Alcorcón () is a city and

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality ...

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") , ...

located in the

Community of Madrid The Community of Madrid (; es, Comunidad de Madrid ) is one of the seventeen autonomous communities of Spain. It is located in the centre of the Iberian Peninsula, and of the Central Plateau (''Meseta Central''). Its capital and largest mun ...

. as of 2020, it had a population of 172,384.

Geography

The municipality, largely flat, lies at an average altitude of 711 metres above sea level, with the highest point being El Ventorro del Cano (741 m), located in the north of the municipality.

History

The site appears to have been inhabited since prehistoric times. The name is of Arabic origin, but little is known of Alcorcón before the

Reconquista The ' ( Spanish, Portuguese and Galician for "reconquest") is a historiographical construction describing the 781-year period in the history of the Iberian Peninsula between the Umayyad conquest of Hispania in 711 and the fall of the Na ...

. The first recorded written reference to Alcorcón is in a court document (') dated on 28 July 1208, in the context of the territorial strife over between the city councils of

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), an ...

and

Segovia Segovia ( , , ) is a city in the autonomous community of Castile and León, Spain. It is the capital and most populated municipality of the Province of Segovia. Segovia is in the Inner Plateau ('' Meseta central''), near the northern slopes o ...

that took place in the Middle Ages. The parish church, Santa María la Blanca dates back to the 16th and 17th centuries. Alcorcón preserved an urban structure characteristic of a small rural settlement until the 1960s. The centre is surrounded by modern developments, as Alcorcón has grown rapidly since that decade. As announced in February 2013, Alcorcón was the tentative building site for the Eurovegas casino resort project, officially canceled in December 2013.

Economy

Agriculture and animal husbandry are hardly performed, and only a 0.04% of the GDP of the municipality is collected from these activities. Mining, industry and power economy activities produce the 11.09% of the money collected of this economy measure. 8.17% of the registers to an organism of the Welfare System named ''Tesorería General de la Seguridad Social'' (in which people must be registered when being hired), were linked to the organism by jobs of this sector. Construction activities make 7.28% of the GDP, and 10.65% of the registers in ''Tesorería General de la Seguridad Social'' are due to posts in the sector.10.57% of the inhabitants work in the trade and hotel industry sectors, and 12.37% have transportation and stock posts.

Transport

Alcorcón is linked to Madrid by

Metro Metro, short for metropolitan, may refer to: Geography * Metro (city), a city in Indonesia * A metropolitan area, the populated region including and surrounding an urban center Public transport * Rapid transit, a passenger railway in an urban ...

Line 10 and Line 12,

Cercanías The commuter rail systems of Spain's major metropolitan areas are called ''Cercanías'' () in most of Spain, ''Rodalia'' () in the Valencian Community, ''Aldiriak'' () in the Basque Country and ''Rodalies'' () in Catalonia. There are twelve ''Cer ...

line C-5 and several buses (511, 512, 513, 514, 516, 518, 536, 541, 545, 546, 547, 548, 551, N501, N502, N504).

Main sights

Some sights that have special historical, artistic or cultural values are listed below: * San José de Valderas Castles: They have a Gothic Revival architectural style. * Santa María la Blanca Parish Church * Glass art museum

Sport

The city is home to the football team Agrupación Deportiva de Alcorcón that plays Primera Federación. And also Trival Valderas that plays

Tercera División Tercera División ( en, Third Division) was the fourth tier of the Spanish football league system. Founded in 1929, it was below the ''Primera División'' (also known as La Liga), the ''Segunda División'', and the semi-professional ''Segunda Di ...

. Alcorcón also has an American football team called Alcorcón Smilodons, whose colors are yellow and navy blue.

Health

Alcorcón has two hospitals, the

Fundación Hospital de Alcorcón Fundación is a town and municipality of the Colombian Department of Magdalena. Its people are known as Fundanenses. The primary economic activity is livestock-raising, for production of both meat and milk. Other crops are: corn, yuca, ...

(which is state owned, but run privately), and the

Hospital Sur Madrid A hospital is a health care institution providing patient treatment with specialized health science and auxiliary healthcare staff and medical equipment. The best-known type of hospital is the general hospital, which typically has an emergency ...

(a totally private hospital). The Alcorcón campus of the Universidad Rey Juan Carlos (URJC) teaches health-related courses.

City partnerships

* Mayarí (Cuba) *

Nejapa Nejapa is a municipality in the San Salvador department of El Salvador El Salvador (; , meaning " The Saviour"), officially the Republic of El Salvador ( es, República de El Salvador), is a country in Central America. It is bordered on t ...

(El Salvador) * Ancón (Peru) *

Al Hoceima Al Hoceima ( ber, translit=Lḥusima, label= Riffian-Berber, ⵍⵃⵓⵙⵉⵎⴰ; ar, الحسيمة; '' es, Alhucemas'') is a Riffian city in the north of Morocco, on the northern edge of the Rif Mountains and on the Mediterranean coast. I ...

(Morocco) * Daira of Bu Craa (in the Sahrawi refugee camps near Tinduf, Algeria)

People

* La Terremoto de Alcorcón, singer

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Alcorcon Municipalities in the Community of Madrid