Extremadura

Extremadura (/ˌɛkstrəməˈdjʊərə/ EK-strə-mə-DURE-ə; Spanish: [e(ɣ)stɾemaˈðuɾa] ; Extremaduran: Estremaúra [ehtːɾemaˈuɾa]; Portuguese: Estremadura; Fala: Extremaúra) is a landlocked autonomous community of Spain. Its capital city is Mérida, and its largest city is Badajoz. Located in the central-western part of the Iberian Peninsula, it is crossed from east to west by the Tagus and Guadiana rivers. The autonomous community is formed by the two largest provinces of Spain: Cáceres and Badajoz. Extremadura is bordered by Portugal to the west and by the autonomous communities of Castile and León to the north, Castilla–La Mancha to the east, and Andalusia to the south. It is an important area for wildlife, particularly with the major reserve at Monfragüe, which was designated a National Park in 2007, and the International Tagus River Natural Park (Parque Natural Tajo Internacional). The regional government is led by the president of the Regional Government of Extremadura, a post currently held by María Guardiola of the People's Party. The Day of Extremadura is celebrated on 8 September. It coincides with the Catholic festivity of Our Lady of Guadalupe. The region, featuring an enormous energy surplus and hosting lithium deposits, is at the forefront of Spain's plans for energy transition and decarbonisation. The two commonest views on the origin of the name are: It refers to the areas surrounding the south of the river Duero, from Latin Extrema Dorii; Perhaps simply being formed from extremo ('extreme') plus the common Spanish suffix -dura referring to the outer regions of the kingdoms of León and Castilla. Extremadura is contained between 37° 57′ and 40° 29′ N latitude, and 4° 39′ and 7° 33′ W longitude. The area of Extremadura is 41,633 km2 (16,075 sq mi), making it the fifth largest of the Spanish autonomous communities. It is located in the Southern Plateau (a subdivision of the Spanish Central Plateau). The region is crossed from West to East by two large rivers, the Tagus and the Guadiana, lining up three basic areas from North to South by combining mountain ranges and rivers: the territory spanning from the Sistema Central to the Tagus, the so-called Mesopotamia extremeña in between the Tagus and the Guadiana and the territory from the Guadiana to Sierra Morena. Besides the catchment basins of the Tagus and the Guadiana covering most of the territory by far, fringe areas of the region are drained by the Douro (north) and the Guadalquivir (south). Notable Tagus tributaries include the Tiétar and the Alagón (rightbank) and the Almonte, Ibor, Salor and the Sever (leftbank). Regarding the Guadiana, important leftbank tributaries include Guadarranque and Ruecas and rightbank tributaries include the Zújar River and the Matachel. The highest point in Extremadura, the 2,401 m (7,877 ft) high Calvitero (or El Torreón), is located in the Sistema Central, in the northeastern end of the region, bordering with Castile and León. The main subranges of the Sistema Central in Extremadura are the Sierra de Gata and Sierra de Béjar. The modest heights of Sierra de las Villuercas (topping at 1,603 m (5,259 ft) on the Pico de las Villuercas) rise in the Mesopotamia extremeña. Other notable ranges include the Sierra de Montánchez and the Sierra de San Pedro, part of the larger Montes de Toledo system. The Sierra Morena—the limit between Extremadura and Andalusia—and the Sierra de Tentudía (topping at 1,104 m (3,622 ft) on the Pico Tentudía) rise in the south. There are four different hydrographic basins: The basin of the Tagus (Spanish: Tajo), with two principal tributaries: on the right, the Tiétar and the Alagón; and on the left, the Almonte, Ibor, Salor and the Sever. The tributaries on the right edge carry a large quantity of water, which feed the gorges of the Sistema Central where the rainfall is abundant and the winter brings a great quantity of snow. The basin of the Guadiana, which has principal tributaries: The basin of the Guadalquivir with only 1,411 km2 (545 sq mi) in Extremadura (2.45% of total). The basin of the Douro (Spanish: Duero) with only 35 km2 (14 sq mi) in Extremadura (0.04% of its basin). The climate of Extremadura is predominantly hot-summer Mediterranean (Csa in the Köppen climate classification), with some regions being cold semi-arid (BSk in the Köppen climate classification). Extremadura generally presents average annual temperatures somewhat warmer than most of the hinterland of the Iberian Peninsula, featuring nonetheless a north–south gradient. Annual thermal amplitude generally ranges from 16 to 19 °C. Average annual temperature is around 16.4 °C (61.5 °F), while the average annual precipitation stands at around 588 mm. Parts of the Sistema Central presents more than 1,500 mm while it barely rains 400 mm in parts of the province of Badajoz. Summers are very hot and dry, with the rain concentrated in the cold months instead, leading to a high degree of water stress during the summer months. During the time of the Roman Empire, the area that is known today as Autonomous Community of Extremadura was part of Lusitania, a Roman province that included most of current day Portugal (except for the northern area today known as Norte Region) and the central western portion of the current day Spain. Mérida (now capital of Extremadura) became the capital of the Roman province of Lusitania, and one of the most important cities in the Roman Empire. Like the bulk of the Iberian Peninsula, the territory was conquered by the Umayyads in the early 8th century. As part of the Emirate and later Caliphate of Córdoba, it largely constituted a territorial subdivision (kūra) of the former polities centered on Mérida. Following the collapse of the Caliphate in the early 11th century during the so-called Fitna of al-Andalus and its ensuing fragmentation into ephemeral statelets (taifas), the bulk of the territory of current day Extremadura became part of the (First) Taifa of Badajoz (Baṭalyaws), centered around the namesake city and founded by Sapur, a saqaliba previously freed by Al-Hakam II. Conversely, the kingdoms of León, Castile and Portugal (most notably the first one) made advances in the 11th and 12th centuries across the territory (with for example the successive Leonese conquests of Coria in 1079 and 1142, the Portuguese attempts at expanding across the Guadiana basin in the second half of the 12th century, or the Castilian founding of Plasencia in 1186) not free from setbacks either caused by the Almoravid and Almohad impetus, which also entailed the demise of the first and second taifa of Badajoz in 1094 and 1150, respectively. In the Almohad case, their 1174 offensive removed Leonese control from every fortress south of the Tagus (including Cáceres). After the Almohad disaster at the 1212 Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa, the remaining part of current-day Extremadura under Muslim control fell to the troops led by Alfonso IX of León—Alcántara (1214), Cáceres (1227–1229), Mérida (1230), Badajoz (1230)—and later to the military orders of Santiago and Alcántara—Trujillo (1232), Medellín (1234)—on behalf of Ferdinand III of Castile. The last fortresses in the Lower Extremadura were conquered by Christians by 1248. By the late Middle Ages, the territory of the current-day region consisted of mayorazgos of the military orders of Santiago and Alcántara (about half the territory), nobiliary lordships (about a quarter of the territory) and royal demesne towns (the other quarter of the territory). In between the 15th and 16th centuries, the concept of the Leonese and Castilian extremaduras diluted and the name eventually came to refer to the territory of the current-day region. The territory lacked nonetheless shared government and administration institutions. In between 1570 and 1572, the Crown forcibly relocated about 11,000 moriscos into the territory as part of the deportation of Granadans that followed the defeat of the Alpujarras revolt. The distribution