Zamora () is a

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

of western

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") , ...

, in the western part of the autonomous community of

Castile and León Castile and León ( es, Castilla y León ; ast-leo, Castiella y Llión ; gl, Castela e León ) is an autonomous community in northwestern Spain. It was created in 1983, eight years after the end of the Francoist regime, by the merging of th ...

. It is bordered by the provinces of

Ourense Ourense (; es, Orense ) is a city and capital of the province of Ourense, located in the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Galicia (Spain), Galicia, northwestern Spain. It is on the Camino Sanabrés path of the Way of St ...

, León,

Valladolid Valladolid () is a municipality in Spain and the primary seat of government and de facto capital of the autonomous community of Castile and León. It is also the capital of the province of the same name. It has a population around 300,000 peop ...

, and Salamanca, and by

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of th ...

. The present-day province of Zamora was one of three provinces formed from the former Kingdom of León in 1833, when Spain was reorganized into 49 provinces. Of the 174,549 people (2018) in the province, nearly a third live in the capital, Zamora. This province has 250 municipalities.

Geography

The Province of Zamora is in northwestern Spain where it borders on Portugal, which lies to the southwest. To the west lies the

province of Ourense Ourense (in Spanish, ''Orense'') is a Spanish province, in the southeastern part of the autonomous community of Galicia. It is bordered by the provinces of Pontevedra to the west, Lugo to the north, León and Zamora, (which both belong to ...

, to the north lies León, to the east lies

, and to the south lies Salamanca. The River Esla rises in the Cantabrian Mountains in the north and flows southwards through the province before joining the River Douro (Spanish: el Duero) which then forms part of the boundary with Portugal. The Esla is the largest tributary of the Duero and where they join, discharges a greater quantity of water than that discharged by the Duero. The capital of the province is Zamora which is situated in the south of the province on the banks of the Duero. The province has a total area of . Its economy is largely agricultural and it has a tradition of sheep rearing, producing a large proportion of Spain's merino wool.

Population

The historical population is given in the following chart: Colors= id:lightgrey value:gray(0.9) id:darkgrey value:gray(0.7) id:sfondo value:rgb(1,1,1) ImageSize = width:600 height:auto barincrement:30 PlotArea = left:40 bottom:40 top:20 right:20 DateFormat = x.y Period = from:0 till:320 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal AlignBars = late ScaleMajor = gridcolor:darkgrey increment:50 start:0 ScaleMinor = gridcolor:lightgrey increment:10 start:0 BackgroundColors = canvas:sfondo PlotData= color:skyblue width:20 shift:(-50,-5) fontsize:M anchor:till bar:1877 from:0 till:253 text:252,604 bar:1887 from:0 till:273 text:272,681 bar:1900 from:0 till:280 text:280,434 bar:1910 from:0 till:290 text:289,958 bar:1920 from:0 till:291 text:290,877 bar:1930 from:0 till:290 text:290,213 bar:1940 from:0 till:303 text:302,861 bar:1950 from:0 till:316 text:316,493 bar:1960 from:0 till:309 text:309,142 bar:1970 from:0 till:259 text:258,527 bar:1980 from:0 till:228 text:227,771 bar:1990 from:0 till:214 text:213,668 bar:2000 from:0 till:199 text:199,090 bar:2010 from:0 till:192 text:191,613 bar:2020 from:0 till:171 text:170,588 TextData= pos:(35,20) fontsize:M text:"Source: Instituto Nacional de Estadística, INE"

History

A megalithic culture developed in this region of Spain, particularly around Aliste, and there are many remaining signs of the presence of various cultures over the years. Salt mining took place at Villafáfila, stone forts were built on fertile plains and near rivers, and others were built in the vicinity of mines where variscite and

iron Iron () is a chemical element with symbol Fe (from la, ferrum) and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 of the periodic table. It is, by mass, the most common element on Earth, right in ...

ore were extracted. Rock paintings have been discovered and artefacts found include everyday pottery, tools, and gold and silver jewellery. In the

Iron Age The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age ( Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age ( Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostly ...

, Celtic tribes built forts surrounded by moats but they were pastoral people, living in small villages, and did not build cities. They left standing stones and

dolmen A dolmen () or portal tomb is a type of single-chamber megalithic tomb, usually consisting of two or more upright megaliths supporting a large flat horizontal capstone or "table". Most date from the early Neolithic (40003000 BCE) and were some ...

s. The Romans first came to Spain in 218 BC, and over the next three centuries there were various conflicts as the Romans advanced into Celtic lands. The Romans built roads across the territory and in 1978 the Roman town of Requejo in

Santa Cristina de la Polvorosa Santa Cristina de la Polvorosa is a municipality located in the province of Zamora, Castile and León Castile and León ( es, Castilla y León ; ast-leo, Castiella y Llión ; gl, Castela e León ) is an autonomous community in northwester ...

was revealed after erosion occurred following flooding of the area by the River Órbigo. In 197 BC, Spain was divided into two provinces,

Hispania Citerior Hispania Citerior (English: "Hither Iberia", or "Nearer Iberia") was a Roman province in Hispania during the Roman Republic. It was on the eastern coast of Iberia down to the town of Cartago Nova, today's Cartagena in the autonomous community of ...

and Hispania Ulterior, controlled by two separate Roman military forces. Zamora was in the latter region. Peace reigned until 155 BC when the Lusitanians attacked Hispania Ulterior. Two Roman defeats followed, and many other rebellions were sparked in the peninsula. The Romans eventually prevailed, and in 27 BC, subdivided the province of Hispania Ulterior into

Hispania Baetica Hispania Baetica, often abbreviated Baetica, was one of three Roman provinces in Hispania (the Iberian Peninsula). Baetica was bordered to the west by Lusitania, and to the northeast by Hispania Tarraconensis. Baetica remained one of the basic di ...

(modern-day Andalusia) and

Lusitania Lusitania (; ) was an ancient Iberian Roman province located where modern Portugal (south of the Douro river) and a portion of western Spain (the present Extremadura and the province of Salamanca) lie. It was named after the Lusitani or Lu ...

, which included Zamora. When the

Vandals The Vandals were a Germanic peoples, Germanic people who first inhabited what is now southern Poland. They established Vandal Kingdom, Vandal kingdoms on the Iberian Peninsula, Mediterranean islands, and North Africa in the fifth century. The ...

invaded the province in the 5th century AD, the Roman Emperor Honorius sent his brother-in-law, the

Visigoths The Visigoths (; la, Visigothi, Wisigothi, Vesi, Visi, Wesi, Wisi) were an early Germanic people who, along with the Ostrogoths, constituted the two major political entities of the Goths within the Roman Empire in late antiquity, or what is k ...

' king, to defeat the Vandals. The Visigoths seized control of most of Hispania and made Toledo the capital, while the

Suevi The Suebi (or Suebians, also spelled Suevi, Suavi) were a large group of Germanic peoples originally from the Elbe river region in what is now Germany and the Czech Republic. In the early Roman era they included many peoples with their own names ...

occupied the northwestern part of the Peninsula and made their capital city

Bracara Braga ( , ; cel-x-proto, Bracara) is a city and a municipality, capital of the northwestern Portuguese district of Braga and of the historical and cultural Minho Province. Braga Municipality has a resident population of 193,333 inhabitants (i ...

. By 585 the Suevi had been conquered by the Visigoths who then controlled the whole peninsula..

Tourism

Zamora has many fine historic churches and buildings. These include a twelfth century Romanesque cathedral, many other churches, city walls, ancient houses and a castle. Pottery, textiles and wine are manufactured here. further north lies Benavente. It is famous for its Santa María church and the Castle of La Mota (now the Parador of Benavente). The Parador was the home of Ferdinand II of León who died here while returning from a pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela. The Parador occupies the Caracol Tower, a sixteenth-century castle, part of the former walled enclosure of the town. The ancient town of Toro lies beside the Duero to the east of Zamora. Ferdinand III of Castile was crowned King of León in the town in 1230 and his wife

Elisabeth of Swabia Elisabeth of Swabia (renamed Beatrice; March/May 1205 – 5 November 1235), was a member of the House of Hohenstaufen who became Queen of Castile and Leon by marriage to Ferdinand III. Born in Nürnberg, Elisabeth was the fourth daughter of Phili ...

(Beatriz) died here. Notable features include the façade of the 'Palacio de las Leyes' and also the Santa María la Mayor collegiate church (known in Spanish as ''La Colegiata''). Legend has it that the wines of Toro were the first to reach America, being taken there by

Christopher Columbus Christopher Columbus * lij, Cristoffa C(or)ombo * es, link=no, Cristóbal Colón * pt, Cristóvão Colombo * ca, Cristòfor (or ) * la, Christophorus Columbus. (; born between 25 August and 31 October 1451, died 20 May 1506) was a ...

. The town of Sanabria (or Senabria) is in the northeast of the province near the

Sanabria Lake Sanabria Lake ( es, Lago de Sanabria, ; ) is a lake located 8 km to the northwest of Puebla de Sanabria in the province of Zamora, Spain. It is one of the very few sizable natural lakes in Spain. With a surface of 368 hectares it is al ...

, one of the few large natural lakes in Spain, on the border with Galicia. It has been declared a Historic and Artistic centre. The lake is now part of Sanabria Lake Natural Park, having been declared a Natural Park in 1978. Fermoselle is a medieval village located on the border with

and on the edge of the

Arribes del Duero Natural Park Arribes del Duero Natural Park is a protected area in western Spain, covering 106.105 ha in the autonomous community of Castile and León. In this area the river Duero forms the national boundary between Spain and Portugal, and the Portuguese sid ...

. Arribes is the name for the gorges through which the Duero and other rivers in this region flow. The steep slopes have long been terraced for the production of grapes, olives and other fruit. Near the municipality of Villafáfila are lagoons that now form part of a nature reserve. They were formed by the historic mining of salt which started in the copper age and Bronze Age. Pottery items found here are similar to artefacts found in Mesopotamia, Turkey, Bosnia, Romania and Poland. The lagoons are home to numerous species of birds, and this is the second largest wetland reserve in Spain after Doñana National Park.

References

External links