Estremadura

Extremadura is a Spanish autonomous community located in the center-west of the Iberian Peninsula. It is made up of the two largest provinces in the country: Cáceres and Badajoz, whose capitals are its two most populous cities. The region, whose population amounts to 1,059,501 inhabitants (INE 2021), has its capital in Mérida.

The region is delimited to the north by the Central system, where the highest point of the autonomous community is located, Calvitero (2405 m), and to the south by the western foothills of Sierra Morena, with most of its surface forming part of the hydrographic basins of the Tagus and Guadiana rivers, separated by the mountains of Toledo. The climate is warm in the south and temperate in the north. To the west it borders with Portugal.

The kingdom of León, under the rule of Alfonso IX of León, conquered the taifa of Badajoz in 1230. After the formation of the Crown of Castile by the union of both kingdoms in 1230, the province of Extremadura was created in 1371. Extremadura is the birthplace of the most famous conquerors of the New World: Francisco Pizarro and Hernán Cortés, conquerors of the Inca and Aztec empires, respectively, and Pedro de Valdivia, conqueror of Chile, as well as others such as Pedro de Alvarado, Vasco Núñez de Balboa and Hernando deSoto.

The region's agricultural products include paprika, tomato, cork, tobacco, and rice. The territory has several denominations of origin such as Ribera del Guadiana in wines; Dehesa de Extremadura in ham; Casar cake, La Serena cheese and Ibores Cheese in cheeses; Gata-Hurdes oil, Villuercas-Ibores-Jara oil, Monterrubio oil in olive oil and other ingredients such as paprika from La Vera, beef from Extremadura, lamb from Extremadura, Villuercas-Ibores honey or cherries from the Jerte valley. The tourism sector is concentrated in the cities of Mérida, Cáceres, Plasencia, Badajoz, Trujillo, Coria, Cuacos de Yuste, Guadalupe or Hervás, and in regions such as Valle del Jerte, Valle del Ambroz or La Vera.

Extremadura Day is celebrated on September 8, which coincides with the Catholic feast of the Virgin of Guadalupe, patron saint of Extremadura.

Toponymy

About the origins of the name of Extremadura there are several hypotheses:

• The name of Extremadura derives from the Latin Extrema Dorii—“Let’s leave the Duero”, or rather “on the other end” of the Duero, referring to its position south of this river—with which the territories located south of the Duero River basin and its tributaries were designated.
• However, several medievalists explain the name of Extremadura as a derivation of "extreme", in the same way as "raspadura", "matadura", etc. That would mean simply the southern end of a kingdom, the border of the Christian kingdoms of the north, in particular, of the kingdoms of Leon and Castile with al-Andalus. Thus, Extremadura is the name that the lands of the border of Castile receive, around the present province of Soria as the shield of its capital says Soria pure Estremadura head; it would be about the Extremadura castellana and Extremadura is the name also given to the "extreme" territories, farther away and in the first line of defense against the Islamic enemy during the Reconquest, of the kingdom of Leon, which initially occupied much of the present province of Cáceres, to extend to the south after the conquest of the taifa realm of Badajoz: it was, sensu strictoOf the Extremadura leonesa.

Not to be confused with the old Portuguese province of Estremadura, although the etymological origin is the same.^{[citation required]}

The gypsies or Roma of the region call Extremadura Marochandé (“Land of Bread”), which comes from the words manró, “bread”, and chao, "earth", in Caló language.

Symbols

Flag

Flag of Extremadura:Green by the Order of AlcántaraWhite for the kingdom of LionBlack of Badajoz

The flag of Extremadura, as determined by article 4-1 of the Statute of Autonomy, is made up of three equal horizontal stripes: the upper one, green, the central one white, and the lower one, black. These colors have a historical explanation: the green color was the emblematic color of the scallop of the Order of Alcántara, whose territories and parcels spread over a large part of the provinces of Badajoz and Cáceres. The white color was used on the royal banner of the Leonese monarchs who reconquered the region, incorporating it into the kingdom of León. The color black is taken from the banner of the Aftasid kings of Badajoz, who created a great Muslim kingdom over most of Extremadura, in the 18th century XI, and bringing a literary and cultural splendor like never before known.

Shield

The coat of arms of Extremadura is described in Title I of Law 4/1985, of June 3, "on the coat of arms, flag and Day of Extremadura".

It's a shield with the Spanish mouth. Tied in an open colonel; composed of eight acant leaves, visible five, set in precious stones. Half-gamed and cut. In the first barracks, of gold, a rampant lion of linched and nailed gules. In the second in the field of gules a golden castle made of saber. In the third in azur field two Corinthian columns of gold surrounded by a silver ribbon with legend «Plus Ultra» loaded with letters of gules. In azur and silver stitch. Above all a silver scuson with a fused siple oak.

The coat of arms of Extremadura must appear on:

• 1.o The buildings of the autonomous community.
• 2. The flags of Extremadura that are displayed in the buildings or establishments of the various public bodies situated in the territory of the autonomous community of Extremadura.
• 3.o The official means of transport of the autonomic institutions.
• 4.o Diplomas or degrees of any kind, issued by representative authorities of autonomic institutions.
• 5.o The documents, printed, stamps and official use of the autonomic institutions.
• 6.o Official publications of the institutions of the autonomous community.
• 7. Official distinctions, if any, used by the representative authorities of autonomic institutions.
• 8. Sites or objects of official use that are determined by their particularly representative character.

The measurements of the shield will be in a 5/6 proportion as regards the height-width ratio.

History

Prehistory

Human prehistory in Extremadura began when groups of hunters traveled the basins of the most important rivers to find means of survival, back in the Lower and Middle Paleolithic. From these periods there are abundant remains such as hunting stones, carved in stone, which correspond to the Acheulean and Mousterian periods. Although the remains from the time when Homo sapiens sapiens appeared are quite scarce, some of them are of great quality and interest, such as those found in the Maltravieso cave.

Lower Paleolithic

In the Cave of Santa Ana, in Cáceres, remains of fauna have been found 800 000 years ago

The oldest evidence of human presence in the current territory of Extremadura dates from the Lower Paleolithic period. In the deposits —mostly superficial— crude quartzite tools have been found and, to a lesser extent, granite, but no remains of human corpses have been found. The technique used to build the tools consisted of hitting the stone with a stone hammer or horn until obtaining edges, points, notches, axes, peaks, etc. The oldest remains correspond to the middle phase of the Acheulean period, about 700,000 years ago. The oldest deposits are close to where there is suitable stone for carving and building tools and tools, or next to rivers and large tributaries. The areas with the greatest concentration of deposits from the Acheulean period are the surroundings of Mérida on the Guadiana river, Zújar river, Valdecañas reservoir, Alagón river, Jerte and El Sartalejo. The most outstanding instruments of this period are the hand ax, the cleaver and the trihedral pick.

Middle Paleolithic

Very few remains have been found in the region and they are all from the Mousterian period. They were created with a technique by which their craftsmen calculated the size of the instrument before extracting from the matrix stone a fragment suitable for the instrument they intended to make. The most characteristic tools were scrapers, denticulates and points. All of them are less heavy and less crude since they were built with more advanced technology than those of the Lower Paleolithic. The places where deposits of the Mousterian period were found correspond to those of the Acheulean period, that is, near the rivers. However, remains have also been found in low and middle areas of the mountains in Badajoz, which suggests that these inhabitants had a greater territorial dispersal capacity, as well as a better adaptation to inhabit certain places and obtain hunting, food and work..

Upper Paleolithic

The Maltravieso cave has hand paintings of 66 700 years ago

During this stage, Homo sapiens sapiens —modern humans— arrived from Africa about 50,000 years ago. At this time, the engravings and paintings of the Maltravieso cave, a sanctuary of Quaternary art, and the mines of Castañar de Ibor, all Magdalenian in style, were made. In Maltravieso there are engravings of the silhouette of a deer, various triangles and other geometric figures, but above all, more than thirty hands painted in negatives have been found, most of them without a little finger. No remains have been found to suggest that it was inhabited during this time, although from later times, so it can be deduced that it was a sacred place, not a habitation place. The remains found are grouped into three different types: bone, lithic and those made with animal antlers. The axes found in the "Cabezo de Galisteo" site stand out.

Neolithic

Although very few data are known about the Epipaleolithic in the current region of Extremadura, the Neolithic witnessed the emergence of the megalithic phenomenon and other remains that provide knowledge about some modifications in the subsistence of the human communities that inhabited the region. The most important were the introduction of livestock and agriculture, which were incorporated into existing hunting and gathering activities. As far as technology is concerned, the most important addition was the ceramic containers that allowed the storage of agricultural surpluses.

The dolmen of the Lacara meadow, 15 km northeast of Merida and built at the end of iv millennia a. C., is the largest tomb of Extremadura corridor

The most recent studies consider that the Neolithic in Extremadura began in the transition from v to iv millennium B.C. C. Thus, the concept of Late Neolithic that some authors had used was overcome, believing that the appearance of agriculture would have been much later in this area of Spain. The most representative sites of the Ancient Neolithic are the Charneca cave in Oliva de Mérida, the Cerro de la Horca in Plasenzuela, the Boquique Cave in Plasencia, the El Conejar cave in Cáceres and Los Barruecos in Malpartida de Cáceres. The oldest agricultural evidence in the region comes from this last site, dating back to the end of the vi millennium BC. C. The indications of animal domestication are weak, but it can be assumed that it is contemporary with the introduction of agriculture. Decorated ceramics have been found in these deposits, especially the variety known as "boquique", as it was documented for the first time in this cave in Plasencia.

Extremadura idol iii millennium a. C. National Archaeological Museum

From the Middle Neolithic, early 5th millennium BCE. C., there was a proliferation of megalithism in the region. There are few known settlements from this period, only some data from the Los Barruecos site. The megalithic phenomenon is, on the other hand, well known as there are large concentrations of dolmens in various regions of the region. Sets of this type of megalithic tombs can be found in Valencia de Alcántara, Cedillo, Santiago de Alcántara or Barcarrota, as well as other isolated examples of great interest such as the great dolmen of the Lácara meadow. This phenomenon had a long duration in time, until the beginning of the Bronze Age. Burials from this phase were usually characterized by the presence of flint microliths, smooth ceramics, and some plaque idols.

The Final Neolithic period is best known on the banks of the Guadiana, with sites such as those of Araya or El Lobo, to which we could add that of Los Caños de Zafra. These settlements developed from 3500 BC. C. and laid the foundations for the appearance of the Chalcolithic, from the iii millennium BC. C. These towns had a true agricultural and livestock vocation. Its situation, close to fertile lands, is on gentle hills close to riverbeds. The ceramics are characterized by being practically smooth, with few decorations and simple shapes. The most indicative pottery is the «carenada casserole», which appears regularly in the deposits of all the peninsular Southwest, demonstrating the integration of Extremadura within a common cultural dynamic characterized by the demographic increase and the increasingly clear consolidation of the agriculture and livestock.

Chalcolithic

During the Chalcolithic or Copper Age, prehistoric human communities made advances in the agricultural exploitation of the environment and metallurgy was developed with the beginning of the transformation of copper towards iii millennium BC. C. in Los Castillejos, near Fuente de Cantos. There was a development of social complexity both structurally and ideologically: there was inequality of roles and assets.

Pre-Roman Extremadura

Treasure of Aliseda, centuryVIa. C. National Archaeological Museum

Among the most important pre-Roman peoples that inhabited Extremadura were the Vettones (Vettoni), who inhabited the current provinces of Cáceres (north) and Salamanca, the province of Ávila and part of Toledo. The Lusitanos (Lusitani) (the most archetypal of Extremadura), which spread over almost all of present-day Extremadura and central Portugal, pastoral peoples dedicated to looting and war. Notable was the Lusitanian leader Viriato and his iron resistance against the Romans. Located to the south, close to the Guadalquivir, were the Celtics (Celtici), a mainly urban people who offered little resistance to the Roman troops.

Roman Extremadura

Roman Theatre of Merida, built in the centuryI a. C. and remodeled in the IV d. C.

The land of the Lusitanian confederation experienced a complete and profound Romanization. The degree of Romanization reached and the extension of the Ulterior province advised a separate government, which is why Lusitania was formed as an independent province in the time of Augustus (I BC), which included a large part of present-day Extremadura and central Portugal. Numerous communication routes (roads), large cities were built, highlighting Augusta Emerita, founded in 25 BC. C., a very significant city in the Roman Empire and capital of Lusitania, one of the provinces into which the Iberian Peninsula was definitively divided. A very important aspect was the adoption of the language of the Empire, the basis of all future peninsular Romance languages.

Roman bridge of Alcántara over the Tagus, centuryII d. C.

The capital of the province of Lusitania, Augusta Emerita, soon became a rich and culturally flourishing city, which in no way had to envy the other two Spanish province capitals, Tarraco and Corduba. It had a wide and careful network of communications that crossed it to connect it with the other provincial capitals and with other cities; Thus, the Ruta de la Plata linked Asturias with Augusta Emerita and Itálica; other routes led to Corduba, Olisipo or Conimbriga passing through the imposing Alcántara bridge. Mérida channeled the commerce and life of the province towards Rome, North Africa and Greece. There is no doubt that a high degree of well-being was achieved in the city, as demonstrated by the Roman circus in Mérida, capable of accommodating 30,000 spectators. It is estimated that its population exceeded 50,000 inhabitants in Roman times, enough for the poet Ausonius to affirm in the IV century d. C. which was the ninth most important city of the Roman Empire, ahead of Athens itself.

Vespasian took another step in Romanization by granting the right of Roman citizenship to all the inhabitants of the Iberian Peninsula, thus making it easier for Hispanics to access public office. In the III century d. C. the barbarian invaders looted the province in their path, which made it advisable to fortify the cities; the walls of Mérida, Coria and Cáceres date from this time. The feared danger would finally arrive in the s. V, leaving the province abandoned and in ruins. The city of Norba Caesarina became extinct. Others, such as Augustobriga, Cáparra and Iulipa fell into oblivion, despite remaining formidable monuments. The Lusitania was invaded first by the Alans, then by the Suevi and finally by the Visigoths.

Middle Ages

Church of Saint Lucia of the Trampal in Alcuéscar (c. centuries) VII-IX)

With the arrival of the Saracens, Visigothic Lusitania became a cora with its capital in Mérida, one of the largest and most powerful in the peninsula, with an area greater than the current area of Extremadura. This kora existed until the fall of the Caliphate of Córdoba in the XI century, when the taifa kingdom of Badajoz was established. Numerous traces of the Muslim period are preserved in Extremadura, which lasted more than 500 years until 1248, such as the Alcazaba of Mérida, the first in the Iberian Peninsula, the remains of the Alange fortress, the Alcazaba of Badajoz, the cistern of Cáceres, the castle of Trujillo, and in Galisteo the walls of the Almohad period built with river stones. In 1031 the taifa kingdom of Badajoz was created, geographically and in extension successor to the kingdom of Mérida.

Torre de Espantaperros, in the alcazaba of Badajoz, centuryXII

During the Reconquista period, the kingdoms of Portugal, León and Castilla conquered territories in what we now know as Extremadura. The kingdom of Portugal, under the mandate of King Alfonso I of Portugal and with the help of the warrior Geraldo Sempavor, disputed with the kingdom of León several territories of the old Taifa kingdom of Badajoz. The western part of this Muslim kingdom was reconquered by Henry of Burgundy, who received the Portucalense County (Oporto and surrounding lands), with the title of "Count of Portus Cale". This county would become an independent kingdom years later and would begin its expansion to the south until it reached Faro.

Extremadura leonesa

The kingdom of León reconquered part of the territory of Extremadura. On January 17, 1213, Alfonso IX conquered Alcántara, a town that he converted into the headquarters of the "Military Order of San Julián de Pereiro", later called the Order of Alcántara. In 1229 Alfonso IX took Cáceres after several failed attempts, such as that of Fernando II in 1169. On March 19, 1230 Alfonso IX conquered Badajoz and later that year he did the same with Mérida, a city that is very important for the Leonese monarchs because it is Episcopal seat of a Visigothic bishopric, which chained it to the old Mozarabic ecclesiastical tradition. On January 25, 1233, an army led by Fernán Ruiz conquered the town of Trujillo from the Almohads. This region of the kingdom of León was known as Leonese Extremadura since the "Cortes de Benavente" in 1202 », which divided the kingdom of León into four regions: León, Galicia, Asturias and Extremadura (Leonese). Since 1230, Badajoz had, as the capital of an ancient kingdom, privileges and privileges of an extensive territory, also known as the "kingdom of Badajoz" in royal titles. In 1258 this included the councils of Badajoz, Cáceres, Ciudad Rodrigo, Galisteo, Granadilla, Jerez de los Caballeros, Montemayor and Salvatierra de Tormes.

Extremadura castellana

Wall of Plasencia, centuryXII

For its part, the kingdom of Castile also advanced in the reconquest and in the year 1186 King Alfonso VIII founded the city of Plasencia on a previous settlement in order to ensure possession of Gredos and the Valle del Jerte. The Vía de la Plata was established as the border between the kingdoms of León and Castilla. In this kingdom existed the region known as Extremadura, Extremaduras or Extremaduras de Castilla, which included a wide territory, much larger than the current one, from the Ebro river to the Central System. This zone included forty communities of villa and land, the vicarages of Serón and Monteagudo and the episcopal villas of the mitras of Osma, Segovia and Ávila. In addition, the territories of the bishoprics of Ávila, Segovia, Sigüenza and Plasencia located to the south of the Central System belonged to the region.

Province of Extremadura

With the union of the kingdoms of León and Castilla in the Crown of Castile, both regions were unified. In the Cortes de Toro in 1371, Extremadura was recognized as an administrative region, with the name of province of Extremadura since the Cortes de Segovia in 1390. It is noteworthy that during this time Islam, Judaism and Christianity coexisted peacefully, called the three cultures, until that the Catholic Monarchs, after completing the Reconquest in 1492, decreed for their vassals the mandatory conversion to Christianity of all Jewish or Muslim individuals or the expulsion of those who did not accept the new official doctrine. In the XIV an event relevant to the religiosity of the people of Extremadura had taken place: the apparition of the Virgin of Guadalupe.

Modern Age

16th century

Concatedral de Santa María, in the old town of Cáceres, one of the most preserved and modern urban complexes in Europe

During the XVI century, there was a massive emigration of Extremadurans to America. Many were men in search of a fortune and fame that Spain could no longer offer after the fall of the Nasrid kingdom of Granada in 1492, the same year that America was discovered. Among the conquerors of the new lands, several Extremadurans stood out, such as Hernán Cortés, conqueror of Mexico; Alonso Valiente, secretary of Hernán Cortés, who also contributed to the conquest of San Juan Bautista (Puerto Rico), Nueva Galicia, Honduras and helped discover the old Bahama Canal; Francisco Pizarro who annexed the Inca territories to the Hispanic Monarchy, Alonso de Mendoza who participated in campaigns with Pizarro was commissioned to found a city with the name of Our Lady of La Paz in Bolivia, Ñuflo de Chaves, explorer and conqueror of Paraguay and the southeastern area of present-day Bolivia, founder of Santa Cruz de la Sierra in Bolivia, Diego García de Paredes, founder of Trujillo (Venezuela) and Pedro de Valdivia, conqueror of Chile, a territory initially named Nueva Extremadura, whose capital was Santiago de Nueva Estremadura.

Main Square of Trujillo, presided by the statue of Francisco Pizarro

Since 1528, Trujillo was the only capital of the territory of Extremadura, which had, according to the Census of Pecheros of Carlos I, 48,789 pecheros residents, 6.75% of the population of the Crown of Castile. The Census of the Millions recognized in 1591 the province of Trujillo as one of the provinces of Spain, to which most of the towns of present-day Extremadura belonged. The rest were in the province of Salamanca and the province of León of the Order of Santiago. This province did not have the right to vote in the Cortes of Castilla and depended on the administrative level of Salamanca.

One of the decisive events in the modern history of Extremadura occurred in 1580 with the union under the same crown, that of Philip II, of the Empires of Spain and Portugal, the two superpowers of the time. Due to their intermediate location between the capitals of both empires, cities in Extremadura such as Badajoz experienced a period of splendor that would be cut short with the outbreak of the Portuguese Restoration War (1640-1668), which marked the definitive separation of both kingdoms and marked the decline of Extremadura in the following centuries.

17th and 18th centuries

Puerta de Palmas, Badajoz

Map of the «province of Estremadura» in 1766 (directed to the north to the right)

The war of 1640 was the beginning of a tragic succession of devastating wars for Extremadura that did not end until the end of the Napoleonic wars at the beginning of the century XIX. The so-called Portuguese Restoration War —Guerra da Restauração, in Portuguese— maintained with Portugal from 1640 to 1668, transformed Extremadura in a decisive way and marked its destiny until very recent times. The arrogance of the Spanish nobility treated Portugal, its vast empire, its singular culture and its naval and commercial importance, as one more territory of an empire that was difficult to govern in many aspects, due to its complexity and extensiveness, during the period in which Portugal formed part of the Hispanic Monarchy —1580 to 1640—, from the reign of Felipe II, until that of Felipe IV.

Cathedral of Coria, with parts of Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque style (siglos XV-XVIII)

The war with Portugal transformed the cities and towns of Extremadura in a notable way, which suffered great depopulation and abandonment of farmland. The continuous skirmishes along the border and the settlement for almost thirty years of the soldiers in the towns of Extremadura caused a crisis that worsened after the end of the war, when this territory became "Extremadura" again. Once again border territory, with a very powerful empire as a neighbor and with continuous suspicion after the long period of hostilities.

In 1653 two votes were put up for sale in the Cortes. One was bought by Galicia and another, at the initiative of the city of Plasencia, would be bought by Extremadura, for a value of 80,000 ducats. The cities of Plasencia, Badajoz, Mérida and Trujillo and the towns of Cáceres and Alcántara joined to buy said vote.

Not thirty-five years had passed since the end of the war with Portugal and Spain found itself involved in the War of the Spanish Succession (1702-1713), which ended up ruining Extremadura, with the practical destruction of Badajoz at the hands of Austrians and that of the towns of the Tagus and Guadiana valley. For cross-border purposes, it was a new war with Portugal, which further widened the gap that separates both countries. Proof of this is the destruction by the Spanish of the Ajuda bridge in 1709, whose ruins have been the material expression of the Iberian disagreement for centuries.

Contemporary Age

19th century

British soldiers at the Battle of La Albuera on May 16, 1811. Oil Painting by William Barnes Wollen (1912)

During the Spanish War of Independence (1808-1814), Extremadura registered a new period of convulsions and hardships as it was located at a strategic crossroads for which the occupying French and national troops fought, aided by the English army Commanded by the Duke of Wellington. During this period, war and famine further contributed to the depopulation of the region. As an example, during the summer of 1809, the execution of Juan Álvarez de Castro, Bishop of Coria, took place in the town of Hoyos, at the hands of French troops commanded by Marshal Soult.

In 1810, the French divided the province briefly into the prefectures of Cáceres and Mérida, the antecedents of the current provinces. In 1822 the definitive division took place in the province of Cáceres and the province of Badajoz. The administrative reform of 1833 promoted by Minister Javier de Burgos definitively fixed the provincial capitals, not without some resistance from Plasencia and Mérida.

20th century

The thinker and doctor Antonio Elviro is considered the father of Extremaduran regionalism, and Luis Chamizo and José María Gabriel y Galán wrote works in the Extremaduran language.

The second half of the XX century was marked by demographic bleeding in the region, coinciding with the so-called Spanish economic miracle (1959-1973). It is estimated that more than 800,000 people left Extremadura to seek greater prosperity in other Spanish regions, such as the Basque Country, Madrid or Catalonia and in other countries such as France, Germany or the Netherlands.

Lusitania Bridge, designed by Santiago Calatrava, crosses the Guadiana River in Merida

On February 26, 1983, the statute of autonomy of Extremadura was promulgated through Organic Law 1/83 of February 25, so that Extremadura became an autonomous community. Its capital is Mérida, recognized by the Statute of Autonomy and the Statute of Capital as the seat of the Junta de Extremadura.

On May 8, 1983, the first elections to the Assembly of Extremadura were held with an absolute majority victory for the PSOE, which obtained 53.34% of the votes and 35 deputies. On June 8, 1983, Juan Carlos Rodríguez Ibarra, the first president of the Autonomous Executive, was appointed president of the Junta de Extremadura. On September 8, 1985, the first Extremadura Day was celebrated in Guadalupe after his institutional designation. On November 23, 1986, Cáceres was named a World Heritage City by Unesco and the Third Monumental Complex in Europe by the Council of Europe.

Juan Carlos Rodríguez Ibarra, president of the Extremadura Board from 1982 to 2007

On May 26, 1991, elections were held for the Assembly of Extremadura with a victory for the PSOE with 39 seats. On December 31, 1994, Law 40/1994 of December 30 declared the definitive stoppage of the construction project of the Valdecaballeros Nuclear Power Plant. The citizen claim of this stoppage is considered one of the first symbols of regional identity. On May 28, 1995, new elections to the Assembly of Extremadura, in which the PSOE, with 31 seats, obtained a minority majority that allowed it to govern alone throughout the legislature.

On February 25, 1998, the General Policy debate was held in the Assembly of Extremadura, in which the president of the Junta Juan Carlos Rodríguez Ibarra launched his project to atrogate the development model and embark on the conquest of the information society, announcing the incorporation of the computer in educational classrooms as a general strategic measure. On June 21, 1999, when the Governing Council was constituted, the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology was created, the first with that name in Spain, which assumed the newly created powers relating to the Information Society.

21st century

On May 25, 2003, elections were held for the Assembly of Extremadura, in which the PSOE increased its absolute majority, obtaining 36 seats. On July 31, 2004, the President of the Government, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, announced in Mérida the “Special Plan for Economic Revitalization and Employment for Extremadura”. On December 1, 2005, after a little less than a year of preparatory work, the broadcasts of the regional public television and radio stations of Extremadura began, Canal Extremadura TV and Canal Extremadura Radio, publicly owned media that are committed to a different operating model and which are the ones with the lowest budget, by far, in the panorama of Spanish public entities.

On September 19, 2006, after twenty-three years as president of the Junta de Extremadura, Juan Carlos Rodríguez Ibarra announced the decision not to stand for election to the Junta again as a candidate.

On August 18, 2018, the Day of the Languages of Extremadura was celebrated for the first time.

Geography

The surface area of Extremadura is 41,633 km², which places it as the fifth autonomous community in Spain by area. Its two provinces are the largest in Spain. It limits to the north with the provinces of Salamanca and Ávila (Castilla y León), to the south with Huelva, Seville and Córdoba (Andalusia); to the east, with Toledo and Ciudad Real (Castilla-La Mancha) and to the west, with Portugal.

Relief

Sierra de Gredos on its extreme side

Extremadura divides its territory between two large hydrographic basins, the Tagus (Cáceres) and the Guadiana (Badajoz) and three parallel mountain ranges: the Central System, the Montes de Toledo and Sierra Morena. In most of the region the Paleozoic base outcrops, although there are more or less large interior depressions that accumulate Tertiary clays and sands. The omnipresence of granite and slate forces the rivers to fit deeply into the terrain. The interior sierras have a clear Appalachian character, which is the type of relief that predominates in the mountains of Extremadura.

Despite the apparent homogeneity of its geography, Extremadura has great ecological variety. The highest elevations are found in the Central system: Calvitero (2,404 m), El Torreón (2,401 m), Canchal de Ballesteros (2,342 m), El Turmal (2,338 m), La Nijarra (2,214 m), all of them in the valley of the Jerte, Peludillo (2,250 m), Alto del Horco (2,162 m), Mesas Altas (2,070 m) and Peña Negra (1,637 m). In the Montes de Toledo de Las Villuercas they reach 1601 m with Pico Villuercas.

Agricultural fields in Magacela

Most of the rocks of the Central system were formed during the Carboniferous, within an ancient orogeny, the Variscan or Hercynian orogeny, later dismantled during the Permian and Mesozoic. The current relief corresponds to the Alpine orogeny. It is a set of faults and elevated and sunken blocks. In Extremadura, the mountains and valleys of the southwestern slope are developed: Sierra de Gata, Las Hurdes, Montes de Tras la Sierra-Valle del Jerte, La Vera and the Tagus depression, with the valleys of Tiétar, Alagón and Arrago. In this set we distinguish five landscapes with their own personality: Gata, from the Malvana mountain range on the border with Portugal to Las Hurdes. Las Hurdes, between Puerto Viejo and Alagón. El Alagón, between Riomalo and the Port of Baños. The Jerte Valley, between the Sierra de Candelario and the Sierra de Tormantos-Gredos. La Vera, between the Sierra de Tormantos and the Tiétar, is the southern slope of the Sierra de Gredos.

A series of sedimentary basins sit on the Tagus valley, topographically more depressed than the peneplain and covered by sediments from the region's rivers. The most western is that of the Vega de Moraleja, at the foot of the Sierra de Gata and irrigated by the Arrago river at the height of the Borbollón reservoir. The Coria-Galisteo plain is found below, on the Alagón river. To the northeast are the vegas de Granadilla, today occupied by the Gabriel y Galán reservoir. Finally, there is the basin of the Tiétar valley and Campo Arañuelo, the largest, limited by the La Vera step and the Tagus itself, to the south of Gredos.

In the center of the region appears the peneplain, the Paleozoic base that is the support of the entire relief. It is a flat region, gently undulating but with deeply embedded rivers. In the central peneplain we distinguish two sectors: the Llanos del Salor, to the west on the course of the Tagus, and the Tierras de Cáceres and Trujillo in the center to the left of the Tagus. All types of relief forms appear on metamorphic rocks: berrocales, bowling pins, towers, cavalier rocks, tors, whale back, etc.

Riachuelo crossing the dehesa

Sierra de las Villuercas

The Sierras Centrales of Extremadura are actually the westernmost foothills of the Montes de Toledo. They act as a dividing line between the Tagus and the Guadiana. These are old folds that were covered by sediments and later exhumed again, thus forming a typical Appalachian relief. We distinguish three groups: Las Villuercas, Montánchez and San Pedro. Las Villuercas are formed by a series of mountain ranges in a northwest-southeast direction and that reach Monfragüe in the Tagus. Its eastern limit is the Sierra de Altamira, which forms the border with Toledo. Montánchez is located in the center of the region between the Guadalupe and San Pedro mountains. The Sierra de San Pedro is the westernmost. It is formed by a multitude of small parallel mountain ranges of similar altitudes. Montánchez and San Pedro have a general direction from east to west.

A series of depressions covered with sediments sit on the Guadiana valley, but they have greater continuity and extension than in the Tagus. Las Vegas del Guadiana, around Mérida, in which the Vega Alta, around Don Benito and Vega Baja, between Mérida and Badajoz, can be distinguished. Towards Portugal the peneplain appears again, the Guadiana adopts a north-south direction and Las Vegas is extended by the Llanos de Olivenza.

The peneplain once again takes center stage in the south of the region. It is once again a flat region, gently undulating but with deeply embedded rivers, but with small depressions filled with clay and sand, and small Appalachian-type mountain ranges. Three regions can be distinguished: Tierra de Barros, a slightly depressed sector covered with clay around Almendralejo; La Serena, between the Zújar river and the Guadamez river, a wide glacis that connects the Extremaduran peneplain with La Mancha and the Alcudia valley; and Sierra Morena, a flexion of the peneplain that gives way to the Guadalquivir valley, where multiple low-altitude sierras stand out.

Mountain systems

To the north of the community rise the mountains of the Central System, with the Sierra de Gredos, the Sierra de Béjar where Extremadura reaches its highest altitude in the Calvitero with 2405 m, and the Sierra de Gata that separate it from the northern Castilian plateau. In the center are, from east to west, the Sierra de las Villuercas, the Sierra de Montánchez and the Sierra de San Pedro, which are part of the Montes de Toledo. To the south rises the Sierra Morena that separates Extremadura from Andalusia.

Hydrography

Rio Ibor at your pass through the Cacereña village of Bohonal de Ibor

Garganta Mayor de Garganta la Olla, in the Sierra de Tormantos

Extremadura distributes its waters between two large hydrographic basins, the Tagus and the Guadiana, and is structured around two rivers that originate outside the region.

All rivers in Extremadura are Mediterranean rivers with a strong dry season in summer, a maximum in spring, a secondary maximum in autumn and a secondary minimum in winter. They are rivers of pluvionival feeding. One of the most notable characteristics of Extremadura rivers is that along most of its course there are numerous reservoirs. Frequently the tail of one is a short distance from the prey of another. They are reservoirs for both irrigation and hydroelectric production. The channels for irrigation are very modern since most of them appear in the years of implementation of the Badajoz Plan. Extremadura is not a land of lakes, the few that exist are endorheic and very small, however, in the many meadows of Extremadura there are innumerable artificial ponds, which form more or less large wetlands excavated in various parts of the pasture to retain water. of rain, and which today have become important wetlands.

Tagus Basin

The Tagus River is the one that structures Cáceres. It is born in the Montes Universales, in the province of Teruel, and ends in Lisbon. It enters Cáceres after passing through El Puente del Arzobispo and forms the border between the provinces of Toledo and Cáceres until it reaches the end of the Valdecañas reservoir. The river fits deeply into the peneplain, which facilitates the construction of reservoirs. At present, since it became Extremadura, it is practically dammed up to Alcántara. Due to this deep embedding, large populations have not settled on its shores, the most emblematic being the town of Alcántara. Downstream it forms the border with Portugal and definitively leaves Spain after the Cedillo reservoir. In Extremadura, the Tagus receives some of its main tributaries. The main tributaries on the right are:

• The Tiétar river, which is born in the western foothills of the Gredos mountain range, west of Peña Ceni hundred (Ávila-Madrid). It enters into Cáceres after the Rosarito reservoir and collects the waters of La Vera and Campo Arañuelo. These are multiple tributaries, both on the right and on the left where the main populations are located. It flows into the Tagus, delivering the waters in the tail of the Alcántara reservoir, just below the Torrejón dam, in the Monfragüe National Park.

• The river Alagón is born in the mountains of Herreros, in the middle of the salmantine penillanura, tributary of the Duero. Also its main tributaries have its head in territories stolen from the Duero. It enters Extremadura very much fitted by Las Hurdes and thus continues to reach Coria in Cáceres. It flows into the Tagus very close to the Alcántara reservoir. It has important tributaries, on the right the river Hurdano, the river Los Angeles and the river Arrago; and on the left the river Caparra, and the river Jerte a river that surprises by its route between Plasencia and the Port of Tornavacas, which gives way to Ávila.

The main tributaries to the left are much smaller, since they are born in the Sierras Centrales of Extremadura. The main ones are the Gualija river, the Ibor river, the Almonte river and the Salor river. Of all of them, only the Almonte has a hydrographic basin of a certain entity. It collects the waters of the Tierra de Cáceres and receives tributaries from the left such as the Tozo River and the Tamuja River. It is a river embedded in the peneplain. The Alcántara reservoir exerts its influence up to its middle course.

Guadiana Basin

The Guadiana River in Merida

The Guadiana river is the one that structures Badajoz. It is born in the springs of Pinilla, in Albacete and flows into a large estuary in Ayamonte, in the province of Huelva, bordering Portugal. It enters Badajoz through the Strait of Las Hoces, in the Sierra de La Umbría, and on its way out it is already dammed. It runs through Las Vegas Altas and through the Tierras de Mérida-Vegas Bajas del Guadiana, which is why there are important towns on its shores, such as Villanueva de la Serena, Don Benito, Mérida and Badajoz. After passing Badajoz it acts as the border between Spain and Portugal and until it definitively leaves Extremadura after irrigating the Olivenza plains. The tributaries of the Guadiana are much more numerous, but shorter and less powerful.

On the right stand out: the Estena River, the Estenilla River, the Guadarranque River, the Guadalupejo River and its tributary on the right, the Silvadillos River that irrigates Las Villuercas, the Gargáligas River and its tributaries on the left, and the Cubilar River on the left. to the right the Ruecas river and the Alcollarín river, the Aljucén river and the Gévora river. All this area is irrigated by two important canals, the Orellana canal and the Montijo canal.

Río Zújar

On the left stand out: the river Zújar and its tributaries on the right the river Guadalmez that receives the waters of the river Alcudia, the river Guadamez, the river Matachel, the river Guadajira, the river Olivenza and the river Alcarrache. The left bank is also irrigated by two important channels, the Zújar channel and the Lobón channel. The most important tributary is the Zújar, which rises near the Granja de Torrehermosa, in Badajoz and collects the waters of Los Pedroches and the Alcudia valley.

Guadalquivir Basin

The southern slope of the Sierra Morena delivers its waters to the Guadalquivir River. In Extremadura are the headwaters of some of its tributaries such as the Bencébar River and the Viar River.

Climate

Environment of the La Serena reservoir at the end of August

The dominant climate in Extremadura is Mediterranean, but softened by the advection of maritime air masses from the Atlantic. The main centers of action are the polar front, which discharges its humid air masses, and the Azores anticyclone. In winter, the region is affected by the effects of the thermal anticyclones that appear over La Mancha, which give the region dry and cold weather. In this situation, fog is frequent in the Tagus and Guadiana valleys. However, the wall of the Central system makes it difficult for most of the rain-laden cyclones that cross the peninsula to enter due to the barrier effect, while the foehn effect provides the region with dry and hot winds, which can be strong. Cloudy days are rare, although there are big differences between the mountains, the Central system and the rest of the region. The insolation exceeds 2600 hours. Autumn cold drop events are rare, as the region is relatively far from major bodies of water. When they occur, they are associated with cold drops of greater radius located over the Gulf of Cádiz. Most of the rains enter the region from the southwest. The orography decisively influences the climate of some parts of the region, creating very humid microclimates in the northern mountains, particularly in the regions of Sierra de Gata, Valle del Ambroz, Hurdes, Valle del Jerte and La Vera, where rainfall they are very abundant.

Clouds in Fuentes de León

Precipitation is scarce in most of the region except the north. Most of it collects less than 600 mm per year, and in the center of the Guadiana valley less than 400 mm are reached. In the Sierra de Guadalupe they reach 1,000 mm, but where the most rains fall are in the mountains of the Central System, where they exceed 1,000 mm. The maximum is reached on the southern slope of the Sierra de Gredos (Valle del Jerte, Ambroz and La Vera), where they exceed 1500 mm. One of the most notable characteristics, especially in the drier regions, is the interannual irregularity. The rainiest time of the year is spring, followed by autumn. These are the times when the polar maritime air masses brought by the polar front arrive. The Azores anticyclone predominates in summer and drives away the rains. We found three, and even four, months of aridity in almost the entire region. As you go up the mountains, the months of aridity are reduced and in the highest mountains they are reduced to two.

Otoñal forest in Losar de la Vera

Mean annual temperatures range between 16 and 17 °C from year to year. In the north of Extremadura, average temperatures, of 13 °C, are lower than in the south, of 18 °C, and the values rise gradually as you go south until you reach the vicinity of Sierra Morena., where they decrease with altitude.

During the summer, the average temperature of July is higher than 26 °C, reaching daytime maximums that exceed 41 °C. It is therefore a hot summer whose temperatures are higher than they should be, in theory, due to its proximity to the Atlantic. The latitude of the region determines that the degree of insolation is high. This, together with the influence of the Azores anticyclone and the low average altitude of the region, which oscillates between 200 and 400 m, determines the high average temperature of the region.

Winters are mild. The lowest winter temperatures are recorded in high mountain areas, such as the Central System, the Sierra de Guadalupe and some areas of Sierra Morena, with an average temperature of 7.5 °C.

With these characteristics of rainfall and temperatures in Extremadura, the water balance is clearly negative, with a very pronounced minimum in summer and a long recharge period that does not guarantee the full recovery of the aquifers in dry years.

Vegetation

Dehesa de Montehermoso

The contrast that the mountains introduce in the region provide the autonomous community of Extremadura with a certain ecological variety, although most of the region belongs to the Mediterranean forest area. This has been an intensely exploited region since prehistoric times in which, however, there are less exploited areas. However, the forest exploitation model, the dehesa, has reached such a level of ecological balance that it allows the exploitation of the natural environment and the development of wildlife at the same time. The dehesa is a way of exploiting the forest in which competing species are uprooted from those that are exploited agriculturally. Thus, the tree layer appears, with holm oaks and cork oaks, and the meadow, with grass for the cattle to graze. Farms are also interspersed. It is a system of exploitation that dates back at least to Roman times.

Jaras in the region of La Siberia

The basal floor dominates in most of the region in which the Mediterranean forest appears. The typical vegetation is xerophytic, since it has to support the summer aridity. The dominant species is oak. The undergrowth is woody, thorny and aromatic, with evergreen species such as mastic and buckthorn. Species such as juniper, strawberry tree, rosemary, thyme and cistus appear in the floristic procession. In the most humid areas, oak appears as the dominant species. The gallery forest is very important, in which leafy species such as poplar, poplar or elm appear, which are found on the banks of rivers and ponds.

In the montane floor, oak appears as the dominant species, and it is the highest floor of most of the mountains in the region. This area has suffered from anthropogenic pressure, which is why repopulation species are found, mainly fast-growing allochthonous pines.

The subalpine floor only appears in the Central system. Here appears the oak and the beech. On the alpine floor, which only occurs in the surroundings of the Sierra de Gredos (Valle del Jerte, Ambroz and La Vera), the alpine meadow appears. This flat has been used for summer pasture since at least the Middle Ages and up to the middle of the XX century.

Protected natural areas

Monfragüe National Park

Natural monument of Los Barruecos, in Malpartida de Cáceres

Extremadura is one of the European regions that has the least degraded natural system on the continent, despite this the number and level of protection of these spaces is clearly insufficient. However, Extremadura has a national park, two natural parks, a nature reserve, a protected landscape, a geopark, four natural monuments and numerous ZEPAs, or special areas for the protection of birds.

Geopark Villuercas-Ibores-Jara

On September 17, 2011, the regions of Villuercas, Ibores and Jara were included in the world network of geoparks by Unesco. Villuercas-Ibores-Jara Geopark is the fifth geopark in Spain. Its geological (linked to the formation of the Appalachian Mountains in the United States) and natural uniqueness make these regions a tourist destination of regional interest.

Monfragüe National Park

On March 3, 2007, the Council of Ministers approved declaring Monfragüe a national park, making it the 14th park of its kind in Spain. It receives more than 80,000 visits annually.

Natural parks

Extremadura has two natural parks declared and managed by the Junta de Extremadura, which are the Cornalvo Natural Park, in Badajoz and the Tajo International Park, between Cáceres and Portugal.

• Natural park of Cornalvo, near Mérida and with an area of 13 143 ha.
• Natural park of the International Tagus, in the province of Cáceres and which has an area of 25 088 ha.

Natural reserves

Reserva natural Garganta de los Infiernos, in the Valley of Jerte

• Reserva Natural Garganta de los Infiernos, in the Jerte valley and with an area of 6927 ha and declared as such on 14 November 1994.

Protected landscapes

• Valcorchero and Sierra del Gordo in Plasencia

Natural monuments

Areas of regional interest

Sierra Grande de Hornachos

Government and politics

Background

Current laws of Extremadura are the Law of Baylío (XIII century), recognized in its Statute of Autonomy (the rest, such as Badajoz, are currently not in force).

The first institutions on record are the Captaincy General and the Royal Army of Extremadura (beginning of the XVII century), formed within the former province of Extremadura (with legal independence in 1653, although a geographical and cultural conception of it already existed previously), formally conforming in 1785, with its de facto recognition with the creation of the Royal Audience of Extremadura (1790); whose real and unitary existence projects a particular shared history and culture, whose most remote origins date back to the XII century in the Leonese Estremadura as a territorial entity within the Crown of León (extending to Badajoz), later within the Castilian-Leonese Crown and later integrated into the Hispanic Monarchy. The Extremaduras would achieve their administrative independence in the Cortes of Segovia in 1390.

Legislative branch

Extremadura Assembly

The regional parliament of Extremadura is the Assembly of Extremadura, made up of 65 deputies: 36 elected from the province of Badajoz and 29 from the province of Cáceres.

After the elections to the Extremadura Assembly in 2019, this was made up of 34 deputies from the Spanish Socialist Workers Party (absolute majority), 20 from the Popular Party, 7 from Ciudadanos and 4 from United for Extremadura.

Executive Branch

Juan Carlos Rodríguez Ibarra was president of the Junta de Extremadura from 1983 to 2007; previously, on December 20, 1982, he had been elected president of the Extremadura Regional Board, approving under his mandate on February 25, 1983 the Autonomy Statute for Extremadura. He was succeeded in office between 2007 and 2011 by Guillermo Fernández Vara, also a socialist, and between 2011 and 2015 by the popular José Antonio Monago. After the 2015 regional elections, Fernández Vara once again presided over the Extremadura executive, in a coalition formed by the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party and the Independent Socialists of Extremadura, thanks to the support of Podemos. Having agreed on the support of Podemos, and with the abstention of PP and Ciudadanos, the socialist candidate Guillermo Fernández Vara obtained the investiture as president of the Board. After the 2019 regional elections, the Assembly of Extremadura appointed Guillermo Fernández Vara president again, with the vote in favor of the deputies from his party, who had obtained an absolute majority in the elections.

The Spanish Government Delegation in Extremadura is located in the city of Badajoz.

Presidents of the Extremadura Board

Territorial organization

Provinces

The autonomous community of Extremadura is divided into two provinces: the province of Cáceres, to the north, and the province of Badajoz, to the south. Both are constituencies in the state and regional legislative elections (see electoral constituency of Cáceres and electoral constituency of Badajoz) and each have provincial councils (Provincial Council of Cáceres and Provincial Council of Badajoz).

Municipalities

Municipal map

Extremadura is territorially organized into 388 municipalities, of which 223 are in the province of Cáceres and the remaining 165 in the province of Badajoz. It owns 4.77% of the total municipalities that make up the Spanish territory (8131). The two provinces have a large number of municipalities. The province of Cáceres is one of the Spanish provinces with the largest number of municipalities, clearly above the Spanish average of 163 municipalities per province, while Badajoz only slightly exceeds that average.

The average area of the municipalities of Extremadura is 131.92 km² in the province of Badajoz and 89.09 km² in the province of Cáceres, an average under which large oscillations are hidden. The five largest municipalities are Cáceres, with 1,750.23 km²; Badajoz, with 1,440.37 km²; Merida, with 865.19 km²; Jerez de los Caballeros, with 739.79 km²; and Albuquerque, with 723.23 km².

The first three are also the most populated in Extremadura. Badajoz is the 43rd most populous municipality in Spain and the only one that exceeds 100,000 inhabitants in the community, although Cáceres is close to that figure.

Judicial parties

Judicial parties

The Statute of Autonomy of Extremadura establishes that the autonomous community has competence to establish the demarcations of the jurisdictional bodies in Extremadura and their location in accordance with what is established by the Organic Law of the Judiciary of Spain, legislation that attributes to the communities determine the capital status of the judicial districts. There are twenty-one judicial districts in Extremadura.

Comprehensive associations

From the birth of the autonomous community of Extremadura until 2008, there was no official county division in Extremadura. The Autonomy Statute provided for the possible division of Extremadura into regions through a law, but it was not until 2008 when, as a consequence of the economic crisis and the need to rationalize public spending, the Junta de Extremadura promoted a process of region-based in the creation of integral associations. Since then, all the municipalities of Extremadura belong to one, and only one, integral association. Extremadura is divided into 33 integral associations: 15 in the province of Badajoz and 18 in the province of Cáceres. All the municipalities, with the exception of Badajoz, Cáceres, Mérida, Plasencia and Navalmoral de la Mata, belong to one of the 33 associations into which the region has been divided.

Province of Badajoz

Integral community in the province of Badajoz

Caceres Province

There may also be natural areas that are sometimes popularly considered as regions but are not officially recognized: Valle del Ambroz, Campo Arañuelo, Valle del Jerte, Las Hurdes, Las Villuercas, Los Ibores, La Jara Cacereña, Sierra de Gata, and Trasierra-Tierras de Granadilla.

Apart from the communal division, which is the only official one in all of Extremadura, the Diputación de Badajoz has traditionally divided its province into comarcas, although these have never been official institutions.

Demographics

Population and density

Population density in 2018

The population of Extremadura is 1,067,710 inhabitants (January 1, 2019), INE source, therefore, it represents 2.27% of the Spanish population (47,026,208). It has a population density of 25.65 inhabitants/km², much lower than the average for Spain. The most populous province is Badajoz, with 673,559 inhabitants, with a population density of 30.95 inhab/km² and its surface area, 21,766 km², making it the largest province in Spain. 394,151 inhabitants live in Cáceres, with a population density of 19.84 inhabitants/km² and, with an area of 19,868 km², it is the second largest province in Spain after Badajoz. The population of Extremadura is very irregularly distributed. Badajoz has a population of 150,702, and is the only city in the community with more than 100,000 inhabitants. Only three towns have more than 50,000 inhabitants: Badajoz, Cáceres and Mérida, and another ten with more than 10,000: Plasencia, Don Benito, Almendralejo, Villanueva de la Serena, Montijo, Zafra, Navalmoral de la Mata, Villafranca de los Barros, Coria and Olivenza.

Of the 388 municipalities, 217 do not reach 1000 inhabitants. There are 9 municipalities that do not exceed 100 inhabitants. The population of Extremadura has a remarkably rural character. Only 28.67% of the population lives in the three cities with more than 50,000 inhabitants (Badajoz, Cáceres and Mérida, and 49.55% in cities with more than 10,000. The most densely populated areas are Badajoz, Mérida, Plasencia, Jaraíz de la Vera and Talayuela, but also Cáceres, whose density is somewhat distorted due to the fact that it is the largest municipality in Spain. They are densities of around 50 inhabitants/km².The axes Plasencia–Cáceres–Mérida–Almendralejo–Zafra and Badajoz–Mérida–Don Benito–Villanueva de la Serena are the most populated in the region, with densities around 40 inhabitants/km².The east of the region and the region of Llanos de Olivenza and in Valencia de Alcántara, the densities do not exceed 20 inhabitants/km² Thus, most of the territory of the region has a strong rural character.

Evolution of the population

Population growth by municipality between 1998 and 2008

Population growth by municipality between 2008 and 2018

Based on the boast made in September 1502 by order of Isabella I of Castile, a population of 70,000 neighbors and 350,000 inhabitants was estimated. The population of Extremadura, according to the 1591 census of the provinces of the Crown of Castilla, had amounted to about 540,000 inhabitants and accounted for 8% of the total of Spain. A new reliable census in Spain was not carried out again until 1717, the year in which it had 326,358 inhabitants.

From this time, there was a more or less constant increase in population until the 1960s, in the 20th century (1,379,072 inhabitants in 1960), from which a vertiginous population decline began due to emigration to other more prosperous countries and regions from Spain. Almost a million Extremadurans were forced to leave their homeland throughout the XX century. A phenomenon that was accentuated from the sixties due to the strong growth of the population and the impossibility of finding work in the region. Between 1950 and 1977, 645,000 inhabitants left Extremadura, that is, 45% of its population at mid-century. Most of them were between 20 and 40 years old. This exodus of thousands of young people contributed to the development of other regions at the same time that poverty and underdevelopment of the community of Extremadura were perpetuated for longer.

Many of them emigrated to other peninsular regions, since in fact, as late as 1987, 729 532 Extremadurans lived in different Spanish autonomous communities, most of them in Madrid, Catalonia and the Basque Country in that order. However, many others had to go to other European countries, especially France, Germany, Switzerland, the Netherlands and Belgium. This caused a stagnation of the population, which in 2006 was still lower than that of the region in 1930.

Throughout the XX century, Extremadura has been increasing its population at a much lower rate than the whole of Spain, so its relative weight has been continuously decreasing. Actually two periods can be distinguished, the first half of the century, where growth rates are even, and the second half of the XX, when Extremadura's growth rate drops precipitously. However, the provincial capitals, and Mérida, have gained population, while the rest of the region has lost it. Especially since 1960. In some regions the loss has been so great that they have become unpopulated, with population densities of less than 5 hab/km². The birth rates have been lower than the Spanish average and the mortality rates a little higher due to the aging of the population. To this process must be added the existence of migratory movements.

The birth and death rates have followed the general cycle of the demographic transition of Spain as a whole. However, the birth rate, since the 1960s, has been below the Spanish average, due to emigration, which affects the population of reproductive age. Since then, aging has raised the mortality rate a bit. In the most depopulated regions, the masculinity index is very high, which is why its inhabitants have great difficulties in getting married.

Extremadura demographic evolution figure between 1842 and 2020

Source: Spanish National Statistical Institute - Graphical development by Wikipedia.

Distribution

Types of urban centres

In Extremadura the urban structure is very loose. There are no big cities. Badajoz is the most populated urban center and yet its area of influence does not cover the entire region, except for some services, due to the strong influence of other population centers. Along with Badajoz, Cáceres is also the highest level nucleus: fifth level.

The fourth level is made up of seven regional capitals: Mérida, Plasencia, Don Benito, Almendralejo, Zafra, Navalmoral de la Mata, Trujillo and Miajadas. They have a large number of centralized services but these two levels are insufficient for the region. The east of the region and the north depend, to a large extent, on extra-regional centers: Ciudad Rodrigo, Béjar or El Barco de Ávila in Castilla y León; Talavera de la Reina or Ciudad Real in Castilla-La Mancha: and Córdoba or Seville in Andalusia.

Montehermoso peasants in the centuryXIX

In the third level there are towns with a large population but whose level of services has not exceeded certain levels due to the proximity of larger nuclei, plus some towns with little population that have achieved a notable level of services because they are far from the large urban centers: Villanueva de la Serena, Coria, Olivenza, Jerez de los Caballeros, Talayuela, Azuaga, Jaraíz de la Vera, Castuera, Valencia de Alcántara, Fregenal de la Sierra, Casar de Cáceres, Logrosán, Montánchez, Gata, Nuñomoral, Alcantara and Almendral.

On a second level would be the population centers that have managed to attract a few central services, thus extending them throughout a large part of the region: Montijo, Moraleja, Arroyo de la Luz, Cabeza del Buey, Oliva de la Frontera, Llerena, Montehermoso, Fuente de Cantos, Malpartida de Cáceres, Hervás, Herrera del Duque, Barcarrota, Talarrubias, Torrejoncillo, Aliseda, Cabezuela del Valle, Zorita. Below are the rural nuclei.

Extremadura, the market, famous painting by Joaquín Sorolla of 1917. At the bottom, Plasencia, on the left young Montehermoso

The central sites that provide services are very poorly distributed and do not effectively cover the entire region. As communications improve, these differences are less important, but large areas of the region are very poorly communicated.

The rural population of Extremadura presents a very strong tendency towards a concentrated nucleus. There are many factors that favor this concentration: low productivity of the land per hectare, historical and social factors in which the mode of exploitation of the dehesa, through direct domain and large property, explains the existence of large towns concentrated in the where a large number of day laborers live. We must not forget that the concentrated nuclei of the mountains are explained by the difficulty of finding suitable settlements. Despite this concentrated character, the towns north of the Tagus are very small. The size increases between the Tagus and the Guadiana, the larger the further south, due to the greater presence of large estates. Although the use of lime on facades is common in most of the region, the south of Badajoz is the land of the white towns par excellence. In these regions the towns are organized around a large porticoed square. They have streets that tend to be straight, and around the town there is a crown of small orchards owned by the residents of the town, essential in the past to complete the diet of the day laborers.

The extensive nature of agriculture, reinforced by politics with acts such as the Badajoz Plan, the Rural Employment Plan and aid from the European Union, has managed to establish population in the towns, but with few prospects for growth. However, in recent years, thanks to advances in technology, land productivity has increased and the weight of large property is beginning to be less noticeable. The large property has given rise to a very widespread type of rural house: the cortijo. It is a house with several buildings around a patio that house various functions: housing, stable, food store, etc.

Most populated municipalities

Population by municipalities by 2020

There are 19 municipalities in Extremadura with more than 7,000 inhabitants (INE, January 1, 2020):

Immigration

There are 32,451 foreigners in Extremadura, according to the INE as of January 1, 2019, of which 19,402 live in the province of Badajoz and the remaining 13,049 in Cáceres. The largest immigrant community is Romanian with 8,059 people, followed by the Moroccan with 7,202 people, and then the Portuguese with 3,140 people. The Chinese number 1,675 and the Brazilians 1,401. Among the natives of sub-Saharan Africa who live in Extremadura, the largest community is that of the Senegalese with 208 members. With regard to people from Latin America, except for Brazil and Colombia, the latter with 1,149, the rest of the nationalities have become barely remarkable in recent years.

Economy

Zafra Winner Fair

The greatest weight in the economy of Extremadura corresponds to the services sector (57%). Construction and small and medium-sized companies are the basis of an economy that is developing an incipient trade with the neighboring lands of Portugal and that maintains a high degree of tertiarization due to the boom that environmental and cultural tourism is producing in rural areas, traditionally agricultural, of their territory. Tourism constituted in the mid-2010s around 5% of the region's GDP. Economically it has been considered one of the most backward regions of the country.

Iberian pigs in the region

Extremadura still enjoys today an economic growth higher than the Spanish average. In 2017, GDP grew by 3.7%, registering the second best rate in Spain. This is undoubtedly due to a historical economic delay, but new market possibilities are being discovered and developed in the tourism, trade and agri-food sectors, mainly. A project to install an oil refinery in the south of the region caused a controversy at the regional level. The region has more than 400,000 Social Security affiliates, according to 2007 data.

In Extremadura there are around 8000 industries, most of them are small and medium-sized companies. The main subsectors are energy, agro-industry, cork, ornamental stone, machinery and textiles. In energy matters, the development of reservoirs and waterfalls has given way to a stable exploitation of hydroelectric resources and a production of energy greater than the consumption needs of the region itself.

Infrastructures and services

Education

• University of Extremadura

Energy

Almaraz Nuclear Power Station

Extremadura is a region that produces more electricity than it consumes. In 2012, its net generation was 18,506 GWh, while its consumption was 4,244 GWh, 5.4% less than in 2011.

In 2012, the installed capacity in the community was 4,386 MW in the ordinary regime (hydraulic and nuclear) and 1,245 MW in the special regime, which includes 539 MW in solar photovoltaic and 649 MW in solar thermal. Within the ordinary regime, the Almaraz nuclear power plant and the Cedillo, José María de Oriol, Gabriel y Galán, Torrejón, Valdecañas and Cíjara hydroelectric plants stand out.

Transportation

Road network

The roads in Extremadura have different ownerships. There are at least four major road administrations in the autonomous community of Extremadura: the Ministry of Public Works, the Junta de Extremadura, the Diputación de Badajoz and the Diputación de Cáceres.

Highways

The state highways that pass through Extremadura are:

Identifier	Denomination	Itinerary
	Southwest motorway	Madrid – Alcorcón – Móstoles – Talavera de la Reina – Navalmoral de la Mata – Miajadas – Mérida – Badajoz – Portugal
	Autovía Extremadura-Comunidad Valenciana	Mérida – * – Puertollano – A-41 – Ciudad Real – Manzanares – * – Argamasilla de Alba – Tomelloso – * – Villarrobledo – * – San Clemente – Atalaya del Cañavate
	Autovía Trujillo-Cáceres	Trujillo – Cáceres
	Autovía Ruta de la Plata	Gijón – Oviedo – Campomanes, Onzonilla – Benavente – * – Zamora – Salamanca – Plasencia – Cáceres – Mérida – Almendralejo - Seville
	Autovía Badajoz-Granada	Badajoz - * - Granada

The autonomous highways of the autonomous community of Extremadura are:

Key	Denomination	Itinerary	Category	Length
	Autovía Navalmoral de la Mata - Portugal	De Navalmoral de la Mata to Portugal	Automotive highway	123 (94 in service)
	Las Vegas Altas motorway	From Miajadas to Vegas Altas (Don Benito-Villanueva de la Serena)	Automotive highway	23 735
	Autovía de Zafra a Jerez de Los Caballeros	From Zafra to Jerez de los Caballeros	Automotive highway	Project
	Motorway from Cáceres to Badajoz	From Cáceres to Badajoz	Automotive highway	Project
	Almendralejo motorway to A-5	From A-5 (Guadajira) to Almendralejo	Automotive highway	Project
	Autovía de Badajoz a Olivenza	From Badajoz to Olivenza	Automotive highway	Project

N-521 Road in Trujillo

In addition, there are other road networks managed by the Town Halls in the municipal areas under their jurisdiction.

Public transport

In the region's public transport, buses stand out over any other means of public transport. Several companies operate in the region to transport passengers from one town to another, such as LEDA or CEVESA. In the main cities, such as Badajoz, Cáceres, Mérida and Plasencia, there are urban bus lines.

As for the railway, the cities of Extremadura do not have metro, commuter train or tram networks. The only train lines are the lines that connect the region with other places in Spain and Portugal, which have recently been deteriorated. The works for high-speed rail have been cancelled, with stations in Navalmoral de la Mata, Plasencia, Cáceres, Mérida and Badajoz. and in their place, they plan to implement profitable conventional roads with a capacity of 200 km/h and they want to put the Talgo for June 21, 2013. In any case, today, Extremadura has several routes of Regional and Intercity.

There is also an airport in Badajoz, with flights to Madrid, Barcelona and in summer to the Balearic and Canary Islands.

Culture

Heritage

World Heritage Site

Monastery of Guadalupe

Extremadura has three places that have been declared Cultural Heritage of Humanity by Unesco:

• Old Town of Cáceres, since 1986.
• Archaeological group of Mérida, since December 1993.
• Royal Monastery of Our Lady of Guadalupe, since 1993.

In the same way, the process has begun to obtain the designation as World Heritage of other assets such as the walled city of Plasencia, the city of Trujillo, the Alcántara bridge, the bastioned buildings of La Raya between Extremadura and Portugal, the Vía de la Plata and the route of Emperor Carlos V.

On the other hand, mention should be made of the uniqueness of the historic city of Badajoz, which has the largest walled enclosure in Spain and the largest citadel in Europe and the world in its genre and era.

European heritage

Monastery of Yuste

On April 13, 2007, the Yuste Monastery was declared a European Heritage Site.

Farm roads

The cattle tracks are routes or itineraries along which cattle traveled centuries ago between the summer pastures in the northern mountains and the winter pastures in the southern plains. These roads can be classified by their width:

In Extremadura, the livestock routes reach a length of 7,200 kilometers and occupy an approximate area of 30,000 hectares. In addition, six of the large ravines of the national network cross the region.

Livestock use of these roads has currently declined and there are factors such as the circulation of vehicles or urbanization, which can deteriorate and invade them. In this sense, we must work to stop this process, but, above all, because these routes have many possibilities from the tourist and recreational point of view, that is, they are another endogenous resource of great environmental and cultural value that must be made profitable. for rural development. The objective is to reconvert its specifically livestock use into leisure spaces in rural areas, thus recovering a whole popular and professional culture based on transhumance.

For all these reasons, these roads are an important element for Rural Development because they favor the fixation of the population in rural areas, due to their high potential in the development of socioeconomic activities such as nature tourism, the enhancement of of natural and cultural heritage or the promotion of craft activities.

Cinematography

The following films and series are set in Extremadura or have been filmed in the region:

Folklore

Extremadura has a prominent role in the Spanish folk scene. Traditions and folkloric elements persist in the region, making it rich in this sense, along the lines of a good part of the west of the peninsula. Extremadura folklore has its own elements and orders, at the same time that it reflects others coming from the influence of neighboring territories, especially from Leon (generally influential in the province of Cáceres and areas of northern Badajoz, although with some of its elements still appearing even in bordering areas of the province of Huelva) and Andalusian (more influential in the rest of the province of Badajoz, although some southern elements and forms also occur in Cáceres and other areas of the peninsular south). also certain Portuguese influences.

Parties

Extremadura has about forty festivals of tourist interest throughout the year. The processing and granting of the title of the festivities is carried out through the Ministry of the Environment, Urban Planning and Tourism. To obtain the status of Festival of Regional Tourist Interest, a festival must meet the following requirements:

These festivities of tourist interest usually coincide, although not always, with days of popular festivities in various places in Extremadura, such as San Sebastián, San Blas, Carnival, Easter, August or All Saints' Day. They stand out, among others:

• The Holy Cacereña Week, of International Tourist Interest, some of whose costumes are the oldest in Spain. Thus the one of Nazareth and Mercy have a statute of the year 1464, that of the Holy Spirit of the year 1493, that of the Holy and Vera Cruz of the year 1521 or that of La Soledad that dates back to 1582. During 2008 they paraded 12 confraternities with 37 steps in 18 parades, with the participation of some 3000 confraternities. The "Black Christ" step is one of the most venerated, highlighting its austerity and seriousness. Due to its peculiarity, it aspires to be declared an International Tourist Interest.
• The Holy Week of Merida, of National Tourist Interest, has numerous confraternities, in addition to the celebration of a Via Crucis with one of its oldest sizes, the Christ of the O, in the Roman amphitheater of the city. It has both old confraternities of the centuries XVIII and XIXas with many others founded over the centuries XX. and XXI.
• The Holy Week of Jerez de los Caballeros, of National Tourist Interest, has a total of eight hermandades paraded during those days through the streets of the town of Paz in a total of eleven processions. The four main churches (Santa Catalina, San Miguel Arcángel, San Bartolomé and Santa María de la Encarnación) plus the hermitage of the Saint Martyrs, become a center of attention and await to see the brotherhoods go out. This town of Suroeste Extremadura and Andalusia has a variety of images, with steps such as the Virgin of the Rosary, which produces on the Sunday of Ramos and Resurrection, or the Esperanza Macarena, which makes its penitence station in the Madrugá Jerezana.

Carnival of Badajoz, Festival of International Tourist Interest

• The Carnivals of Badajoz, of International Tourist Interest, are one of the most popular participants. In them there are a multitude of blouses that fill the colorful plain streets, with incredibly elaborate costumes, creating a great show on Carnival Sunday, when the official parade of Comparsas and Artefactos is celebrated. It also highlights the Murgas contest, held at the López de Ayala theater, in which numerous groups act with the objective of reaching the grand final, held on Friday of Carnival. They are one of the four Spanish carnivals with consideration of International Tourist Interest, along with those of Cadiz, Santa Cruz de Tenerife and Eagles.
• The Holy Week, of National Tourist Interest, has costumes and images that come back to the centuries XVI and XVII. Moments pointed out of these celebrations are the passage of the procession of the Christ of the Angustia, of the parish of St. Ferdinand, on the Bridge of Palmas, to which the lights are extinguished, achieving a precious print; the crossroads carried out in the Upper Square of the city with the passage of the Christ of the Prendimiento; or the procession of the Virgin of the Soledad, patron of Badajoz.

Piornal Jarramplas

• Jarramplas, of National Tourist Interest, Jarramplas is a character dressed in a jacket and trousers of which hang a multitude of multicolored ribbons, the head is covered with a conical mask of fiberglass that contains two horns and a big nose which makes a tour of the streets of Piornal playing a drum, while the neighbors throw vegetables and vegetables. Old potatoes were thrown at him, but he's being thrown out of the bush today.

Peropalo de Villanueva de la Vera

In smaller towns, the festivals of National Tourist Interest stand out, such as the Encamisá in Torrejoncillo or the Peropalo festival in Villanueva de la Vera; Also noteworthy are the Chanfaina festival and the San Isidro Labrador pilgrimage, in Fuente de Cantos, both of Regional Tourist Interest (being the only municipality with two festivals of this declaration); and the Jarramplas, in Piornal, of Extremadura Tourist Interest, or the Battle of La Albuera, also of Regional Interest, among many others.

Dances and popular music

Extremadura has preserved among its traditions a large number of dances and native dances. The songbook is one of its great treasures, where you can find songs for all occasions. Extremadura has had eminent musicologists such as Bonifacio Gil, Manuel García Matos and Ángela Capdeville, among others, who have carried out studies on the popular songbook of Extremadura, touring the towns to collect hundreds of songs and lay the foundations of the autochthonous songbook.

Dancers in Fregenal de la Sierra

The main characteristic of the dance is simplicity and elegance. The woman, with her agitated steps, makes her colorful glasses move. Her arms, despite being held by the polychrome "silk" scarves that cross her body, move back and forth according to the rhythm. The man dances with his arms raised looking at his partner, while his feet strongly mark the rhythm. In Extremadura, the jotas take a great variety of shapes and shades, the fandango, the rondeña, the triangle jack, the paleos, also stand out. the pindongo, the perantón, sones brincaos and sones llanos. Flamenco is also important (jaleos from Extremadura, tangos from Extremadura).

The instruments used are the three-hole flute (gaita Extremadura) and tambourine, guitar, lute, rebec, tambourine and other percussion instruments such as mortars, castanets or aniseed bottle.

Mythology

Gastronomy

The gastronomy of Extremadura is the set of dishes and culinary traditions of the region. The opening of the Vía de la Plata has meant that Extremadura cuisine has spread to other regions, also influencing the Spanish, while at the same time Extremadura cuisine has been influenced by other cuisines. The existence of numerous monasteries, such as Yuste or Guadalupe, has given rise to a culinary splendor of recipes that have come from their kitchens. Extremadura does not face the sea, and the dishes it offers are mainly meat and vegetables. diverse. Several foods, spices or fruits have a protected designation of origin.

In the field of meat, it is worth noting the large production of pork by-products, such as sausages and cold cuts in general. Pig production has high quality quotas in this region, due to the fact that they breed the Iberian breeds fed on the abundant acorns. One of the areas with the highest pig production is the Montánchez regions, it is said as a legend that the good hams (Jamón de Montánchez) from this land are due to the persecution that the pigs make of the vipers. Extremaduran chorizos so abundant in garlic and paprika from La Vera. One of the representative dishes is the cachuela from Extremadura, the chanfaina, etc. As Extremadura is a land of grazing, it is worth highlighting dishes with lamb: lamb stew, fried food from Extremadura. Game is plentiful and small game should be noted, one of the best-known game dishes are partridges in the Alcántara style due to a history with French troops. Among the fish, it is worth noting the various recipes made with salted cod, especially those that contain the denomination of vigil: vigil stew. Torta del Casar is a cheese from Extremadura with a European protected designation of origin. We must also highlight the traditional Migas Extremadura dish, in which products such as Pimentón de la Vera and Extremaduran chorizo are used.

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  Iberian Morcon

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  Sweet patatera

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  Pimentón de la Vera

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  Torta del Casar

Languages

Several Ibero-Romance languages are spoken in the region:

Extremadura languages

• Castilian, the only language recognized in Extremadura as an official, is also the mother and current language of more than 97 % of the population.
• Portuguese, with its main variants: the Portuguese oliventino, the Herrera de Alcántara, and the Portuguese of Cedillo and the border strip in Valencia de Alcántara and La Codosera. In most of these localities Portuguese is in regression. The oliventina variety had in 2014 1000 speakers, mostly older people. Some Extremadura schools offer Portuguese teaching as a foreign language, but not always at levels that lead students to dominate the language.
• Fala, a language closely linked to Galician and Portuguese, with strong asturleon influences, is catalogued as good of cultural interest and enjoys special protection from the Extremadura Board. It is considered a dialectal group of the galaico-Portuguese fully differentiated from Portuguese on the other side of the border and the other Portuguese varieties of Extremadura. It is spoken in the Valley of Jálama (Xálima in this language).
• Extremeño: forming language of the Asturleon trunk. Identifyed as such by international agencies is in a state of regression and almost completely lacks normalization.

Religion

Santa María de los Remedios de Fregenal de la Sierra, first canonically crowned image in Extremadura in 1906

Holy Christ of the Victory of Serradilla, one of the most devoted images of Christ in Spain

In Extremadura there are numerous religious denominations. Most of Extremadura belong to some Christian religion, from Catholicism, which is the one that congregates the most faithful, to evangelical and Anglican confessions, in addition, there are Jehovah's Witnesses in Extremadura and members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Saints of the Last Days (Mormons). However, there are also Jews and Muslims in the region, the latter with a notable presence in the autonomous community, which is estimated to be around 20,000 faithful to the Koran.

According to the regional barometer published by the CIS (Centro de Investigaciones Sociológicas) in 2012, religious affiliation in Extremadura is:

When asked: "How often do you attend mass or other religious services, not counting occasions related to social ceremonies, for example, weddings, communions or funerals?" The answers were:

Devotions to:

Media

Written press

The main national newspapers are distributed in the region: El Mundo, El País, ABC, La Razón, La Vanguardia and El Periódico. The main magazines on all kinds of topics are also distributed, for example: Cuore, Lecturas, El Jueves and Jara y Sedal.

At the regional level, there is the newspaper Hoy belonging to Vocento, which focuses more on the province of Badajoz, and El Periódico Extremadura, belonging to Grupo Zeta, which focuses more on the Caceres province. Both newspapers have offices in the main cities of Extremadura.

At the local level, the most important newspaper in the region is La Crónica de Badajoz, which is distributed in that city. Besides, there are also small regional and local newspapers and magazines of lesser importance that are distributed free of charge or paid at kiosks.

Radius

In the capital of Extremadura, Mérida is the main headquarters in the RTVE region from which RNE broadcasts. Besides, there are smaller offices of this institution in Badajoz, Cáceres and Plasencia. From these points, RNE broadcasts the territorial bulletin Crónica de Extremadura at the regional level, from Monday to Friday. In different points of the Extremadura geography there are headquarters of the main national private radio stations where they broadcast at a regional level. They are, for example, Los 40, esRadio, COPE, Cadena SER, ABC Punto Radio, Cadena 100, Cadena Dial, Europa FM and Onda Cero.

Currently in Mérida is the headquarters of the public radio Extremadura Canal Extremadura Radio belonging to CEXMA. In addition to this headquarters, it has others in Badajoz, Cáceres, Plasencia, Villanueva de la Serena and Madrid. Currently there is no regional radio station from Extremadura that broadcasts in the region.

Currently there is only one public radio station in the region that broadcasts at a regional/local level. This is Radio Miajadas, which broadcasts in that town and its area of influence. In Extremadura, they broadcast small radio stations that report regional and local news, such as Radio Plasencia Centro, Canal Norte, Radio Fórum Mérida, Radio Norte Trujillo or Radio Monesterio.

Television

Logo of Canal Extremadura Television

In the capital, Mérida, is the headquarters in the RTVE region from which TVE broadcasts. In addition, there are other headquarters of the corporation in Badajoz and Cáceres. From these cities, TVE broadcasts the regional news program Noticias Extremadura at a regional level, from Monday to Friday. In the region you can tune in to private national television channels in Spain, such as: Antena 3, Cuatro, Telecinco and La Sexta.

There is currently a public television channel that broadcasts at the regional level, it is Canal Extremadura TV, which belongs to CEXMA. Its headquarters are in Mérida, and offices in Badajoz, Cáceres, Plasencia, Villanueva de la Serena and Madrid. Currently, it does not broadcast any private television channel at the regional level, but it is pending to start broadcasting Kiss TV.

In Extremadura there are only three public television channels that broadcast at the regional/local level, namely Almendralejo TV, Villafranca TV and TV Miajadas. These channels broadcast in their localities respectively and their area of influence through DTT. In the region, there are private television channels that broadcast at the regional/local level through DTT, such as K30 TV, Comarcalia TV, Vía Plata TV, TelePlasencia or TeleZafra.

Notable people