Editing Castilla–La Mancha (section)

==History==
=== Early human history of the territory ===
;Prehistory and protohistory
The {{ill|Pinedo archaeological site|es|Yacimiento arqueológico de Pinedo|lt=Pinedo site}} presents material linked to the transition from earlier settlers to the Early [[Acheulean]].{{Sfn|Vallespí Pérez|Ciudad Serrano|García Serrano|1988|p=8}} Archaeological sites related to the Middle Acheulean in the current-day region lie on the [[Campo de Calatrava]] as well as in the source of the Villanueva river, the [[Guadiana]] catchment area and the [[Segura basin|Segura catchment area]].{{Sfn|Vallespí Pérez|Ciudad Serrano|García Serrano|1988|pp=8–9}} The Upper Acheulean sites are mostly located within the limits of the current-day province of Ciudad Real, substantially increasing in number and territorial spread across the region for the ensuing [[Middle Paleolithic]].{{Sfn|Vallespí Pérez|Ciudad Serrano|García Serrano|1988|pp=9–10}} The [[Upper Paleolithic]] in the region presents instances of the [[art of the Upper Paleolithic]] in the Serranía del Alto Tajo and the Upper [[Júcar]].{{Sfn|Vallespí Pérez|Ciudad Serrano|García Serrano|1988|p=12}} There are instances of [[Cardium pottery]] in Caudete from the [[Early Neolithic]].{{Sfn|Vallespí Pérez|Ciudad Serrano|García Serrano|1988|p=13}}
[[File:Motilla del Azuer (29425303165).jpg|thumb|right|[[Motilla del Azuer]]]]

The natural region of [[La Mancha]] presents a number of archaeological sites related to the so-called [[Motillas|Culture of Las Motillas]] of the [[Bronze Age]], tentatively considered as the earliest reported case of human culture in Western Europe able to implement a system of underground water collection, whose installment is possibly connected to the surface water crisis caused by the [[4.2 kiloyear event]].{{Sfn|Benítez de Lugo Enrich|Mejías Moreno|2015|pp=111–112}} A number of these Bronze Age settlements, the ''motillas'', were built over [[Chalcolithic]] settlements.{{Sfn|Benítez de Lugo|2011|p=48}}

During the [[La Tène culture|Iron Age II (La Tène culture)]], the territory occupied by the current provinces of Ciudad Real and Albacete had a larger influence from [[Punic]]-[[Phoenicia]]n and [[Ancient Greek|Greek]] colonists, while the territory occupied by the current provinces of Toledo, Guadalajara and Cuenca was more influenced by the substrate of the earlier [[Atlantic Bronze]], helping to line up the diffuse separation of two large groups of pre-Roman peoples ("[[Iberians|Iberi]]" and "[[Celtiberians|Celtiberi]]").{{Sfn|Benítez de Lugo Enrich|2018|p=40}}

Iberian-related peoples dwelling the southern rim of the inner plateau such as the [[Oretani]] and [[Contestani]] were organised in tribes ruled by a kinglet or chieftain, each one controlling a number of settlements.{{Sfn|Benítez de Lugo Enrich|2018|p=41}} The main cog of the Iberian form of settlement was the ''[[oppidum]]''.{{Sfn|Benítez de Lugo Enrich|2018|p=41}} From the 7th century BC onward, the Celtiberian settlements were characterised instead by the somewhat smaller ''[[Hillfort|castros]]''.{{Sfn|Benítez de Lugo Enrich|2018|pp=36–37}}

;Antiquity
In the 2nd century BC, by the time of the advent of the Roman conquest wars, the first actual cities had begun to grow in the inner plateau.{{Sfn|Salinas de Frías|1988|p=14}} The Roman conquest brought substantial transformations to the [[Carpetani]] urban settlements, including the social division between slaves and freemen, the monetary economy, the fostering of manufacture and trade or the new [[Romanization (cultural)|Roman acculturation]].{{Sfn|Salinas de Frías|1988|p=15}}

The territory of the current region was mining-rich in Antiquity, with mentions in classical sources to the mining of [[cinnabar]] from {{ill|Sisapo|es}},{{sfn|San Martín Montilla|1988|p=9}} silver, gold and other minerals such as [[Selenite (mineral)|selenite]] from [[Segobriga]] and the ''laminitana'' [[sharpening stone]].{{Sfn|San Martín Montilla|1988|pp=9–10}}

;Middle Ages history
[[File:Vigilianus.jpg|thumb|A number of nobles and clerics attending to a [[Councils of Toledo|council in Toledo]] as illustrated in the 976 ''[[Codex Vigilanus]]''.]]
Built from scratch on state initiative, the founding of the city of [[Reccopolis]] by Visigoths in the late 6th century was a singular development in the context of the [[Early Middle Ages|European Early Middle Ages]].{{Sfn|Olmo Enciso|1988|p=309}}<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://elpais.com/cultura/2019/06/26/actualidad/1561559568_607219.html|title=Recópolis, 30 hectáreas de un complejo palatino oculto|date=28 June 2019|first=Vicente G.|last=Olaya|website=[[El País]]}}</ref>

Following the 8th century [[Umayyad conquest of Hispania|Muslim conquest of the Iberian Peninsula]], just after the 741 [[Berber Revolt]], the so-called [[Central March|Middle March]] of [[Al-Andalus]] (''al-Ťāğr al-Awsat'') was created as territorial sub-division,{{Sfn|Boloix Gallardo|2001|pp=25–26}} existing for the rest of the ensuing emiral and caliphal period of Al-Andalus. During this era, the Middle March had eminently a military nature, both shielding the core of Al-Andalus from the raids of the Northern Christian polities as well as serving as staging ground for Muslim offensive campaigns against the former.{{Sfn|Herrera Casado|1985|p=11}} Berber clans such as the [[Masmuda]] Banu-Salim (linked to the founders of [[Guadalajara, Spain|Guadalajara]]) or the [[Hawwara]] [[Dhulnunid dynasty|Banu Zennun]] (based in the {{ill|Kura of Santover|es|Cora de Santaver}}) had an important role in the Muslim settlement of parts of the Middle March.{{Sfn|Bueno|2015|p=179–183; 190}} The city of Toledo stood distinctly unruly towards the Cordobese authorities, and remained a major city of al-Andalus, preserving quite of its former importance and hosting a leading cultural centre that lasted even after the Christian conquest.{{Sfn|Shawky Sayed|2009|pp=133–134; 136; 149–150}}

As consequence of the [[fitna of al-Andalus]] in the early 11th century, an independent polity with its center in Toledo (the [[Taifa of Toledo]]), emerged, roughly occupying the territory of the current-day provinces of Toledo, Ciudad Real, Guadalajara and Cuenca (as well as that of Madrid),{{Sfn|Boloix Gallardo|2001|pp=26–27}}
[[File:AlfonsoVIII.jpg|thumb|right|Delivery of the fortress of [[Uclés]] to the Master of the Order of Santiago in 1174.]]
Following the Christian conquest of Toledo in 1085, the ensuing unsuccessful attempts by North-African [[Almoravid]]s and [[Almohads]] to take the city turned the territory of the inner plateau south of the [[Tagus]] subject to extreme warfare for about a century and a half.{{Sfn|Oto-Peralías|2019|pp=4; 20}} The military insecurity south of the Tagus constrained the colonisation process undertaken by the new Castilian rulers. This underpinned the features of a sparse population in the region; as a result, ranching became a mainstay of the economy, which later led to the leading role of the [[Military order (religious society)|military orders]].{{Sfn|Oto-Peralías|2019|pp=4–5}} The latter controlled over 20,000&nbsp;km<sup>2</sup> in the region of "[[La Mancha]]", managed from just 25 castles.{{Sfn|Oto-Peralías|2019|pp=5–6}} The weak Christian grip over the territory collapsed after their crushing defeat from the Almohads in [[Battle of Alarcos|Alarcos]] (1195).{{Sfn|Oto-Peralías|2019|pp=5–6}} Christian control south of the Tagus would only start to consolidate after the 1212 [[Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa|battle of Las Navas]].{{Sfn|Oto-Peralías|2019|p=14}} The weak settlement and insecurity also allowed for countryside [[banditry]] (the so-called ''golfines'') in the area of the [[Montes de Toledo]] until its progressive quelling, already effective by the late 13th century.{{sfn|Mela Martín|Sánchez Benito|1988|pp=197; 201}} By that time, rural [[beekeeper]]s self-organised to repel the predatory practices in the {{ill|Monte (biome)|es|Monte (bioma)|lt=''monte''}} by the golfines,{{Sfn|Sánchez Benito|2005|p=213}} whose presence in the Montes de Toledo was further obliterated by the creation of the so-called ''hermandades viejas'' by councils at Toledo, Talavera or Villa Real in the dawn of the 14th century.{{Sfn|Sánchez Benito|2005|p=214}}

Despite a poorly representative degree of permeability, [[oligarchy|urban oligarchies]] in the current-day region during the Late Middle Ages were largely perpetuated by means of lineage, through inheritance and marriage.{{Sfn|López Requena|1988|p=173}} Following the ascension of the [[House of Trastámara|Trastámara]]s, the territory of the current-day province of Toledo underwent a process of seigneuralization, and a number of non-religious lordships were progressively created in the area.{{Sfn|Franco Silva|1988|p=65}} The 15th century also brought a growing importance of the political elites belonging to towns of the southern meseta in the affairs of the Crown of Castile relative to the prior uncontested preponderance of those elites from towns north of the Sistema Central.{{Sfn|Castellano Huerta|1988|p=75}}

;Modern history
[[File:Molinos hidraúlicos, ojos del Guadiana (cropped).jpg|thumb|16th-century map showing the [[watermill]]s in the Guadiana, a historically major grain milling centre in La Mancha.{{sfn|Clemente Espinosa|2009|p=73}}]]
Throughout the 18th century, following the [[War of Spanish Succession]], the [[Spanish royal family|Spanish Bourbon]] monarchs sought to equilibrate the [[Balance of trade|commercial balance]] with the exterior carrying out an economic policy that tried to foster industrial capacity through [[economic interventionism]].{{Sfn|Peñalver Ramos|1996|p=359}} The State shall either stimulate the capacity of private capital or simply provide the capital itself.{{Sfn|Peñalver Ramos|1996|p=359}} Examples of royal manufactures created in the 18th century included the Real Fábrica de Paños in Guadalajara,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.guadaque.com/14-cultura/39533-nacimiento-esplendor-y-cierre-de-las-reales-fabricas-de-guadalajara.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210606033622/https://www.guadaque.com/14-cultura/39533-nacimiento-esplendor-y-cierre-de-las-reales-fabricas-de-guadalajara.html|url-status=usurped|archive-date=June 6, 2021|website=Guadaque|title=Nacimiento, esplendor y cierre de las Reales Fábricas de Guadalajara|date=4 February 2014}}</ref> the {{ill|Real Fábrica de Sedas (Talavera de la Reina)|es|Real Fábrica de Sedas de Talavera de la Reina|lt=Real Fábrica de Sedas}} in Talavera de la Reina,{{Sfn|Peñalver Ramos|1996|p=359}} or the {{ill|Real Fábrica de Paños (Brihuega)|es|Real Fábrica de Paños de Brihuega|lt=Real Fábrica de Paños}} in [[Brihuega]].{{Sfn|García Moreno|2020|p=72}}
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In 1785, the territorial organization by the reformer [[José Moñino y Redondo, conde de Floridablanca|Floridablanca]] divided the region into the provinces of Cuenca, Guadalajara, Madrid, La Mancha, and Toledo. Albacete, [[Chinchilla de Monte-Aragón|Chinchilla]], [[Almansa]], [[Hellín]] and [[Yeste, Albacete|Yeste]], however, became part of Murcia. Nonetheless, during the [[First Spanish Republic]], Albacete was one of the signatories to the Pacto Federal Castellano (1869) and in 1924 its deputation favored the formation of a "Comunidad Manchega" that would have recognized La Mancha (including Albacete) as a region.
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<!--[[File:Women at the Siege of the Alcázar in Toledo - Google Art Project.jpg|thumb|Two women and a man at the Siege of the Alcázar in Toledo]]-->

The current provincial configuration roughly dates from the [[1833 territorial division of Spain|1833 division by Javier de Burgos]], establishing the outline of the modern provinces of [[Province of Albacete|Albacete]], [[Province of Ciudad Real|Ciudad Real]], [[Province of Cuenca|Cuenca]], [[Province of Guadalajara|Guadalajara]] and [[Province of Toledo|Toledo]], bar relatively minor later adjustments. Albacete was part, together with [[Region of Murcia|Murcia]] of a wider region, whereas Ciudad Real, Cuenca, Guadalajara, and Toledo formed a region together with the [[Province of Madrid]], "New Castile".{{sfn|López Villaverde|2018|p=104}} The justice administration stood in between the national and provincial levels of government (also unaligned with the purported regional classification insofar Albacete is concerned), with the ''audiencia'' of Albacete managing the provinces of Albacete, Cuenca and Ciudad Real, and the ''audiencia'' of Madrid managing the provinces of Toledo and Guadalajara (and that of Madrid).{{sfn|López Villaverde|2018|p=104}}

The aforementioned modifications to the 1833 division include the party of Villena (lost by Albacete to [[Province of Alicante|Alicante]] in 1836), Requena (lost by Cuenca to [[Province of Valencia|Valencia]] in 1851), [[Villarrobledo]] (lost by Ciudad Real to Albacete {{Circa|1846}}){{sfn|López Villaverde|2018|p=104}} or [[Valdeavero]] (lost by Guadalajara to [[Province of Madrid|Madrid]] in 1850).{{Sfn|Burgueño|1990|pp=403, 406}} The provincial government institution was the ''[[Provincial deputation (Spain)|provincial deputation]]''.{{sfn|López Villaverde|2018|p=105}}
[[File:Casiano Alguacil - Aguador de Toledo ca. 1900.jpg|thumb|right|A [[water carrier]] {{Circa|1900}}, by Casiano Alguacil.]]
The agrarian capitalism favoured by the bourgeoisie in the 19th century enshrined an economy based on cereal commodities and the primary sector, favouring the leveling of the reduced industrial activity—chiefly textile—in the territory corresponding to the current-day region, whereas mining output—with sites such of the mercury deposits in Almadén or the coal deposits in Puertollano—remained below potential.{{sfn|López Villaverde|2018|p=108}} A [[silver rush]] broke out in the mining district around [[Hiendelaencina]] after 1844.<ref>{{Cite journal|title=Las minas de plata de La Bodera (Guadalajara)|first1=César|last1=Menor Salván|first2=Luis|last2=Jordá Bordehore|first3=Alfonso|last3=Gutiérrez Gómez|journal=De re metallica: Revista de la Sociedad Española para la Defensa del Patrimonio Geológico y Minero|issn=1888-8615|issue=5|year=2005|pages=37–44|url=https://dialnet.unirioja.es/descarga/articulo/4602102.pdf}}</ref> Large-scale mining of [[lead]] and [[zinc]] in San Quintín (province of Ciudad Real) ensued in between 1884 and 1934.{{sfn|Peris Sánchez|2013|p=215}} The arrival of railway transport in the mid 19th-century subordinated the interests of the provinces to those of Madrid and the [[Spanish Levante|Levante]], although it fostered the development of some urban centres such as those of [[Alcázar de San Juan]], [[Manzanares, Ciudad Real|Manzanares]] and [[Albacete]].{{sfn|López Villaverde|2018|p=108}} The five provinces lost relative demographic weight relative to the national total over the course of the century.{{sfn|López Villaverde|2018|p=108}}

The territory of the current-day region was singularly affected by the ''[[Spanish confiscation|desamortizaciones]]'', particularly those of Mendizábal and Madoz.<ref name=eclm /> From 1836 to 1924 {{convert|1600000|ha|acre}} of land were auctioned (1,100,000 hectares of municipal properties and the rest church's property).<ref name=eclm /> They were purchased by the political and economic elites of the country.<ref name=eclm>{{Cite web|url=https://www.encastillalamancha.es/cultura-cat/un-estudio-desmonta-topicos-sobre-la-desamortizacion-en-clm-la-region-mas-afectada/|date=24 June 2015|title=Un estudio desmonta tópicos sobre la desamortización en CLM, la región más afectada|website=En Castilla-La Mancha}}</ref>

Seeking to curb immigration to the Spanish capital, the so-called Madrid Decongestion Plan of 1959 created planned industrial estates in Alcázar de San Juan, Manzanares, Guadalajara, and Toledo.<ref>{{Cite journal|url=https://estudiosgeograficos.revistas.csic.es/index.php/estudiosgeograficos/article/view/66/63|journal=Estudios Geográficos|title=El Plan de Descongestión Industrial de Madrid en Castilla-La Mancha: una reflexión geográfica|trans-title=The plan of overspill area of Madrid in Castilla-La Mancha: A geographical reflection|first1=Luis Alfonso|last1=Escudero Gómez|first2=Emilio José|last2=Gómez Gutiérrez|publisher=[[Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas|Editorial CSIC]]|location=Madrid|year=2007|volume=68|issue=263|issn=0014-1496}}</ref> The plan did not yield the expected results as Madrid kept growing and the industrial zones eventually stagnated.{{Sfn|Escudero Gómez|Gómez Gutiérrez|2007|pp=522–523}}

=== Regionhood ===
Under the auspices of the [[Spanish Constitution|1978 Constitution]], a [[decree-law]] was issued on 15 November 1978,<ref>{{Cite journal|url=http://hedatuz.euskomedia.org/4506/1/28183201.pdf|title=Religión e identidad en Castilla-La Mancha|last=Lucas Picazo|first=Miguel|year=2006|journal=Zainak|pages=183–185}}{{Dead link|date=April 2025 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> establishing the conditions of the "pre-autonomous regime" of the "Castilian-Manchegan region". A joint assembly of legislators and [[Provincial deputation (Spain)|provincial deputies]] of the provinces of Albacete, Ciudad Real, Cuenca, Guadalajara, Toledo was established in [[Manzanares, Ciudad Real|Manzanares]] in 1981 to draft the early sketch of the regional statute.<ref>{{Cite book|publisher=ACMS|location=Toledo|chapter-url=https://acmspublicaciones.revistabarataria.es/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Almagro.art_.40.2007.Sanchez.641_656.pdf|page=648|chapter=La formación de la identidad regional castellanomanchega a través de las políticas públicas realizadas por la administración de la Junta de Comunidades de Castilla-La Mancha|first1=Francisco|last1=Sánchez Rodríguez|first2=Jesús|last2=Punzón Moraleda|year=2007|title=Castilla-La Mancha: 25 años de autonomía}}</ref> On 17 June 1982, the [[Congress of Deputies]] approved the final text of the regional statute (an [[organic law]]), which was later published on 16 August 1982, giving birth to the [[autonomous community]] of "Castilla-La Mancha".{{Sfn|Sánchez Rodríguez|Punzón Moraleda|2007|p=648}}{{Refn|group=n.|A historical precedent for the denomination of Castilla-La Mancha, unbeknownst to the creators of the autonomous community, is the denomination of "Castilla-Mancha" for a region with capital in Toledo featured in a 1842 proposal of territorial organization of Spain devised by Federal Republicanist author [[Wenceslao Ayguals de Izco]].<ref>{{Cite book|isbn=84-95410-41-9|first1=Isidro|last1=Sánchez|first2=Rafael|last2=Villena|title=Testigo de lo pasado. Castilla-La Mancha en sus documentos (1785-2005)|location=Tomelloso|publisher=Ediciones Soubriet|year=2005|url=https://ceclmdigital.uclm.es/details.vm?q=id:0002509272&lang=en&view=libros|pages=7–8}}</ref>}} The constituent process of the autonomous community was sealed with the [[1983 Castilian-Manchegan regional election|election of the first regional legislature in May 1983]] and the ensuing investiture of [[José Bono]] as regional president.{{Sfn|Lucas Picazo|2006|p=185}} By December 1983 still less than half of citizens actually knew the autonomous community they belonged to.{{Sfn|Lucas Picazo|2006|p=185}}

Since its opening in 1979 the [[Tagus-Segura Water Transfer]] has caused a severe social-economic impact on the region, with the water resources available in the Tagus headwaters decreasing by about a 47.5% after 1980.<ref>{{Cite journal|title=Challenges and Proposals for Socio-Ecological Sustainability of the Tagus–Segura Aqueduct (Spain)|first1=Álvaro-Francisco|last1=Morote|first2=Jorge|last2=Olcina|first3=Antonio-Manuel|last3=Rico|journal=Sustainability|year=2017|volume=9|issue=2058|doi=10.3390/su9112058|s2cid=158150891|doi-access=free|hdl=10045/71131|hdl-access=free}}</ref>