Region of Murcia
| Capital | Murcia |
| Area
- % of Spain |
Ranked 9th
2,2% |
| Population
- Density |
Ranked 10th
108,46/km² |
| Demonym
- Spanish |
|
| Statute of Autonomy | June 19, 1982 |
| ISO 3166-2 | MU |
|
Congress seats Senate seats |
|
| President | Ramón Luis Valcárcel Siso (PP) |
| Comunidad Autónoma de la Región de Murcia | |
Murcia is one of Spain's seventeen autonomous communities, located in the southeast of the country between Andalucia and Valencia, on the Mediterranean coast.
It consists of one province, and contains the city of Murcia which is the capital of the province and the community. Other cities located in Murcia include Cartagena and Lorca. See List of municipalities in Murcia.
Murcia is bordered by Andalucia (provinces of Almería and Granada), Castile-La Mancha (province of Albacete), which was historically connected to Murcia until 1833, the Comunidad Valenciana (province of Alicante), and the Mediterranean Sea.
The community measures 11 313 km² and has a population of 1,2 million, of whom one-third live in the capital.
Murcia is a major producer of fruits, vegetables, and flowers for Spain and the rest of Europe. Excellent wineries have developed near the towns of Bullas, Yecla, and Jumilla. Murcia is a warm, arid region and has relied for centuries on extensive irrigation. Water is supplied by the Segura River (Río Segura), which is, unfortunately, one of the most polluted rivers in Europe.
History
The Carthaginians established a permanent trading depot on the Murcian coast at Cartagena, which the Romans called Carthago Nova. Roman Murcia was a part of the province of Hispania Tarraconensis. Under the Moors, who introduced the large-scale irrigation on which Murcian agriculture depends, the province was known as Todmir; it included, according to Idrisi, the 11th century Arab cartographer based in Sicily, the cities of Murcia, Orihuela, Cartagena, Lorca, Mula and Chinchilla. The kingdom of Murcia, which came into independent existence after the fall of the Omayyad Caliphate of Cordoba included Albacete as well as Murcia. Murcia was joined to the kingdom of Castile in the 13th century. Murcia became an autonomous region in 1982.
Culture
The Spanish spoken in Murcia is quite different from other areas of Spain. "Murciano" tends to eliminate many syllable-final consonants and to emphasize regional vocabulary, much of which is derived from old Arabic words. Some Murcian countryfolk still speak a separate dialect, called Panocho, which is virtually unintelligible to speakers of standard Castilian Spanish.