Thanks to Miguel de Cervantes, La Mancha is famous for its windmills.

La Mancha is an arid, but fertile, elevated plateau (610m [2000ft]) of central Spain, south of Madrid, stretching between the Montes (mountains) de Toledo and the western spurs of the Cerros (hills) de Cuenca, and bounded on the south by the Sierra Morena and on the north by the La Alcarria region. It includes portions of the modern provinces of Cuenca, Toledo, and Albacete, and most of the Ciudad Real province. It constitutes the southern portion of the Castile-La Mancha autonomous community and makes up most of the region. Download high resolution version (1149x862, 432 KB) Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... Download high resolution version (1149x862, 432 KB) Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... Don Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra (IPA: in modern Spanish; September 29, 1547 – April 23, 1616) was a Spanish novelist, poet, and playwright. ... A Dutch tower windmill, sporting sails, surrounded by tulips A windmill is an engine powered by the wind to produce energy, often contained in a large building as in traditional post mills, smock mills and tower mills. ... Motto: (Spanish for From Madrid to Heaven) Location Coordinates: , Country Spain Autonomous Community Comunidad Autónoma de Madrid Province Madrid Administrative Divisions 21 Neighborhoods 127 Founded 9th century Government  - Mayor Alberto Ruiz-Gallardón Jimémez (PP) Area  - Land 607 km² (234. ... List of cities called Cuenca: Cuenca, Ecuador Joara, la Florida, Native American settlement renamed Cuenca by Spanish Cuenca, Spain, the capital of Cuenca province. ... The façade of Toledo cathedral Toledo is a city located in central Spain, the capital of the province of Toledo and of the autonomous community of Castile-La Mancha. ... Albacete its origins is derived from Arabic Al Basita (the plain, or the simple). ... Ciudad Real (Spanish for: Royal City) is a city in Castile-La Mancha, Spain. ... Capital Toledo Official language(s) Spanish Area  â€“ Total  â€“ % of Spain Ranked 3rd  79,463 km²  15. ... Spains fifty provinces (provincias) are grouped into seventeen autonomous communities (comunidades aut nomas), in addition to two African autonomous cities (ciudades aut nomas) (Ceuta and Melilla). ...

The climate is continental, with strong fluctuations. Agriculture (wheat, barley, oats,wine grapes) is the primary economic activity, but it is severely restricted by the harsh environmental conditions.

Famous Spaniards like cinema director Pedro Almodóvar, painters Antonio López and his uncle Antonio López Torres, and actress Sara Montiel were born in this region. Pedro Almodóvar Caballero (pronounced ) (born September 24, 1951, in Calzada de Calatrava, Spain) is a Spanish film director, screenwriter and producer. ... Two Backs (Male-Female), pencil on paper, 38cm x 54cm, 1964 by Antonio López García, Antonio López García (born Tomelloso, Ciudad Real, 1936) is a Spanish painter and sculptor, known for his realistic style. ... Sara Montiel (born March 10, 1928) is a Spanish actress. ...

Name

The name of 'La Mancha' comes from the words in antique arabian "ma-llashe" which means "no-weather" (and it is not related to "al-manxa", meaning "the balcony"). It has no relation to the Spanish word (la) mancha, which means "stain" or more specifically, "spot".

Geography

La Mancha

The largest plain in the Iberian Peninsula, it is made up of plateaux averaging 500 to 600 metres in altitude (although it reaches 900 metres in Campo de Montiel and other parts), centring on the province of Ciudad Real. The region is watered by the Guadiana, Javalón, Záncara, Cigüela, and Júcar rivers. The Spanish historian Hosta gives the most accepted description of the limits of the geographical La Mancha plain: Image File history File linksMetadata Size of this preview: 800 × 283 pixelsFull resolution (3002 × 1061 pixel, file size: 996 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) Sheep on the meseta sept. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Size of this preview: 800 × 283 pixelsFull resolution (3002 × 1061 pixel, file size: 996 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) Sheep on the meseta sept. ... The Iberian Peninsula, or Iberia, is located in the extreme southwest of Europe, and includes modern day Spain, Portugal, Andorra and Gibraltar. ... Image:NONE Monte Roraima In geology and earth science, a plateau, also called a high plateau or tableland, is an area of highland, usually consisting of relatively flat rural area. ... Guadiana (Latin Anas, Spanish Guadiana, Portuguese Guadiana) - one of the major rivers of Spain, part of it is the border with Portugal, ends in the Atlantic Ocean. ... The Záncara is a 168 km long river in Spain, tributary to the Guadiana. ... The Júcar is a river on the Iberian Peninsula of Spain. ... Species Hosta atropurpurea Hosta capitata Hosta cathayana Hosta clausa Hosta crassifolia Hosta crispula Hosta decorata Hosta fluctuans Hosta fortunei Hosta gracillima Hosta helenioides Hosta hypoleuca Hosta ibukiensis Hosta jonesii Hosta kikutii Hosta lancifolia Hosta longipes Hosta longissima Hosta minor Hosta montana Hosta nakaiana Hosta nigrescens Hosta opipara Hosta plantaginea Hosta...

All the territory, plain, arid and dry, that is between Montes de Toledo and the western skirts of Sierra de Cuenca, and from Alcarria to Sierra Morena, including in this denomination the so called Mesa de Ocaña and Quintanar, the comarcas of Belmonte and San Clemente and the old territories of the military Orders of Santiago, San Juan and Calatrava, with all the Sierra de Alcaraz; being its limits to the North the Tajo river and the part called properly Castilla la Nueva, to the East the kingdoms of Valencia and Murcia, and to the South, the kingdoms of Córdoba and Jaen, and to the West, the provinces of Extremadura, spreading 53 leagues from East to West and 33 leagues from North to South. Until XVI century, the east part was also called Mancha de Monte-Aragón, because of the name of the mountains that were the old border between La Mancha and kingdom of Valencia, and to the rest simply Mancha. Afterwards, La Mancha was also divided into Mancha Alta and Mancha Baja, according to the level and flow of its rivers, including the first one the northeast part, from Villarubia de los Ojos until Belmonte, country of the old Iberian Lamitans, and the second one the southwest part, including Campo de Calatrava and Campo de Montiel, old country of the Iberian Oretans. History of Spain Series Prehistoric Spain Roman Spain Medieval Spain Age of Reconquest Age of Expansion Age of Enlightenment Reaction and Revolution First Spanish Republic The Restoration Second Spanish Republic Spanish Civil War The Dictatorship Modern Spain Topics Economic History Military History Social History The Aragonese Empire was the regime... For the Roman goddess, see Venus. ... The interior of the Great Mosque in Córdoba, now a Christian cathedral. ... Jaén is a city in south-central Spain, the capital of the province of Jaén in the autonomous community of Andalusia. ... Capital Mérida Area  â€“ Total  â€“ % of Spain Ranked 5th  41 634 km²  8,2% Population  â€“ Total (2005)  â€“ % of Spain  â€“ Density Ranked 12th  1 083 879  2,5%  26,03/km² Demonym  â€“ English  â€“ Spanish  â€”  extremeño/a, castúo Statute of Autonomy February 26, 1983 ISO 3166-2 EX Parliamentary representation... Iberia can mean: The Iberian peninsula of southwest Europe; That part of it inhabited by the Iberians, speaking the Iberian language. ...

Culture

Culturally, La Mancha includes the Sierra de Alcaraz, northern Sierra Morena, Montes de Toledo and Serranía de Cuenca, parts of Tajo river valley, and it is administrative divided among the comarcas of Campo de Montiel and Campo de Calatrava to the south—Don Quixote himself started his adventures in Campo de Montiel—the eastern Mancha Alta, the central Mancha Baja, the western Valle de Alcudia, and Parameras de Ocaña y Manchuela to the north. The Sierra Morena is a mountain chain some 400 km long running East-West in southern Spain, forming the border of the central plateau (Meseta Central) of Iberia, and providing the watershed between the valleys of the Gaudiana to the north and the Guadalquivir to the south. ... View over Tejo River from São Jorge Castle in Lisbon (June 2002). ... (IPA: , but see spelling and pronunciation below), fully titled (The Ingenious Hidalgo Don Quixote of La Mancha) is an early novel written by Spanish author Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra. ... La Manchuela DO is located in the east of the provinces of Cuenca and Albacete (Castile-La Mancha, Spain) between the valleys of the Rivers Júcar and Cabriel. ...

Miguel de Cervantes gave international fame to this land and its windmills when he wrote his novel Don Quixote de La Mancha, later the inspiration for Dale Wasserman's musical Man of La Mancha. Some believe^{[citation needed]} that Cervantes was making fun of this region, using a pun; a "mancha" was also a stain, as on one's honor, and thus a hilariously inappropriate homeland for a dignified knight-errant. Translator John Ormsby believed that Cervantes chose it because it was/is the most ordinary, prosaic, anti-romantic, and therefore unlikely place from which a chivalrous, romantic hero could originate, making Quixote seem even more absurd. Don Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra (IPA: in modern Spanish; September 29, 1547 – April 23, 1616) was a Spanish novelist, poet, and playwright. ... A Dutch tower windmill, sporting sails, surrounded by tulips A windmill is an engine powered by the wind to produce energy, often contained in a large building as in traditional post mills, smock mills and tower mills. ... (IPA: , but see spelling and pronunciation below), fully titled (The Ingenious Hidalgo Don Quixote of La Mancha) is an early novel written by Spanish author Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra. ... Man of La Mancha is a 1965 Broadway musical in one act which tells the story of the classic novel Don Quixote as a play within a play, performed by Miguel de Cervantes and his fellow prisoners as he awaits a hearing with the Spanish Inquisition. ... John Ormsby (1829-1895) was a nineteenth-century British translator. ...

Others disagree.^{[citation needed]} Many experts think of La Mancha as the most proper place for an idealist, since it was, as it is still today, a very harsh and ruthless area.

Several film versions of Don Quixote have actually been filmed largely in La Mancha. However, at least two of the most famous - the 1957 Russian film version, and the screen version of Man of La Mancha, were not. The 1957 film was shot in Crimea, while Man of La Mancha was filmed in Italy. G.W. Pabst's 1933 version of Cervantes's novel was shot in Alpes-de-Haute-Provence. Motto: Процветание в единстве - Prosperity in unity Anthem: Нивы и горы твои волшебны, Родина - Your fields and mounts are wonderful, Motherland Location of Crimea (red) on the map of Ukraine. ... Georg Wilhelm Pabst (August 25, 1885 - May 29, 1967) was a film director. ... Alpes_de_Haute_Provence is a French département in the south of France, it was formerly part of the province of Provence. ...

Agriculture

La Mancha has always been an important agricultural zone. Viniculture is important in Tomelloso, Valdepeñas and Manzanares, in Ciudad Real and Villarrobledo in Albacete. Other crops include cereals (whence the famous windmills) and saffron. Sheep are raised, providing the famous Manchego cheese. Viniculture is the science of winemaking, or the craft of growing grapes to make wine. ... Tomelloso is a municipality in Ciudad Real, Castile-La Mancha, Spain. ... Valdepeñas is a municipality in the Spanish province of Ciudad Real, in the autonomous community of Castile-La Mancha. ... This page meets Wikipedias criteria for speedy deletion. ... Ciudad Real is a province of central Spain, in the southwestern part of the autonomous community of Castile_La Mancha. ... Villarrobledo is a Spanish city and municipality in the province of Albacete, part of the autonomous community of Castile-La Mancha. ... Albacete province Albacete is a province of central Spain, in the southern part of the autonomous community of Castilla-La Mancha. ... A Dutch tower windmill, sporting sails, surrounded by tulips A windmill is an engine powered by the wind to produce energy, often contained in a large building as in traditional post mills, smock mills and tower mills. ... Binomial name Crocus sativus L. Saffron (IPA: ) is a spice derived from the flower of the saffron crocus (Crocus sativus), a species of crocus in the family Iridaceae. ... Manchego cheese is a sheeps milk cheese made in the La Mancha region of Spain. ...

La Mancha includes two National Parks, Las Tablas de Daimiel and Cabañeros, and one Natural Park, las Lagunas de Ruidera. Lagunas de Ruidera is a natural park in Spain, containing 15 lagoons that are located among of the La Mancha plain. ...