Mequinenza

Mequinenza municipality
Basic data
Autonomous Community :	Aragon
Province :	Zaragoza
Comarca :	Bajo Cinca
Coordinates	41 ° 22 ′ N , 0 ° 18 ′ E Coordinates: 41 ° 22 ′ N , 0 ° 18 ′ E
Height :	75 msnm
Area :	307.45 km²
Residents :	2,324 (Jan 1, 2019)
Population density :	7.56 inhabitants / km²
Postal code :	50170
Municipality number ( INE ):	50165
administration
Mayor :	Magdalena Godia Ibarz ( PSOE )
Website :	www.mequinensa.com

Mequinenza

The Ebro at Mequinenza

Mequinenza ( Catalan : Mequinensa) is a Spanish municipality in the comarca of Bajo Cinca . It is the only municipality in this comarca that does not belong to the province of Huesca , but to the province of Saragossa . The municipality, located in the far east of the province at the confluence of the Ebro and Segre rivers , had 2324 inhabitants on January 1, 2019.

history

There are several archaeological sites in the municipality. In Roman times the old Octogesa stood here, which was conquered by the Goths during the fall of the Roman Empire , but came to the Berber tribe of Miknasa around 714, from which the place name is derived. The castle was also built during the Berber period. During the Reconquista , King Alfonso el Batallador made a first but unsuccessful attempt at conquest in 1133. In 1149 Mequinenza finally came to Aragon . In the Middle Ages the place was under the rule of the Montcada, who had a new castle built on the heights. In 1348 Mequinenza was ravaged by the plague. During Napoleon's time, General Louis Gabriel Suchet conquered the place called on the Arc de Triomphe in Paris in 1810 . During the Spanish Civil War in the second half of 1938 fighting broke out during the Battle of the Ebro , in which the bridge was destroyed. In 1957 Mequinenza came from the Diocese of Lleida to the Diocese of Saragossa . The Embalse de Mequinenza reservoir was built in 1957 and the old town ("Poble Vell") was demolished when the dam was built. The new place was built on a regular floor plan on the right bank of the Segre .

language

The municipality in the Franja de Aragón is bilingual. The original language is Catalan .

economy

Mequinenza's economy is based on trade, declining mining (lignite), textile industry; Livestock (pigs and poultry), almond, olive, fruit (cherries and peaches) and cereal cultivation as well as tourism (sport fishing; water sports in the Embalse de Mequinenza and the Pantà de Riba-roja ).

Personalities

From Mequinenza the writer comes Jesús Moncada (1941-2005), of his home by his book The sinking city made (dt .: Frankfurt 2001) known to the football coach Raul Agné , the historian Edmon Vallés , the painter Miguel Ibarz and Santiago Estruga and the composer José Soler Casabón .