The province of Badajoz ( ; ) is a

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 ...

of western

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

located in the

autonomous community The autonomous communities () are the first-level administrative divisions of Spain, created in accordance with the Spanish Constitution of 1978, with the aim of guaranteeing limited autonomy to the nationalities and regions that make up Sp ...

Extremadura Extremadura ( ; ; ; ; Fala language, Fala: ''Extremaúra'') is a landlocked autonomous communities in Spain, autonomous community of Spain. Its capital city is Mérida, Spain, Mérida, and its largest city is Badajoz. Located in the central- ...

. It was formed in 1833. It is bordered by the provinces of Cáceres in the north, Toledo,

Ciudad Real Ciudad Real (, ) is a municipality of Spain located in the autonomous community of Castile–La Mancha, capital of the province of Ciudad Real. It is the 5th most populated municipality in the region. It was founded as Villa Real in 1255 as a ro ...

in the east, Córdoba in the south-east,

Seville Seville ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Spain, Spanish autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the Guadalquivir, River Guadalquivir, ...

, and

Huelva Huelva ( , , ) is a municipality of Spain and the capital of the Huelva (province), province of Huelva, in the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia. Located in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula, it sits betwee ...

in the south and

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

in the west. With an area of , it is the largest province in Spain. The other province of Extremadura, Cáceres, is the second largest with 19,868 km² in area. The province has a relatively lower population density in comparison to other provinces in Spain. , the province has a population of 669,943 inhabitants. Its capital is the city of

Badajoz Badajoz is the capital of the Province of Badajoz in the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Extremadura, Spain. It is situated close to the Portugal, Portuguese Portugal–Spain border, border, on the left bank of the river ...

History

The province enjoyed great prominence during the

Roman Empire The Roman Empire ruled the Mediterranean and much of Europe, Western Asia and North Africa. The Roman people, Romans conquered most of this during the Roman Republic, Republic, and it was ruled by emperors following Octavian's assumption of ...

when Mérida was made one of the capital cities. When the

Visigoth The Visigoths (; ) were a Germanic people united under the rule of a king and living within the Roman Empire during late antiquity. The Visigoths first appeared in the Balkans, as a Roman-allied barbarian military group united under the comman ...

period ended and the

Moors The term Moor is an Endonym and exonym, exonym used in European languages to designate the Muslims, Muslim populations of North Africa (the Maghreb) and the Iberian Peninsula (particularly al-Andalus) during the Middle Ages. Moors are not a s ...

had invaded Spain, the Ibn-al-Aftas dynasty established a great cultural and scientific centre in the province. Many of the explorers who set out to conquer the

New World The term "New World" is used to describe the majority of lands of Earth's Western Hemisphere, particularly the Americas, and sometimes Oceania."America." ''The Oxford Companion to the English Language'' (). McArthur, Tom, ed., 1992. New York: ...

were from this province.

Geography

Topography

Although many districts have low ranges of hills, the surface is more often a desolate and monotonous plain, flat or slightly undulating. Its one large river is the

Guadiana The Guadiana River ( , , , ) is an international river defining a long stretch of the Portugal-Spain border, separating Extremadura and Andalusia (Spain) from Alentejo and Algarve (Portugal). The river's basin extends from la Mancha and the e ...

, which traverses the north of the province from east to west, fed by many tributaries; but it is only at certain seasons that the river-beds fill with any considerable volume of water, and the Guadiana may frequently be forded without difficulty. The climate is

continental Continental may refer to: Places * Continental, Arizona, a small community in Pima County, Arizona, US * Continental, Ohio, a small town in Putnam County, US Arts and entertainment * ''Continental'' (album), an album by Saint Etienne * Continen ...

with great extremes of heat in summer and of cold in winter, when fierce north and north-west winds blow across the plains. Mountains, pastures and Mediterranean forests are important geographical features of this province.

Administrative divisions

The Province of Badajoz is divided into 165 municipalities. After Badajoz, the capital, the main towns in the province are Almendralejo, Azuaga,

Don Benito Don Benito () is a Spanish town and municipality in the province of Badajoz, Extremadura, near the left bank of the river Guadiana. According to the 2014 census, the municipality has a population of 37,011. History Don Benito dates from the 15t ...

Olivenza Olivenza () or Olivença () is a town in southwestern Spain, close to the Portugal–Spain border. It is a municipality belonging to the province of Badajoz, and to the wider autonomous community of Extremadura. The town of Olivença was und ...

, Jerez de los Caballeros, Mérida,

Zafra Zafra (; ) is a town in the Province of Badajoz (Extremadura, Spain), and the capital of the comarca of Zafra - Río Bodión. It has a population of 16,677, according to the 2011 census. Zafra is the hometown of Fray Ruy Lopez, author of one of ...

, Montijo and

Villanueva de la Serena Villanueva de la Serena () is a city in the Province of Badajoz, Extremadura, Spain. It has a population of 26,111 (2010) and forms part of a larger urban area with the neighbouring town of Don Benito. History Founded in the thirteenth century ...

. There are also traditional comarcas (shires, but with no administrative role) in the province, including La Siberia and Llanos de Olivenza. The capital city of Badajoz is the most important commercial center of the province. The Council of Badajoz has its seat in this city.

Demographics

The province of Badajoz has 673,559 inhabitants (INE 2019), with a population density in 2018 of 31.07 inhabitants/km², below the national average (91.13 inhabitants/km²). It is the twenty-third most populated province in the country, just behind Toledo. It exceeds in almost 280,000 inhabitants to Cáceres (396,487), the other

n province. 22.26% of its inhabitants live in the city of Badajoz, which, with a population of 150,702 (INE 2019), stands out as the most populated urban centre in the province. The next city by population is Mérida, which with 59,335 inhabitants (INE 2019), is home to 8.81% of the province's total population.

Evolution of the population of the province of Badajoz since 1842

The population in the province of Badajoz has been characterized by a constant growth until the 1960s, when a strong exodus towards more prosperous areas of the country began, mainly

Catalonia Catalonia is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationalities and regions of Spain, nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia of 2006, Statute of Autonomy. Most of its territory (except the Val d'Aran) is situate ...

and

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 ...

, reducing the population by almost 200,000 inhabitants in a matter of 20 years. Since the 1980s the population has stagnated below 700,000, with a slight growth until 2010, when the trend is again reversed and the province loses population again. If we observe the trend by municipalities, we can see how the municipalities located in the mountains to the east and south of the province are constantly losing population while those located near the population centres of Badajoz, Mérida, Don Benito or Almendralejo are growing. 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:28 PlotArea = left:40 bottom:40 top:20 right:20 DateFormat = x.y Period = from:0 till:860 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal AlignBars = late ScaleMajor = gridcolor:darkgrey increment:100 start:0 ScaleMinor = gridcolor:lightgrey increment:20 start:0 BackgroundColors = canvas:sfondo PlotData= color:skyblue width:20 shift:(-50,-5) fontsize:M anchor:till bar:1842 from:0 till:296 text:295,923 bar:1877 from:0 till:428 text:428,015 bar:1887 from:0 till:476 text:476,273 bar:1900 from:0 till:519 text:519,079 bar:1910 from:0 till:594 text:593,550 bar:1920 from:0 till:651 text:651,156 bar:1930 from:0 till:703 text:703,389 bar:1940 from:0 till:747 text:746,678 bar:1950 from:0 till:818 text:817,703 bar:1960 from:0 till:850 text:849,570 bar:1970 from:0 till:702 text:701,709 bar:1980 from:0 till:644 text:643,519 bar:1990 from:0 till:650 text:650,388 bar:2000 from:0 till:655 text:654,882 bar:2010 from:0 till:692 text:691,799 bar:2020 from:0 till:672 text:672,137 TextData= pos:(35,20) fontsize:M text:"Source: Instituto Nacional de Estadística, INE"

Economy

The economic production differs according to the region and locality. Thus the big cities like

, Mérida,

, Almendralejo and others, offer and live from services and to a lesser extent from general industries of medium type. In the regions of Guadiana, Tierra de Mérida – Vegas Bajas, Vegas Altas and part of Tierra de Badajoz, and in Tierra de Barros besides the traditional source of agricultural wealth, there is a flourishing industry of agro-livestock transformation. In other regions more distant from urban centres and the main roads, such as Campiña Sur, La Serena and La Siberia, the main source is the primary sector, i.e. agriculture and perhaps even more livestock (sheep and pig). The agricultural sector is dominated by irrigated areas in the Guadiana Valley (Badajoz, Montijo, Mérida, Don Benito-Villanueva), the predominant olive groves in Tierra de Barros, and the vineyards, extensive in Tierra de Barros and in Llerena (Campiña Sur). The industrial sector, although less developed and very low in proportion to national activity, has a proportion of employed population similar to the agro-livestock sector: 12.13% (up to 26% if we include construction) compared to 14% (primary sector). The two main cities of the province stand out: Badajoz and Mérida, with their respective industrial parks; and the towns of Jerez de los Caballeros, Don Benito-Villanueva and Almendralejo. The tertiary sector is the most predominant sector in the province (61.87% of the population employed), where the business (Almendralejo and Zafra), commercial (Badajoz) and tourism and administrative (Mérida) sectors stand out.

Tourist destinations

The economy of the province is based on

tourism Tourism is travel for pleasure, and the Commerce, commercial activity of providing and supporting such travel. World Tourism Organization, UN Tourism defines tourism more generally, in terms which go "beyond the common perception of tourism as ...

and

agriculture Agriculture encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture was a key factor in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created ...

. Some of the popular tourist destinations of the province include Badajoz,

Fregenal de la Sierra Fregenal de la Sierra (originally Frexnal or Frexenal) is a municipality located in the province of Badajoz, Extremadura, Spain. Geography Fregenal de la Sierra is located in the Sierra Suroeste comarca (county), among the small hills and rav ...

, Jerez de los Caballeros, Llerena, Mérida,

, Alange, Alburquerque and Almendralejo. The popular dishes include hare, partridge and various pork products. Cornalvo Nature Reserve, the ancient structure of Roman Theatre in Mérida, National Museum of Roman Art in Mérida, Alcazaba City Wall and Ibn Marwan Monument and Espantaperros Tower of Badajoz Fortress are popular tourist spots. The National Museum of Roman Art was designed in 1980 by architect José Rafael Moneo Vallés and completed in 1985. The architect designed the museum to have a Roman feel and look. Romans used to control present-day Spain, also known as the Iberian Peninsula, in the years following their arrival around 295 BC. Today, Mérida has the greatest number of noteworthy Roman buildings still surviving. It is also famous on an archaeological basis. The museum exhibits remnants of Roman infrastructure and dwellings, including those showing Christian influences like a basilica, and tombs. Inspiration for the National Museum of Roman Art dates back to 1838, when the city located the museum in a church, Santa Clara.Lapunzina, A. (2005). ''Reference guides to national architecture: Architecture of Spain''. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press.

Notes and references

External links

Diputación de Badajoz
{{DEFAULTSORT:Badajoz, Province of States and territories established in 1833