Salamanca is one of the 21

districts A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions o ...

that form the city of

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 ...

, Spain. Salamanca is located to the northeast of the historical center of Madrid. Salamanca lies east of the district of Chamberí, south of Chamartín, and north of Retiro. Salamanca counts approximately 151.000 inhabitants.

Geography

Overview

The limits of Salamanca district are defined by the

Paseo de Recoletos Paseo de Recoletos is a wide boulevard in central Madrid leading from Plaza de Cibeles to Plaza de Colón. From west to east it consists of: * Two southward lanes * The pedestrian walk * A southward bus lane * Three southward lanes * Three north ...

and the

Paseo de la Castellana Paseo de la Castellana, commonly known as La Castellana, is a major thoroughfare in Madrid, Spain. Cutting across the city from South to North, it has been described as the "true structuring axis" of the city. History and description The street ...

to the west, the

Calle de Alcalá Calle de Alcalá is among the longest streets in Madrid. It starts at the Puerta del Sol and goes on for , to the northeastern outskirts of the city. Henry David Inglis described it in 1837 as "long, of superb width, and flanked by a splendid rang ...

and Calle O'Donnell to the south, the Avenida de la Paz ( M-30) to the east and María de Molina Street and Avenida de América to the north. It covers an area of 540.742 hectares.

Subdivision

The district is administratively divided into 6 wards (''Barrios''): * Castellana * Fuente del Berro *

Goya Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes (; ; 30 March 174616 April 1828) was a Spanish romantic painter and printmaker. He is considered the most important Spanish artist of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. His paintings, drawings, and ...

* Guindalera *

Lista Lista is a former municipality located in the old Vest-Agder county in Norway. The municipality existed from 1838 until its dissolution in 1965. The administrative centre was the village of Vanse where Vanse Church is located. Lista municipa ...

* Recoletos

History

The population of Madrid at the beginning of the 19th century was about 220,000, increasing to 300,000 inhabitants in the late 1850s. However, the city was still enclosed within the defensive wall built in 1625 by king

Philip IV of Spain Philip IV ( es, Felipe, pt, Filipe; 8 April 160517 September 1665), also called the Planet King (Spanish: ''Rey Planeta''), was King of Spain from 1621 to his death and (as Philip III) King of Portugal from 1621 to 1640. Philip is remembered f ...

, which blocked the city's growth. In 1857, the government allowed the then Minister of Public Works and Transportation Claudio Moyano to expand the city ( Plan Castro).

Queen Isabella II Isabella II ( es, Isabel II; 10 October 1830 – 9 April 1904), was Queen of Spain from 29 September 1833 until 30 September 1868. Shortly before her birth, the King Ferdinand VII of Spain issued a Pragmatic Sanction to ensure the successio ...

allowed this in 1860 and the defensive walls were torn down in order to build the first Madrilian ''

ensanche means "widening" in Spanish. It is used to name the development areas of Spanish cities around the end of the 19th century, when the demographic explosion and the Industrial Revolution prompted the tearing down of the old city wall and the const ...

''. Don José de Salamanca y Mayol, Marquis of Salamanca, gave his name to the area because of his involvement in the project. It was completely urbanized by 1927. Since then, the Salamanca district has been one of the most representative areas for

bourgeois The bourgeoisie ( , ) is a social class, equivalent to the middle or upper middle class. They are distinguished from, and traditionally contrasted with, the proletariat by their affluence, and their great cultural and financial capital. They ...

'' madrileños''. Salamanca is in the outer area of the ''Rondas'', where the neighborhoods of Guindalera and Fuente del Berro originated with more spontaneous urban development. Nowadays, the Salamanca district is one of the wealthiest areas in Madrid and some of its streets, such as Goya or Serrano, are some of the most expensive streets in Spain.

Politics

The district of ''Salamanca'' had more than 72% of its votes given to the People's Party (conservative) in the Spanish regional elections of 2007 as well as in 2003 in both elections being the candidates to the City Hall and the

Autonomous Community eu, autonomia erkidegoa ca, comunitat autònoma gl, comunidade autónoma oc, comunautat autonòma an, comunidat autonoma ast, comunidá autónoma , alt_name = , map = , category = Autonomous administra ...

Alberto Ruiz Gallardón Alberto is the Romance version of the Latinized form (''Albertus'') of Germanic ''Albert''. It is used in Italian, Portuguese and Spanish. The diminutive forms are ''Albertito'' in Spain or ''Albertico'' in some parts of Latin America, Albertin ...

and

Esperanza Aguirre Esperanza Aguirre y Gil de Biedma (; born 3 January 1952) is a Spanish politician. As member of the People's Party (PP), she served as President of the Senate between 1999 and 2002 (becoming the first female politician to have held the post), a ...

respectively. The district has also voted strongly in favor of the People's Party in all the recent Spanish general elections as well as the European Parliament elections in 2009 and before then.

Demographics

''Salamanca'' has about 150,775 inhabitants in 58.742 houses, with a density of 279 people per hectare.

Economy

''Salamanca'' is one of the wealthiest and most expensive areas in Madrid, with a comparatively high cost of living and some of the most expensive real estate in the city. Calle de Serrano is the third most expensive street in Spain, according to Cushman & Wakefield. A significant number of diplomatic missions are in ''Salamanca'', such as the Swiss embassy at C/ de Núñez de Balboa and C/ Goya, the French embassy on C/ Villalar, the United States embassy on C/ Serrano, and the Italian embassy on C/ Juan Bravo. Salamanca is also home to the

IE Business School IE Business School is a graduate and undergraduate school of business, located in Madrid, Spain, European Union, Europe. It was founded in 1973 under the name Instituto de Empresa and since 2009 is part of IE University. IE Business School runs ...

(previously Instituto de Empresa) which is ranked among the top 10 business schools in the world.
/ref>

Photogallery

File:Antiguas Escuelas Aguirre (Madrid) 05.jpg, ''Arab House'' File:Calle de Alcalá 151 (Madrid) 01.jpg, Calle de Alcalá (street) File:Paseo de la Castellana (Madrid) 44.jpg,

(avenue) File:Plaza de Toros de Las Ventas (Madrid) 02.jpg, Las Ventas, Las Ventas Bullring File:Casa-Palacio de Federico Ortiz (Madrid) 02.jpg, 1903 house-palace File:Fundación Juan March (Madrid) 01.jpg,

Juan March Foundation ''Juan'' is a given name, the Spanish and Manx versions of ''John''. It is very common in Spain and in other Spanish-speaking communities around the world and in the Philippines, and also (pronounced differently) in the Isle of Man. In Spanish, t ...

References

External links

{{authority control Districts of Madrid