Pico Almanzor is the highest mountain in central

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

. Situated in the

Sierra de Gredos The Sierra de Gredos is a mountain range in central Spain that spans the provinces of Ávila, Spain, Ávila, Salamanca, Spain, Salamanca, Cáceres, Spain, Cáceres, Madrid, and Toledo, Spain, Toledo. It is part of the much larger Sistema Central o ...

in the

province of Ávila A province is an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman , which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions outside Italy. The term ''provi ...

, Almanzor is high. It is made of

granite Granite ( ) is a coarse-grained (phanerite, phaneritic) intrusive rock, intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly coo ...

. The mountain is also known as ''Pico de Almanzor'' and ''Moro Almanzor''.

History

The mountain got its name from Al-Mansur (

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

for "the victorious"). Al-Mansur Ibn Abi Aamir was a general and statesman in

Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

(

Caliphate of Cordoba A caliphate ( ) is an institution or public office under the leadership of an Islamic steward with the title of caliph (; , ), a person considered a political–religious successor to the Islamic prophet Muhammad and a leader of the enti ...

) during the late 10th century. Muhammad bin Abi Amir was his real name; the

Moors The term Moor is an Endonym and exonym, exonym used in European languages to designate the Muslims, Muslim populations of North Africa (the Maghreb) and the Iberian Peninsula (particularly al-Andalus) during the Middle Ages. Moors are not a s ...

in Spain gave him the title of Al-Mansur due to his victories over the

Christians A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the world. The words '' Christ'' and ''C ...

. During his many campaigns, Al-Mansur passed near this mountain and he was captivated by its beauty. Pico Almanzor was climbed for the first time in September 1899 by M. González de Amezúa and José Ibrián. Espada, Ontañón and Abricarro made the first winter ascent in 1903. In 1960, a 1-metre-tall iron cross was placed on the summit.

References

External links

* * Mountains of Castile and León

Almanzor Abu ʿĀmir Muḥammad ibn ʿAbdullāh ibn Abi ʿĀmir al-Maʿafiri (), nicknamed al-Manṣūr (, "the Victorious"), which is often Latinized as Almanzor in Spanish, Almansor in Catalan language, Catalan and Almançor in Portuguese ( 938 – 8 A ...

Geography of the Province of Ávila Two-thousanders of Spain Highest points of Spanish provinces {{Ávila-geo-stub

History

See also

References

External links