Castilla-La Mancha
—  Autonomous Community  —
Flag Coat of arms
Map of Castilla-La Mancha
Coordinates: 39°52′N 4°01′W / 39.867°N 4.017°W / 39.867; -4.017Coordinates: 39°52′N 4°01′W / 39.867°N 4.017°W / 39.867; -4.017
Capital	Toledo
Government
- President	José María Barreda Fontes (PSOE)
Area (15.7% of Spain; Ranked 3rd)
- Total	79,463 km2 (30,680.8 sq mi)
Population (2008)
- Total	2,043,100
- Density	25.7/km2 (66.6/sq mi)
- Pop. rank	9th
- Percent	4.3% of Spain
ISO 3166-2	CM
Parliament	Cortes Generales
Congress seats	21 [1]
Senate seats	20 + 2 [2]
Website	www.jccm.es

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 populous 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 mostly in this region where the story of the famous Spanish novel Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes is situated. Although La Mancha is a windswept, battered plateau, it remains a symbol of the Spanish culture with its sunflowers, mushrooms, oliveyards, windmills, Manchego cheese, and Don Quixote.

[edit] History

The history of Castile-La Mancha has been significant. Its origin lay in 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 from 1000 to the 14th century (until the Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa, the aftermath of which assured the Castilian domination of the region with the decline of the Almohad Dynasty). It was also the region where the unification of Castile and Aragon in 1492 under Queen Isabel and King Ferdinand was created.

[edit] Region

The Old city of Toledo was declared a World Heritage Site for its extensive cultural and monumental heritage.

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

• Albacete
• Ciudad Real
• Cuenca
• Guadalajara
• Toledo

The 25 municipalities most populous of Castile-La Mancha according to INE (2008) are:

Group of old windmills at Consuegra in Castile La Mancha.

[edit] List of Castles in Castile-La Mancha

Is common to see medieval castles around Castile La Mancha.

These are some castles of Castile-La Mancha:

[edit] References

[edit] See also

• La Mancha
• New Castile
• Castile (historical region)
• Crown of Castile
• Castilian-Manchego cuisine
• University of Castile-La Mancha

[edit] External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Castile-La_Mancha

Wikisource has original text related to this article: Estatuto de Autonomía de Castilla-La Mancha de 1982

• Official Web Site of Castile-La Mancha
• Government of Castile-La Mancha
• Statistics Institute of Castile-La Mancha
• University of Castile-La Mancha
• Regional Meteorological Institute of Castile-La Mancha
• Innovation in Castile-La Mancha Web Site
• Surface area of municipalities in Castile-La Mancha
• Team building in Castile-La Mancha

v • d • e Provinces of Castile-La Mancha Provinces: Albacete · Ciudad Real · Cuenca · Guadalajara · Toledo

v • d • e Autonomous communities of Spain Autonomous communities Andalusia · Aragon · Asturias · Balearic Islands · Basque Country · Canary Islands · Cantabria · Castile-La Mancha · Castile and León · Catalonia · Extremadura · Galicia · Madrid · Murcia · Navarre · La Rioja · Valencian Community Autonomous cities  |  Plazas de soberanía Ceuta · Melilla  |  Isla Perejil · Peñón de Vélez de la Gomera · Peñón de Alhucemas · Islas Chafarinas