Aragon has three provinces (from north to south): Huesca, Zaragoza and Teruel. Its capital is Zaragoza (sometimes called "Saragossa" in English).
Aragon is one of the 17 Spanish autonomous communities. It has a surface area of , 9.4 percent of the territory of Spain. By area, it is the fourth largest Spanish autonomous community after Castile and León, Andalusia and Castile-La Mancha.
Aragon is bordered to the north by France (Nouvelle-Aquitaine region). Within Spain, the community is bordered to the east by Catalonia (Lerida and Tarragona provinces), to the south by Valencian Community (Castellón and Valencia provinces) and Castile-La Mancha (Cuenca and Guadalajara provinces), and to the west by Castile and León (Soria province), La Rioja and Navarre.
Most of Aragon has an altitude of . The highest point is the Aneto peak with high; it is the highest mountain of the Pyrenees.
The lowest point in Aragon is on the Ebro river, close to Zaragoza, with an altitude of high.
The three main geographical regions of Aragon are:
Most of the Aragonese rivers are tributaries of the Ebro, Spain's largest river in volume and which divides Aragon into two. Some important tributaries on the left side of the river (rivers that come from the Pyrenees) are the Aragón, born in Huesca but flows into the community of Navarre, the Gállego and Cinca, which joins the Segre just before ending up in the Ebro. Right tributaries are the rivers Jalón, Huerva and Guadalupe.
On the Ebro, near the border with Catalonia, lies the Mequinenza Reservoir, with a length of about 110 km, and that is popularly known as the "Sea of Aragon".
Climatically, Aragon can be divided into three areas:
In the middle of Aragon, which is only above sea level, the annual average temperature is around . To the north and south of the Ebro valley, where the elevation rises to above sea level, the temperature drops by two degrees. In the mountains, between , the temperatures are between .
Aragon consists of three provinces named after their capitals: Huesca, Teruel and Zaragoza. Each province is divided in "comarcas" (a "comarca" is a local administrative division) and these are divided in municipalities.
Aragon has a population, in 2013, of 1,347,150, for a population density of inhabitants/km, one of the lowest in Spain. The most densely populated areas are around the valley of the Ebro river, particularly around Zaragoza, and in the Pyrenean s (the hills at the base of the Pyrenees), while the areas with the fewest inhabitants tend to be those that are higher up in the Pyrenean mountains, and in most of the southern province of Teruel.
The province of Zaragoza is the one with more inhabitants, with 978,638 people living there, representing % of the population of Aragon.
The city with more people living in it is the capital, Zaragoza (620,419). The other provincial capitals Huesca and Teruel have, respectively, 47,923 and 31,506 inhabitants.
The 10 most important cities in the department are:
Spanish is the native language in most of Aragón. The only official language, it is understood and spoken by virtually everyone in the region.Also, Aragonese is still spoken, in several local varieties, in the mountainous northern counties of the Pyrenees, particularly in western Ribagorza, Sobrarbe, Jacetania and Somontano. In the easternmost areas of Aragón, along the border with Catalonia, varieties of Catalan are spoken, including the comarcas of eastern Ribagorza, La Litera, Bajo Cinca, Bajo Aragón-Caspe, Bajo Aragón and Matarraña.
Aragonese language
The Aragonese language is a Romance language spoken in the north of Aragon by 10,000 people.
It is similar to nearby languages: Spanish, Catalan and Occitan. Also, many Aragonese words are similar to Basque words.
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Levi Eshkol
Levi Eshkol (born Levi Shkolnik, October 25, 1895 – February 26, 1969) was the 3rd Prime Minister of Israel from 1963 until his death in 1969. He is buried in Mount Herzl in Jerusalem.
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Sidney Sheldon
Sidney Sheldon (February 11, 1917 - January 30, 2007) was an American screenwriter and novelist. He wrote the screenplays for twenty-three motion pictures including "Easter Parade" and "Annie Get Your Gun". He also created four long-running television series. He is also included in the "Guinness Book of Records" as, "The Most Translated Author".
His novels include:
Mackenzie Bowell
Sir Mackenzie Bowell, PC, KCMG (27 December 1823–10 December 1917) was the fifth Prime Minister of Canada from 21 December 1894 to 27 April 1896.
Bowell was born in Rickinghall, Suffolk, England to John Bowell and Elizabeth Marshall. In 1832 his family moved to Belleville, Ontario. He started work helping the printer at the town newspaper, "The Intelligencer". He became printer and editor with that newspaper, and later its owner. He was a Freemason and an Orangeman, becoming Grandmaster of the Orange Order of British North America, 1870 – 1878. In 1847 he married Harriet Moore (1829 – 1884). He had four sons and five daughters.
Bowell was elected to the House of Commons in 1867, as a Conservative, for North Hastings, Ontario. In 1878 he became Minister of Customs. In 1892 he became Minister of Militia and Defence. He was a skilled and hardworking administrator. He later became Minister of Trade and Commerce. He was elected to the Senate. His visit to Australia in 1893 led to the first meeting of British colonies and territories. It was held in Ottawa in 1894. He became Leader of the Government in the Senate on October 31 1893.
In December 1894 the Prime Minister Sir John Thompson died suddenly. Bowell was the most senior Cabinet minister and was appointed Prime Minister by the Governor General. Bowell was the second of two Canadian Prime Ministers to serve in the Senate rather than the House of Commons. (The first was John Abbott.)
As Prime Minister, Bowell faced the difficult Manitoba Schools Question. In 1890 Manitoba stopped giving money to Catholic schools. This was the opposite of an earlier law called in the Manitoba Act of 1870. Bowell other political leaders could not solve the problem. It had divided the country, the government, and even Bowell's own Cabinet. He could not make up his own mind on how to fix the problem. As a Senator he could not speak in the arguments in the House of Commons. Bowell supported a law that would have forced Manitoba to restore funding the Catholic schools. His Cabinet did not agree. Normal government activities stopped. His Cabinet decided he did not have the ability to be Prime Minister and he was forced to resign. Seven government ministers resigned and stopped new people from being appointed. Bowell called them "a nest of traitors". After ten days, the Governor General stepped in and the problem was solved. Six of the ministers went back to their jobs. Charles Tupper was the person who was seen as the real leader. Tupper had been Canadian High Commissioner to the United Kingdom. He had been asked to come back and taker over from Bowell. Bowell resigned at the end of the parliamentary session.
Bowell was the Conservative leader until 1906. He stayed in the Senate until his death. He died of pneumonia in Bellville, just before he turned 94. He was buried in the Belleville Cemetery. His funeral was attended by a full group of the Orange Order.
Bowell's descendants live in Hertfordshire, England.
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