General Information

Central Mountain Range
The autonomous region of Castile-La Mancha includes much of the southern part of the Iberian peninsula. It is on the southern sub-plateau and is bound by the Madrid (Region) and Castilla-Leon in the north, Aragon and the Region of Valencia in the east, Murcia and Andalusia in the south and Extremadura in the west.

The terrain can be divided into two distinct parts. On the one side there is the plateau, an extensive flat land with very few mountains. The flatness of the plateau is often broken by mountains such as the Toledo mountains, that include summits such as Villuercas (1,601 m) and Rocigalgo (1,447 m). The most mountainous part of the area, which encircles the plateau around the region's borders, includes foothills along the massifs of the Central mountain range, the Iberian mountain range and the Sierra Morena. Within Castile-La Mancha are the southern foothills of the Gredos sierra, the mountainous areas of Cuenca that stretch out towards the Iberian range, the mountainous terrain of Ciudad Real, that stretches out towards Sierra Morena, and the southern sierras of Albacete. Some of Spain's most important rivers run through Castile-La Mancha. The Tagus and the Guadiana are two of the most important that head westwards along the region. The Jucar river, which is the third most important river of the area heads eastwards. A particularly notable feature in the geography of the mountainous area of Cuenca are the rock formations of the The Enchanted City (La Ciudad Encantada), The Majadas Passageways (Los Callejones de las Majadas) and Las Torcas, all created by erosion.

Transportation

Transport
Castile-La Mancha's transport network is connected by rail and road. Air links are from Madrid-Barajas airport which is 30 or 35 minutes (58km) from Guadalajara and some 50 minutes (71km) from Toledo.

The roads in Castile-La Mancha are based on a network of motorways, A-roads and smaller country roads. The main intersections are found in Castile and La Mancha and link Madrid-Zaragoza , Madrid-Valencia , Madrid-Andalucía , Madrid-Badajoz and the main road that links Madrid-Toledo. All the towns are connected either by road or rail. The railways are run by RENFE (Spanish train provider). The new high-speed train (AVE) that connects Madrid with Seville travelling from north to south along the region, has promoted a notable economic and social growth in the area of Castile-La Mancha, with stations in Ciudad Real and Puertollano. New rail links have been planned to connect the mainland from west to east, cutting across the region.

Administration

Regional Assembly
The autonomous region of Castile-La Mancha is made up of the provinces of Albacete, Ciudad Real, Cuenca, Guadalajara and Toledo. The Autonomy Statute was approved for Castile-La Mancha in 1982. The capital of the region is Toledo.

Article 8 of the Autonomy Statute states: “The region is governed by the autonomous regional council of Castile-La Mancha. The regional council is made up of: the Regional Assembly of Castile-La Mancha, the President of the Assembly and the Government CouncilÝ.

Population

Around two million inhabitants
The population of this autonomous region according to figures from the Spanish National Statistics Institute (INE) as of the 1st of January 2004, after having reviewed the Inhabitants register is 1,848,881.

The population density through the provinces is as follows: Albacete: 379,448, Ciudad Real: 492,914, Cuenca: 204,546, Guadalajara: 193,913 and Toledo: 578,060. The most populated cities are: Toledo, Albacete, Talavera de la Reina and Ciudad Real.

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