CASTILLA LA MANCHA.
CEIP Santa Ana (Madridejos)
CASTILE – LA MANCHA 1.- LANDSCAPES IN CASTILE-LA MANCHA. There are various factors that have influence on the landscape: relief, climate, vegetation, rivers, and human beings actions that can change the landscape in many ways. There are some kinds of landscapes: natural areas with a rich fauna and flora, and human areas where the human factor is very important: areas dedicated to agriculture, or to cattle farming, cities, towns, roads, railways…
Natural area
Human area
1.1.- RELIEF: Castile-La Mancha is in the Southern of the Meseta Central. It’s higher than 600 metres above sea level. There are some mountain ranges, plains, and meadows near the rivers. A.- MOUNTAIN RANGES: A.1.- Our región is sourrounded by several mountain chains: 1.- Sistema Central: is in the North, where we find the ‘Sierras de Ayllón’ with ‘el Pico del Lobo’ (the highest peak in CLM), and the ‘Sierra de San Vicente’. 2.- Sistema Ibérico, in the North-East of the region. Where is placed ‘la Serranía de Cuenca’, ‘la Sierra de Albarracín’, (source of Tajo river), and ‘los Montes Universales’ (source of Jucar river) 3.- Cordillera Subbética, in the South-East of the region. Where is located ‘la Sierra de Alcaraz’ and ‘la Sierra del Segura’, where the Segura river has got its source. 4.- Sierra Morena, in the South. It separates Castile-La Mancha from Andalucía. There, we can find ‘la Sierra de Alcudia’ and ‘Sierra Madrona’. A.2.- Inside the region there are two mountain chains: 1.- Los Montes de Toledo (in the South of Toledo) that separates Tajo and Guadiana valleys. 2.- Sierras del Campo de Calatrava, in the centre and South of Ciudad Real. It’s a place with a volcanic origin.
CASTILLA LA MANCHA.
CEIP Santa Ana (Madridejos)
Map of Castile - la Mancha
B. PLAINS: These are the main plains: 1.- La Mancha, is the biggest plain in Spain. It takes up parts of Toledo, Ciudad Real, Cuenca and Albacete provinces.. 2.- Campo de Montiel, in Ciudad Real. They are some high plains, about 800 m high. (high plateau) 3.- La Alcarria, in Guadalajara and Cuenca. It’s another high plateau with chalky soil.
‘La Mancha’ Plain
C. VALLEYS NEAR THE RIVERS: The meadows near rivers are plain and fertile places. The most important ones are near the Tajo and Guadiana rivers.
CASTILLA LA MANCHA.
CEIP Santa Ana (Madridejos)
1.2.- HYDROGRAPHY: We are speaking about rivers, reservoirs, lagoons, and wetlands in our region. A. RIVERS The most important rivers in Castilla la Mancha are Tajo and Guadiana (Atlantic basin) and Júcar and Segura (Mediterranean basin). They have got an irregular pattern. Tajo river: It’s the longest river in the peninsula. It has its source in Albarracín mountain (Sist. Ibérico) and flows into the Atlantic Ocean in Lisboa. It runs through Guadalajara, Cuenca and Toledo. Its main tributraries are Jarama, Guadarrama, Alberche and Algodor. T a Tajo river at Toledo
Guadiana river: Its source is in ‘Lagunas de Ruidera’, it runs through Ciudad Real and flows in Huelva (Atlantic Ocean). Its main tributaries are Jabalón, Cigüela, Záncara and Azuer. Júcar river: It has its source in ‘Montes Universales’ (Sist. Ibérico), like its tributary ‘el Cabriel’. It runs through Cuenca and Albacete and flows to the Meditarranean in Valencia. Segura river: It source is in ‘la Sª del Segura’ (cordillera Subbética), it runs through Albacete. Its main tributary is ‘el río Mundo’. It flows in the Mediterranean sea in Alicante. B. LAGOONS, WETLANDS AND RESERVOIRES: B.1.- Lagoons: are little lakes. Although our region is very dry, there are lots of lagoons. Some of them are formed on old volcano craters, others are from underground waters (Lagunas de Ruidera), and other because of the place is lower than the sorroundings and water from rainfall stay there. Lagunas of Ruidera.
B.2.- Wetlands are wide and shallow. They are shelter for birds. They are filled with water from rivers. The main ones are ‘las Tablas de Daimiel’ and ‘las Lagunas de Villafranca’ in Toledo (water from the Cigüela river), and ‘las Lagunas de Manjavacas’ (Cuenca) Lagunas of Villafranca
CASTILLA LA MANCHA.
CEIP Santa Ana (Madridejos)
B.3.- Reservoirs are artificial places to reserve water. Across the course of a river it’s built a dam to contain the water from the river, so they can save or control the amount of water for agriculture, for people, or to get electricity. In CLM the most important ones are: .- Tajo river: ‘Entrepeñas’ and ‘Buendía’. .- Guadiana river: ‘Vicario’ and ‘Peñarroya’. .- Júcar river: ‘Alarcón’ and ‘Contreras’. Channels carry water from reservoirs to irrigated lands, or from one river to another one. ‘El trasvase TajoSegura’ carries water from Tajo river to Segura, to the ‘Comunidad Valenciana’ and Murcia region. Trasvase Tajo-Segura
1.3.- CLIMATE: In our region, there are two kinds of climate: a.- Interior mediterranean climate: very cold during Winter (several frosts) and very hot in summer. Sparse and irregular rainfall all the year but with dry summer (in the plains and lower parts of the mountains). b.- Mountain climate: very cold with warm summers, plenty of rainfall all year round and snow in winter. This climate is over mountainous places of Albacete, Cuenca and Guadalajara. 1.4.- PLANT AND ANIMAL LIFE: Plant and animal life is related with the climate from a place. Although most of the plains are dedicated to agriculture, there are wild places with a vegetation adapted to dry climate like holm oaks, pines, bushes and aromatic herbs (rosemary, rockrose…). On the other hand, near the rivers there are poplars, black poplars, reed… Gum rockrose
The wild animal life is formed by wild boars, hares, storks, partridges, and great bustards. In wetlands there are migratory birds, anphibians and fish. Wild boars
In the mountains vegetation changes with the altitude. There are forest of pines, oaks… and on top of the mountains there are meadows. The most important animals are birds of prey, deers, wild goats, squirrels and foxes.
WILD PLACES PROTECTED: In CLM there are some natural spaces protected to preserve wildlife and vegetation. Our region is very rich in these kinds of parks.
CASTILLA LA MANCHA.
CEIP Santa Ana (Madridejos)
.- National Parks, like ‘Cabañeros’ and ‘las Tablas de Daimiel’. .- Natural Parks, like ‘Natural Park of Alto Tajo’, the ‘Lagunas de Ruidera’ and ‘el Hayedo de Tejera Negra’ (in Sierra de Ayllón’). .- Nature Reserves, like ‘las Hoces del Cabriel’, ‘la Serranía de Cuenca’, ‘Lagoons of Manjavacas’ or ‘the source of Mundo river’.
Tablas of Daimiel
2.- INSTITUTIONS AND POPULATION IN CASTILLA – LA MANCHA A. AUTONOMOUS COMMUNITY OF CASTILLA – LA MANCHA The Constitution of 1978 is the most important law for Spanish people. It says that there are 17 Autonomous Communities, one of them is Castile-La Mancha. The word Community means many people with a common history, traditions, culture… The word Autonomous means a degree of independence and freedom to run and organize its own matters. These matters are called Autonomous competences (health service, education, tourism, transport, public works… Our Autonomous Community has territory, population, and its own institutions. The Statute of Autonomy was approved in 1.982. It’s the most important law under the Spanish Constitution, and speaks about different aspects like: Statute of Autonomy
1.- The territory: CLM is formed by 5 provinces: Albacete, Ciudad Real, Cuenca, Guadalajara and Toledo. The capital city is Toledo. 2.- The Junta of Communities of Castile-La Mancha, has three government institutions: 2.1.- Courts of Castile-La Mancha, (legislative power) are formed by 53 Representatives elected by universal suffrage. They are in charge of creating legislation, controlling the Council of Government, approving the budget and appointing the President. Courts of Castile-La Mancha
2.2.- The Council of Government, (the executive) is formed by the President and several councilors. They are in charge to govern and run the most important matters. 2.3.- The President , heads the Council and it is the representative of the autonomous community. It’s elected by the Courts and named by the King.
CASTILLA LA MANCHA.
CEIP Santa Ana (Madridejos)
Election process: a.- People older than 18 year old elect their Representatives (that form the Courts of CLM). b.- Representatives elect the President. c.- The President chooses his Councilors, and they form the Council of Government. 3.- The symbols of Castile-La Mancha are the flag and the seal. The festivity of the region is on May 31st.
flag
seal
B. POPULATION FROM CASTILE-LA MANCHA. CHARACTERISTICS OF POPULATION: In Castile-La Mancha live around 2,000,000 people, it’s sparce populated. Its population density is about 26 inhabitants/km2, while the Spanish one is about 93 inhabitants/km2. It’s irregularly distributed: more people in capitals and big cities like Talavera de la Reina o Puertollano, and less people in rural areas. Because of the industry , Albacete, Ciudad Real and Toledo are more populated (Albacete city is the only one with more than 100,000 inhab.). Guadalajara and Cuenca are sparsely populated. .- There is a concentrated population (attached buildings) in towns in the plains. There are many of them bigger than 5,000 inhabitants. .- Dispersed population (living in separate buildings one from each others) in towns in the mountains. In the middle of the last century, there was a rural migration to big cities (mainly Madrid and the coasts), but at the end of that century and during this one, population is increasing because of: 1.- The number of births is bigger than the number of deaths. 2.Life expectancy is increasing. 3.- Emmigration is stopping, and many emmigrants are returning back. 4.- There are people from other countries coming to our community. With the crisis all of this is changing: The number of births are decreasing, lots of young people are going out to other countries looking for a job, and some immigrants from other countries are returning back home.
CASTILLA LA MANCHA.
CEIP Santa Ana (Madridejos)
C. ECONOMICAL ACTIVITIES IN CASTILE-LA MANCHA. Active population works in three sectors: Distribution of working population in Castile-La Mancha
.- 6%
Agriculture…
.- 16% Industry. .- 12 % Construction. .- 66 % Services.
C.1. PRIMARY SECTOR. Primary sector are activities to get natural products from nature (raw material): agriculture, cattle farming, fishing, forest exploitation… in our community 6% of working population work in this sector. Castilla- La Mancha has the biggest area in Spain dedicated to agriculture. There are several types of activities: a.- Dry land, like cereals, vineyard, olive grove, legumes, sunflower and saffron. b.- Irrigated land, like vegetables, (onion, garlic, tomato…) mushrooms, beetroot, corn… Cattle farming: sheep (the most important) to obtain meat, milk, and wool (Ciudad Real and Toledo). There are poultry and pigs (meat and sausages) farms all over the community.
C.2. SECONDARY SECTOR. Secondary sector are activities to transform raw materials into manufactured products: craft, industry, obtaining of energy and construction. 28% of working population are working on this sector. There are several types of industries: 1.- Heavy industries, transform raw material in other kind of products used by other industries like iron, plastic… .- Petrochemistry in Puertollano. .- Chemical industry (Corredor del Henares) .- Cement industry and construction materials industries (in Toledo and Guadalajara).
CASTILLA LA MANCHA.
CEIP Santa Ana (Madridejos)
2.- Equipment industry, produces tools, machinery, and vehicles for agriculture… (metallurgy in Guadalajara.) 3.- Consumer goods industry, (products directly used by consumers). The most important is food procesing (cheese, wine, olive oil, meat…). Other industries are furniture, leather, footwear and knives (in Albacete). 4.- Electric power production, hydroelectricity, thermal power station, or nuclear power plant (in Trillo, in Guadalajara). Nowadays is increasing the production of renewable energies like wind power and solar energy. 5.- Construction. It can be prívate or public works. About 12% of working population work in this activity. The most important industrial centres are: .- Capital cities of provinces. .- ‘Corredor del Henares’, (Madrid-Guadalajara road). .- ‘La Sagra’ region, in Toledo (Madrid-Toledo road). .- Other big cities like: Puertollano, Talavera de la Reina, Almansa, Hellín, Azuqueca de Henares…
C.3. TERTIARY SECTOR. The main activities in this sector are public administration, trade, transport… About 66% of working population is working in this sector. 1.- Public administration: like education, health service, public administration (town hall…), justice, police, fire-department… 2.- Trade: . It could be inside our region and Spain, or with other countries, in this case we speak about importation and exportation. In Castile-La Mancha we import more products than we export. We export food products (wine, oil, cheese, honey, saffron…) footwear, furniture… 3.- Transport: .- Terrestrial: through highways, roads or railways (specially AVE: high-speed train) .- By air: There is an airport in Albacete.
CASTILLA LA MANCHA.
CEIP Santa Ana (Madridejos)
4.- Tourism: .- Cultural Tourism: there are lots of monuments o places to visit: Toledo and Cuenca (are World heritage cities), Almagro, Sigüenza, D. Quixote’s route... .- Ecotourism: ‘Cabañeros’, ‘las Tablas de Daimiel’ and ‘las Lagunas de Ruidera’. D. TRADITIONS IN CASTILE-LA MANCHA In our region, there were living many different cultures, so as a result of that, nowadays, there is a great variety of traditions and festivities. d.1.- Religious holidays: in every town there are festivities to honour its Patron Saint, Holy Week, Corpus Christi (in Camuñas, Toledo…) d.2.- Non-religious holidays: Festival’ (in Consuegra)…
like Carnivals, ‘Saffron
Corpus Christi in Camuñas
d.3.- Festivals and fairs: like ‘Grape Harvest Festival’ in Valdepeñas, or the ‘Craft Fair’ in Toledo. d.4.- Folklore: traditional costumes, traditional songs and dances like ‘las Seguidillas’, ‘la Jota’, ‘el Fandango’, ‘los Mayos’… Saffron field in la Mancha
Traditional dances in Madridejos
d.5.- Craft: pottery from Talavera, cutlery from Albacete, damascene from Toledo… d.6.- Traditional architecture: like ‘los silos’ (underground houses), windmills, rural houses… d.7.- Gastronomy: ‘mojete’, marzipan’…
‘pisto’,
‘gachas’,
‘migas’,
Traditional ‘Silo’ in Madridejos
‘Migas’ from La Mancha
CASTILLA LA MANCHA.
CEIP Santa Ana (Madridejos)
GLOSARY-VOCABULARY: landscape: paisaje
to dedicate: dedicar
cattle farming: ganadería
railway: ferrocarril
Southern: al sur
mountain ranges: cordilleras
meadows: prado, pradera
to take up: ocupar
where is located: donde se encuentra
chalky soil: suelo calizo
source: fuente, nacimiento
Atlantic basin: vertiente atlántica
to flow: desembocar, fluir
tributary: afluente
Irregular pattern: régimen irregular
to run: correr, discurrir
lagoon: laguna
underground waters: aguas subterráneas
sorroundings: alrededores
wetlands: humedales
wide and shallow: ancha y somera
shelter: refugio
reservoir: embalse
irrigated lands: tierras de regadío
dam: presa
to carry: llevar, transportar
frost: helada
to be related with: estar relacionado con
sparse rainfall: precipitaciones escasas
although: aunque
holm oak: encina
bush: arbusto
rosemary: romero
rockrose: jara
poplar: álamo, chopo
reed: junco
wild boar: jabalí
hare: liebre
partridge: perdíz
bustard: avutarda
bird of prey: ave rapaz, ave de presa
deer: ciervo
wild goat: cabra montesa
fox: zorro
wildlife: vida salvaje
law: ley
degree of independence: grado de…
freedom: libertad
own matters: propios asuntos
councilor: consejero
budget: presupuesto
to be named by: ser nombrado por…
to choose: elegir
seal: escudo
inhabitant: habitante
less people: menos gente
attached buildings: edificios pegados unos a otros
to increase: incrementar
death: muerte
to return back: regresar
raw materials: materias primas
vineyard: viñedo, viñas
olive grove: olivar
legumes: legumbres
saffron: azafrán
garlic: ajo
mushroom: champiñón, setas.
sheep: ovejas
wool: lana
poultry: aves (avícola)
craft: artesanía
several types: varios tipos
iron: acero, hierro
cement: cemento
petrochemistry: petroquímica
furniture: muebles
leather: cuero, piel
power: energía eléctrica
renewable energy: energía renovable wind power: energía eólica
stork: cigüeña squirrel: ardilla
universal suffrage: sufragio universal
life expectancy: esperanza de vida to look for a job: buscar trabajo
tools: herramientas
footwear: calzado
knives: navajas
nowadays: en nuestros días trade: comercio
town hall: ayuntamiento
highway: autovía, autopista railways: ferrocarril
high-speed train: tren de alta velocidad
health service: servicio de salud patron saint: santo patrón
world heritage city: ciudad patrimonio de la humanidad
Holy Week: Semana Santa
grape harvest: vendimia
craft fair: feria de artesanía pottery: cerámica
traditional costumes: trajes típicos
cutlery: cuchillería
windmill: molino de viento
marzipan: mazapán
damascene: damasquinado