Fuenlabrada () is a city and
municipality
A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate.
The term ''municipality'' may also mean the ...
of
Spain
, image_flag = Bandera de España.svg
, image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg
, national_motto = '' Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond")
, national_anthem = (English: "Royal March")
, ...
located in the
Community of Madrid
The Community of Madrid (; es, Comunidad de Madrid ) is one of the seventeen autonomous communities of Spain. It is located in the centre of the Iberian Peninsula, and of the Central Plateau (''Meseta Central''). Its capital and largest munic ...
. , it has a population of 193,586, making it the region's fourth most populated municipality.
Placename
The etymology of ''Fuenlabrada'' comes from the contraction of ''Fuente Labrada'', Spanish for "carved fountain".
Geography
The highest point in the municipality (721 metres above sea level) is located in a hill to the northwest of the city proper.
The city proper's altitude gently decreases from the Northwest to the Southeast; the lowest areas in the municipality (slightly over 600 metres above sea level) are located in the East, past the
A-42 near the border with
Getafe
Getafe () is a municipality and a city in Spain belonging to the Community of Madrid. , it has a population of 180,747, the region's sixth most populated municipality.
Getafe is located 13 km south of Madrid's city centre, within a flat ar ...
.
The southeast of the municipality is covered by the , a huge economic area overwhelmingly dedicated to the wholesale distribution of Chinese imports (considered the biggest one in Europe in the latter regard).
The residential area of (203.6 ha in size) lies in the west, near
Móstoles, semi-detached from the main urban nucleus by the highway.
The main hydrographic feature is the , a tributary of the
Manzanares. Other parts of the municipality (including the Arroyo de Fregacedos) are however part of the
Guadarrama catchment area.
History
There are archeological sites tracing back the human presence in the area to the
Paleolithic
The Paleolithic or Palaeolithic (), also called the Old Stone Age (from Greek: παλαιός '' palaios'', "old" and λίθος ''lithos'', "stone"), is a period in human prehistory that is distinguished by the original development of stone too ...
(''La Cantueña'') and the
Bronze Age
The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second pri ...
(''Casas del Cerro''). Other settlements in the current municipal area, including Loranca, Albas and Fregacedos, existed during the Upper Middle Ages.
The founding of the village of Fuenlabrada has been tentatively traced to the late 14th century, populated by the dwellers of the nearby settlements of Loranca, Albas and Fregacedos, which had been simultaneously depopulated. The first mention of Fuenlabrada, which by the early 16th century was part of the Land of
Madrid
Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...
, was recorded later in the century, during the reign of
Philip II, in the so-called ''
Topographic Relations of Philip II Topographic Relations of the towns from Spain, made under the command of Philip II (Spanish: ''Relaciones topográficas de los pueblos de España, hechas de orden de Felipe II'') is the name by which is commonly known a statistical work supported an ...
''. The village suffered the loss of a quarter of the population in the second half of the 18th century.
While the agricultural sector of the economy remained dominant, the making of and
buns in the municipality became renowned among the surrounding towns by the end of the 19th century. Following the end of the 1936–1939
Civil War
A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country).
The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government polici ...
, in which some parts of Fuenlabrada endured serious damage, the Dirección General de Regiones Devastadas undertook some building works in the municipality during the 1940s and 1950s.
The population experienced a demographic explosion in the 1970s, going from 7,369 inhabitants in 1970 to 65,181 in 1980, the biggest relative increase in Spain in that period. The demographic growth continued in the ensuing decades.
Since the
1979 municipal elections, the municipality has been a stronghold of the
Spanish Socialist Workers' Party
The Spanish Socialist Workers' Party ( es, Partido Socialista Obrero Español ; PSOE ) is a social-democraticThe PSOE is described as a social-democratic party by numerous sources:
*
*
*
* political party in Spain. The PSOE has been in gov ...
(PSOE) and has been part of the so-called "
red belt" of the Community of Madrid.
Transport
Roads
The city is linked with the
M-50,
A-42, M-506, M-407 and M-409 highways. It is connected as well to the neighbouring towns of
Humanes de Madrid and
Moraleja de Enmedio through the M-413 and M-405 local roads, respectively.
Metro
Fuenlabrada has good transport connections with
Madrid
Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...
,
Móstoles,
Getafe
Getafe () is a municipality and a city in Spain belonging to the Community of Madrid. , it has a population of 180,747, the region's sixth most populated municipality.
Getafe is located 13 km south of Madrid's city centre, within a flat ar ...
,
Alcorcón
Alcorcón () is a city and municipality of Spain located in the Community of Madrid. as of 2020, it had a population of 172,384.
Geography
The municipality, largely flat, lies at an average altitude of 711 metres above sea level, with the h ...
and
Leganés through the
Madrid Metro
The Madrid Metro ( Spanish: ''Metro de Madrid'') is a rapid transit system serving the city of Madrid, capital of Spain. The system is the 14th longest rapid transit system in the world, with a total length of 293 km (182 mi). Its gr ...
line
12 (also known as ''Metrosur''), including five stations:
Loranca,
Hospital de Fuenlabrada,
Parque Europa,
Fuenlabrada Central (transfer with Fuenlabrada Cercanías station) and
Parque de los Estados.
Commuter train
Fuenlabrada is connected to Madrid via the
Cercanías Madrid
Cercanías Madrid is the commuter rail service that serves Madrid, the capital of Spain, and its metropolitan area. It is operated by Cercanías Renfe, the commuter rail division of Renfe, the former monopoly of rail services in Spain. Its to ...
line C-5, a
commuter train service, having two stations: Fuenlabrada (Transfer with Fuenlabrada Central metro station) and La Serna.
Demography
Fuenlabrada witnessed a dramatic population explosion in the 1980s, due to large scale immigration of young workers coming from the capital city and other agrarian regions (chiefly
Extremadura
Extremadura (; ext, Estremaúra; pt, Estremadura; Fala: ''Extremaúra'') is an 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 ...
,
Castilla-La Mancha,
Andalusia
Andalusia (, ; es, Andalucía ) is the southernmost autonomous community in Peninsular Spain. It is the most populous and the second-largest autonomous community in the country. It is officially recognised as a "historical nationality". The ...
and
Galicia
Galicia may refer to:
Geographic regions
* Galicia (Spain), a region and autonomous community of northwestern Spain
** Gallaecia, a Roman province
** The post-Roman Kingdom of the Suebi, also called the Kingdom of Gallaecia
** The medieval King ...
) seeking affordable prices in housing. By 1975, the municipality had already reached a population of 18,442. Foreign workers have also settled in the city, most of them coming from Latin America, Africa, the Maghreb, China and Romania.
Education
Primary and Secondary education
Fuenlabrada has 33
kindergarten
Kindergarten is a preschool educational approach based on playing, singing, practical activities such as drawing, and social interaction as part of the transition from home to school. Such institutions were originally made in the late 18th cen ...
and daycare centers, 50
primary schools and 15
secondary schools
A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' secondary education, lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) ...
.
Higher education
The
Universidad Rey Juan Carlos (URJC) has a secondary campus in the city, housing the faculties of
communication sciences,
telecommunications
Telecommunication is the transmission of information by various types of technologies over wire, radio, optical, or other electromagnetic systems. It has its origin in the desire of humans for communication over a distance greater than that ...
engineering,
tourism
Tourism is travel for pleasure or business; also the theory and practice of touring (disambiguation), touring, the business of attracting, accommodating, and entertaining tourists, and the business of operating tour (disambiguation), tours. Th ...
,
business administration
Business administration, also known as business management, is the administration of a commercial enterprise. It includes all aspects of overseeing and supervising the business operations of an organization. From the point of view of management ...
, among other courses.
The
National University of Distance Education (UNED) also has a branch here.
Sports
The city is home to basketball team
Baloncesto Fuenlabrada
Baloncesto Fuenlabrada, S.A.D., known as just Fuenlabrada and also Carplus Fuenlabrada because of sponsorship reasons,, is a professional basketball team based in Fuenlabrada, Spain. The team plays in the Liga ACB and plays their home games at Fe ...
, currently playing in the first tier division (
Liga ACB
The Liga ACB, known as Liga Endesa for sponsorship reasons, is the top professional basketball division of the Spanish basketball league system. Administrated by the Asociación de Clubs de Baloncesto (ACB), Liga ACB is contested by 18 teams, ...
), having competed in the top flight division of Spanish basketball for several years. Their home games are played at
Fernando Martín sports centre, which has a capacity of 5,700.
CF Fuenlabrada
Club de Fútbol Fuenlabrada, S.A.D. is a football club based in Fuenlabrada, Community of Madrid, Spain, that currently competes in Primera División RFEF – Group 1, the third tier of the Spanish league system. It was founded in 1975. It holds ...
is the local football team, playing in Segunda División (second tier in Spanish league). They play as home team at the
Estadio Fernando Torres, inaugurated by the footballer's parents on 1 September 2011. The stadium has a capacity of 7,500.
Due to the war in Croatia, Partizan had to play abroad as the host in the 1991/1992 season. The management of the club decided to "host" in the Madrid suburb of Fuenlabrada, and that season they became champions of the old continent.
Twin towns and sister cities
*
San Juan del Río Coco, Nicaragua (since 1988)
*
Joal-Fadiouth
Joal-Fadiouth is a town and commune in the Thiès Region at the end of the Petite Côte of Senegal, south-east of Dakar.
''Joal'' lies on the mainland, while ''Fadiouth'', linked by a bridge, lies on an island of clam shells, which are also use ...
, Senegal (since 1999)
Notable people
*
Roberto Jiménez (born 1986), professional footballer
*
Fernando Torres (born 1984), professional footballer
References
;Citations
;Bibliography
*
*
*
External links
Official website of Fuenlabrada
{{authority control
Municipalities in the Community of Madrid