Martin de Yeltes

Martín de Yeltes is a Spanish municipality and town in the province of Salamanca, in the autonomous community of Castilla y León. It is integrated into the Ciudad Rodrigo region and the Campo de Yeltes sub-region, which is part of the immense Campo Charro plain.

Its municipal area is made up of the towns of Campocerrado, Castillejo, Collado and Martín, it occupies a total area of 63.24 km² and according to the municipal register prepared by the INE in 2017, it has a population of 424 inhabitants.

Around the 19th century, the area where Martín de Yeltes is located today was a transit point for shepherds, carriages and horses that generally came from Extremadura towards León. Travelers could spend the night in posadas or ventorros.

Until the 1910s his name was Martín del Río.

Symbols

Shield

The heraldic shield that represents the municipality was approved with the following coat of arms:

« In the field of regular sulfur waves situated on the tip, spread from flank to flank, subsembled by the traditional symbols of San Martín: Incarnated with sword in sable cutting the layer to the natural that collects the incarnated hand of a poor one»

Flag

The city council has not yet adopted a flag for the municipality.

Demographics

Graphic of demographic evolution of Martin de Yeltes between 1900 and 2022

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

According to the National Statistics Institute, as of December 31, 2018, Martín de Yeltes had a total population of 421 inhabitants, of whom 218 were men and 203 women. Regarding the year 2000, the census reflects 560 inhabitants, of which 287 were men and 273 women. Therefore, the loss of population in the municipality for the period 2000-2018 has been 139 inhabitants, a 35% decrease.

The municipality is divided into four population centers. Of the 421 inhabitants that the municipality had in 2018, Martín had 509, Campocerrado with 11 and Castillejo de Yeltes with 1. Collado de Yeltes is considered uninhabited.

Geography

Integrated in the region of Ciudad Rodrigo, sub-region of Campo de Yeltes, it is located 60 kilometers from the capital of Salamanca. The municipality is crossed by the Autovía de Castilla (A-62) between km 297 and 304, as well as by the N-620 road, a conventional alternative to the previous one, and by a local road that connects La Fuente de San Esteban with Yeltes village.

The relief of the municipality is practically flat, oscillating in altitude between 828 meters to the southeast, on a high plateau located on the border with Cabrillas, and 730 meters on the banks of the Yeltes River, which forms the border with Sancti-Spiritus by the southwest. The town rises to 763 meters above sea level.

Northwest: Return	North: Boada	Northeast: The San Esteban Fountain
West: Sancti-Spíritus		This: The San Esteban Fountain
Southwest: Castraz	South: Yeltes high school	Sureste: Cabins and Sepulchre-Hilario

History

Its foundation dates back to the repopulation carried out by the kings of León in the Middle Ages, being framed in the Campo de Yeltes of the Diocese of Ciudad Rodrigo after its creation by King Fernando II of León in the XII century, then taking the name Martindelryo, a name that evolved into Martín del Río, had the town until 1910, the year in which it changed to the current Martín de Yeltes, in honor, precisely, of the river that crosses the term in its western sector, a fact corroborated by Royal Decree in 1916.

Detail of the map Carte Generale des Royaumes d'Espagne & de Portugal avec leurs principales divisions &c., made in 1705, in which you can observe Martín del Río.

With the creation of the current provinces in 1833, Martín de Yeltes was included in the province of Salamanca, within the Leonese Region.

Later, in 1902, the municipality of Martín de Yeltes (then still called Martín del Río) integrated into its bosom the territory of the until then municipality of Campocerrado, after decreeing the eviction of the residents of said town, which was attacked by the Civil Guard as a result of the request made before the court by the new owners of the municipality of Campocerrado, the Cobaledas, who had bought the land from the counts of Santa Coloma, after said purchase imposing an exorbitant rent to the inhabitants of Campocerrado, which the residents could not afford. Its until then mayor and secretary, came to travel to Guipúzcoa, to try to request the protection of the king, and to help them in the face of said eviction, not succeeding. For this reason, some sources point to the exodus of the residents in the direction of Andalusia, to embark in the port of Gibraltar to America as emigrants. In the last census prior to the d esahucio de Campocerrado, that of 1900, the town had a population of 162 inhabitants and 43 inhabited homes.

Finally, already in the XXI century, on April 9, 2004, the most serious event in history took place of this municipality, when a locomotive that was circulating isolated ran over, at a level crossing without a barrier in this town, a vehicle in which eight young people were traveling, six of them dying and the other two being seriously injured.

Administration and politics

Municipal elections