Murcia (autonomous community)
The
Autonomous Community of the Region of Murcia (Spanish:
Comunidad Autónoma de la Región de Murcia) is one of
Spain's seventeen
autonomous communities, located in the southeast of the country, between
Andalucía and
Valencian Community, on the
Mediterranean coast.
The autonomous community consists of a single
province (region), unlike most autonomous communities, which have multiple provinces. Because of this, the autonomous community and the region are operated as one unit of government. The city of
Murcia is the institutional
capital of the community and
Cartagena is the legislative
capital. Another important city is
Lorca.
See also List of municipalities in Murcia.The Region of Murcia is bordered by
Andalucía (provinces of
Almería and
Granada);
Castilla-La Mancha (the province of
Albacete), which was historically connected to Murcia until
1833;
Valencian Community (province of
Alicante); and the
Mediterranean Sea. The highest mountain is
Revolcadores (2015 m).
The community measures 11 313
km² and has a population of 1,2 million, of whom one-third live in the capital.
The region is a major producer of
fruits,
vegetables, and
flowers for Spain and the rest of Europe. Excellent wineries have developed near the towns of
Bullas,
Yecla, and
Jumilla, as well as
olive oil near
Moratalla. Murcia is mainly a warm region which has made it very suitable for agriculture. However the precipitacions are little and water supplies is a hot subject today since, to the traditional water demand for crops it has added recently a demand of water for the booming touristic developments which take advantage of the mild weather and beaches. Water is supplied by the
Segura River or
Río Segura (which has been labelled as the most polluted river in Europe) and, ever since the 70's, by the
Tajo transvasement a major civil engineering which, under some environmental and sustaintibility restraints, brings water from the Tajo into the Segura; this is currently being heavily contested from the political instances of the autonomous community of
Castilla-La Mancha, where it originates.
The
Carthaginians established a permanent
trading depot on the coast at
Cartagena, which the
Romans called
Carthago Nova. For the Carthaginian traders, the mountainous territory was merely the
Iberian hinterland of their seacoast
empire. Roman Murcia was a part of the
province of
Hispania Carthaginensis. Under the
Moors, who introduced the large-scale
irrigation on which Murcian
agriculture depends, the province was known as
Todmir; it included, according to
Idrisi, the
11th century Arab cartographer based in
Sicily, the cities of
Orihuela,
Lorca,
Mula and
Chinchilla.
The
Kingdom of Murcia came into independent existence as a
taifa centered on the Moorish city of Murcia after the fall of the
Omayyad Caliphate of Córdoba (11th century). Moorish Taifa of Murcia included
Albacete and part of
Almería as well. After the battle of Sagrajas in 1086 the
Almoravid dynasty swallowed up the
taifas and reunited Islamic Spain.
Ferdinand III of Castile received the submission of the Moorish king of Murcia in 1243. By the usual process, the Muslims were evicted from the cities, and Ferdinand's heir
Alfonso X of Castile, for the better governing of a depopulated Murcia, divided the administration of the border kingdom in three regions, entrusted respectively to the
concejos de realengo, to the ecclesiastical
señores seculares, as a reward for their contributions to the
Reconquista and to the Military Orders founded in the 11th century. Alfonso annexed the Taifa of Murcia like
King of Murcia and
Señorio de Cartagena outright in 1266, and it remained technically a vassal kingdom of Spain until the reforms in the liberal constitution of 1812. Murcia became an autonomous region in
1982.
The Spanish spoken in the region is quite different from other areas of Spain. "Murciano" tends to eliminate many syllable-final consonants and to emphasize regional vocabulary, much of which is derived from old
Arabic words. Some Murcian countryfolk still speak a separate dialect, called
Panocho, which is virtually unintelligible to speakers of the standard
Spanish language.The general intonation and some of the distinctive vocabulary of the Spanish dialect spoken in Murcia shares several traits with the one spoken in the neighbouring province of
Almería, in
Andalucía.
*
San Javier-Murcia Airport*
Cartagena seaport*
:Category:Municipalities in Murcia*
List of municipalities in Murcia*
Creation of a flag for Murcia, 1979
