Madrid [ma dr ɪ t, Spanish ma Drid], capital of Spain and the autonomous region of Madrid, in the center of the Iberian Peninsula near the southern foot of the Sierra de Guadarrama, m terraces 60-80 over the arid Manzanares in 655 meters above Located at sea level, (2020) 3.3 million residents (6.8 million residents in the metropolitan area).
Madrid is the largest city on the Iberian Peninsula; political, cultural, financial, commercial and transport point of Spain.
Administrative and cultural institutions
Madrid is the seat of the king, the government, the highest administrative, judicial and military authorities, a Catholic archdiocese, the Supreme Scientific Research Council, the Royal Spanish Academy, the Academy of Fine Arts, History, Languages, Science, Jurisprudence, philosophy and politics among others scientific societies. Madrid has six universities: Universidad Complutense de Madrid (founded in 1508 in Alcalá de Henares, since 1836 in Madrid), Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (founded in 1968), Universidad Carlos III (founded in 1989), Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, a technical university that Pontifical University of Comillas; in addition there is the National Distance Learning University (founded in 1972); Biblioteca Nacional et al. public libraries and the Ibero-American Center for Cooperation. Madrid is home to one of the largest Islamic cultural centers in Europe (opened in 1992; donated by Saudi Arabia) with a mosque (for all Islamic faiths, inaugurated in 1992), congress and concert halls, library, theater and language laboratory.
The most important of the more than 50 museums include: Prado, Centro de Arte Reina Sofía (Center for Contemporary Art), Palacio Villahermosa with the Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection, natural science, anthropological, archaeological museum, maritime museum, America museum, Inquisition museum (built in 1988 in postmodern style), City Museum, Bullfighting Museum, Museo de Cera (wax museum), weapons and art collections of the Spanish kings (in the Palacio Real), Museo de Escultura al Aire Libre de la Castellana (the first museum of contemporary art in Madrid during the Franco era), »CaixaForum«.
Madrid has 20 theaters, a large concert hall (Auditorio Nacional de Música, inaugurated in 1989), a Royal Opera (Teatro Real, reopened 1997) and more than 60 churches and monasteries. The ARCO (International Spanish Contemporary Art Fair) has been held annually since 1982. Madrid also has an observatory, a botanical and zoological garden and is the country’s media, fashion, congress and exhibition center (including Palacio de Congresos y Exposiciones).
Economy
Madrid, far from the coast, developed late into today’s top industrial and commercial location as a result of the rapid increase in population (1560: around 15,000; 1857: 281,170; 1900: 528,984; 1940: 1.09 million residents) with a growing workforce – and sales market. The oldest branches of industry were the former royal carpet and porcelain manufacturers. The first industrialization spurt was brought about by the expansion of the railway network aimed at the capital (1858–80) with the production of high-end goods (leather items, jewelry and silver goods, fans, musical instruments, textiles, furniture); a second boost followed in World War I, but the company structure remained dominated by small to medium-sized manufacturing companies until after World War II.
The dominant branch of the economy today is the service sector, in particular trade and logistics (international trade fair location), administration, finance (banks, insurance companies, international stock exchanges) and tourism (2017: 19.3 million overnight stays).
Transportation
In Madrid, all the major railway lines (with the two long-distance train stations: Atocha and Chamartín) and the country’s roads, which have been developed as motorways in a wide area around Madrid, converge in a star shape. The urban area is very well served by wide, straight streets, the eight-lane city motorway through the eastern part of the city and the subway, tram and city bus network that extends into the suburbs; the international airport (Barajas) in the east has a motorway connection with the city center. The central traffic artery is the north-south axis of the Paseo de la Castellana.
History
On site already settled in the Neolithic Age, Emir Mohammed I (852-886) founded a fortified city with Alcázar, a water supply based on a Kanat system (Kanat) and a connected Vega, to protect the important traffic connection between Middle Mark (Toledo) and Upper Mark (Saragossa), which was called Madjrit [-d ʒ -] (“City of the many underground canals”). The Arab Kanat system only supplied Madrid and its Vega until 1855 (in 1902 it still supplied 3,288,562 liters of water per day), only afterwards was it supplemented by above-ground water supply (river canals, construction of dams with pipes). Madrid was founded by Alfonso VI in 1083 . finally conquered by León and Castile and received special urban rights (Fueros) from Alfonso VIII in 1202. In the years that followed, the Arab Alcázar was often the temporary residence of Christian kings (Henry III, Henry IV, Catholic Kings); Emperor Charles V, as King of Spain Charles I, had it expanded into a palace in 1537.
In 1561 Philip II moved the royal court from Toledo to Madrid because of its proximity to his major El Escorial project and built a second palace district east of the city, the Buen Retiro, around the monastery of San Jerónimo el Real founded by the Catholic Monarchs. 1606 Madrid was under Philip III. official capital of Spain and the entire Spanish Empire. In 1625 the city received a customs wall. Philip II, Philip III , Philip IV and especially the Bourbon Charles III. systematically promoted the expansion of the capital (monasteries, churches, hospitals, administrative and town houses); It was not until 1860 that outer districts emerged, which are still growing today.
In the War of the Spanish Succession, Madrid was French-minded. On May 2nd, 1808, a popular uprising in Madrid gave rise to the Spanish struggle for freedom against Napoleonic France. To commemorate this, May 2nd is celebrated as a city holiday to this day. Many monasteries and districts were torn down under Joseph Bonaparte (1808-13). In the second half of the 18th century, and especially since the second half of the 19th century, Madrid gradually developed into a modern metropolis as the seat of the court, government and administration. In the Spanish Civil War, which caused severe damage to the historic building stock, the Republican government held Madrid until March 25, 1939.
On March 11, 2004, Islamist terrorists bombed suburban trains near Atocha train station (191 dead).
The Treaty of Madrid (January 14, 1526) ended the first war between the two monarchs for supremacy in Europe after the crushing defeat of Francis I of France against Emperor Charles V at Pavia (February 24, 1525). As a prisoner of the Habsburgs in Spain, Francis I had to renounce his Italian claims, Burgundy and his feudal sovereignty over Artois and Flanders, as well as agree to marry Charles’ sister Eleanor. After his release, Francis I declared the dictated peace null and void and concluded the League of Cognac against Charles V (May 22, 1526).