Castellón (); co-officially in ) is a province in the northern part of the

Valencian Community The Valencian Community is an Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Spain. It is the fourth most populous Spanish Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community after Andalusia, Catalonia and the Community of Madrid wit ...

. It is bordered by the provinces of

Valencia Valencia ( , ), formally València (), is the capital of the Province of Valencia, province and Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, the same name in Spain. It is located on the banks of the Turia (r ...

to the south, Teruel to the west, Tarragona to the north, and by the

Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern Eur ...

to the east. The western side of the province is in the

mountain A mountain is an elevated portion of the Earth's crust, generally with steep sides that show significant exposed bedrock. Although definitions vary, a mountain may differ from a plateau in having a limited summit area, and is usually higher t ...

ous Sistema Ibérico area.

Geography

Castellón's capital is Castellón de la Plana. The province had a population of 579,962 at the start of 2019, 30% of whom were residing in the capital, 60% in its metropolitan area, and 85% along the coastline. As of the 2011 Census, the population had grown to 594,423 people, but has since declined.Instituto Nacional de Estadistica, Madrid, 2019. The province, and in particular its idle large

airport An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial Aviation, air transport. They usually consist of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surf ...

, has become a symbol of the wasteful spending prior to the 2008-14 Spanish financial crisis. It is a bilingual territory whose inhabitants speak both Spanish and the local co-official language

Valencian Valencian can refer to: * Something related to the Valencian Community ( Valencian Country) in Spain * Something related to the city of Valencia * Something related to the province of Valencia in Spain * Something related to the old Kingdom of ...

. Other major cities of the province include Vila-real, Borriana, La Vall d'Uixó and Vinaròs. There are 135 municipalities in Castellón; see List of municipalities in Castellón. Castellón is the home of Penyagolosa, the highest mountain of the province and the second highest one in the

. It is widely considered to be one of the most emblematic Valencian mountains. The Greenwich Meridian (the Prime Meridian) passes through the province; there are localities with commemorative monuments such as La Pobla Tornesa, Castellón or Almassora (Paseo Marítimo), and in Castellon it intersects the 40th parallel, and the exact point can be visited at the Meridian Park.

Population development

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:800 height:auto barincrement:30 PlotArea = left:40 bottom:40 top:20 right:20 DateFormat = x.y Period = from:0 till:600 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:289 text:288,765 bar:1887 from:0 till:293 text:292,822 bar:1900 from:0 till:318 text:318,260 bar:1910 from:0 till:334 text:334,181 bar:1920 from:0 till:325 text:325,211 bar:1930 from:0 till:318 text:317,899 bar:1940 from:0 till:320 text:320,443 bar:1950 from:0 till:330 text:330,257 bar:1960 from:0 till:343 text:342,649 bar:1970 from:0 till:387 text:386,516 bar:1980 from:0 till:432 text:431,893 bar:1990 from:0 till:447 text:446,744 bar:2000 from:0 till:485 text:484,566 bar:2010 from:0 till:594 text:594,423 bar:2020 from:0 till:586 text:585,590 TextData= pos:(35,20) fontsize:M text:"Source: Instituto Nacional de Estadística, INE"

Economy

Traditionally, the economy of Castellón has been focused on the production of citrus and vegetables ( Nules and Benicarló). Since the 17th century, Castellón has developed an important ceramic and ceramic tile industry ( Onda, L'Alcora, Nules, Castellón de la Plana and Vila-real) and nowadays most of the Spanish tile producers are concentrated in the province. Also, furniture ( Benicarló and Vinaròs) and chemical industries (Benicarló and Castellón) are present. There is a large oil refinery in Castellón de la Plana. Traditional industries such as shoe and footwear ( La Vall d'Uixó), fishing (Castellón, Vinaròs) and textiles ( Vilafranca and Morella), have given way to a service-based economy due to the increasing importance of tourism in the economy of the province.

Tourism

The Province of Castellón has varied landscapes and heritage that supports a growing tourist industry. The largest seaside and beach resorts include Benicàssim, Orpesa, Vinaròs, Borriana, Peníscola, Benicarló, etc. There are opportunities for rural tourism in the interior, as well as monumental towns like Morella, Vilafamés, Sant Mateu, Segorbe, mineral springs at Montanejos, Benassal, Catí, etc. More than 50% of the hotel beds are concentrated in Peniscola, which is the third most popular tourist destination in the Valencian Community after Benidorm and

Comarques

The province is historically subdivided into the following comarques: * Alcalatén * Alt Maestrat * Alto Mijares * Alto Palancia * Baix Maestrat * Plana Alta * Plana Baixa * Ports

Notes

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Castello, Province of