Soria is a

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

of 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 ...

, in the eastern part of the

autonomous community The autonomous communities () are the first-level administrative divisions of Spain, created in accordance with the Spanish Constitution of 1978, with the aim of guaranteeing limited autonomy to the nationalities and regions that make up Sp ...

Castile and León Castile and León is an Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in northwestern Spain. Castile and León is the largest autonomous community in Spain by area, covering 94,222 km2. It is, however, sparsely populated, with a pop ...

. Most of the province is in the mountainous

Sistema Ibérico The Iberian System is one of the major systems of mountain ranges in Spain. It consists of a vast and complex area of mostly relatively high and rugged mountain chains and massifs located in the central region of the Iberian Peninsula, but ...

area.

Demographics

It is bordered by the provinces of

La Rioja La Rioja () is an autonomous communities in Spain, autonomous community and provinces of Spain, province in Spain, in the north of the Iberian Peninsula. Its capital is Logroño. Other List of municipalities in La Rioja, cities and towns in the ...

Zaragoza Zaragoza (), traditionally known in English as Saragossa ( ), is the capital city of the province of Zaragoza and of the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Aragon, Spain. It lies by the Ebro river and its tributaries, the ...

Guadalajara Guadalajara ( ; ) is the capital and the most populous city in the western Mexican List of states of Mexico, state of Jalisco, as well as the most densely populated municipality in Jalisco. According to the 2020 census, the city has a population ...

Segovia Segovia ( , , ) is a city in the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Castile and León, Spain. It is the capital and most populated municipality of the Province of Segovia. Segovia is located in the Meseta central, Inner Pl ...

, and

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

. Soria is the least populous of all of Spain's provinces, with a density of around 9 inhabitants/km²—one of the lowest in the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

. The average population density of provinces in Spain and European Union are 83.6 and 116 inhabitants per square km respectively. In comparison, the Soria province is less dense than some northern parts of the

Nordic countries The Nordic countries (also known as the Nordics or ''Norden''; ) are a geographical and cultural region in Northern Europe, as well as the Arctic Ocean, Arctic and Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic oceans. It includes the sovereign states of Denm ...

. Of the province's population of 91,487 (2002), nearly 40% live in the capital,

Soria Soria () is a municipality and a Spanish city, located on the Douro river in the east of the autonomous community of Castile and León and capital of the province of Soria. Its population is 38,881 ( INE, 2017), 43.7% of the provincial populatio ...

. 26.7% of its population was above 65 years of age while the nation's average is 16.9%. There are 183 municipalities in Soria, of which nearly half are hamlets of under 100 people and of which only 12 have more than 1,000 people. The cathedral town of the province is El Burgo de Osma.

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:600 height:auto barincrement:30 PlotArea = left:40 bottom:40 top:20 right:20 DateFormat = x.y Period = from:0 till:200 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:1900 from:0 till:155 text:155,277 bar:1910 from:0 till:162 text:162,011 bar:1920 from:0 till:159 text:159,392 bar:1930 from:0 till:163 text:162,681 bar:1940 from:0 till:166 text:165,855 bar:1950 from:0 till:165 text:164,575 bar:1960 from:0 till:152 text:152,426 bar:1970 from:0 till:117 text:117,462 bar:1981 from:0 till:101 text:100,719 bar:1991 from:0 till:95 text:94,537 bar:2000 from:0 till:91 text:90,911 bar:2010 from:0 till:95 text:95,258 bar:2020 from:0 till:88 text:88,884 TextData= pos:(35,20) fontsize:M text:"Source: Instituto Nacional de Estadística, INE"

Economy

The province's most important agricultural products are cereals. In the 1950s, there were a total of 70,000 hectares cultivated land, but excessive fragmentation and lack of mechanization resulted in a very low productivity.Ruiz, Emilio (2001). Historia Economica de Soria. CSIC In 1960, while the agricultural sector accounted for 69% of workers in the province, 70% of farms were used exclusively for animal rearing. There are currently about 100,000 hectares of land in the province dedicated to the cultivation of wheat and other 100,000 hectares for barley cultivation. The indigenous forest resources are also being exploited for timber, resin and collecting mushrooms. Marble quarries are located in Espejón while Sierra de Toranzo and Ólvega have iron mines. Magnetite sources are also being exploited in Borobia. The capital city Soria is an important tourist destination. While the agricultural sector has a very high contribution to

GDP Gross domestic product (GDP) is a monetary measure of the total market value of all the final goods and services produced and rendered in a specific time period by a country or countries. GDP is often used to measure the economic performance o ...

of the province, the industrial sector represents a small proportion, just over 20% of GDP. Apart from these the province also has important food,

wood processing Wood processing is an engineering discipline in the wood industry comprising the production of forest products, such as pulp and paper, construction materials, and tall oil. Paper engineering is a subfield of wood processing. The major wo ...

, furniture production and auxiliary automotive components industries.

Subdivision

Comarcas

Soria has 183 municipalities divided in 10 comarcas: *

Comarca de Almazán Comarca de Almazán is a comarca of the province of Soria, in Castile and Leon Castile, Castille or Castilla may refer to: Places Spain * Castile (historical region), a vaguely defined historical region of Spain covering most of Castile and L ...

Comarca de Berlanga A ''comarca'' (, , , ) 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, mark ...

Comarca de Burgo de Osma A ''comarca'' (, , , ) 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, mark ...

Comarca de Campo de Gómara A ''comarca'' (, , , ) 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, mark ...

* Comarca de El Valle * Comarca de Pinares * Comarca de Soria * Comarca de Tierras Altas * Comarca del Moncayo * Tierra de Medinaceli

Coat of arms

The province's coat of arms bears the motto ''Soria pura, cabeza de estremadura'', which means "Soria the pure, head of the borderland", as Soria was centuries ago on the expanding borders between the northern Christian kingdoms and the territories then held by the Muslims.

Municipalities

Notes and references

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Soria, Province of