Parla () 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 ...

in the

Community of Madrid The Community of Madrid (; es, Comunidad de Madrid ) is one of the seventeen autonomous communities of Spain. It is located in the centre of the Iberian Peninsula, and of the Central Plateau (''Meseta Central''). Its capital and largest munici ...

, Spain. It is located in the southern part of the region, approximately 20 km from the capital,

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...

History

Parla - Iglesia de Nuestra Señora de la Asunción 2

Origins

Earliest evidence of human occupation includes stone tools made of

Paleolithic The Paleolithic or Palaeolithic (), also called the Old Stone Age (from Greek: παλαιός ''palaios'', "old" and λίθος ''lithos'', "stone"), is a period in human prehistory that is distinguished by the original development of stone too ...

chert Chert () is a hard, fine-grained sedimentary rock composed of microcrystalline or cryptocrystalline quartz, the mineral form of silicon dioxide (SiO2). Chert is characteristically of biological origin, but may also occur inorganically as a prec ...

, of the kind utilized by

Stone Age The Stone Age was a broad prehistoric period during which stone was widely used to make tools with an edge, a point, or a percussion surface. The period lasted for roughly 3.4 million years, and ended between 4,000 BC and 2,000 BC, with t ...

people. Starting in approximately 200 CE,

nomad A nomad is a member of a community without fixed habitation who regularly moves to and from the same areas. Such groups include hunter-gatherers, pastoral nomads (owning livestock), tinkers and trader nomads. In the twentieth century, the popu ...

ic people from the coast began to settle the area, bringing their knowledge of metalworking (copper),

ranching A ranch (from es, rancho/Mexican Spanish) is an area of land, including various structures, given primarily to ranching, the practice of raising grazing livestock such as cattle and sheep. It is a subtype of a farm. These terms are most often ...

agriculture Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people to ...

, and

weaving Weaving is a method of textile production in which two distinct sets of yarns or threads are interlaced at right angles to form a fabric or cloth. Other methods are knitting, crocheting, felting, and braiding or plaiting. The longitudinal th ...

. These early settlers lived primarily along the Humanejos stream. During the 4th and 5th centuries, the ranks of the local populations swelled to include newly arrived

Celt The Celts (, see pronunciation for different usages) or Celtic peoples () are. "CELTS location: Greater Europe time period: Second millennium B.C.E. to present ancestry: Celtic a collection of Indo-European peoples. "The Celts, an ancient ...

ic tribes from

central Europe Central Europe is an area of Europe between Western Europe and Eastern Europe, based on a common historical, social and cultural identity. The Thirty Years' War (1618–1648) between Catholicism and Protestantism significantly shaped the area' ...

. The Celts brought with them various advanced technologies that included ironworking and fired ceramics. The local population was sustained mostly by ranching and agriculture. Independent local development was interrupted by the arrival of the Carthagineans and

Romans Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

, the latter of whom recorded the history of the pre-Roman villages of the area. Local Roman artifacts include a number of grave markers and coins. After the

Battle of Guadalete The Battle of Guadalete was the first major battle of the Umayyad conquest of Hispania, fought in 711 at an unidentified location in what is now southern Spain between the Christian Visigoths under their king, Roderic, and the invading forces of t ...

(711), which signified the beginning of the

Islamic conquest of Hispania The Umayyad conquest of Hispania, also known as the Umayyad conquest of the Visigothic Kingdom, was the initial expansion of the Umayyad Caliphate over Hispania (in the Iberian Peninsula) from 711 to 718. The conquest resulted in the decline of t ...

, Parla and its inhabitants were a part of the territory governed by the

Umayyad Caliphate The Umayyad Caliphate (661–750 CE; , ; ar, ٱلْخِلَافَة ٱلْأُمَوِيَّة, al-Khilāfah al-ʾUmawīyah) was the second of the four major caliphates established after the death of Muhammad. The caliphate was ruled by th ...

. Parla once again appeared as an independent township during the

Reconquista The ' (Spanish, Portuguese and Galician for "reconquest") is a historiographical construction describing the 781-year period in the history of the Iberian Peninsula between the Umayyad conquest of Hispania in 711 and the fall of the Nasrid ...

Modern times

The territory was part of the

Alfoz Alfoz () is a municipality in the Spanish Galician province of Lugo. It is in the region of A Mariña Central. It borders the municipalities of Foz, Mondoñedo, Abadín and O Valadouro. The population in 2008 was 2,133 people according to the ...

of Madrid, a Spanish medieval territorial designation for the land surrounding a village during the

. At the time, there were two major villages in the area: Parla, to the north, and Humanejos to the south. Humanejos disappeared around the year 1650. The first document to reference Parla is a letter which

King King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen, which title is also given to the consort of a king. *In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contemporary indigenous peoples, the tit ...

Alfonso XI of Castile Alfonso XI (13 August 131126 March 1350), called the Avenger (''el Justiciero''), was King of Castile and León. He was the son of Ferdinand IV of Castile and his wife Constance of Portugal. Upon his father's death in 1312, several disputes en ...

wrote on 6 January 1338 in Trujillo, ceding control of the

hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...

of Parla to the cardinal as payment for his help in the fight against the Moors. This document was later affirmed by King

Peter of Castile Peter ( es, Pedro; 30 August 133423 March 1369), called the Cruel () or the Just (), was King of Castile and León from 1350 to 1369. Peter was the last ruler of the main branch of the House of Ivrea. He was excommunicated by Pope Urban V for ...

on 7 December 1351. After the

Peninsular War The Peninsular War (1807–1814) was the military conflict fought in the Iberian Peninsula by Spain, Portugal, and the United Kingdom against the invading and occupying forces of the First French Empire during the Napoleonic Wars. In Spain ...

, Parla became home to a large number of poor

refugee A refugee, conventionally speaking, is a displaced person who has crossed national borders and who cannot or is unwilling to return home due to well-founded fear of persecution.

s from other localities. Around this time it achieves the status of township.

Politics and government

The current mayor is José María Fraile (

PSOE The Spanish Socialist Workers' Party ( es, Partido Socialista Obrero Español ; PSOE ) is a social-democraticThe PSOE is described as a social-democratic party by numerous sources: * * * * political party in Spain. The PSOE has been in gov ...

), who was elected in 2008. The previous mayor, Tomás Gómez Franco, resigned from his post in October 2008 to accept the position of secretary general of the PSOE. The majority of local politics involves three of the major political parties: the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE), the Popular Party (PP), and the United Left (IU). During the

2007 Spanish regional elections The 2007 Spanish regional elections were held on Sunday, 27 May 2007, to elect the List of Spanish regional legislatures, regional parliaments of thirteen of the seventeen Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous communities—Aragon, Asturias ...

, the PSOE carried 74.43% of the vote and retained 20 town councillors. In comparison, the People's Party carried only 16.61% of the vote (4 councillors), while the IU carried 6.15% (1 councillor). The other political parties were unable to obtain sufficient votes to gain representation on the town council. Local elections take place every four years, and are held in conjunction with the autonomous elections of the

. The next elections will take place in the year 2011. The local government is divided into the following departments (called ''concejalía''):

Location

The municipality of Parla covers an area of 24.43 km². It borders six municipalities of the community of Madrid:

Fuenlabrada Fuenlabrada () is a city and municipality of Spain located in the Community of Madrid. , it has a population of 193,586, making it the region's fourth most populated municipality. Placename The etymology of ''Fuenlabrada'' comes from the contra ...

to the North;

Torrejón de Velasco Torrejón de Velasco is a municipality of the Community of Madrid The Community of Madrid (; es, Comunidad de Madrid ) is one of the seventeen autonomous communities of Spain. It is located in the centre of the Iberian Peninsula, and of th ...

and

Torrejón de la Calzada Torrejón de la Calzada is a municipality of the Community of Madrid The Community of Madrid (; es, Comunidad de Madrid ) is one of the seventeen autonomous communities of Spain. It is located in the centre of the Iberian Peninsula, and of ...

to the South;

Pinto Pinto is a Portuguese language, Portuguese, Spanish language, Spanish, Sephardi Jews, Jewish (Sephardic), and Italian language, Italian surname. It is a high-frequency surname in all List of countries and territories where Portuguese is an officia ...

to the East; and

Griñón Griñón () is a municipality of the Community of Madrid The Community of Madrid (; es, Comunidad de Madrid ) is one of the seventeen autonomous communities of Spain. It is located in the centre of the Iberian Peninsula, and of the Central ...

and

Humanes de Madrid Humanes de Madrid is a town and municipality of Spain, part of the Community of Madrid. As of 2019, it has a population of 19,743 inhabitants. Geography The municipality, with a total area of 1946 km2, features a largely flat relief, with the a ...

to the West. Its elevation is 648.5 meters above

sea level Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical datuma standardised g ...

Demographics

Evolution

At the beginning of the 20th century, Parla had a population of 1,237. The municipality then underwent a population explosion, until reaching its current population of 150,000 (

INE INE, Ine or ine may refer to: Institutions * Institut für Nukleare Entsorgung, a German nuclear research center * Instituto Nacional de Estadística (disambiguation) * Instituto Nacional de Estatística (disambiguation) * Instituto Nacional Elec ...

2008). The majority of population growth occurred during the late 1960s due to the major urban migration that was occurring in Spain at the time. Between 1960 and 1970, the population grew 470%, from 1,809 inhabitants to 10,317. This migration continued at an elevated rate during the 1970s, as people from Castilla-La Mancha,

Andalusia Andalusia (, ; es, Andalucía ) is the southernmost Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in Peninsular Spain. It is the most populous and the second-largest autonomous community in the country. It is officially recognised as a ...

and

Extremadura Extremadura (; ext, Estremaúra; pt, Estremadura; Fala: ''Extremaúra'') is an autonomous community of Spain. Its capital city is Mérida, and its largest city is Badajoz. Located in the central-western part of the Iberian Peninsula, it ...

settled in the area in order to commute to Madrid. Starting in 1996, Parla once more began to experience a noticeable population growth, this time due to

immigration Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not natives or where they do not possess citizenship in order to settle as permanent residents or naturalized citizens. Commuters, tourists, and ...

from

Algeria ) , image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Algiers , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , relig ...

Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to ...

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

, Poland, and

sub-saharan Africa Sub-Saharan Africa is, geographically, the area and regions of the continent of Africa that lies south of the Sahara. These include West Africa, East Africa, Central Africa, and Southern Africa. Geopolitically, in addition to the List of sov ...

. This trend continues today.

People

Javier Castillejo Francisco Javier Castillejo Rodríguez (born 22 March 1968), commonly known as Javier Castillejo, is a Spanish former professional boxer who competed from 1988 to 2009. He held multiple world championships in two weight classes, including the ...

, boxer *

Juan José Ballesta Juan José Ballesta Muñoz, also known as Juanjo Ballesta (born 12 November 1987) is a Spanish actor. Biography Born on 12 November 1987 in Parla, Ballesta grew up in Toledo. He had his debut performance in television in 1997, starring in t ...

, actor * Cristina Sánchez, former bullfighter * Rafael "Rafa" Benítez, football coach * Iván Calero, football player * Javier Camuñas Gallego, football player * Javier Muñoz, football player * José Ignacio Zahínos, football player *

Borja Mayoral Borja Mayoral Moya (; born 5 April 1997) is a Spanish professional professional footballer who plays as a striker for La Liga club Getafe. Formed at Real Madrid from the age of 10, he made his first-team debut in 2015 after featuring for the ...

, football player

Twin towns

Callosa de Segura Callosa de Segura () is a municipality in the ''comarca'' of Vega Baja del Segura in the Valencian Community, Spain. It contains the historic monument of the Church of St Martin. Callosa de Segura is a traditional Spanish-speaking town locate ...

, Spain *

Valladolid Valladolid () is a Municipalities of Spain, municipality in Spain and the primary seat of government and de facto capital of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Castile and León. It is also the capital of the province o ...

, Spain *

Funchal Funchal () is the largest city, the municipal seat and the capital of Portugal's Madeira, Autonomous Region of Madeira, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean. The city has a population of 105,795, making it the sixth largest city in Portugal. Because of ...

, Portugal *

Badalona Badalona (, , , ) is a Municipalities of Spain, municipality to the immediate north east of Barcelona in Catalonia, Spain. It is located on the left bank of the Besòs River and on the Mediterranean Sea, in the Barcelona metropolitan area. By popu ...

, Spain

References

{{authority control Municipalities in the Community of Madrid