Prehistory , exhibited at the
National Archaeological Museum of Spain in Madrid The territory of the Community of Madrid has been populated since the
Lower Paleolithic, mainly in the valleys between the rivers of
Manzanares,
Jarama, and
Henares, where several archaeological findings have been made. Some notable discoveries of the region the bell-shaped vase of Ciempozuelos (between 1970 and 1470 BCE), from the
Bell beaker culture.
Romans and Visigoths During the
Roman Empire, the region was part of the
Citerior Tarraconese province, except for the south-west portion of it, which belonged to
Lusitania. It was crossed by two important Roman roads, the
via xxiv-xxix (joining
Astorga to
Laminium and
via xxv (which joined
Emerita Augusta and
Caesaraugusta), and contained some important conurbations. The city of
Complutum (today
Alcalá de Henares) became an important metropolis, whereas
Titulcia and
Miaccum were important crossroad communities. During the period of the
Visigothic Kingdom, the region lost its importance. The population was scattered amongst several small towns. Complutum was designated the bishopric seat in the 5th century by orders of Asturio, archbishop of
Toledo, but this event was not enough to bring back the lost splendor of the city.
Al-Andalus The centre of the peninsula (the Middle Mark of
Al-Andalus or
aṯ-Ṯaḡr al-Awsaṭ) became a strategic military post in the 11th century. The Muslim rulers created a defensive system of fortresses and towers all across the region with which they tried to stop the advance of the Christian kingdoms of the north. The fortress of
Mayrit (Madrid) was built somewhere between 860 and 880 AD, as a walled precinct where a military and religious community lived, and which constituted the foundation of the city. It soon became the most strategic fortress in defense of the city of Toledo above the fortresses of
Talamanca and Qal'-at'-Abd-Al-Salam (Alcalá de Henares). In 1083 (or 1085)
Alfonso VI took the city of Madrid in the context of his wider campaign to conquer Toledo. Alcalá de Henares fell in 1118 in a new period of Castilian annexation.
Christian repopulation The recently conquered lands by the Christian kingdoms were desegregated into several constituencies, as a consequence of a long process of repopulation that took place over the course of four centuries. The feudal and ecclesiastical lords came into constant conflict with the different councils that had been granted the authority to repopulate. In the 13th century, Madrid was the only town of the current-day region that preserved its own juridical personality, at first with the Old
Fuero (Charter) and later with the Royal
Fuero, granted by
Alfonso X of Castile in 1262 and ratified by
Alfonso XI in 1339. On the other hand, the town of
Buitrago del Lozoya, Alcalá de Henares and
Talamanca de Jarama, which were rapidly repopulated until that century, were under the dominion of the feudal or ecclesiastical lords. Specifically, Alcalá de Henares was under the hands of the
archbishopric of Toledo and remained so until the 19th century. Around the town of Madrid, an administrative territory was created known as
Tierra de Madrid (Land of Madrid), the origin of the province that included the areas of the current municipalities of San Sebastián de los Reyes, Cobeña, Las Rozas de Madrid, Rivas-Vaciamadrid, Torrejón de Velasco, Alcorcón, San Fernando de Henares, and Griñón. Madrid was in constant strife with the powerful council of
Segovia, whose jurisdiction extended south of the
Guadarrama Mountains; they both fought for the control of the Real de Manzanares, a large
comarca (shire) that was finally given to the
House of Mendoza. Castilian monarchs showed a predilection for the center of the peninsula, with abundant forests and game.
El Pardo was a region visited frequently by kings since the time of
Henry III, in the 14th century. The
Catholic Monarchs started the construction of the
Royal Palace of Aranjuez. In the 16th century,
San Lorenzo de El Escorial was built and became another royal site of the province.
Early modern period The town of Madrid, which was one of the eighteen cities with the right to vote in the
Cortes of Castile, was seat of the Courts themselves on several occasions and was the residence of several monarchs, amongst them the emperor
Charles I who reformed and expanded the
Alcázar or Castle of the city. Alcalá de Henares grew in importance as cultural center since the foundation by the
Cardinal Cisneros of
its university. supervises the works on
El Escorial (by
Luca Giordano). In 1561, King
Philip II made Madrid the capital of the
Hispanic Monarchy. The surrounding territories became economically subordinated to the town itself, even beyond the present day limits of the Community of Madrid. But it was not a unified region as several lords and churches had jurisdiction over their own autonomous territories. During the 18th century, the fragmented administration of the region was not solved despite several attempts. During the reign of
Philip V, the
intendencia was created as a political and administrative division. Nonetheless, the
intendencia of Madrid did not fully solve the problem, and the region was still fragmented into several small dominions even though some processes were centralized. This territorial dispersion had a negative effect on its economic growth; while the town of Madrid received economic resources from the entire country as the capital, the surrounding territories—in hands of noblemen or the clergy—became impoverished. During the eighteenth century, the town of Madrid was transformed through several grandiose buildings and monuments as well as through the creation of many social, economic, and cultural institutions, some of which are still operating. Madrid grew to a population of 156,672 inhabitants by the end of the eighteenth century.
Province (by
Ulpiano Checa) The current territory of the region was roughly defined with the
1833 reorganization of Spain into provinces promoted by
Javier de Burgos, in which the province of Madrid was classified in the region of
New Castile (lacking the later any sort of administrative institution at the regional level nonetheless). The government institution at the provincial level was the
deputation (
diputación). In addition to the former body, another provincial political authority was the
civil governor discretionarily designated by the central government. Two modest changes to the 1833 provincial boundaries that concerned Madrid took place shortly before 1845, when Aranjuez (187 km2) left the
province of Toledo and joined that of Madrid, and in 1850, when the small municipality of
Valdeavero (19 km2), until then part of the
province of Guadalajara, joined the province of Madrid. in 1854 (by
Charles Clifford) One of the limits so far for the growth of the capital, water supply, experienced a substantial change in 1858 following the arrival to the city of Madrid of water from the
Lozoya River with the inauguration of the bringing of the
Canal de Isabel II. in Getafe (1924) In decadence since the middle 18th century, the city of
Alcalá de Henares, experienced a relative demographic and economic upturn in the second half of the 19th century, based on its newly acquired condition of military outpost, to which an embryonic industrial nucleus was also added. During the reign of
Ferdinand VII the south of the province was made up of small agricultural settlements of limited population. Among them, Getafe stood out in population, and became the seat of a
judicial district in 1834, with the main economic activity of the former jurisdiction still being non-irrigated agriculture.
Rail transport arrived in 1851, with the
Strawberry train, the railway connecting Madrid and
Aranjuez. During the
Spanish Civil War (1936–1939), the territory was divided by the battlefront, with the southwest of the province controlled by the
rebel faction, and the capital as well as a great part of the rest of the province by the
side loyal to the Republic. The city of Madrid was target of many bombings during the conflict, becoming the first big city in Europe to suffer such systematic and massive air attacks. Since the 1970s, a process of a population transfer from the capital to the rest of municipalities of the metropolitan area emerged. This process accelerated when the autonomous community was founded, and it took place along a strong decrease of birth rates.
Autonomous community The creation of the contemporary Community of Madrid was preceded by an intense political debate. Autonomous communities were to be created by one or more provinces with a distinct regional identity. Since the 1833 provincial organization, Madrid was part of the
historical region of
New Castile along with the provinces of Guadalajara, Toledo, Cuenca and Ciudad Real. Thus, it was first planned that the province of Madrid would be part of the future community of
Castile–La Mancha (which was roughly similar to New Castile, with the addition of
Albacete) but with some special considerations as the home of the national capital. The other provinces that were to become part of Castile–La Mancha expressed fears of inequality if Madrid were associated with them. These provinces opposed such a special status, and after considering other options for Madrid—like its inclusion in the community of Castile and León or its constitution as an entity similar to a
federal district—it was decided that the province of Madrid would become a single-province autonomous community by virtue of Article 144 of the Constitution, which empowers the Cortes to create an autonomous community in the "nation's interest" even if it did not satisfy the requirement of having a distinct historical identity. Thus, in 1983, the Community of Madrid was constituted and a
Statute of Autonomy was approved taking over all the competences of the old "
Diputación Provincial" and the new ones the Statute considered. During the first 25 years of the "autonomic" period, this autonomous community accounted for the biggest
economic growth in Spain, becoming a platform for the internationalisation of the
Spanish economy, featuring a marked preponderance of the
service sector. By the turn of the 21st century, a strong boost to the
construction sub-sector also took place. During this period the Community of Madrid stood out due to its role as centre for welcoming immigration, due to its condition as transport node vis-à-vis the Spanish geography, and due to its condition as scientific and cultural centre of the country. == Government and politics ==