Extremadura

Extremadura ( , ; ; Extremaduran: Ekstremaduro) is an autonomous community of the western Iberian Peninsula whose capital city is Mérida, recognised by the Statute of Autonomy of Extremadura.  It is made up of the two largest provinces of Spain: Cáceres and Badajoz.  It is bordered by the provinces of Salamanca and Ávila (Castile and León) to the north; by provinces of Toledo and Ciudad Real (Castile–La Mancha) to the east, and by the provinces of Huelva, Seville, and Córdoba (Andalusia) to the south; and by Portugal to the west.  Its official language is Spanish. 

It is an important area for wildlife, particularly with the major reserve at Monfragüe, which was designated a National Park in 2007, and the International Tagus River Natural Park (Parque Natural Tajo Internacional).  The government of Extremadura is called Gobierno de Extremadura. 

The Day of Extremadura is celebrated on 8 September.  It coincides with the Catholic festivity of Our Lady of Guadalupe. 

Geography
Extremadura is contained between  and  latitude, and  and  longitude. 

The area of Extremadura is , making it the fifth largest of the Spanish autonomous communities. 

It is located in the Southern Plateau (a subdivision of the Central Plateau). 

Topography

In the north is the Sistema Central with the highest point in Extremadura,  high Calvitero.  The main subranges of the Sistema Central in Extremadura are the Sierra de Gata and Sierra de Béjar. 

In the centre is the Sierra de las Villuercas, which reaches an altitude of  on the Pico de las Villuercas.  Other notable ranges are Sierra de Montánchez and the Sierra de San Pedro, which form part of the greater Montes de Toledo system. 

To the south rises the Sierra Morena, which separates Extremadura from Andalusia, and the Sierra de Tentudía, with the highest peak in Extremadura as Pico Tentudía at . 

Hydrography

There are four different hydrographic basins:
 The basin of the Tagus (), with two principal tributaries: on the right, the Tiétar and the Alagón; and on the left, the Almonte, Ibor, Salor and the Sever.  The tributaries on the right edge carry a large quantity of water, which feed the gorges of the Sistema Central where the rainfall is abundant and the winter brings a great quantity of snow. 
 The basin of the Guadiana, which has principal tributaries: to the right: Guadarranque and Ruecas to the left: Zújar River which is its plentiful tributary and the Matachel. 
 The basin of the Guadalquivir with only  in Extremadura (2.45% of total). 
 The basin of the Douro () with only  in Extremadura (0.04% of its basin). 

Climate
The climate of Extremadura is hot-summer Mediterranean (Csa in the Köppen climate classification).  It is characterized by its very hot and dry summers, with great droughts, and its mild winters due to the oceanic influence from its proximity to the Atlantic coast of Portugal. 

Temperatures
The yearly temperature fluctuates between an average minimum of  and an average maximum of .  In the north of Extremadura, the average temperatures are lower than those in the south, with temperatures gradually rising south towards the Sierra Morena, where they drop because of the altitude. 

During the summer, the average temperature in July is greater than , at times reaching . 

The winters are mild, with the lowest temperatures being registered in the mountainous regions, with an average temperature of . 

The average snowfall is , mainly occurring in January and February on high ground. 

History

Lusitania, an ancient Roman province approximately including current day Portugal (except for the northern area today known as Norte Region) and a central western portion of the current day Spain, covered in those times today's Autonomous Community of Extremadura.  Mérida (now capital of Extremadura) became the capital of the Roman province of Lusitania, and one of the most important cities in the Roman Empire. 

During the Andalusian period as of 711, present-day Extremadura was on the north-western marches—extremadura is from Latin words meaning literally "outermost hard", the outermost secure border (the march) of an occupied territory—with Mérida being its head city.  It was part of the Umayyad Caliphate of Córdoba, but after its definite collapse in 1031 the Caliphate fragmented into small regional kingdoms, and the lands of Extremadura were included in the Taifa of Badajoz on two taifa periods.  The kingdom in turn broke up twice under Almoravid and Almohad push (1094 and 1151).  After the Almohad disaster in Navas de Tolosa (1212), Extremadura fell to the troops led by Alfonso IX of León in 1230. 

Extremadura, which was an impoverished region of Spain whose difficult conditions pushed many of its ambitious young men to seek their fortunes overseas, was the source of many of the initial Spanish conquerors (conquistadores) and settlers in America.  Hernán Cortés, Francisco Pizarro, Gonzalo Pizarro, Juan Pizarro, Hernando Pizarro, Hernando de Soto, Andres Tapia, Pedro de Alvarado, Pedro de Valdivia, Inés Suárez, Alonso de Sotomayor, Francisco de Orellana, Pedro Gómez Duran y Chaves, and Vasco Núñez de Balboa and many towns and cities in North and South America carry names from their homeland.  Examples include Mérida is the name of the administrative capital of Extremadura, and also of important cities in Mexico and Venezuela; Medellín is now a little town in Extremadura, but also the name of the second largest city in Colombia; Albuquerque is the largest city in New Mexico and its name is due to a transcription mistake of Alburquerque, another town in Extremadura.  The two (to date) Spanish astronauts, Miguel López-Alegría and Pedro Duque, also have family connections in Extremadura.   King Ferdinand II of Aragon died in the village of Madrigalejo, Cáceres, in 1516.  Pedro de Valdivia founded numerous cities in Chile with names from small villages in Extremadura, such as Valdivia and La Serena.  The capital Santiago de Chile was founded as "Santiago de Nueva Extremadura" (Santiago of New Extremadura). 

Politics and government

Regional institutions of government 
The Statute of Autonomy of Extremadura (enacted in 1983) is the fundamental organic law regulating the regional government, and it establishes the institutions through which the autonomous community exerts its powers:

 Assembly of Extremadura.  The following are some of the functions conferred to the legislature: exerting legislative power in the autonomous community, the promotion and control of the Junta of Extremadura, the passing of the regional budget, the designation of senators correspondent to the autonomous community or the control of the media dependent on the regional government.  Its members (currently 65) are directly elected through the means of proportional representation and close party lists with an electoral threshold of 5% (the most benign between the total voting percentage and the voting percentage in a particular electoral district) in two electoral districts: Badajoz and Cáceres, corresponding to the two provinces of the region. 
 Junta of Extremadura.  It is the collegiate body comprised by the regional president, the vice-president and the ministers (consejeros) exerting the executive and administrative functions of the regional government. 
 President of the Junta of Extremadura.  The officeholder is charged with directing and coordinating the action of the Junta of Extremadura, being the highest representative of Extremadura while also holding the ordinary representation of the State in the region.  The regional president is elected by the legislature from among its members, needing to command an absolute majority of votes in the first round of investiture or a simple majority of positive votes in successive rounds.  The president personally selects the ministers of the Junta. 

Provincial government 
The government body for each of the provinces is the deputation (diputación): the Provincial Deputation of Badajoz and the Provincial Deputation of Cáceres.  The members of the plenary of the deputation are indirectly elected from among the municipal councillors based on the results of the municipal elections.  In turn, the plenary elects the president of the deputation from among its members. 

Economy 
The unemployment rate stood at 26.2% in 2017 and was one of the highest in the European Union. 

Agriculture

Wild Black Iberian pigs roam in the area and consume acorns from oak groves.  These pigs are caught and used for the cured ham dish jamón ibérico.  The higher the percentage of acorns eaten by the pigs, the more valuable the ham.  For example, jamón ibérico from pigs whose diet consists of 90% acorns or more can be sold for more than twice as much as ham whose pigs ate on average less than 70% acorns.  In the US, jamón ibérico directly from Extremadura, with bone, was illegal until around 2005.  At that time, enough US restaurants were in demand for the delicacy that Spain decided to export it as boneless, which the US Department of Agriculture's health codes would approve (and continue to do). 

Population

As of January 1, 2012, the population of Extremadura is 1,109,367 inhabitants, representing 2.36% of the Spanish population (46,745,807). 

The population density is very low——compared to Spain as a whole. 

The most populous province is that of Badajoz, with a population of 691,715 and a population density of .  With an area of , it is the largest province in Spain.  413,766 people live in the province of Cáceres at a density of , having an area of , making it the largest province in Spain after Badajoz. 

Foreign population 

As of 2018, the largest immigrant community is Moroccan with 9,218 people, followed by Romanians with 4,324.  There are 98 Icelanders and 6 Liechtensteiners.  Brazilians account for 1,676 and Colombians make up 1,409.  Of immigrants from Sub-Saharan Africa, the largest community is Senegalese with 88 people.  Of those from Asia, the Chinese make up the largest group with 631 people.  There are also 3,492 Portuguese people living within the region.  The region had a foreign population of 31,647.  Most of the foreigners had Romanian or Moroccan citizenship. 

Historical development
The Extremaduran population, according to the 1591 census of the provinces of the Kingdom of Castile, was around 540,000 people, making up 8% of the total population of Spain.  No other census was performed until 1717, when 326,358 people were counted as living in Extremadura. 

From this period, the population grew steadily until the 1960s (1,379,072 people in 1960).  After 1960, emigration to more prosperous regions of Spain and Europe drained the population. 

Administrative divisions
Extremadura is divided into 383 municipalities, 164 are part of the Province of Badajoz and the other 219 are part of the Province of Cáceres. 

 List of municipalities in Badajoz
 List of municipalities in Cáceres

There are also traditional comarcas in Extremadura, like Las Villuercas and Las Hurdes, but these don't have much official recognition. 

Languages
The only official language is Spanish (whose local dialects are collectively called Castúo), but other languages and dialects are also spoken.  The Fala, a Galician-Portuguese language, is a specially protected language and is spoken in the valley of Jálama.  The Extremaduran language, the collective name for a group of vernacular dialects related to Leonese is endangered.  Local variants of Portuguese are native to Cedillo and Herrera de Alcántara.  Portuguese has also been accounted to be spoken as well by some people (mainly those born before the 1940s) in Olivenza. 

Sports
 In football:
 Extremadura UD
 Extremadura Femenino CF, also known as CF Puebla Extremadura, the women's team
 CF Extremadura, founded in 1924 but folded in 2010

Notable people

Explorers
Many legendary Spanish conquistadors hailed from Extremadura, including Vasco Núñez de Balboa, the first European to lead an expedition to reach the Pacific Ocean from America; Hernando de Soto the first European to lead an expedition to the territory of the modern-day United States; Hernán Cortés and Francisco Pizarro, who conquered the Aztec and Inca empires respectively; Francisco de Orellana, who explored the length of the Amazon; Pedro de Valdivia, the first governor of Chile; and Sebastián Vizcaíno, who was a Spanish soldier, entrepreneur in the Philippines, explorer of the Californias, and diplomat in Japan. 

Painters 
 Francisco de Zurbarán (painter)
 Luis de Morales (painter)
 Eduardo Naranjo (painter) 
 Dolores Morcillo (painter)
 Enrique Jiménez Carrero (painter)
 Juan Barjola (painter). 

Writers and poets 

 
 Gregorio López de Tovar (writer, 1496)
 Benito Arias Montano (philosopher and writer, 1527)
 José de Espronceda (romantic poet, 1808)
 Juan Donoso Cortés (writer, 1809)
 Carolina Coronado (romantic poet, 1821)
 José María Gabriel y Galán (poet, 1870)
 Mario Roso de Luna (philosopher, astronomer and writer, 1874)
 Luis Chamizo Trigueros (poet, 1894)
 Jesús Delgado Valhondo (poet, 1909)
 Dulce Chacón (poet, 1954)
 Elisa Herrero Uceda (writer, 1957)
 Miguel Herrero Uceda (writer, 1964)
 Jorge Camacho (poet,1966)

Scientists
 José Antonio Pavón Jiménez (botanist known for researching the flora of Peru and Chile, 1754)
 Mario Roso de Luna (philosopher, astronomer and writer, 1874)
 Francisco Elías de Tejada y Spínola (philosopher, law & politics theorist)
 Emilio Santos Corchero (theoretical physicist)

Sports
 José Calderón, a National Basketball Association player. 
 Fernando Morientes, a former football player. 
 Adelardo, a former football player. 
 Rafael Gordillo, a former football player. 
 Ernesto Valverde, a former football player and now coach. 
 César Sánchez, a former goalkeeper. 
 Manolo, a former football player and now coach. 
 Paco Herrera, retired footballer and a current manager. 
 Óliver Torres, football player at FC Porto. 

Musicians and TV
Extremadura has produced many musicians, including: Rosa Morena (singer), Soraya Arnelas (singer), Luis Pastor (singer), Roberto Iniesta (singer of rock band Extremoduro), Pablo Guerrero, Bebe (singer), Al Carmona (conductor), Esteban Sánchez (pianist), Gecko Turner (singer). 

TV personalities include: Isabel Gemio, Maruchi Leon, Agustín Bravo, and Berta Collado. 

See also
 Extremaduran language
 Extremaduran cuisine
 Extremadura (Vino de la Tierra)
 List of Presidents of the Extremaduran Assembly
 New Extremadura

References

External links

 Extremadura, Spain - Google Maps
 

 
Category:NUTS 2 statistical regions of the European Union
Category:States and territories established in 1983
Category:Autonomous communities of Spain
Category:1983 establishments in Spain