Editing Community of Madrid (section)

===Early modern period===
[[File:Dibujo madrid 1562.JPG|thumb|right|upright=1.5|Panoramic view of Madrid, a 16th-century work by [[Anton van den Wyngaerde]]]]
The town of Madrid, which was one of the eighteen cities with the right to vote in the [[Cortes of Castile]], was seat of the Courts themselves on several occasions and was the residence of several monarchs, amongst them the emperor [[Charles I of Spain|Charles I]] who reformed and expanded the ''Alcázar'' or Castle of the city. Alcalá de Henares grew in importance as cultural center since the foundation by the [[Francisco Jiménez de Cisneros|Cardinal Cisneros]] of [[University of Alcalá de Henares|its university]].

[[File:Felipe II, con sus arquitectos, inspecciona las obras de El Escorial (Museo del Prado).jpg|thumb|right|upright=1.5|[[Philip II of Spain|Philip II]] supervises the works on [[El Escorial]] (by [[Luca Giordano]]).]]
In 1561, King [[Philip II of Spain|Philip II]] made Madrid the capital of the [[Spanish empire|Hispanic Monarchy]]. The surrounding territories became economically subordinated to the town itself, even beyond the present day limits of the Community of Madrid. But it was not a unified region as several lords and churches had jurisdiction over their own autonomous territories.

During the 18th century, the fragmented administration of the region was not solved despite several attempts. During the reign of [[Philip V of Spain|Philip V]], the ''intendencia'' was created as a political and administrative division. Nonetheless, the ''intendencia'' of Madrid did not fully solve the problem, and the region was still fragmented into several small dominions even though some processes were centralized. This territorial dispersion had a negative effect on its economic growth; while the town of Madrid received economic resources from the entire country as the capital, the surrounding territories—in hands of noblemen or the clergy—became impoverished.

During the eighteenth century, the town of Madrid was transformed through several grandiose buildings and monuments as well as through the creation of many social, economic, and cultural institutions, some of which are still operating. Madrid grew to a population of 156,672 inhabitants by the end of the eighteenth century.