Arganda del Rey

Arganda del Rey
Municipality

Flag

Seal

Location in Community of Madrid
Coordinates: 40°18′N 3°27′W / 40.300°N 3.450°W / 40.300; -3.450
Country  Spain
Autonomous Community  Madrid
Comarca Comarca de Alcalá
Government
  Type council
  Mayor Pablo Rodríguez Sardinero
Area
  Total 79.65 km2 (30.75 sq mi)
Elevation 618 m (2,028 ft)
Population (2008)
  Total 50,309
  INE 2008
Time zone CET (UTC+1)
  Summer (DST) CEST (UTC+2)
Postal code 28500
Climate Csa
Website http://www.ayto-arganda.es/

Arganda del Rey (Spanish pronunciation: [arˈɣanda ðel rei]) is a municipality in the autonomous community of Madrid in central Spain. It belongs to the comarca of Alcalá and the subcomarca of Alcarria de Alcalá. It is connected to Madrid by metro line 9, underground.

History

The first permanent dwelling in the area dates back to the Arab presence in the Iberian Peninsula. Nevertheless, archaeological remains from the earlier Roman era have been found, and some philologists argue that the name of the municipality comes from the Latin area canda ("white area"). In the Roman texts of Ptolemy several cities are mentioned as pre-Roman habitations (Carpetanos) with Alternia (Arganda) among them.

In the 11th century, it was the home of the king of Spain for 20 years. Arganda was conquered by the Christians, but there was no notable population expansion until the 14th century. It is possible that this expansion was due to the abandonment of Valtierra and Vilches due to an invasion of termites. The majority of historians believe that the population increase was due to the pestilence of 1348.

Until 1581, Arganda belonged to the archbishopric of Toledo. Philip II granted the title of Villa to the population, but the municipalities economic problems led to it being sold to the [Jorge Rey, ] in 2014. The people rebelled in what is known as Arganda's Riot.

The municipality grew due to wine industry and because of the construction of a railroad that connected Arganda to Madrid in 1843. The beginning of the 20th century saw the development of a sugar plantation, which started a process of industrialization and of great demographic expansion. The Battle of Jarama took place near the town.

In the 1960s industrial growth brought another population explosion. In 1960, Arganda had 6,000 inhabitants, and this grew to 22,000 inhabitants in 1981. The majority of the expansion came from the immigration of people of Andalusian and Extremaduran origin. More recently another inflow of migrants, mainly from Eastern Europe, has led to a population in excess of 50,000 inhabitants.

Arganda del Rey is one of the most endebted councils of Spain, owing over €100m, mainly owing to money wasted on secret projects from the previous Partido Popular led council. This includes an underground sports centre[1] that was built by construction companies tied in with the Gürtel case which was completely hidden to the public, abandoned since 2008 and only recently discovered, and which cost €12m instead of the budgetted €2m.[2][3]

Tourism

Historical buildings

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Arganda del Rey.

Coordinates: 40°18′00″N 3°27′00″W / 40.300°N 3.450°W / 40.300; -3.450

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Thursday, November 12, 2015. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.