Illán de Vacas is a town in the

province A province is an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman , which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire, Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...

Toledo Toledo most commonly refers to: * Toledo, Spain, a city in Spain * Province of Toledo, Spain * Toledo, Ohio, a city in the United States Toledo may also refer to: Places Belize * Toledo District * Toledo Settlement Bolivia * Toledo, Or ...

, in Castile–La Mancha, Spain. The surface area of the municipality is 9.15 km², and it has a total population of 2 inhabitants as of 2024, making it the least populated

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

in Spain. Illán de Vacas belongs to the "

comarca A ''comarca'' (, , , ) is a traditional region or local administrative division found in Portugal, Spain, and some of their former colonies, like Brazil, Nicaragua, and Panama. The term is derived from the term ''marca'', meaning a "march, mark ...

" of

Torrijos Torrijos can mean: People *General José María de Torrijos y Uriarte (1791–1831), 19th-century Spanish Liberal politician *Omar Torrijos (1929–1981) was a Panamanian army officer, de facto leader of Panama from 1968 to 1981, and co-negotiato ...

. It is bordered on the north by the municipality of

Los Cerralbos Los Cerralbos is a municipality of Spain belonging to the province of Toledo, in the autonomous community of Castilla–La Mancha Castilla–La Mancha (, ; ) is an Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Spain. Comprising the pr ...

, on the northwest by Otero, on the east by Domingo Pérez, on the south by Cebolla and on the west by

Lucillos Lucillos is a Spanish municipality of Toledo province, in the autonomous community of Castile-La Mancha. Its population is 488 and its surface is 41 km², with a density of 11.9 people/km². The mayor of Lucillos is Mr. José-Julián Herre ...

. The town lies at an elevation of roughly 480 m, and 59 km west of

and 35 km east of

Talavera de la Reina Talavera de la Reina () is a city and municipalities of Spain, municipality of Spain, part of the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Castile–La Mancha. Its population of 83,303 makes it the second most populated municipalit ...

, on the

railway Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...

line between Talavera and Torrijos. It is approximately 95 km southwest of

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

. The

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a Municipal corporation, municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilitie ...

of Illán de Vacas is Julián Renilla Bru of the Partido Popular. In the 2004

General Election A general election is an electoral process to choose most or all members of a governing body at the same time. They are distinct from By-election, by-elections, which fill individual seats that have become vacant between general elections. Gener ...

in Spain, all four votes cast at Illán de Vacas went to the Partido Popular. The municipality contains a church consecrated to the

Assumption of Our Lady The Assumption of Mary is one of the four Marian dogmas of the Catholic Church. Pope Pius XII defined it on 1 November 1950 in his apostolic constitution as follows: It leaves open the question of whether Mary died or whether she was ra ...

(''Iglesia de la Asunción de Nuestra Señora'').

Etymology

The word ''Illán'' derives from the

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

. The town's name stems from the worship of ''San Illán'' or ''San Julián'' ("Saint Julian"). The word ''de'' simply means "of". The last word, , despite its current meaning in

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

– namely "cows" – apparently has an

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

origin, deriving from a word ''Wakka''. In a document from the latter half of the 16th century, it says that the town's name is "Vacas", and that a fortunate man named Illán lived there.

History

In the past, the town was tied to

with its beginnings as a workhouse. Illán de Vacas appears in a 1512 document that indicates that three soldiers were captured here. In the 17th century, this

hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play. Set in Denmark, the play (the ...

was repopulated with 37 families. In the mid 19th century, it had 22 houses and the municipal budget rose to 2,200 reales, of which 800 reales were used to pay the secretary. Madoz, Pascual (1850). ''

Diccionario geográfico-estadístico-histórico de España y sus posesiones de Ultramar The ''Diccionario geográfico-estadístico-histórico de España y sus posesiones de Ultramar'' () is a geographic handbook of Spain. Originally published in 16 volumes between 1845 and 1850, it was edited and directed by Pascual Madoz. A widely ...

''. tomo IX. Madrid: Imprenta del Diccionario geográfico-estadístico-histórico de D. Pascual Madoz. pp.&nbs

Demographics

The following table shows the population development between 1996 and 2007 according to data from the ''Instituto Nacional de Estadística'' (INE). With 5 inhabitants, according to the INE's 2011 census, Illán de Vacas is one of Spain's two smallest municipalities by population. At one point (1991), it even temporarily became a

ghost town A ghost town, deserted city, extinct town, or abandoned city is an abandoned settlement, usually one that contains substantial visible remaining buildings and infrastructure such as roads. A town often becomes a ghost town because the economi ...

References

External links

General election results (2004) in Illán de Vacas
{{DEFAULTSORT:Illan de Vacas Municipalities in the Province of Toledo