Province of Cuenca

Cuenca is one of the five provinces of the autonomous community of Castilla-La Mancha. It is located in the eastern part of this autonomous community and covers 17,141 square km. It has a population of 203,841 inhabitants – the least populated of the five provinces. Its capital city is also called Cuenca.

For the province in Colombia, see Cuenca Province (Gran Colombia).
Cuenca
Province
Cuenca provincial parliament
Cuenca provincial parliament
Flag of Cuenca
Flag
Coat of arms of Cuenca
Coat of arms
Map of Spain with Cuenca highlighted
Map of Spain with Cuenca highlighted
Coordinates: 40°00′N 2°00′W
CountrySpain
Autonomous communityCastilla–La Mancha Castilla-La Mancha
CapitalCuenca
Government
 • PresidentBenjamín Prieto (PP)
Area
 • Total17,141 km2 (6,618 sq mi)
 • RankRanked 5th
Population
 (2012)
 • Total218,036
 • RankRanked 44th
 • Density13/km2 (33/sq mi)
DemonymSpanish: Conquense
Official language(s)Spanish
ParliamentCortes Generales
Websitedipucuenca.es

Geography
Landscape in the province

The province is bordered by the provinces of Valencia (including its exclave Rincón de Ademuz), Albacete, Ciudad Real, Toledo, Madrid, Guadalajara, and Teruel. The northeastern side of the province is in the mountainous Sistema Ibérico area.

211,375 people (2007) live in the province. Its capital is Cuenca, where nearly a quarter of the population live, some 52,980 people. There are 238 municipalities in Cuenca.

Other populous towns and municipalities include Tarancón, San Clemente, Quintanar del Rey, Huete, Villanueva de la Jara, Motilla del Palancar, Mota del Cuervo, La Almarcha and Las Pedroñeras.

Cuenca Cathedral (built from 1182 to 1270), located in the city of Cuenca.

History

In 1851 Cuenca lost Requena-Utiel to the neighbouring Valencia Province, with which it was developing commercial ties. Nevertheless, Requena-Utiel remained Spanish-speaking (rather than Catalan), while the loss of its most dynamic region left the province of Cuenca relatively underdeveloped economically.

Population development

The historical population is given in the following chart:

Notes and references
    Wikisource has the text of the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica article "Cuenca (province)".

    List of municipalities in Cuenca

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