Colmenar Viejo

Colmenar Viejo municipality
coat of arms	Map of Spain
Basic data
Autonomous Community :	Madrid
Comarca :	Cuenca Alta del Manzanares
Coordinates	40 ° 40 ′  N , 3 ° 46 ′  W Coordinates: 40 ° 40 ′  N , 3 ° 46 ′  W
Height :	883  msnm
Area :	182.6 km²
Residents :	50,752 (Jan. 1, 2019)
Population density :	277.94 inhabitants / km²
Postal code :	E-28770
Municipality number  ( INE ):	28045
administration
Mayor :	Jorge García ( PP )
Address of the municipal administration:	Pza. Pueblo, 1st Primera Planta 28770 Colmenar Viejo
Website :	www.colmenarviejo.com
Location of the municipality

Colmenar Viejo is a city in the north of the Madrid region .

geography

Geographical location

Colmenar Viejo is located on the southern foothills of the Sierra de Guadarrama , a mountain range that separates the Autonomous Region of Madrid from the Autonomous Region of Castile and León .

Neighboring communities

The following municipalities border on Colmenar Viejo, starting clockwise in the north: Miraflores de la Sierra , Guadalix de la Sierra , Pedrezuela , San Agustín de Guadalix , Algete , San Sebastián de los Reyes , Tres Cantos , Madrid , Hoyo de Manzanares , Moralzarzal , Manzanares el Real and Soto del Real .

City structure

Until 1991 the place Tres Cantos and thus also the area of ​​the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid belonged to the municipality.

population

development

In March 2009, 44,155 people lived in Colmenar Viejo (+3,449 compared to the previous year), 7,793 of whom are foreign nationals.

The population collapse in 1991 resulted from the spin-off of Tres Cantos .

In 2006, 84.80% of the residents of Colmenar Viejo had Spanish citizenship, 7.18% had South American citizenship, 3.03% were African, 2.54% were European (excluding the EU), 1.36% were Union citizens , 0 , 56% had a Central American or Caribbean citizenship, 0.34% an Asian, 0.19% a North American, and 0.01% an Oceanic.

history

See also: History of Spain

origin of the name

The name Colmenar (apiary) Viejo (old, the old) has been associated with this area from ancient times. According to legend, there was also an apiary there and an old man who was nicknamed “El Viejo” (the old man) lived nearby. The road from Alcalá de Henares to Segovia , which crossed the Manzanares river at the Grajal y Nuevo bridges , ran close by since late Roman times .

The travelers stayed overnight "with the old man", who expanded his buildings more and more. Some guests settled here permanently, so that a hamlet called Colmenar del Viejo (Apiary of the old man) was created. Over time, the name changed to Colmenar Viejo.

Origin and development

Archaeological excavations show that the area was settled in the 6th century . During the Reconquista of Madrid at the end of the 11th century , Alfonso VI created. a community association dependent on Madrid with vaguely defined boundaries and thus summarized the sparse settlement.

These ill-defined borders led to conflicts between the cities of Madrid and Segovia for more than a century, which Alfonso X of Castile ended by annexing the territory to the Crown. This vast area was named el Real de Manzanares and included villages such as Colmenar Viejo, Soto del Real , Hoyo de Manzanares , Miraflores de la Sierra , Navacerrada , Guadalix etc.

Iñigo López de Mendoza

Juan I of Castile assigned the area to his court master Pedro González de Mendoza (1340–1385). His second son Iñigo López de Mendoza (1398-1458) was later awarded the title of Count of el Real de Manzanares.

In the centuries that followed, Colmenar Viejo's population grew and on November 22nd 1504 it became legally independent from Manzanares. Most of the population were farmers and the development of the place stalled. This changed from the middle of the 19th century. A bullring (then a symbol of modernity) was built, a country road now connected the small town with Manzanares and Fuencaral, telegraph lines were laid and a daily postal service was set up. On May 30, 1911, the first train from Madrid's Chamartín station reached the city.

politics

Introductory article: Political parties in Spain

Municipal council

Municipal elections	1987	1991	1995	1999	2001	2007
Izquierda Unida	0	1	4th	4th	3	3
Partido Popular	7th	11	10	11	11	11
PSOE	8th	8th	7th	6th	7th	7th
other	6th	1	0	0	0	0
total	21st	21st	21st	21st	21st	21st

mayor

Mayor (alcalde) has been Jorge García of the People's Party (Partido Popular) since 2016 .

Culture and sights

Natural monuments

The UNESCO Biosphere Reserve Cuenca Alta del Río Manzanares with its 101,300 hectares borders the area of ​​the municipality to the west and south. This natural park, which extends from the up to 2,300 m high mountain range of the Sierra de Guadarrama to the city limits of Madrid, is also home to griffon vultures and peregrine falcons . There are no access restrictions to the park.

City festivals

• The feast of the “Vaquilla” on February 2nd
• The festival “La Maya” on May 2nd
• The celebrations of the patron saint “Nuestra Señora de los Remedios” on the last whole weekend of August
• Colmenar Viejo day on November 22nd, commemorating the conferment of city rights by Fernando el Católico

Economy and Infrastructure

traffic

Colmenar Viejo is connected to Tres Cantos and the city of Madrid by the two-lane, directional M-607 road. Line C-4 of the Cercanías Madrid (the S-Bahn system) starts in Colmenar Viejo and also runs via Tres Cantos and the major long-distance stations Chamartín and Atocha to Puerta del Sol .

Military airfield

Chinooks, base "Coronel Maté", 2009

In the north of the urban area there is a smaller military airfield of the Spanish Army Aviation ( Fuerzas Aeromóviles del Ejército de Tierra (FAMET)), the Colmenar Viejo base . In addition to the Chinook helicopters of the Batallón de Helicópteros de Transporte núm. V (BHELTRA V) several other airborne and non-flying formations are stationed on the site. The location is therefore the largest of the Spanish army aviators.

Web links

Commons : Colmenar Viejo  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Administration of Colmenar Viejo (Spanish)
• Pueblos España (Spanish)
• www.spain.info Reserva de la Biosfera de la Cuenca Alta del Río Manzanares
• Band Symphonic Colmenar Viejo

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Cifras oficiales de población resultantes de la revisión del Padrón municipal a 1 de enero . Population statistics from the Instituto Nacional de Estadística (population update).
2. ↑ Instituto Estatística de Madrid: Buscar series por municipio: ( Memento of the original of December 14, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Statistics database (Spanish) 
3. ^ Instituto Estatística de Madrid: Elecciones en la Comunidad de Madrid. Elecciones Locales Results of the local elections 1987-2007 (Spanish)