Valencia de Alcantara

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Valencia de Alcántara municipality
Valencia de Alcántara - city view
Valencia de Alcántara - city view
coat of arms Map of Spain
Coat of arms of Valencia de Alcántara
Valencia de Alcántara (Spain)
Finland road sign 311 (1994-2020) .svg
Basic data
Autonomous Community : Extremadura
Province : Cáceres
Comarca : Sierra de San Pedro
Coordinates 39 ° 25 ′  N , 7 ° 15 ′  W Coordinates: 39 ° 25 ′  N , 7 ° 15 ′  W
Height : 460  msnm
Area : 594.83 km²
Residents : 5,397 (Jan 1, 2019)
Population density : 9.07 inhabitants / km²
Postal code : 10500
Municipality number  ( INE ): 10203
administration
Website : Valencia de Alcantara

Valencia de Alcántara is a small town and a Spanish municipality ( municipio ) with 5,397 inhabitants (as of 2019) in the province of Cáceres ( Extremadura ). The municipality includes the town of the same name and ten hamlets (pedanías) in the area such as B. Alcorneo , El Pino and Las Huertas de Cansa .

location

The place Valencia de Alcántara is about 92 km (driving distance) west of the provincial capital Cáceres only about 8 km from the border with Portugal at an altitude of approximately 460 m above sea level. d. It extends on a hill at the northeast foot of the Sierra de San Mamede on a left tributary of the Tagus . The city of Badajoz is located approx. 82 km south. The climate is temperate to warm, rain (approx. 770 mm / year) falls mainly in the winter months.

Population development

year 1857 1900 1950 2000 2017
Residents 4,751 9,417 15,586 6.240 5,532

The significant population decline since the 1950s is mainly due to the mechanization of agriculture and the associated loss of jobs.

economy

Wine and olive cultivation has been practiced in the area since Roman times. In earlier centuries the cultivation of wheat and other crops served mainly for self-sufficiency . Nowadays the most important source of income of the place is the border trade.

history

As numerous large stone graves ( dolmen ) in the area prove, the area was already settled in the Neolithic . Celtic traces were not found. In ancient times the area belonged to the Roman province of Lusitania . Also, Visigoths and Arabs and Moors left no archaeological evidence. Around 1213 the area was occupied by the troops of Alfonso IX. Recaptured ( reconquista ) by León (reigned 1188–1230) and handed over to the Calatrava order . A few years later (1218) the place came under the authority of the Alcántara Knights . Under the Catholic kings Ferdinand of Aragón and Isabella of Castile , the order was dissolved at the end of the 15th century and incorporated into the Spanish crown . As a result of the Alhambra Edict , numerous Jews were expelled from the city and the country at the end of the 15th century .

Attractions

  • Numerous poorly preserved dolmens in the area, including the Dolmen del Mellizo , bear witness to the presence of Neolithic people.
  • The single-arch Roman bridge Puente de Piedra is - next to the much more important bridge of Alcántara - one of the few ancient legacies in the region.
  • The medieval town center ( Barrio judío-gótico ) with its winding streets is recognized as the Conjunto histórico-artístico . The former synagogue located here dates from the 15th century and is the last testimony to the long presence of a Jewish community.
  • The Iglesia de Nuestra Señora de Rocamador possibly had an Islamic mosque as a previous building; It was here that King Manuel I of Portugal married the Spanish Princess Isabella in 1497 . The construction of the three-aisled hall church did not begin until the middle of the 16th century; The late Gothic star vault is particularly impressive . The church building was declared a Monumento histórico-artistico in 1982 .
  • Today's town hall (ayuntamiento) is located in a former aristocratic palace with a column portico from the 17th century.
  • La Encarnación Church from the 13th century
  • Moorish castle from the 13th century

Personalities

See also

Web links

Commons : Valencia de Alcántara  - 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. Valencia de Alcántara - map with altitude information
  3. Valencia de Alcántara - climate tables
  4. Valencia de Alcántara - population development
  5. Valencia de Alcántara - History
  6. Valencia de Alcántara - Barrio Gotico
  7. Valencia de Alcántara - Church