Murcia (autonomous community)
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| Image:Locator map of Murcia.png | |||||
| Institutional Capital | Murcia | ||||
| Legislative Capital | Cartagena | ||||
| Area – Total – % of Spain | Ranked 9th 11 313 km² 2,2% | ||||
| Population – Total (2005) – % of Spain – Density | Ranked 10th 1 335 792 3,0% 118,08/km² | ||||
| Demonym – English – Spanish | Murcian murciano/a | ||||
| Statute of Autonomy | June 9, 1982 | ||||
| ISO 3166-2 | MU | ||||
| Parliamentary representation – Congress seats – Senate seats | 9 2 | ||||
| President | Ramón Luis Valcárcel Siso (PP) | ||||
| Comunidad Autónoma de la Región de Murcia | |||||
Region of Murcia is one of Spain's seventeen autonomous communities, located in the southeast of the country between Andalucía and Valencian Community, on the Mediterranean coast.
It consists of one province, Murcia is the institutional capital of the community and Cartagena is the legislative capital Other importan citye is Lorca. See List of municipalities in Region of Murcia.
Region of Murcia is bordered by Andalucía (provinces of Almería and Granada), Castilla-La Mancha (province of Albacete), which was historically connected to Region of Murcia until 1833, Valencian Community (province of Alicante), and the Mediterranean Sea. Highest mountain is Revolcadores (2 015 m).
The community measures 11 313 km² and has a population of 1,2 million, of whom one-third live in the capital.
Region of Murcia is a major producer of fruits, vegetables, and flowers for Spain and the rest of Europe. Excellent wineries have developed near the towns of Bullas, Yecla, and Jumilla, as well as olive oil near Moratalla. Murcia is mainly a warm and very arid region and has relied for centuries on extensive irrigation. Water is supplied by the Segura River (Río Segura), which is, unfortunately, one of the most polluted rivers in Europe.
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History
The Carthaginians established a permanent trading depot on the coast at Cartagena, which the Romans called Carthago Nova. For the Carthaginian traders, the mountainous territory was merely the Iberian hinterland of their seacoast empire. Roman Region of Murcia was a part of the province of Hispania Carthaginensis. Under the Moors, who introduced the large-scale irrigation on which Murcian agriculture depends, the province was known as Todmir; it included, according to Idrisi, the 11th century Arab cartographer based in Sicily, the cities of Orihuela, Lorca, Mula and Chinchilla.
The Kingdom of Murcia came into independent existence as a taifa centered on the Moorish city of Murcia after the fall of the Omayyad Caliphate of Córdoba (11th century). Moorish Taifa of Murcia included Albacete and part of Almería as well. After the battle of Sagrajas in 1086 the Almoravid dynasty swallowed up the taifas and reunited Islamic Spain. Ferdinand III of Castile received the submission of the Moorish king of Murcia in 1243. By the usual process, the Muslims were evicted from the cities, and Ferdinand's heir Alfonso X of Castile, for the better governing of a depopulated Murcia, divided the administration of the border kingdom in three regions, entrusted respectively to the concejos de realengo, to the ecclesiastical señores seculares, as a reward for their contributions to the Reconquista and to the Military Orders founded in the 11th century. Alfonso annexed the Taifa of Murcia like King of Murcia and Señorio de Cartagena outright in 1266, and it remained technically a vassal kingdom of Spain until the reforms in the liberal constitution of 1812. Murcia became an autonomous region in 1982.
Culture
The Spanish spoken in Region of Murcia is quite different from other areas of Spain. "Murciano" tends to eliminate many syllable-final consonants and to emphasize regional vocabulary, much of which is derived from old Arabic words. Some Murcian countryfolk still speak a separate dialect, called Panocho, which is virtually unintelligible to speakers of standard Spanish language.
Communications
External link
| Template:Spain/Murcia (autonomous community) | Administrative Structure of Spain | Image:Flag of Spain.svg |
|---|---|---|
| Autonomous Communities: Andalusia | Aragon | Asturias | Balearic Islands | Basque Country | Canary Islands | Cantabria | Castile–La Mancha | Castile–Leon | Catalonia | Extremadura | Galicia | Madrid | Murcia | Navarre | La Rioja | Valencia | ||
| Autonomous Cities: Ceuta | Melilla | ||
| Plazas de soberanía menores: Islas Chafarinas | Peñón de Alhucemas | Peñón de Vélez de la Gomera | ||
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