Torrejón de Ardoz () is a

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

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 ...

belonging to the

Community of Madrid The Community of Madrid (; ) is one of the seventeen autonomous communities and 50 provinces of Spain, provinces of Spain. It is located at the heart of the Iberian Peninsula and Meseta Central, Central Plateau (); its capital and largest munici ...

. The

European Union Satellite Centre The European Union Satellite Centre (EU SatCen; previously EUSC) is the agency of the European Union (EU) that supports the EU's decision-making in the field of the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP), including crisis management missi ...

(SatCen), an

agency of the European Union The European Union and Euratom have agencies, decentralised independent bodies, corporate bodies and joint undertakings which are established as juridical persons through secondary EU legislation and tasked with a specific narrow field of work. ...

, is located in Torrejón de Ardoz. It is also the location of the headquarters of the Instituto Nacional de Técnica Aeroespacial (INTA), the Spanish space agency. The Torrejón Air Base/ Madrid–Torrejón Airport also lies on the municipality.

Etymology

''Torrejón'' comes from ''torre'' ("tower"); the suffix ''-jón'' is a

diminutive A diminutive is a word obtained by modifying a root word to convey a slighter degree of its root meaning, either to convey the smallness of the object or quality named, or to convey a sense of intimacy or endearment, and sometimes to belittle s ...

that ultimately makes reference to the small or unimportant nature of the noun. The ''Ardoz'' add-on comes from the namesake creek.

History

While there is no certainty of the origin of Torrejón de Ardoz, it probably dates from the 12th century, associated to fortifications built to protect

Alcalá de Henares Alcalá de Henares () is a Spanish municipality of the Community of Madrid. Housing is primarily located on the right (north) bank of the Henares River, Henares. , it has a population of 193,751, making it the region's third-most populated Municip ...

. It was part of the Land of Alcalá for all purposes until 1554, when it was granted the status of town. In the 16th century, the Casa Grande was built, where several Spanish princes stayed while studying at the University of Alcala. In 1843 it was the place of a short battle between general Ramón Narvaez and senator Antonio Seoane, as part of the rebellion against Espartero. The

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Air force, air service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is one of the six United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Tracing its ori ...

jointly occupied the Torrejón Air Base, installed in 1955, under agreements made with

Francisco Franco Francisco Franco Bahamonde (born Francisco Paulino Hermenegildo Teódulo Franco Bahamonde; 4 December 1892 – 20 November 1975) was a Spanish general and dictator who led the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalist forces i ...

. The base was subject of criticism since its beginnings and a meeting place of pacifist demonstrations attended by progressives and ecologists. One of the election platforms of

Felipe González Felipe González Márquez (; born 5 March 1942) is a retired Spanish politician who was Prime Minister of Spain from 1982 to 1996 and leader of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party from 1974 to 1997. He is the longest-serving democratically- ...

Spanish Socialist Workers' Party The Spanish Socialist Workers' Party ( , PSOE ) is a Social democracy, social democratic Updated as required.The PSOE is described as a social-democratic party by numerous sources: * * * * List of political parties in Spain, political party ...

(PSOE) was to close the base to the American fighter wing. Once González became prime minister, the lease of the then 401st Tactical Fighter Wing (now the 401st Air Expeditionary Group) was not renewed and the

F-16 The General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon is an American single-engine supersonic multirole fighter aircraft originally developed by General Dynamics for the United States Air Force (USAF). Designed as an air superiority day fighter, it e ...

fighter wing left the base in the early 1990s. At the end of the 20th century, the city experienced strong industrial growth, which attracted thousands of workers. This led to rapid urban growth.

Geography

Location

It is located to the east of the city of

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 ...

, near the A-2, the highway connecting Madrid and

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

. With the city located at the right-bank (north) of the Henares the relief of the municipality gently decreases in elevation from north to south. Three small creeks pass through the municipality emptying into the Henares. From West to East: Arroyo del Valle, Arroyo Pelayo, and Arroyo Ardoz. The highest point lies in the North of the municipality, standing at 623 m above sea level. The municipality has a total area of 32.49 km².

Climate

Torrejón de Ardoz has a

cold semi-arid climate Cold is the presence of low temperature, especially in the atmosphere. In common usage, cold is often a subjective perception. A lower bound to temperature is absolute zero, defined as 0.00K on the Kelvin scale, an absolute thermodynamic ...

(

Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Bernd Köppen (1951–2014), German pianist and composer * Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan * Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author ...

: ''BSk'') with cool winters, hot summers and precipitation concentrated in the autumn and spring seasons. As in other parts of the east and south of the

, the aridity is notable. Snow, although rare, can occur in some winters.

Industry

The city has had industrial facilities from large companies such as

Indra Indra (; ) is the Hindu god of weather, considered the king of the Deva (Hinduism), Devas and Svarga in Hinduism. He is associated with the sky, lightning, weather, thunder, storms, rains, river flows, and war. volumes Indra is the m ...

, Alcatel, La Cocinera and

Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon (company), an American multinational technology company * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek myth ...

. This growth occurred mainly at the end of the twentieth century, with a sharp decline in the twenty-first century. The city still has 3 industrial estates: Casablanca, Charco de los Peces and Las Monjas. The industrial estate of San Fernando is linked to the municipality of Torrejón de Ardoz.

Commercial

There are 2 large shopping malls in the municipality: Parque Corredor and the recently opened Oasiz Mall. The commercial development of recent years has compensated for the fall in jobs produced in the industrial sector.

Transports

The city is connected to

by the A-2 motorway, and by rail through the C2-C7 Cercanías lines. There are multiple bus lines connecting Torrejón de Ardoz with

(824), with

(224 and 226) and with the nearby towns: Ajalvir, Loeches, San Fernando de Henares, Torres de la Alameda and Daganzo.

Main sights

* Casa Grande * Parque Europa * Church of San Juan Bautista * Aldovea´s Castle

Sports

The city has 4 large sports facilities: Joaquin Blume, Parque Corredor, M-4 and Las Fronteras. The city has an important futsal team,

Inter FS Inter Fútbol Sala, known as Inter Movistar Fútbol Sala for sponsorship reasons, is a professional futsal club based in Torrejón de Ardoz, Madrid. The club was founded in 1977 and its pavilion is the Pabellón Jorge Garbajosa with a capacity ...

, and it had a famous futsal team, Marsanz FS.

Education

* Torrejon High School

Famous people from Torrejón de Ardoz

;Artists * El Chojin, rapper * Pilar Rubio, television presenter ;Military personnel * Frederick M. Padilla, U.S. Marine major general ;Politicians * Kate Brown, governor of

Oregon Oregon ( , ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while t ...

* Glenn Thomas Jacobs, Mayor of

Knox County, Tennessee Knox County is a county located in the U.S. state of Tennessee. The population was 500,669 as of a 2023 estimate, making it the third-most populous county in Tennessee. Its county seat is Knoxville, which is the third-most populous city in Te ...

;Sportpeople * David Andújar, footballer * Wallace Bryant, basketball player * Jorge Garbajosa, basketball player * Guti, footballer * Antonio Guzmán Núñez, footballer * Kane, wrestler * Sergio Mora, footballer * Mario Rivillos Plaza, futsal player * Manuel Romero, footballer ;Crime * Patrick Nogueira, murderer. Lived with his uncle, aunt and cousins before his family moved to Pioz.

References

;Citations ;Bibliography * * *