Salamanca () is a

province A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman ''provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions out ...

of western

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") , ...

, in the western part of the

autonomous community eu, autonomia erkidegoa ca, comunitat autònoma gl, comunidade autónoma oc, comunautat autonòma an, comunidat autonoma ast, comunidá autónoma , alt_name = , map = , category = Autonomous administra ...

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 ...

(Castilla y León). It is bordered by the provinces of Zamora,

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 ...

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 ...

, and Cáceres, and on the west by

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of th ...

. It has an area of 12,349 km² and in 2018 had a population of 331,473 people. It is divided into 362 municipalities, 11

comarca A ''comarca'' (, or , or ) is a traditional region or local administrative division found in Portugal, Spain and some of their former colonies, like Brazil, Nicaragua, and Panama. The term is derived from the term ''marca'', meaning a "march, ...

s, 32

mancomunidad In present-day Spain a ''mancomunidad'' ( an, mancomunidat, ast, mancomunidá, ca, mancomunitat, gl, mancomunidade, eu, mankomunitatea; in English "commonwealth" or municipal association) is an association of municipalities voluntarily est ...

es and five judicial districts. Of the 362 municipalities, more than half are villages with fewer than 300 people.

History

The

Vettones The Vettones (Greek: ''Ouettones'') were a pre-Roman people of the Iberian Peninsula of possibly Celtic ethnicity. Origins Lujan (2007) concludes that some of the names of the Vettones show clearly western Hispano-Celtic features. Reissued i ...

occupied the areas of the current Spanish provinces of Salamanca and Ávila, as well as parts of Cáceres, Toledo and Zamora. They were a pre-Roman people of Celtic culture. Their numerous archaeological sites exist throughout the province, and several locality names have Vettone origin, some of which are quite important. This is the case of Salamanca (''Salmantica''), Ledesma (''Bletisama'') and

Ciudad Rodrigo Ciudad Rodrigo () is a small cathedral city in the province of Salamanca, in western Spain, with a population in 2016 of 12,896. It is also the seat of a judicial district. The site of Ciudad Rodrigo, perched atop a rocky rise on the right ban ...

(''Augustobriga''). Vettone villages were often established on the banks of rivers or on mountains. Examples include Salamanca and Ledesma, built along the

Tormes The Tormes is a Spanish river, that starts in Prado Tormejón, in the mountain range of Gredos, Navarredonda de Gredos, province of Ávila. It crosses the provinces of Avila and Salamanca, ending at the Duero river, at a place known locally as Am ...

, Bermellar, El Castillo (Saldeana) Moncalvo (Hinojosa de Duero), Picon de la Mora (Picones) and

Castro de Yecla la Vieja Castro is a Romance language word that originally derived from Latin ''castrum'', a pre-Roman military camp or fortification (cf: Greek: ''kastron''; Proto-Celtic:''*Kassrik;'' br, kaer, *kastro). The English-language equivalent is ''chester''. ...

(

Yecla de Yeltes Yecla de Yeltes is a large municipality in the province of Salamanca, western Spain, part of the autonomous community of Castile-Leon. It is located 76 kilometres from the city of Salamanca and as of 2003 has a population 339 people. The municip ...

) next to

Huebra The Huebra is a river in Spain, that flows from Escurial de la Sierra (in Salamanca province) to the river Duero. See also * List of rivers of Spain This is an incomplete list of rivers that are at least partially in Spain. The rivers flowing ...

, Ciudad Rodrigo, Irueña (Fuenteguinaldo) and Lerilla (Zamarra) on the banks of the Agueda and Castro de Las Merchanas ( Lumbrales), in a loop of the Camaces. The area between La Armuña and Salamanca marked the border between Vettones and

Vaccaei The Vaccaei or Vaccei were a pre-Roman Celtic people of Spain, who inhabited the sedimentary plains of the central Duero valley, in the Meseta Central of northern Hispania (specifically in Castile and León). Their capital was ''Intercatia'' in P ...

, the other pre-Roman people of the province. They were situated in the northeast area of the province.

Geography

Salamanca Province is situated in western Spain, in the western part of Castile and León. It has average altitude of 823 meters, but there are large variations throughout the province, with being the highest point at the peak of the Ceja Canchal in the Sierra de Béjar range, and being the lowest point in the valley of the Salto de Saucelle. Also of note is the

Sierra de Francia The Sierra de Francia is a mountain range located in Sierra de Francia Comarca at the southern end of Salamanca Province, Castile and León, Spain. It is located about 70 km from Salamanca city. The region is sparsely inhabited and its f ...

mountain range. The Salamanca hydrographic network is mainly formed by the Duero basin. The most important rivers are the

Duero The Douro (, , ; es, Duero ; la, Durius) is the highest-flow river of the Iberian Peninsula. It rises near Duruelo de la Sierra in Soria Province, central Spain, meanders south briefly then flows generally west through the north-west part o ...

Águeda Águeda () is a city and a municipality in Portugal. According to the Portuguese 2011 census, the municipality of Águeda had 47,729 inhabitants, in an area of . The city proper had a population of 14,504 (2001 data), while the remainder is distri ...

, and Yeltes rivers. The region is well-irrigated with a number of dams and reservoirs, and with more 3,400 million cubic meters, it is the province with the third highest water storage capacity in Spain, second only to the

Province of Badajoz The province of Badajoz () is a province of western Spain located in the autonomous community of Extremadura. It was formed in 1833. It is bordered by the provinces of Cáceres in the north, Toledo, Ciudad Real in the east, Córdoba in the s ...

and the

Province of Cáceres The province of Cáceres ( ; es, provincia de Cáceres, ) is a province of western Spain, and makes up the northern half of the autonomous community of Extremadura. Its capital is the city of Cáceres. Other cities in the province include Pla ...

. Of particular note is the

Almendra Dam The Almendra Dam, also known as Villarino Dam, in Salamanca, Spain, interrupts the course of the River Tormes five kilometres from the village from which it takes its name: Almendra (literally, almond). It was constructed between 1963 and 1970. ...

, five kilometres from the village of Almendra. Constructed between 1964 and 1970, the dam forms part of the

hydroelectric Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies one sixth of the world's electricity, almost 4500 TWh in 2020, which is more than all other renewable sources combined an ...

system known as ''the Duero Drops'', along with the Castro, Ricobayo, Saucelle and Villalcampo. It is one of the largest reservoirs in Spain with an area of and 2.5 billion cubic metres of water. The dam itself is more than half a kilometre wide and, at a height of , it is one of Spain's tallest structures.

Population development

The historical population is given in the following chart: Colors= id:lightgrey value:gray(0.9) id:darkgrey value:gray(0.7) id:sfondo value:rgb(1,1,1) ImageSize = width:650 height:auto barincrement:28 PlotArea = left:40 bottom:40 top:20 right:20 DateFormat = x.y Period = from:0 till:420 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal AlignBars = late ScaleMajor = gridcolor:darkgrey increment:20 start:0 ScaleMinor = gridcolor:lightgrey increment:5 start:0 BackgroundColors = canvas:sfondo PlotData= color:skyblue width:20 shift:(-50,-5) fontsize:M anchor:till bar:1877 from:0 till:289 text:288,884 bar:1887 from:0 till:321 text:320,569 bar:1900 from:0 till:326 text:326,233 bar:1910 from:0 till:352 text:352,486 bar:1920 from:0 till:342 text:342,264 bar:1930 from:0 till:357 text:356,882 bar:1940 from:0 till:399 text:398,706 bar:1950 from:0 till:415 text:415,127 bar:1960 from:0 till:416 text:415,813 bar:1970 from:0 till:380 text:380,133 bar:1980 from:0 till:365 text:364,305 bar:1990 from:0 till:358 text:357,801 bar:2000 from:0 till:346 text:345,609 bar:2010 from:0 till:350 text:350,018 bar:2020 from:0 till:329 text:329,245 TextData= pos:(35,20) fontsize:M text:"Source: Instituto Nacional de Estadística, INE"

Landmarks

There are

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: * Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD * Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...

cathedrals at Salamanca and

. The Old Cathedral of Salamanca was founded by Bishop Jerome of Périgord, in the 12th century and completed in Romanesque/Gothic style in the 14th century. It is dedicated to Santa Maria de la Sede (Saint Mary of the See). The New Cathedral of Salamanca was constructed between the 16th and 18th centuries in the Late Gothic and

Baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including ...

styles. Building began in 1513 and the cathedral was

consecrated Consecration is the solemn dedication to a special purpose or service. The word ''consecration'' literally means "association with the sacred". Persons, places, or things can be consecrated, and the term is used in various ways by different gro ...

in 1733. It was commissioned by Ferdinand V of Castile of Spain. It was declared a national monument by royal decree in 1887.

Notes and references

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Salamanca, Province of