Palencia
Located in the Northwest of the Iberian Peninsula, in the northern half of the Inner Plateau, the city lies on the left-bank of the Carrión river.
At the regional level, Palencia forms part of an economic axis together with the cities of Valladolid and Burgos. As of 2017, the municipality has a population of 78,892.
Palencia lies in the north of the central Spanish plateau, the Meseta Central, in the middle of the Carrión river valley, near the river's confluence with the Pisuerga, which flows through the town creating four islets, Dos Aguas and Sotillo being the largest. Palencia is located approximately 190 km north of Madrid, and some 40 km north of Valladolid, capital of Castile and León.
Two hills surround the city in its north-east area. On the closest stands the 30-metre high statue of Christ known as the Cristo del Otero, the fourth-tallest statue of Christ in the world.
Palencia has a substantial forest of 1438 ha 6 km away on a plateau above the city, known locally as the "Monte el Viejo" ("Old Mount"). This park is a popular amusement area for the locals.
The Canal de Castilla runs close to the city.
Palencia's municipality includes the village of Paredes de Monte, 14 km away.
Map - Palencia
Map
Country - Spain
Flag of Spain |
Anatomically modern humans first arrived in the Iberian Peninsula around 42,000 years ago. The ancient Iberian and Celtic tribes, along with other pre-Roman peoples, dwelled the territory maintaining contacts with foreign Mediterranean cultures. The Roman conquest and colonization of the peninsula (Hispania) ensued, bringing the Romanization of the population. Receding of Western Roman imperial authority ushered in the migration of different non-Roman peoples from Central and Northern Europe with the Visigoths as the dominant power in the peninsula by the fifth century. In the early eighth century, most of the peninsula was conquered by the Umayyad Caliphate, and during early Islamic rule, Al-Andalus became a dominant peninsular power centered in Córdoba. Several Christian kingdoms emerged in Northern Iberia, chief among them León, Castile, Aragon, Portugal, and Navarre made an intermittent southward military expansion, known as Reconquista, repelling the Islamic rule in Iberia, which culminated with the Christian seizure of the Emirate of Granada in 1492. Jews and Muslims were forced to choose between conversion to Catholicism or expulsion, and eventually the converts were expelled through different royal decrees.
Currency / Language
ISO | Currency | Symbol | Significant figures |
---|---|---|---|
EUR | Euro | € | 2 |
ISO | Language |
---|---|
EU | Basque language |
CA | Catalan language |
GL | Galician language |
OC | Occitan language |
ES | Spanish language |