The Guadarrama Pass (), also known as ''Alto del León'', is a

mountain pass A mountain pass is a navigable route through a mountain range or over a ridge. Since mountain ranges can present formidable barriers to travel, passes have played a key role in trade, war, and both Human migration, human and animal migration t ...

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 ...

. It is located in the

Sierra de Guadarrama The Sierra de Guadarrama (Guadarrama Mountains) is a mountain range forming the main eastern section of the Sistema Central, the system of mountain ranges along the centre of the Iberian Peninsula. It is in Spain, between the systems Sierra de ...

, part of the

Sistema Central The Central System, Spanish language, Spanish and , is one of the main systems of mountain ranges in the Iberian Peninsula. The 2,592 m high Pico Almanzor is its highest summit. The Central System is located just north of the 40th parallel north, ...

system of ranges. Historically it has been an important communication line between Madrid and the North of Spain.

Geography

This pass is part of in

El Espinar El Espinar is a Spanish population centre and a municipality located 65 kilometres away northwest from Madrid city centre, in the northern slope of the Sistema Central mountain range. It belongs to the province of Segovia and to the autonomous Co ...

municipal term,

Segovia Province Segovia () is a province of central/northern Spain, in the southern part of the autonomous community of Castile and León. It is bordered by the province of Burgos in the north, Soria in the northeast, Guadalajara in the east, Madrid in the south, ...

, on its northern side and

Guadarrama Guadarrama is a town and municipality in the Cuenca del Guadarrama comarca, in the Community of Madrid, Spain. Its population is 17,063 according to the Continuous Register of 2023; the population swells to approximately 60,000 in summer. In th ...

, Madrid Province, on its southern side. It is located in the southern slopes of the high Cerro de la Sevillana, between the high

Cabeza Líjar In Mexican cuisine, ''cabeza'' (''lit.'' 'head'), from barbacoa de cabeza, is the meat from a roasted beef head, served as taco or burrito fillings. It typically refers to barbacoa de cabeza or beef-head barbacoa, an entire beef-head traditionall ...

and high

La Peñota La Peñota () is a mountain of the Sierra de Guadarrama in the centre of the Iberian Peninsula. The peak tops at 1,945 metres above sea level. It forms part of the border between the Spanish provinces of Segovia and Madrid, most specifically, the ...

peaks. The Guadarrama Pass is an important communication line between

and the

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

area through the

N-VI The N-VI is a major highway in Spain. It connects Madrid to A Coruña. It has generally been up-graded or replaced by the Autovía A-6. It passes via Tordesillas, Ponferrada and Lugo Lugo (, ) is a city in northwestern Spain in the autonomo ...

highway between Madrid and Corunna.

History

There are remains of

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War () was a military conflict fought from 1936 to 1939 between the Republican faction (Spanish Civil War), Republicans and the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalists. Republicans were loyal to the Left-wing p ...

bunker A bunker is a defensive military fortification designed to protect people and valued materials from falling bombs, artillery, or other attacks. Bunkers are almost always underground, in contrast to blockhouses which are mostly above ground. T ...

s and

trenches A trench is a type of excavation or depression in the ground that is generally deeper than it is wide (as opposed to a swale or a bar ditch), and narrow compared with its length (as opposed to a simple hole or pit). In geology, trenches res ...

in the area of the pass. The rebel faction took the northern side of the range after the

Battle of Guadarrama The Battle of Guadarrama (), also known as the Battle of Somosierra (''Batalla de Somosierra''), was a battle that occurred in the Sierra de Guadarrama during the Spanish Civil War from 22 July to 15 September 1936. The Nationalists sent by Em ...

and the

Second Division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

of the

Spanish Republican Army The Spanish Republican Army () was the main branch of the Spanish Republican Armed Forces, Armed Forces of the Second Spanish Republic between 1931 and 1939. It became known as People's Army of the Republic (''Ejército Popular de la República'' ...

operated in the area between December 1936 and March 1939.Carlos Engel, ''Historia de las Brigadas Mixtas del E. P. de la República'', 1999

References

External links

* Mountain passes of the Sistema Central Sierra de Guadarrama Mountain passes of Spain {{Spain-geo-stub

Geography

History

See also

References

External links