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111-584: The Community of Madrid ( Spanish : Comunidad de Madrid [komuniˈðað ðe maˈðɾið] ) is one of the seventeen autonomous communities of Spain . It is located in the centre of the Iberian Peninsula , and of the Central Plateau ( Meseta Central ). Its capital and largest municipality is the City of Madrid , which is also the capital of the country. The Community of Madrid
222-651: A Spanish-based creole language called Chavacano developed in the southern Philippines. However, it is not mutually intelligible with Spanish. The number of Chavacano-speakers was estimated at 1.2 million in 1996. The local languages of the Philippines also retain significant Spanish influence, with many words derived from Mexican Spanish , owing to the administration of the islands by Spain through New Spain until 1821, until direct governance from Madrid afterwards to 1898. Sistema Central The Central System , Spanish and Portuguese : Sistema Central ,
333-475: A consequence of a long process of repopulation that took place over the course of four centuries. The feudal and ecclesiastical lords came into constant conflict with the different councils that had been granted the authority to repopulate. In the 13th century, Madrid was the only town of the current-day region that preserved its own juridical personality, at first with the Old Fuero (Charter) and later with
444-603: A considerable number of words from Arabic , as well as a minor influence from the Germanic Gothic language through the period of Visigoth rule in Iberia. In addition, many more words were borrowed from Latin through the influence of written language and the liturgical language of the Church. The loanwords were taken from both Classical Latin and Renaissance Latin , the form of Latin in use at that time. According to
555-522: A dramatic change in the pronunciation of its sibilant consonants , known in Spanish as the reajuste de las sibilantes , which resulted in the distinctive velar [x] pronunciation of the letter ⟨j⟩ and—in a large part of Spain—the characteristic interdental [θ] ("th-sound") for the letter ⟨z⟩ (and for ⟨c⟩ before ⟨e⟩ or ⟨i⟩ ). See History of Spanish (Modern development of
666-482: A first language by Spaniards and educated Filipinos ( Ilustrados ). Despite a public education system set up by the colonial government, by the end of Spanish rule in 1898, only about 10% of the population had knowledge of Spanish, mostly those of Spanish descent or elite standing. Spanish continued to be official and used in Philippine literature and press during the early years of American administration after
777-521: A higher altitude close to the Sierra de Guadarrama feature a colder climate, also generally with more precipitation (particularly in the winter), with climate subtypes ranging from the Csa to the warm-summer mediterranean climate (Köppen: Csb ) and the dry summer continental climate (Köppen: Dsb ) on the peaks of the mountain range, with temperature averages below freezing point during January and February in
888-684: A large black (monk) vulture colony, and one of the last bastions of the Spanish imperial eagle in the world is found in the Park Regional del Suroeste in dehesa hills between the Gredos and Guadarrama ranges. The recent possible detection of the existence of Iberian lynx in the area between the Cofio and Alberche rivers is testament to the biodiversity of the area. Taking advantage of the orography, there are several reservoirs and local dams, with
999-721: A leading role in Spain's logistics and transportation. The Community of Madrid is almost entirely comprised in the Tagus Basin , from the Central System ( Sistema Central ) reliefs in the north and northwest to the Tagus River bed in the southern border. The climate is generally temperate, ranging from mediterranean to semi-arid , except in the Central System highlands. It contains four World Heritage Sites :
1110-478: A long history in the territory of the current-day United States dating back to the 16th century. In the wake of the 1848 Guadalupe Hidalgo Treaty , hundreds of thousands of Spanish speakers became a minoritized community in the United States. The 20th century saw further massive growth of Spanish speakers in areas where they had been hitherto scarce. According to the 2020 census, over 60 million people of
1221-518: A platform for the internationalisation of the Spanish economy , featuring a marked preponderance of the service sector . By the turn of the 21st century, a strong boost to the construction sub-sector also took place. During this period the Community of Madrid stood out due to its role as centre for welcoming immigration, due to its condition as transport node vis-à-vis the Spanish geography, and due to its condition as scientific and cultural centre of
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#17327725561261332-508: A primarily Hassaniya Arabic -speaking territory, Spanish was officially spoken as the language of the colonial administration during the late 19th and 20th centuries. Today, Spanish is present in the partially-recognized Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic as its secondary official language, and in the Sahrawi refugee camps in Tindouf ( Algeria ), where the Spanish language is still taught as
1443-563: A second language features characteristics involving the variability of the vowel system. While far from its heyday during the Spanish protectorate in Morocco , the Spanish language has some presence in northern Morocco , stemming for example from the availability of certain Spanish-language media. According to a 2012 survey by Morocco's Royal Institute for Strategic Studies (IRES), penetration of Spanish in Morocco reaches 4.6% of
1554-531: A second language, largely by Cuban educators. The number of Spanish speakers is unknown. Spanish is also an official language of the African Union . Spanish was an official language of the Philippines from the beginning of Spanish administration in 1565 to a constitutional change in 1973. During Spanish colonization , it was the language of government, trade, and education, and was spoken as
1665-555: A special status, and after considering other options for Madrid—like its inclusion in the community of Castile and León or its constitution as an entity similar to a federal district .—it was decided that the province of Madrid would become a single-province autonomous community by virtue of Article 144 of the Constitution, which empowers the Cortes to create an autonomous community in the "nation's interest" even if it did not satisfy
1776-466: A strategic military post in the 11th century. The Muslim rulers created a defensive system of fortresses and towers all across the region with which they tried to stop the advance of the Christian kingdoms of the north. The fortress of Mayrit (Madrid) was built somewhere between 860 and 880 AD, as a walled precinct where a military and religious community lived, and which constituted the foundation of
1887-409: A unified region as several lords and churches had jurisdiction over their own autonomous territories. During the 18th century, the fragmented administration of the region was not solved despite several attempts. During the reign of Philip V , the intendencia was created as a political and administrative division. Nonetheless, the intendencia of Madrid did not fully solve the problem, and the region
1998-416: Is cognate to the root word of satisfacer ("to satisfy"), and hecho ("made") is similarly cognate to the root word of satisfecho ("satisfied"). Compare the examples in the following table: Some consonant clusters of Latin also produced characteristically different results in these languages, as shown in the examples in the following table: In the 15th and 16th centuries, Spanish underwent
2109-599: Is a Romance language of the Indo-European language family that evolved from the Vulgar Latin spoken on the Iberian Peninsula of Europe . Today, it is a global language with about 500 million native speakers, mainly in the Americas and Spain , and about 600 million when including second language speakers. Spanish is the official language of 20 countries , as well as one of the six official languages of
2220-490: Is bounded to the south and east by Castilla–La Mancha and to the north and west by Castile and León . It was formally created in 1983, in order to address the particular status of the City of Madrid as the national capital city and in urban hierarchy. Its limits are those of the province of Madrid, which was until then conventionally included in the historical region of New Castile ( Castilla la Nueva ). The Community of Madrid
2331-454: Is estimated that about 486 million people speak Spanish as a native language , making it the second most spoken language by number of native speakers . An additional 75 million speak Spanish as a second or foreign language , making it the fourth most spoken language in the world overall after English, Mandarin Chinese, and Hindi with a total number of 538 million speakers. Spanish is also
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#17327725561262442-761: Is heavily influenced by Venezuelan Spanish. In addition to sharing most of its borders with Spanish-speaking countries, the creation of Mercosur in the early 1990s induced a favorable situation for the promotion of Spanish language teaching in Brazil . In 2005, the National Congress of Brazil approved a bill, signed into law by the President , making it mandatory for schools to offer Spanish as an alternative foreign language course in both public and private secondary schools in Brazil. In September 2016 this law
2553-485: Is no longer a judicial district as of 1985). These jurisdictions relate to the judicial administration, with their seat having at least one court of first instance . Madrid is the autonomous community with the highest income per capita in Spain, at €38,435 in 2022 – significantly above the national average and ahead of the Basque Country , with €35,832, Navarra , €33,798, and Catalonia , €32,550. In that year,
2664-648: Is one of the main systems of mountain ranges in the Iberian Peninsula . The 2,592 m high Pico Almanzor is its highest summit. The Central System is located just north of the 40th parallel and its ranges divide the drainage basin of the Tagus from the basin of the Douro . The Sistema Central is a primary feature of the Meseta Central , the inner Iberian plateau, splitting the meseta into two parts. The Sistema Central runs in an ENE - WSW direction roughly along
2775-732: Is related to Castile ( Castilla or archaically Castiella ), the kingdom where the language was originally spoken. The name Castile , in turn, is usually assumed to be derived from castillo ('castle'). In the Middle Ages , the language spoken in Castile was generically referred to as Romance and later also as Lengua vulgar . Later in the period, it gained geographical specification as Romance castellano ( romanz castellano , romanz de Castiella ), lenguaje de Castiella , and ultimately simply as castellano (noun). Different etymologies have been suggested for
2886-844: Is spoken by very small communities in Angola due to Cuban influence from the Cold War and in South Sudan among South Sudanese natives that relocated to Cuba during the Sudanese wars and returned for their country's independence. Spanish is also spoken in the integral territories of Spain in Africa, namely the cities of Ceuta and Melilla and the Canary Islands , located in the Atlantic Ocean some 100 km (62 mi) off
2997-813: Is the de facto national language of the country, Spanish is often used in public services and notices at the federal and state levels. Spanish is also used in administration in the state of New Mexico . The language has a strong influence in major metropolitan areas such as those of Los Angeles , Miami , San Antonio , New York , San Francisco , Dallas , Tucson and Phoenix of the Arizona Sun Corridor , as well as more recently, Chicago , Las Vegas , Boston , Denver , Houston , Indianapolis , Philadelphia , Cleveland , Salt Lake City , Atlanta , Nashville , Orlando , Tampa , Raleigh and Baltimore-Washington, D.C. due to 20th- and 21st-century immigration. Although Spanish has no official recognition in
3108-407: Is the third most populous in Spain with 7,058,041 (2024) inhabitants, roughly a seventh of the national total, mostly concentrated in the metropolitan area of Madrid . It is also the most densely populated autonomous community. Madrid has both the largest nominal GDP , slightly ahead of that of Catalonia , and the highest GDP per capita in the country. Madrid's economy is highly tertiarised , having
3219-588: The Alcázar or Castle of the city. Alcalá de Henares grew in importance as cultural center since the foundation by the Cardinal Cisneros of its university . In 1561, King Philip II made Madrid the capital of the Hispanic Monarchy . The surrounding territories became economically subordinated to the town itself, even beyond the present day limits of the Community of Madrid. But it was not
3330-818: The Bola del Mundo ("Ball of the World") in Navacerrada , at a height of 2,258 m, the Siete Picos ("Seven Peaks") in Cercedilla , at 2,138 m, and the Peña Cebollera (2,129 m) at the northernmost end of the province, a tripoint between the Madrid region and the provinces of Segovia and Guadalajara. Among the protected species of birds nesting in the region stand out the Spanish imperial eagle ,
3441-522: The Cytisus oromediterraneus and the common juniper as well as the Scots pine take over. There are also masses of black pine and the pyrenean oak situated above the domain of the holm oak. Eurosiberian flora is not common in the region, and species such as the moor birch and the silver birch are restricted to very specific humid valley areas with special climate conditions. The climax vegetation in
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3552-589: The Directorio Central de Empresas (Central Companies Directory of the INE), Madrid's active businesses stand in third place nationally in terms of numbers as at 1 January 2006. The branches of activity with most active businesses are other business activities, retail trade, construction, wholesale trade, hospitality, property activities, land transport, and pipeline transport. Spanish language Spanish ( español ) or Castilian ( castellano )
3663-580: The Guadarrama Mountains ; they both fought for the control of the Real de Manzanares, a large comarca (shire) that was finally given to the House of Mendoza . Castilian monarchs showed a predilection for the center of the peninsula, with abundant forests and game. El Pardo was a region visited frequently by kings since the time of Henry III , in the 14th century. The Catholic Monarchs started
3774-711: The Monastery and Royal Site of El Escorial , the university and historic centre of Alcalá de Henares , the cultural landscape of Aranjuez and the Paseo del Prado and Buen Retiro park in Madrid City. In addition, the Montejo Beech Forest [ es ] is part of the transnational Ancient and Primeval Beech Forests of the Carpathians and Other Regions of Europe world heritage site. Despite
3885-584: The Santillana reservoir being the largest. When looking at a map of the province of Madrid, it can be seen that it is almost an equilateral triangle, in whose center would be the city. First, by the western side, it borders the " Sistema Central " (the Guadarrama mountain range ), the southern border features a protrusion following the Tagus River in order to include the royal site of Aranjuez in
3996-642: The Sierra de Guadarrama , which runs approximately along the border of the Madrid and Castile and León autonomous communities, the Sierra de Gredos north of the border between Castile and León and Castile-La Mancha stretching into Extremadura and containing the range's highest mountain, Pico Almanzor , at 2,592 m, as well as the Serra da Estrela , containing the highest point in continental Portugal , A Torre , 1,993 m. Other notably large ranges are Sierra de Gata and Sierra de Ayllón . The Central System links with
4107-568: The Spanish as a First Foreign Language (SAFFL) initiative in March 2005. Spanish has historically had a significant presence on the Dutch Caribbean islands of Aruba , Bonaire and Curaçao ( ABC Islands ) throughout the centuries and in present times. The majority of the populations of each island (especially Aruba) speaking Spanish at varying although often high degrees of fluency. The local language Papiamentu (Papiamento on Aruba)
4218-664: The Spanish constitution . The Statute of Autonomy establishes that the powers through which the self-government of the autonomous community is exercised are the following institutions: Since the creation of autonomous communities, the Government of Spain appoints a special representative to each autonomous community, the Government Delegate , part of the Peripheral State Administration. Unlike other single-province autonomous communities,
4329-508: The Spanish–American War but was eventually replaced by English as the primary language of administration and education by the 1920s. Nevertheless, despite a significant decrease in influence and speakers, Spanish remained an official language of the Philippines upon independence in 1946, alongside English and Filipino , a standardized version of Tagalog . Spanish was briefly removed from official status in 1973 but reimplemented under
4440-609: The Tajuña ), the Alberche and the Guadarrama in the Community. This autonomous community also includes the exclave of Dehesa de la Cepeda (part of the municipality of Santa María de la Alameda ), a mostly open-area geographically located between the provinces of Ávila and Segovia in the autonomous community of Castile and León . The Province of Madrid occupies a surface area of approximately 8,028 km (3,100 sq mi) (1.6% of all Spanish territory). More specifically,
4551-548: The United Nations . Spanish is the world's second-most spoken native language after Mandarin Chinese ; the world's fourth-most spoken language overall after English , Mandarin Chinese, and Hindustani ( Hindi - Urdu ); and the world's most widely spoken Romance language. The country with the largest population of native speakers is Mexico . Spanish is part of the Ibero-Romance language group , in which
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4662-454: The ayuntamiento are directly elected through proportional representation with closed party lists and a 5% electoral threshold . In turn, the councillors are charged with electing from among themselves (by default candidates are the head of each electoral list) the Mayor presiding over the ayuntamiento . There are twenty judicial districts ( partidos judiciales ), whose seats correspond to
4773-518: The black-headed gull , the lesser black-backed gull , the great cormorant and Eurasian collared dove , while the emblematic iberian ibex is presented as a case of a species "gone out of control" in La Pedriza following its re-introduction in the region in 1990 after roughly a century disappeared from the Madrilenian mountains. The mountain amphibians living at a high altitude include
4884-731: The campiña is the holly oak . Some of the species that take over when the holly oak forest degrades are the "sticky shrub" , the Retama sphaerocarpa , the French lavender , the Thymus mastichina and the Thymus zygis . The lower reaches of Guadarrama Mountain Range are populated by species such as the Juniperus thurifera , the maritime pine , the Portuguese oak , the stone pine ; only in
4995-415: The fire salamander , the marbled newt , the alpine newt , the iberian frog , the European tree frog or the common midwife toad . At a middle elevation in the mountain reaches close to water streams there are species such as the Bosca's newt , the southern marbled newt , the mediterranean tree frog or the iberian midwife toad . The common parsley frog and the Alytes obstetricans pertinax dwell in
5106-402: The golden eagle , the Bonelli's eagle , the cinereous vulture , the peregrine falcon and the black stork . Exotic invasive species of birds and mammals in the region include the red-eared slider , the monk parakeet , the common snapping turtle , the rose-ringed parakeet , the American mink and the raccoon . Species described as "out of place" and with an increasing population include
5217-417: The province of Toledo and joined that of Marid, and in 1850, when the small municipality of Valdeavero (19 km), until then part of the province of Guadalajara , joined the province of Madrid. One of the limits so far for the growth of the capital, water supply, experienced a substantial change in 1858 following the arrival to the city of Madrid of water from the Lozoya River with the inauguration of
5328-455: The viperine snake . The fish species are affected by the high number of reservoirs in the region. Among the threatened species in the rivers stand out the European eel , the iberian barbel , the Squalius alburnoides , the Cobitis calderoni and, potentially, the Chondrostoma lemmingii . Conversely the set of invasive species of fish includes pike , black bullhead catfish , pumpkinseed , zander , common bleak and black-bass . In
5439-424: The 13th century. Spanish colonialism in the early modern period spurred the introduction of the language to overseas locations, most notably to the Americas. As a Romance language, Spanish is a descendant of Latin. Around 75% of modern Spanish vocabulary is Latin in origin, including Latin borrowings from Ancient Greek. Alongside English and French , it is also one of the most taught foreign languages throughout
5550-469: The 19th century. Around the town of Madrid, an administrative territory was created known as Tierra de Madrid (Land of Madrid), the origin of the province that included the areas of the current municipalities of San Sebastián de los Reyes, Cobeña, Las Rozas de Madrid, Rivas-Vaciamadrid, Torrejón de Velasco, Alcorcón, San Fernando de Henares, and Griñón. Madrid was in constant strife with the powerful council of Segovia , whose jurisdiction extended south of
5661-404: The 2021–2022 school year alone. The local business process outsourcing industry has also helped boost the language's economic prospects. Today, while the actual number of proficient Spanish speakers is around 400,000, or under 0.5% of the population, a new generation of Spanish speakers in the Philippines has likewise emerged, though speaker estimates vary widely. Aside from standard Spanish,
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#17327725561265772-406: The 20th century, Spanish was introduced to Equatorial Guinea and the Western Sahara , and to areas of the United States that had not been part of the Spanish Empire, such as Spanish Harlem in New York City . For details on borrowed words and other external influences upon Spanish, see Influences on the Spanish language . Spanish is the primary language in 20 countries worldwide. As of 2023, it
5883-523: The Equatoguinean education system and is the primary language used in government and business. Whereas it is not the mother tongue of virtually any of its speakers, the vast majority of the population is proficient in Spanish. The Instituto Cervantes estimates that 87.7% of the population is fluent in Spanish. The proportion of proficient Spanish speakers in Equatorial Guinea exceeds the proportion of proficient speakers in other West and Central African nations of their respective colonial languages. Spanish
5994-488: The GDP per capita growth was 8.6%. Madrid has a GDP of €230.8 billion ($ 281 billion) as of 2018; making it the largest economy of Spain, ahead of Catalonia , where regional GDP amounted to €228.7 billion and the most populated Spanish region, Andalusia (€160.6 billion). In 2005, the Community of Madrid was the main receptor of foreign investment in the country, at 34.3% of the total. The community ranks 34th amongst all European regions (evaluated in 2002), and 50th amongst
6105-456: The Government also appoints the Government Sub-delegate, the successor office to the provincial civil governor. The seats of both the delegation and the subdelegation are located at the Borghetto Palace [ es ] in Madrid. The Community of Madrid, following the long-standing form of local government in Spain , is divided administratively into 179 municipalities (featuring 801 towns and entities). Its municipalities comprise 2.2% of
6216-577: The Iberian Peninsula. These languages included Proto-Basque , Iberian , Lusitanian , Celtiberian and Gallaecian . The first documents to show traces of what is today regarded as the precursor of modern Spanish are from the 9th century. Throughout the Middle Ages and into the modern era , the most important influences on the Spanish lexicon came from neighboring Romance languages — Mozarabic ( Andalusi Romance ), Navarro-Aragonese , Leonese , Catalan/Valencian , Portuguese , Galician , Occitan , and later, French and Italian . Spanish also borrowed
6327-449: The Lozoya Valley in the late 19th century intending to achieve a purer water from the river, that provided the capital with water for consumption. However, the bulk of the process took place after the Spanish Civil War, with a largely successful repopulation with several species of conifers . The Madrid region features a climate marked by dry summers, while average temperature varies with altitude, marking different climate subtypes. Most of
6438-424: The Old Spanish sibilants) for details. The Gramática de la lengua castellana , written in Salamanca in 1492 by Elio Antonio de Nebrija , was the first grammar written for a modern European language. According to a popular anecdote, when Nebrija presented it to Queen Isabella I , she asked him what was the use of such a work, and he answered that language is the instrument of empire. In his introduction to
6549-418: The Royal Fuero , granted by Alfonso X of Castile in 1262 and ratified by Alfonso XI in 1339. On the other hand, the town of Buitrago del Lozoya , Alcalá de Henares and Talamanca de Jarama , which were rapidly repopulated until that century, were under the dominion of the feudal or ecclesiastical lords. Specifically, Alcalá de Henares was under the hands of the archbishopric of Toledo and remained so until
6660-399: The Spanish territory (8,110). It is ranked 23rd amongst Spanish provinces in number of municipalities, which is slightly above average. The average is 165 municipalities by province. The ayuntamiento , presided by its alcalde (Mayor) is the formal institution charged with the government and administration of most municipalities. The municipal councillors forming the deliberative assembly of
6771-424: The Spanish-speaking world, Spanish is called not only español but also castellano (Castilian), the language from the Kingdom of Castile , contrasting it with other languages spoken in Spain such as Galician , Basque , Asturian , Catalan/Valencian , Aragonese , Occitan and other minor languages. The Spanish Constitution of 1978 uses the term castellano to define the official language of
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#17327725561266882-502: The U.S. population were of Hispanic or Hispanic American by origin. In turn, 41.8 million people in the United States aged five or older speak Spanish at home, or about 13% of the population. Spanish predominates in the unincorporated territory of Puerto Rico , where it is also an official language along with English. Spanish is by far the most common second language in the country, with over 50 million total speakers if non-native or second-language speakers are included. While English
6993-399: The administration of Ferdinand Marcos two months later. It remained an official language until the ratification of the present constitution in 1987, in which it was re-designated as a voluntary and optional auxiliary language. Additionally, the constitution, in its Article XIV, stipulates that the Government shall provide the people of the Philippines with a Spanish-language translation of
7104-409: The autonomous community was founded, and it took placed along a strong decrease of birth rates. The creation of the contemporary Community of Madrid was preceded by an intense political debate. Autonomous communities were to be created by one or more provinces with a distinct regional identity. Since the 1833 provincial organization, Madrid was part of the historical region of New Castile along with
7215-519: The bringing of the Canal de Isabel II . In decadence since the middle 18th century, the city of Alcalá de Henares , experienced a relative demographic and economic upturn in the second half of the 19th century, based on its newly acquired condition of military outpost, to which an embryonic industrial nucleus was also added. During the reign of Ferdinand VII the south of the province was made up of small agricultural settlements of limited population. Among them, Getafe stood out in population, and became
7326-422: The capital as well as a great part of the rest of the province by the side loyal to the Republic . The city of Madrid was target of many bombings during the conflict, becoming the first big city in Europe to suffer such systematic and massive air attacks. Since the 1970s, a process of a population transfer from the capital to the rest of municipalities of the metropolitan area emerged. This process accelerated when
7437-458: The city. It soon became the most strategic fortress in defense of the city of Toledo above the fortresses of Talamanca and Qal'-at'-Abd-Al-Salam (Alcalá de Henares). In 1083 (or 1085) Alfonso VI took the city of Madrid in the context of his wider campaign to conquer Toledo. Alcalá de Henares fell in 1118 in a new period of Castilian annexation. The recently conquered lands by the Christian kingdoms were desegregated into several constituencies, as
7548-566: The classic hispanus or hispanicus took the suffix -one from Vulgar Latin , as happened with other words such as bretón (Breton) or sajón (Saxon). Like the other Romance languages , the Spanish language evolved from Vulgar Latin , which was brought to the Iberian Peninsula by the Romans during the Second Punic War , beginning in 210 BC. Several pre-Roman languages (also called Paleohispanic languages )—some distantly related to Latin as Indo-European languages , and some that are not related at all—were previously spoken in
7659-446: The consonant written b (a bilabial with plosive and fricative allophones). In modern Spanish, there is no difference between the pronunciation of orthographic b and v . Typical of Spanish (as also of neighboring Gascon extending as far north as the Gironde estuary , and found in a small area of Calabria ), attributed by some scholars to a Basque substratum was the mutation of Latin initial f into h- whenever it
7770-429: The construction of the Royal Palace of Aranjuez . In the 16th century, San Lorenzo de El Escorial was built and became another royal site of the province. The town of Madrid, which was one of the eighteen cities with the right to vote in the Cortes of Castile , was seat of the Courts themselves on several occasions and was the residence of several monarchs, amongst them the emperor Charles I who reformed and expanded
7881-404: The country's constitution. In recent years changing attitudes among non-Spanish speaking Filipinos have helped spur a revival of the language, and starting in 2009 Spanish was reintroduced as part of the basic education curriculum in a number of public high schools, becoming the largest foreign language program offered by the public school system, with over 7,000 students studying the language in
7992-524: The country. Like the rest of autonomous communities, the Community of Madrid is organized politically within a parliamentary system ; that is, the head of government —known as the "president"—is dependent on the direct support from the autonomous legislature , whose members elect him by a majority . The Statute of Autonomy of the Madrid Autonomous Community is the fundamental organic law in conjunction with (and subordinated to)
8103-421: The creation of many social, economic, and cultural institutions, some of which are still operating. Madrid grew to a population of 156,672 inhabitants by the end of the eighteenth century. The current territory of the region was roughly defined with the 1833 reorganization of Spain into provinces promoted by Javier de Burgos , in which the province of Madrid was classified in the region of New Castile (lacking
8214-472: The exact position of Madrid is 3° 40' of longitude west of Greenwich , England, and 40° 23' north of the equator. Most of the province lies between 600 and 1,000 m above sea level. However, there the altitude ranges from 2,428 metres of Peñalara to 430 metres at the Alberche river when it leaves Villa del Prado into the province of Toledo. Other considerable heights, as well as being famous, are
8325-400: The existence of a large urban area of nearly 7 million people, the Community of Madrid still retains some remarkably unspoiled and diverse habitats and landscapes. Madrid is home to mountain peaks rising above 2,000 m, holm oak dehesas and low-lying plains. The slopes of the Guadarrama mountain range are cloaked in dense forests of Scots pine and Pyrenean oak . The Lozoya Valley supports
8436-683: The following table: Spanish is marked by palatalization of the Latin double consonants ( geminates ) nn and ll (thus Latin annum > Spanish año , and Latin anellum > Spanish anillo ). The consonant written u or v in Latin and pronounced [w] in Classical Latin had probably " fortified " to a bilabial fricative /β/ in Vulgar Latin. In early Spanish (but not in Catalan or Portuguese) it merged with
8547-466: The former British colony of Belize (known until 1973 as British Honduras ) where English is the sole official language, according to the 2022 census, 54% of the total population are able to speak the language. Due to its proximity to Spanish-speaking countries and small existing native Spanish speaking minority, Trinidad and Tobago has implemented Spanish language teaching into its education system. The Trinidadian and Tobagonian government launched
8658-604: The grammar, dated 18 August 1492, Nebrija wrote that "... language was always the companion of empire." From the 16th century onwards, the language was taken to the Spanish-discovered America and the Spanish East Indies via Spanish colonization of America . Miguel de Cervantes , author of Don Quixote , is such a well-known reference in the world that Spanish is often called la lengua de Cervantes ("the language of Cervantes"). In
8769-594: The language is also known as Castilian ( castellano ). The group evolved from several dialects of Vulgar Latin in Iberia after the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century. The oldest Latin texts with traces of Spanish come from mid-northern Iberia in the 9th century, and the first systematic written use of the language happened in Toledo , a prominent city of the Kingdom of Castile , in
8880-549: The language's hegemony in an intensely centralising Spanish state were established from the 18th century onward. Other European territories in which it is also widely spoken include Gibraltar and Andorra . Spanish is also spoken by immigrant communities in other European countries, such as the United Kingdom , France , Italy , and Germany . Spanish is an official language of the European Union . Today,
8991-463: The later any sort of administrative institution at the regional level nonetheless). The government institution at the provincial level was the deputation ( diputación ). In addition to the former body, another provincial political authority was the civil governor discretionarily designated by the central government. Two modest changes to the 1833 provincial boundaries that concerned Madrid took place shortly before 1845, when Aranjuez (187 km) left
9102-590: The later case. The territory of the Community of Madrid has been populated since the Lower Paleolithic , mainly in the valleys between the rivers of Manzanares , Jarama , and Henares , where several archaeological findings have been made. Some notable discoveries of the region the bell-shaped vase of Ciempozuelos (between 1970 and 1470 BCE), from the Bell beaker culture . During the Roman Empire ,
9213-481: The limestone lowlands near the Tagus in the south-east of the region. Among the all-around amphibians adaptable to different heights stand out the natterjack toad , the common toad and the iberian green frog . Other species with a wide distribution range (although in this case restricted by altitude) are the gallipato , the iberian spadefoot toad , the iberian painted frog , and the Spanish painted frog . Regarding
9324-694: The majority of the Spanish speakers live in Hispanic America . Nationally, Spanish is the official language—either de facto or de jure —of Argentina , Bolivia (co-official with 36 indigenous languages), Chile , Colombia , Costa Rica , Cuba , Dominican Republic , Ecuador , El Salvador , Guatemala , Honduras , Mexico (co-official with 63 indigenous languages), Nicaragua , Panama , Paraguay (co-official with Guaraní ), Peru (co-official with Quechua , Aymara , and "the other indigenous languages"), Puerto Rico (co-official with English), Uruguay , and Venezuela . Spanish language has
9435-572: The most competitive cities-regions worldwide, ahead of Barcelona and Valencia , the other two largest metropolitan areas of Spain. The strengths of the economy of the community are its low unemployment rate, its high investment in research, its high development, and the added-value services therein performed. Its weaknesses include the low penetration of broadband and new technologies of information and an unequal male to female occupation. The service, construction, and industry sectors are prominent in Madrid's commercial productive structure. According to
9546-409: The municipalities of Alcalá de Henares , Alcobendas , Alcorcón , Aranjuez , Arganda del Rey , Collado Villalba , Colmenar Viejo , Coslada , Fuenlabrada , Getafe , Leganés , Madrid , Majadahonda , Móstoles , Navalcarnero , Parla , San Lorenzo de El Escorial , Torrejón de Ardoz , Torrelaguna , Valdemoro , and Valdaracete (the historical judicial district of San Martín de Valdeiglesias
9657-790: The northwest of the African mainland. The Spanish spoken in the Canary Islands traces its origins back to the Castilian conquest in the 15th century , and, in addition to a resemblance to Western Andalusian speech patterns, it also features strong influence from the Spanish varieties spoken in the Americas, which in turn have also been influenced historically by Canarian Spanish. The Spanish spoken in North Africa by native bilingual speakers of Arabic or Berber who also speak Spanish as
9768-654: The other hand, currently uses the term español in its publications. However, from 1713 to 1923, it called the language castellano . The Diccionario panhispánico de dudas (a language guide published by the Royal Spanish Academy) states that, although the Royal Spanish Academy prefers to use the term español in its publications when referring to the Spanish language, both terms— español and castellano —are regarded as synonymous and equally valid. The term castellano
9879-534: The period of the Visigothic Kingdom , the region lost its importance. The population was scattered amongst several small towns. Complutum was designated the bishopric seat in the 5th century by orders of Asturio, archbishop of Toledo , but this event was not enough to bring back the lost splendor of the city. The centre of the peninsula (the Middle Mark of Al-Andalus or aṯ-Ṯaḡr al-Awsaṭ ) became
9990-533: The population. Many northern Moroccans have rudimentary knowledge of Spanish, with Spanish being particularly significant in areas adjacent to Ceuta and Melilla. Spanish also has a presence in the education system of the country (through either selected education centers implementing Spain's education system, primarily located in the North, or the availability of Spanish as foreign language subject in secondary education). In Western Sahara , formerly Spanish Sahara ,
10101-517: The provinces of Guadalajara, Toledo, Cuenca and Ciudad Real. Thus, it was first planned that the province of Madrid would be part of the future community of Castile–La Mancha (which was roughly similar to New Castile, with the addition of Albacete ) but with some special considerations as the home of the national capital. The other provinces that were to become part of the autonomous community of Castile–La Mancha expressed fears of inequality if Madrid were associated with them. These provinces opposed such
10212-563: The region (including the capital) has a climate intermediate between a hot-summer mediterranean climate ( Köppen Csa ) and a cold semi-arid climate (Köppen BSk ), with a dry summer and a moderate to low amount of rain primarily distributed throughout the rest of the year (in the case of the capital, roughly an equinoctial pattern of precipitation maximums), as well as summer temperature averages over 22 °C (with daily maximums consistently surpassing 30 °C in July and August). The areas at
10323-575: The region was part of the Citerior Tarraconese province, except for the south-west portion of it, which belonged to Lusitania . It was crossed by two important Roman roads, the via xxiv-xxix (joining Astorga to Laminium and via xxv (which joined Emerita Augusta and Caesaraugusta ), and contained some important conurbations. The city of Complutum (today Alcalá de Henares ) became an important metropolis, whereas Titulcia and Miaccum were important crossroad communities. During
10434-580: The region. Among the species of all-around reptiles, adaptable to different biomes stand out the Spanish pond turtle , the salamanquesa , the western three-toed skink , the spiny-footed lizard , the ocellated lizard , the Algerian sand racer , Spanish psammodromus , the ubiquitous iberian wall lizard , the iberian worm lizard , the Coronella girondica , the Montpellier snake ; grass snake and
10545-873: The region; the eastern edge of the triangle comes from the rupture of the fluvial river basins. This autonomous community is located in the basin of the Tagus River. The Tagus passes through the southern border of the Autonomy in its path west toward the Atlantic Ocean , draining the waters of the Jarama River (collecting in turn the waters of the Lozoya , the Guadalix , the Manzanares , the Henares and
10656-622: The reptiles, species such as the Cyren's rock lizard , the European wall lizard , the iberian emerald lizard , the deaf adder or snakes such as the smooth snake or the Vipera latastei dwell in the mountain heights. At the lower reaches of the mountains the European pond turtle and the Brediaga's skink can be found, while the western false smooth snake is restricted to areas in the south of
10767-462: The requirement of having a distinct historical identity. Thus, in 1983, the Community of Madrid was constituted and a Statute of Autonomy was approved taking over all the competences of the old " Diputación Provincial " and the new ones the Statute considered. During the first 25 years of the "autonomic" period, this autonomous community accounted for the biggest economic growth in Spain, becoming
10878-540: The seat of a judicial district in 1834, with the main economic activity of the former jurisdiction still being non-irrigated agriculture. Rail transport arrived in 1851, with the Strawberry train , the railway connecting Madrid and Aranjuez . During the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939), the territory was divided by the battlefront, with the southwest of the province controlled by the rebel faction , and
10989-459: The somewhat more humid westernmost end of the region, near the Alto del Mirlo [ es ] , there are forests of chestnut tree . 54,4% of the surface of the region is soil categorised as forest areas of which the 51.4% (27.7% of the total of the region) it is already covered by forests, so there is room for tree re-population. The first modest efforts towards tree re-population were taken in
11100-625: The southern border of the Spanish autonomous community of Castile and León and Extremadura continuing into the Guarda and Castelo Branco districts in Portugal . Unlike the neighboring Sistema Ibérico , the Sistema Central range is a quite homogeneous system. It consists of several ranges that formed 25 million years ago as part of the Alpine orogeny . The major mountain ranges are
11211-537: The term español (Spanish). According to the Royal Spanish Academy, español derives from the Occitan word espaignol and that, in turn, derives from the Vulgar Latin * hispaniolus ('of Hispania'). Hispania was the Roman name for the entire Iberian Peninsula . There are other hypotheses apart from the one suggested by the Royal Spanish Academy. Spanish philologist Ramón Menéndez Pidal suggested that
11322-444: The theories of Ramón Menéndez Pidal , local sociolects of Vulgar Latin evolved into Spanish, in the north of Iberia, in an area centered in the city of Burgos , and this dialect was later brought to the city of Toledo , where the written standard of Spanish was first developed, in the 13th century. In this formative stage, Spanish developed a strongly differing variant from its close cousin, Leonese , and, according to some authors,
11433-768: The third most used language on the Internet , after English and Chinese. Spanish is the official language of Spain . Upon the emergence of the Castilian Crown as the dominant power in the Iberian Peninsula by the end of the Middle Ages, the Romance vernacular associated with this polity became increasingly used in instances of prestige and influence, and the distinction between "Castilian" and "Spanish" started to become blurred. Hard policies imposing
11544-403: The vicinity of the mountain peaks, oromediterranean vegetation such as Agrostis truncatula , Armeria caespitosa [ es ] , Festuca indigesta , Jasione crispa [ es ] , Jurinea humilis [ es ] , Minuartia recurva , Pilosella vahlii , Plantago holosteum and the Thymus praecox is common. Below the summit line, shrubby species such as
11655-585: The whole of Spain, in contrast to las demás lenguas españolas (lit. "the other Spanish languages "). Article III reads as follows: El castellano es la lengua española oficial del Estado. ... Las demás lenguas españolas serán también oficiales en las respectivas Comunidades Autónomas... Castilian is the official Spanish language of the State. ... The other Spanish languages shall also be official in their respective Autonomous Communities... The Royal Spanish Academy ( Real Academia Española ), on
11766-638: The world. Spanish is well represented in the humanities and social sciences . Spanish is also the third most used language on the internet by number of users after English and Chinese and the second most used language by number of websites after English. Spanish is used as an official language by many international organizations , including the United Nations , European Union , Organization of American States , Union of South American Nations , Community of Latin American and Caribbean States , African Union , among others. In Spain and some other parts of
11877-634: Was developed in the cities of Toledo , in the 13th to 16th centuries, and Madrid , from the 1570s. The development of the Spanish sound system from that of Vulgar Latin exhibits most of the changes that are typical of Western Romance languages , including lenition of intervocalic consonants (thus Latin vīta > Spanish vida ). The diphthongization of Latin stressed short e and o —which occurred in open syllables in French and Italian, but not at all in Catalan or Portuguese—is found in both open and closed syllables in Spanish, as shown in
11988-622: Was distinguished by a heavy Basque influence (see Iberian Romance languages ). This distinctive dialect spread to southern Spain with the advance of the Reconquista , and meanwhile gathered a sizable lexical influence from the Arabic of Al-Andalus , much of it indirectly, through the Romance Mozarabic dialects (some 4,000 Arabic -derived words, make up around 8% of the language today). The written standard for this new language
12099-713: Was followed by a vowel that did not diphthongize. The h- , still preserved in spelling, is now silent in most varieties of the language, although in some Andalusian and Caribbean dialects, it is still aspirated in some words. Because of borrowings from Latin and neighboring Romance languages, there are many f -/ h - doublets in modern Spanish: Fernando and Hernando (both Spanish for "Ferdinand"), ferrero and herrero (both Spanish for "smith"), fierro and hierro (both Spanish for "iron"), and fondo and hondo (both words pertaining to depth in Spanish, though fondo means "bottom", while hondo means "deep"); additionally, hacer ("to make")
12210-462: Was revoked by Michel Temer after the impeachment of Dilma Rousseff . In many border towns and villages along Paraguay and Uruguay, a mixed language known as Portuñol is spoken. Equatorial Guinea is the only Spanish-speaking country located entirely in Africa, with the language introduced during the Spanish colonial period . Enshrined in the constitution as an official language (alongside French and Portuguese), Spanish features prominently in
12321-482: Was still fragmented into several small dominions even though some processes were centralized. This territorial dispersion had a negative effect on its economic growth; while the town of Madrid received economic resources from the entire country as the capital, the surrounding territories—in hands of noblemen or the clergy—became impoverished. During the eighteenth century, the town of Madrid was transformed through several grandiose buildings and monuments as well as through
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