Torrejon de Ardoz

Torrejón de Ardoz municipality
coat of arms	Map of Spain
Basic data
Autonomous Community :	Madrid
Coordinates	40 ° 28 ′  N , 3 ° 29 ′  W Coordinates: 40 ° 28 ′  N , 3 ° 29 ′  W
Height :	568  msnm
Area :	32.49 km²
Residents :	131,376 (Jan 1, 2019)
Population density :	4,043.58 inhabitants / km²
Founding:	11th century
Postal code :	E-28850
Municipality number  ( INE ):	28148
administration
Mayor :	Ignacio Vázquez Casavilla ( PP )
Website :	www.ayto-torrejon.es
Location of the municipality

Torrejón de Ardoz is a city in the Madrid region ( Spain ).

The city is located 568 to 600 meters above sea level, about 20 kilometers east of Madrid , halfway to Alcalá de Henares, not far from Madrid's Barajas Airport . On January 1, 2019, it already had 131,376 inhabitants and the trend is still increasing. The city is connected to Madrid by the N-II motorway and the S-Bahn .

The name of the city comes from an old tower ( torreón ) that the citizens of Alcalá de Henares had built here to secure the border. This fortress, like the first settlement, dates from the 12th century. Until the 17th century the place was subordinate to the municipality of Alcalá de Henares, then to the Archbishop of Toledo . Torrejón de Ardoz remained largely a rural community until the 20th century. From around 1960 onwards, numerous industrial companies and research institutions settled in the vicinity of the US airport in Torrejon, which accelerated the development of the city. The modern face of the city is also reflected in a relatively young population: around 30% of the residents are between 20 and 35 years old.

In Torrejón there is a former US military airfield , today the civil airport Madrid-Torrejón Airport , Spanish barracks and companies in the defense and IT industry, as well as the satellite center of the European Union . The place is also popular with people who have their jobs in Madrid due to its good transport links.

During the Spanish Civil War , well over 1000 Franco supporters and Catholics were murdered by the Republicans here and in neighboring Paracuellos de Jarama in November 1936 , the exact number is controversial.

During the Battle of Madrid at the beginning of the Spanish Civil War , the El Soto de Aldovea forest area belonging to Torrejón on the right bank of the Henares was the scene of mass shootings of political prisoners by republican militias. In the massacres that took place here and in neighboring Paracuellos de Jarama from November to early December 1936 in view of the feared capture of Madrid by the nationalists , it is estimated that around 2,500 people were murdered.

Web links

Commons : Torrejón de Ardoz  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

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. ↑ Peter Wolter : Class conscious in the dead end. In: Junge Welt , September 26, 2012, full text retrieved from Die Linke Weißenburg in Bavaria on August 3, 2020.