Old Castile ( es, Castilla la Vieja ) is a historic region of

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = '' Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , ...

, which had different definitions along the centuries. Its extension was formally defined in the

Burgos Burgos () is a city in Spain located in the autonomous community of Castile and León. It is the capital and most populated municipality of the province of Burgos. Burgos is situated in the north of the Iberian Peninsula, on the confluence o ...

, Logroño (now La Rioja), Soria, Segovia,

Ávila Ávila (, , ) is a city of Spain located in the autonomous community of Castile and León. It is the capital and most populated municipality of the Province of Ávila. It lies on the right bank of the Adaja river. Located more than 1,130 m ab ...

Valladolid Valladolid () is a municipality in Spain and the primary seat of government and de facto capital of the autonomous community of Castile and León. It is also the capital of the province of the same name. It has a population around 300,000 peop ...

and Palencia. As the rest of ''regions'' in that division, Old Castile never had any special administrative agency; only the individual provinces had their own management. The name ''Old Castile'' reflects the fact that this territory corresponds very roughly to the extension of the

Kingdom of Castile The Kingdom of Castile (; es, Reino de Castilla, la, Regnum Castellae) was a large and powerful state on the Iberian Peninsula during the Middle Ages. Its name comes from the host of castles constructed in the region. It began in the 9th ce ...

around the 11th century, before it expanded to the south. This kingdom had its origins in the 9th century in an area now comprising Cantabria,

Álava Álava ( in Spanish) or Araba (), officially Araba/Álava, is a Provinces of Spain, province of Spain and a historical territory of the Basque Country (autonomous community), Basque Country, heir of the ancient Basque señoríos#Lords of Álav ...

, and Burgos province. In the 18th century,

Charles III of Spain it, Carlo Sebastiano di Borbone e Farnese , house = Bourbon-Anjou , father = Philip V of Spain , mother = Elisabeth Farnese , birth_date = 20 January 1716 , birth_place = Royal Alcazar of Madrid, Spain , death_da ...

assigned to Castilla la Vieja the provinces of Burgos, Soria, Segovia, Ávila, Valladolid, and Palencia. The royal decree of 30 November 1833, the reform of

Javier de Burgos Francisco Javier de Burgos y del Olmo (22 October 1778—22 January 1848) was a Spanish jurist, politician, journalist, and translator. Early life and career Born in Motril, into a noble but poor family, he was destined for a career in th ...

(''see

1833 territorial division of Spain The 1833 territorial division of Spain divided the country into provinces, in turn classified into "historic regions" ( es, link=no, regiones históricas).the division of Spain into provinces which, with very few modifications, continues down to the present day. Another royal decree, on 30 November 1855, divided Spain into 49 provinces, and assigned the provinces of Valladolid and Palencia to the Kingdom of León, leaving to Castilla la Vieja the provinces of Santander, Burgos, Logroño, Soria, Segovia, and Ávila. Although there were further reform efforts in the 19th century, this division is reflected in the encyclopedias, geographies, and textbooks from the mid-19th century until it was superseded in the second half of the 20th century. For example, early editions of '' Enciclopedia Espasa'', of the ''

Encyclopædia Britannica The (Latin for "British Encyclopædia") is a general knowledge English-language encyclopaedia. It is published by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.; the company has existed since the 18th century, although it has changed ownership various t ...

'' and the popular student encyclopedia ''Álvarez'' all follow this division of provinces into ''Castilla la Vieja'' and the

Region of León The Region of León, Leonese region or Leonese Country ( Leonese: ''País Llionés'', es, región de León and ast, rexón de Llión) is a historic territory defined by the 1833 Spanish administrative organisation. The Leonese region encompa ...

. With the establishment of the autonomous communities in Spain in 1983, Old Castile disappeared as a legal entity: most of its provinces were integrated politically with the Region of León into a larger entity (

Castile and León Castile and León ( es, Castilla y León ; ast-leo, Castiella y Llión ; gl, Castela e León ) is an autonomous community in northwestern Spain. It was created in 1983, eight years after the end of the Francoist regime, by the merging of th ...

), and two of its provinces became autonomous communities in their own right (the province of Santander became Cantabria and the province of Logroño became La Rioja).

References

This article draws on the corresponding article in the Spanish Wikipedia, retrieved March 1, 2005. Historical regions in Spain History of Castile {{Spain-hist-stub

See also

References