multiple points. This fracturing raised the relatively low mountains of León, constituting a dorsal spine of the Meseta, the Cantabrian Range and the Sistema Central, formed of materials such as granite or metamorphic slates.
One result of this geology was to create medicinal mineral water springs and/or hot springs in Almeida de Sayago, Boñar, Calabor, Caldas de Luna, Castromonte, Cucho, Gejuelo del Barro, Morales de Campos, Valdelateja, and Villarijo.
[edit] Rivers
The most prominent hydrographic feature of Castile and León is the River Douro (Spanish: Duero) and its tributaries. The Douro runs 897 kilometres (557 mi) from its headwaters in the Picos de Urbión in Soria to its mouth at the Portuguese city of Oporto. Flowing into the Douro from the north, on its right bank, are the Pisuerga, the Valderaduey and the Esla, its most capacious tributaries, and from the east, on its left bank, the lesser flows of the Adaja and Duratón. After passing the city of Zamora, the Douro flows through a canyon in the Arribes del Duero Natural Park where it constitutes the border with Portugal, flowing north. From its left bank, it receives the waters of such important tributaries as the Tormes, Huebra, Águeda, the Côa and the Paiva, all originating in the Sistema Central. From the right bank, it receives the waters of the Sabor, the Tua and the Támega, originating in the Galician Massif. Beyond the Arribes, the Douro turns west, flowing through Portugal to the Atlantic.
Nonetheless, the Douro and its tributaries are not the region's only important rivers; the Jalón in Palencia, Burgos, and Soria flows via the Ebro to the Mediterranean Sea. The River Minho (Miño) flows from León into Portugal, the Alagón in Salamanca flows to the Tagus and several provinces containing portions of the Cantabrian Mountains have waters flowing north into the Cantabrian Sea.
Rivers played an important part in the development of the region. Each of the provincial capitals of Castile and León is on the banks of a river.
| Capital where river flows | River | Mouth | Other places where river flows |
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| Ávila | Adaja | Duero in Villamarciel | Tordesillas and Arévalo |
| Burgos | Arlanzón | Arlanza | Arlanzón, Pampliega |
| León | Bernesga | Esla | La Robla |
| Palencia | Carrión | Pisuerga in Dueñas | Guardo, Carrión de los Condes, Palencia and Dueñas. |
| Salamanca | Tormes | Duero in Fermoselle | Guijuelo and El Barco de Ávila |
| Segovia | Eresma | Adaja in Matapozuelos | Coca |
| Soria and Zamora | Duero | Atlantic Ocean in Porto | Almazán, Aranda de Duero, Toro, Tordesillas, Aldeadávila de la Ribera, and Vilvestre |
| Valladolid | Pisuerga | Duero in Geria | Aguilar de Campoo, Cervera de Pisuerga, Venta de Baños, Dueñas, Tariego de Cerrato, and Simancas |
[edit] Road communications
The region is the land communication hub of northern Spain. It is crossed by the International E-roads E80 and E05. These are the main roads connections between Portugal and the south of Spain with the rest of Europe.
Castile and León is also crossed by two major ancient routes:
- The Way of St. James (Spanish: Camino de Santiago), now a hiking trail and a motorway, from east to west.
- The Roman Silver Way (Spanish: Vía de la Plata), now a main road, through the west of the region.
[edit] Lakes and reservoirs
Besides these rivers, the Douro basin also has a great number of lakes and lagoons, such as the Laguna Negra, in the Picos de Urbión, the Laguna Grande in Gredos, the Sanabria Lake in Zamora or the Laguna de la Nava in Palencia. There are also a great number of reservoirs, fed by the snows and rains in the mountains and by glacial meltwater. Despite having relatively little rainfall, Castile and León has one of Spain's largest quantities of water held in reserve.
[edit] Airports
The last years have seen a big improvement in accessibility from the rest of Europe, mainly through the operations of low-cost airlines at the airport of Villanubla (Valladolid). There are three other airports in Castile and León: León, Salamanca, and Burgos. The main airport of the neighbouring region of Madrid (Barajas) is close as well, if not yet with a direct communication through public transportation.
[edit] Regional Administration and Government
Castile and León is divided into nine provinces:
Each of these provinces is named after its respective provincial capital.
Although the "Statute of Autonomy" for Castile and Leon does not specify any city to be the capital of the autonomous community, the city of Valladolid serves that purpose in certain contexts, and is the city of residence for the Regional Executive, the Courts, and several other important arms of the regional parliament and government.
[edit] Autonomous Executive
The executive of Castile and León is known as the Junta de Castilla y León in Spanish.
It has one head of the Regional Executive (Spanish: Presidente de la Junta) and twelve departments: Two Vicepresidencias and ten ministries (Spanish: Consejerías).
- Seat of the Regional Executive: Valladolid
- Seat of the Accounting Committee: Palencia
[edit] Regional Legislature
The Regional Courts of Castile and León (Spanish: Cortes de Castilla y León) is the elected legislature of the Autonomous Community. The tradition of the Regional Courts is traced back to the Royal Council (Latin: Curia Regis) of León (1188). The Curia Regis was a king's summons of the estates of the realm. Although the practical outcome of the Curia Regis of 1188 is still disputed, its charter seems to be an early movement towards the rule of constitutional law, much like the Magna Carta. The Regional Courts meet in Valladolid.
Three parties have parliamentary representation in Castile and León:
- Partido Popular de Castilla y León
- Associated with the national center-right People's Party (PP): 48 seats in the Regional Courts, 18 seats in the Cortes Generales (the national legislature of Spain).
- Partido Socialista de Castilla y León
- Associated with the national center-left Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE): 33 seats in the Regional Courts, 14 seats in the Cortes Generales.
- Unión del Pueblo Leonés ("Leonese People's Union")
- A Leonese nationalist party: 2 seats in the Regional Courts.
Two other parties, the left-wing United Left (Izquierda Unida, IU) and the left-of-center Castilian Nationalist Tierra Comunera - ACAL, contest elections and have held seats in the Regional Courts in the past, but as of 2009 neither is represented in that body.
| Political party | Autonomic elections, 2007[1] | Autonomic elections, 2003 | Autonomic elections, 1999 | |||
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| Percentage | Seats | Percentage | Seats | Percentage | Seats | |
| Partido Popular de Castilla y León | 49.41% | 48 | 48.56% | 48 | 51.96% | 48 |
| Partido Socialista de Castilla y León | 37.49% | 33 | 36.74% | 32 | 33.86% | 30 |
| Unión del Pueblo Leonés | 2.74% | 2 | 3.88% | 3 | 3.81% | 3 |
| Izquierda Unida LVCyL | 3.09% | 0 | 3.43% | 0 | 5.59% | 1 |
| Tierra Comunera - ACAL | 1'16% | 0 | 1'19% | 0 | 1'42% | 1 |
[edit] Regional judiciary
[edit] Other regional bodies
[edit] Ombudsman
The Ombudsman of Castile and León (Spanish: Procurador del Común) is appointed by the Regional Courts.
- Seat of the Ombudsman of Castile and León: León
[edit] Consultative Committee
The Consultative Committee of Castile and León (Spanish: Consejo Consultivo) is a group of five legal analysts. They are appointed by the Regional Courts and the Junta. The Committee delivers reports on legal issues both to the Regional Government and to incumbent municipal governments.
- Seat of the Consultive Committee: Zamora
[edit] Education
[edit] Universities
- Catholic University of Ávila
- Miguel de Cervantes European University (Valladolid)
- Pontifical University of Salamanca
- IE University (Segovia)
- University of Burgos
- University of León
- University of Salamanca
- University of Valladolid
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[edit] UNESCO World Heritage Sites
There are six UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Castile and León:
- The Way of Saint James, that crosses both regions of Castile and León.
- Gothic-style cathedral of Burgos
- Old city and aqueduct of Segovia
- Old city and wall of Ávila
- Old city of Salamanca
- Las Médulas in the province of León, Roman gold mines
- Archaeological deposits of Atapuerca, near the city of Burgos, where fossils of the one of the earliest known hominids in Europe have been found
[edit] List of Castles in Castile and León
These are some castles of Castile and León:
[edit] See also
[edit] Notes
- ^ Resultados autonómicos de Castilla y León (Cinco Días).
[edit] External links
- Cortes de Castilla y León (Regional Parliament) (in Spanish)
- Junta de Castilla y León (Regional Government) (Mostly in Spanish)
- Consejo Consultivo de Castilla y León (in Spanish)
- The Cortes of Castile-León, Joseph F. O'Callaghan (historical)
- Tourist Information
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