Castile-La Mancha (Spanish "Castilla-La Mancha") is an autonomous community of Spain.

Castile-La Mancha is bordered by Castile and León, Madrid, Aragon, Valencia, Murcia, Andalusia, and Extremadura. It is one of the most sparsely populated of Spain's autonomous communities.

Its capital city is Toledo, and its most populated city is Albacete.

Castile-La Mancha was formerly grouped with the province of Madrid into New Castile ("Castilla la Nueva"), but with the advent of the modern Spanish system of semi-autonomous regions ("las autonomías"), it was separated due to great demographic disparity between the capital and the remaining New-Castilian provinces.

It is in this region where the famous Spanish novel "Don Quixote" by Miguel de Cervantes was written. Although La Mancha is a windswept, battered plateau ("manxa" means parched earth in Arabic; hence La Mancha is not definitively related to the Spanish word "mancha", or stain, which is derived from Latin "macula") it remains a symbol of the Spanish culture with its sunflowers, oliveyards, windmills, Manchego cheese and "Don Quijote".

History

The history of Castile-La Mancha has been significant. Its origin was founded during the Muslim period between the 8th and 14th century. Castile-La Mancha was the region of many historical battles between Christian crusaders and Muslim forces during the period of 1000 to the 14th centuries (until the Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa, which aftermath assured the Castilian domination of the region with the decline of the Almohad Dynasty). It was also the region were the unification of Castile and Aragon in 1492 under Queen Isabel and King Ferdinand was created.

Region

Castile-La Mancha is divided into 5 provinces named after their capital cities. The following category includes:

• Albacete
• Ciudad Real
• Cuenca
• Guadalajara
• Toledo

Other important towns in Castile-La Mancha (with more than 25 000 inhabitants) are:

• Talavera de la Reina, Toledo
• Puertollano, Ciudad Real
• Tomelloso, Ciudad Real
• Hellín, Albacete
• Alcázar de San Juan, Ciudad Real
• Valdepeñas, Ciudad Real
• Almansa, Albacete
• Azuqueca de Henares, Guadalajara

Other towns in Castile-La Mancha (with less than 25 000 inhabitants) are:

• Caudete, Albacete
• Puebla de Don Rodrigo, Ciudad Real
• Villanueva de la Jara, Cuenca
• Alustante, Guadalajara
• Mazarambroz, Toledo

Municipalites of Castile-La Mancha.

References

See also

• La Mancha
• Castile and León
• Old Castile
• New Castile
• Crown of Castile
• Castilian-Manchego cuisine

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