Extremadura
Encyclopedia : E : EX : EXT : Extremadura
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| Capital | Mérida | |||||
| Area – Total – % of Spain | Ranked 5th 41 634 km² 8,2% | |||||
| Population – Total (2005) – % of Spain – Density | Ranked 12th 1 083 879 2,5% 26,03/km² | |||||
| Demonym – English – Spanish | — extremeño/a, castúo | |||||
| Statute of Autonomy | February 26, 1983 | |||||
| ISO 3166-2 | EX | |||||
| Parliamentary representation – Congress seats – Senate seats | 10 2 | |||||
| President | Juan Carlos Rodríguez Ibarra (PSOE) | |||||
| [Junta de Extremadura] | ||||||
Some important cities are Cáceres, Badajoz, Plasencia and Mérida, the capital of the autonomous community. For other municipalities, see lists by province:
Extremadura borders Portugal to the west. It is an important area for wildlife, particularly with the major reserve at Monfragüe.
Badajoz and Cáceres are, respectively, the largest and second-largest provinces of Spain.
History
Lusitania, an ancient Roman province approximately including current day Portugal (except for the northern area today known as Norte Region), and a central western portion of the current day Spain, covered in those times today's Autonomous Community of Extremadura. Mérida (capital of Extremadura), became the capital of the Roman Lusitania province, and one of the most important cities in the Roman Empire.Extremadura was the source of many of the most famous Spanish conquerors ("conquistadores") and settlers in America. Hernán Cortés, Francisco Pizarro, Pedro de Alvarado, Pedro de Valdivia were all born in Extremadura and many towns and cities in America carry a name from their homeland: Mérida is the name of the administrative capital of Extremadura, and also of important cities in Mexico and Venezuela; Medellín is now a little town in Extremadura, but also the name of the second largest city in Colombia; Albuquerque is the largest city in New Mexico and its name is due to a transcription mistake of Alburquerque, another town in Extremadura. The two Spanish astronauts to date, Miguel López-Alegría and Pedro Duque, also have family connections in Extremadura. King Ferdinand V died in the village of Madrigalejo, Cáceres in 1516.
Extremadura should not be confused with Estremadura, a historical province of Portugal. During the Reconquest, "Extremadura" was the word used to name the land bordering the Christian frontier opposed to Moorish resistance, so for a time Extremadura was the name for the present province of Salamanca. (The present Cáceres was called "Transierra Leonesa", and the present Badajoz was a Moorish kingdom with the same name.)
Economy
Extremadura is the poorest region in Spain.The Extremadura Regional Government has authored its own Linux distribution, LinEx.
Extremeño dialect
- "...possesses a marked aspiration for f h, and employs i u for e o as finals; while modifying variously medial unaccented vowels as andaluz also does. The region is sparsely populated for various reasons: it was much thinned by the emigration to America...the language also shows remarkable archaisms. To the north of Cáceres in Plasencia, Coria and Garrovillas, the medieval distinction between voiced z and voiceless ç remains perceptible...Extremeño is in other respects a dialect of transition between andaluz and the patois of southern León."
- Source: Entwistle, William J. The Spanish Language. (pp. 223–224)
Culture
| Administrative divisions of Spain |
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