Almodóvar del Campo is a

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 go ...

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") , i ...

, located in the province of Ciudad Real, autonomous community of

Castilla–La Mancha Castilla–La Mancha (, , ), or Castile La Mancha, is an autonomous community of Spain. Comprising the provinces of Albacete, Ciudad Real, Cuenca, Guadalajara and Toledo, it was created in 1982. The government headquarters are in Toledo, and ...

. Featuring a total area of 1.208,25 km², it is the largest municipality in the region and one of the largest municipalities in Spain. As of 1 January 2020, it had a population of 5,983.

Geography

It lies some 14 km S.S.W. of the provincial capital, on the northern side of the Sierra de Alcudia. The city lies at about 669 metres above mean sea level.

History

The former settlement of ''Sisapo'' has been identified as the La Bienvenida archaeological site, which is located near the hamlet of the same name. The foundation mark has been pushed back to the late-8th to early-7th centuries BC. There is doubt on whether ''Sisapo'' was an

Oretani The Oretani or Oretanii (Greek: ''Orissioi'') were a pre-Roman ancient Iberian people (in the geographical sense) of the Iberian Peninsula (the Roman Hispania), that lived in northeastern Andalusia, in the upper Baetis (Guadalquivir) river valley, ...

city, although Plinius presented it as a

Turduli The Turduli (Greek ''Tourduloi'') or Turtuli were an ancient pre-Roman people of the southwestern Iberian Peninsula. Location The Turduli tribes lived mainly in the south and centre of modern Portugal – in the east of the provinces of Beira Li ...

city. Sisapo thrived during the Roman era on the basis of the exploitation of

cinnabar Cinnabar (), or cinnabarite (), from the grc, κιννάβαρι (), is the bright scarlet to brick-red form of mercury(II) sulfide (HgS). It is the most common source ore for refining elemental mercury and is the historic source for the bri ...

, a mercury ore. The mines decreased in activity by the late-2nd to early-3rd centuries AD. The etymological origin of ''Almodóvar'' is the Arabic ''al-mudawwar'', meaning 'the round (one)'. In the mid-12th century, the forces of Munio Alfonso handed a blow to the Saracen forces of Texufin in the plains of Almodóvar. Part of the

Order of Calatrava The Order of Calatrava ( es, Orden de Calatrava, pt, Ordem de Calatrava) was one of the four Spanish military orders and the first military order founded in Castile, but the second to receive papal approval. The papal bull confirming the Orde ...

's dominion in the Meseta Sur, the

Campo de Calatrava Campo de Calatrava is a comarca in Castilla-La Mancha, Spain. It takes its name from the Order of Calatrava, a military order which held territory in the area from the time when it was on the border between Christian and Muslim Spain. A '' Deno ...

, Almódovar became the headquarters of one of the order's largest ''encomiendas'', and its economy thrived throughout the late middle ages thanks to the pastures. Almodóvar celebrated two fairs (created towards 1260), which eventually became a weekly open market from 1376 onward. Over the late middle ages, Almodóvar had minorities of '' judeoconversos'', ''

mudéjar Mudéjar ( , also , , ca, mudèjar , ; from ar, مدجن, mudajjan, subjugated; tamed; domesticated) refers to the group of Muslims who remained in Iberia in the late medieval period despite the Christian reconquest. It is also a term for ...

es'' and foreigners (Genoese, Portuguese, Flemish and French). Created towards 1456, in the context of the Calatravan interests to guarantee safety from

banditry Banditry is a type of organized crime committed by outlaws typically involving the threat or use of violence. A person who engages in banditry is known as a bandit and primarily commits crimes such as extortion, robbery, and murder, either as an ...

in the area as well as to curb the influence of the Hermandad de Ciudad Real, the so-called Santa Hermandad Vieja de Almodóvar del Campo came to exert judicial and policial powers in the area for centuries. On the eve of the 1855 '' desamortización'', the municipality of Almodóvar had 78,892.55

hectare The hectare (; SI symbol: ha) is a non-SI metric unit of area equal to a square with 100- metre sides (1 hm2), or 10,000 m2, and is primarily used in the measurement of land. There are 100 hectares in one square kilometre. An acre is ...

s of publicly-owned ''monte''. All of them were privatized between 1896 and 1897. The mining of Almodóvar's

oil shale Oil shale is an organic-rich fine-grained sedimentary rock containing kerogen (a solid mixture of organic chemical compounds) from which liquid hydrocarbons can be produced. In addition to kerogen, general composition of oil shales constitut ...

resources fostered the 20th-century industrial development of neighbouring

Puertollano Puertollano () is a municipality of Spain located in the province of Ciudad Real, Castile-La Mancha. The city has a population of 47,035 (2019). Contrasting to the largely rural character of the region, Puertollano stands out for the importance o ...

References

;Citations ;Bibliography * * * * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Almodovar del Campo Municipalities in the Province of Ciudad Real