Valladolid
Province
From top to bottom and from left to right: The Castle of Peñafiel, Canal of Castile, typical landscape of the province, a pine forest, center of a Castilian town, Castle of La Mota and a wine cellar.
Flag Coat of arms
Map of Spain with Valladolid highlighted
Coordinates: 41°35′N 4°40′W / 41.583°N 4.667°W / 41.583; -4.667
Country	Spain
Autonomous community	Castile and León
Capital	Valladolid
Area
• Total	8,110 km2 (3,130 sq mi)
• Rank	Ranked 28th
	1.61% of Spain
Population  (2020)
• Total	520,716
• Rank	Ranked 29th
• Density	64/km2 (170/sq mi)
	1.11% of Spain
Demonym	Spanish: Vallisoletano/a
ISO 3166 code	ES-VA
Official language(s)	Spanish
Parliament	Cortes Generales
Website	diputaciondevalladolid.es

Valladolid (Spanish: [baʎaðoˈlið] ^ⓘ) is a province of northwest Spain, in the central part of the autonomous community of Castile and León. It has a population of 520,716 people in a total of 225 municipalities, an area of 8,110 km² (3,130 sq mi) and a population density of 64.19 people per km².

The capital is the city of Valladolid. It is bordered by the provinces of Zamora, León, Palencia, Burgos, Segovia, Ávila, and Salamanca. It is thus the only Spanish province surrounded entirely by other provinces of the same autonomous community. It is the only peninsular province which has no mountains.

Because the extensive plain on which the province lies is strategically important to overland transport, it is a major communications hub. From a national point of view it connects Madrid with the north of Spain, from Vigo in Galicia to San Sebastián in the Basque Country, and from an international point of view, it is on the shortest land route connecting Porto in the north of Portugal with Hendaye in the south of France.

The cuisine of the province is like that of Castile—meats and roasts occupy a central place. One of the most typical dishes is lechazo, a dish made from unweaned lambs, similar to veal. Suckling pig, black pudding, sausages, and sheep's milk cheeses are also traditional. The province has five wines with a denomination of origin.

The province once served as the capital of the Castilian court and the former capital of the Empire during the reigns of Emperor Carlos I, Philip II and Philip III, which explains why to this day it remains pregnant with castles and strongholds. The capital has an important historical – artistic heritage and one of the more important museums of sculpture of Europe. The province of Valladolid is specially famous for its processions of Holy Week, as much in the capital as in the localities of Medina de Rioseco and Medina del Campo. In addition, the province has two UNESCO world heritage sites within its category Memory of the World Programme: the Treaty of Tordesillas and the Archivo General de Simancas.

History

Map of the territory of the Vaccaei, the first people with stable presence on the sector of the middle valley of the Duero River documented in historical times.

Execution of the captains of the comuneros in Villalar in 1521, during the Revolt of the Comuneros.

Province of Valladolid in 1590 (Crown of Castile).

Juan Ponce de León (Santervás de Campos). He was one of the first Europeans to arrive to the current United States because led the first European expedition to Florida, which he named.

The province of Valladolid was established as such by the Royal Decree of 29 September 1833 driven by the minister Javier de Burgos, being attached to the historic region of Old Castile.

The first stable population that settled in the present province were the pre-Roman Vaccaei people (Spanish name: vacceos, the area that they inhabited is called "Region Vaccea") who belonged to a very advanced culture when the rest of the Celtic peoples arrived in the peninsula from the north of Europe (there is evidence that indicates that they also occupied territories corresponding to other provinces). By then, it was already defined for the chronicles as a region "free and discovered" and "an open country, wheat fields, deforested land" and the vacceos were involved in livestock farming and especially agriculture (cereals). In the year 178 BC, the Romans conquered the territory. Thus the lands that make up the current province came under their occupation, up to the barbarian invasions of the early fifth century AD when the province came under the control of the new Visigothic Kingdom.

After the invasion of the Iberian peninsula by the Muslims in the year 711, the Muslims arrived in these lands just a year later, in 712. Later, during the Reconquista, this area was the subject of battles between the Muslims and the Christian Kingdom of León in the first half of the eleventh century. In 939, after the Battle of Simancas clinched the domain of the basin of the Douro river by the Christian kingdoms. Valladolid was founded in the year 1072 by Count Pedro Ansúrez. From here its history was linked to that of the Crown of Castile. In fact, cities such as Medina del Campo or Valladolid became important administrative centers Castilians and also experienced an economic boom (mesta, fairs ... ). Had a great importance in the Discovery of the Americas in 1492 (Christopher Columbus will end up living the last years of his life until his death in 1506 in Valladolid) and the subsequent colonization with explorers such as Juan Ponce de León -discoverer of the Florida (United States)-. In fact, in some houses of Tordesillas, was signed the Treaty of Tordesillas which decided to the cast of the New World between the Catholic Monarchs and the Kingdom of Portugal giving rise to Latin America.

The revolt of the comuneros in the year 1520, which ended with the ringleaders of that revolt publicly executed in Villalar de los Comuneros. Valladolid became the capital of the Spanish empire between the years 1601–1606. When the Spanish Empire began to decline due to the continuing wars in which this involved and the emergence of new emerging powers, there was an economic decline in the area, as in the rest of the Spanish monarchy. During the War of the Spanish Succession (1700–1715) It positioned the side of the Bourbon pretender, that would be the one who got the throne. In the Peninsular War against France (1808–1814), there were a succession of small battles and the continued action of guerrillas as "The Undaunted".

In the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939) Valladolid was the "most significant regional nucleus" of Falangism in the Spanish Second Republic, garnering the second-highest provincial vote for the party in the otherwise dismal (for Falangists) elections of 1936, just behind Cadiz.^[1] The province was controlled by Franco's Nationalists throughout the Civil War. During the Franco period there was an exodus from the rural countryside to the industrial cities. A further exodus occurred with the arrival of democracy in Spain (early 1980s), when the province was made part of the new autonomous community of Castile and Leon. Start a process of economic growth that peaked with the Spanish property bubble and then suffers from the economic crisis of 2008-2015, like the rest of the south of Europe.

Economy

Cultivated fields (Open field system).

The first car of the Renault 4CV manufactured by FASA-Renault at the factory of Valladolid. The factory was opened in 1951.Resulted in a sharp growth in the industrial area.

The per capita GDP of the province is €24,751 per year in 2010 (more or less $32,176). If you take the Spanish average as an index with value 100, the province obtained a 109% over this index so exceed the national per capita GDP. The total GDP of the province amounted to €13,000,403,000 (more or less $16.900 billion).

Agriculture dedicated to the cultivation of cereals (wheat and barley), legumes, sugar beets, alfalfa, vegetables and vines. Important livestock. Intense industrial activity especially concentrated in the capital, derived from agriculture (pasta, flour, chocolate, sugar, etc. ), textiles, metallurgy, automobile manufacturing (FASA-Renault), chemical, construction, paper, graphic arts, etc. In addition to the capital city Valladolid, stand out the populations of Medina del Campo, Peñafiel, Tordesillas, Tudela de Duero, Laguna de Duero, Íscar, Olmedo and Pedrajas de San Esteban (this last, due to its large production of pine nut)

The top 10 companies by economic billing in 2013 were: Renault-España, Michelin, Iveco, El Árbol, Aquagest (Grupo Agbar), Lauki (Lactalis), Begar, ACOR, Grupo Norte and Queserías Entrepinares.

Government and politics

  Tierra de Campos

  Montes Torozos

  Tierra del Vino

  Tierra de Medina

  Campiña del Pisuerga

  Páramos del Esgueva

  Campo de Peñafiel

  Tierra de Pinares

Pimentel Palace, headquarters of the Provincial Government.

The Valladolid Province was established as such by the Royal Decree of 29 October 1833 driven by the minister Javier de Burgos as the rest of provinces of the country (see: 1833 territorial division of Spain). To do this took into account the common historic, cultural and economic characteristics of each territory.

The Government and the administration of the province of Valladolid corresponds to the Provincial Council of Valladolid, as outlined in the statute of autonomy of Castilla and Leon. Headquarters is located in the Palacio of Pimentel of Valladolid, since 1875, when the building was purchased by the Provincial Government.

Geography

Due to the climate, the predominant crop is Dryland farming.

Typical landscape of the province.

Torozos Mountains in spring.

Fields in winter.

Sunset on the plateau.

Climograph of Valladolid.

It is bordered by the provinces of Burgos, Palencia and Leon to the north, with Zamora, to the west; with the provinces of Salamanca and Avila to the south; and with the province of Segovia to the east. It is, therefore, the only Spanish province surrounded only – and entirely – by others in your same autonomous community (Castile and León).

the province has an area of 8,110 km² (3,130 sq mi), is located in the center of the Meseta Central, a plateau in the middle of the northern half of the Iberian Peninsula and is characterized by its uniform terrain (about 700 m on average), dominated by an extensive plain in which are distinguished: A limestone fells area defined by the valleys of different rivers, some of which stand out in altitude causing a mountainous landscape of hills witnesses, such as the Montes Torozos, San Cristobal hill (843 m) and the Sardanedo (854 m); a countryside location of soft hills; and by separating one and another, the so-called "hills", deep gorges with steep slopes, such as the width of Prado, Santovenia, Cabezon de Pisuerga, etc.. The highest point is in Castrillo de Duero and is the Cuchillejos hill (933 m). The lowest point is the Douro river passing by Villafranca de Duero (626 m).

Nature

The Nature Reserve Banks of Castronuño-Vega del Duero is the only natural area protected in this province. It is crossed by the river Douro.

Canal of Castile.

• Nature Reserve Banks of Castronuño: (Reserva Natural de las Riberas de Castronuño-Vega del Duero in Spanish) In the shire of Torozo's Mountains, is an area of moorland and Las Vegas sedimented. A migratory and nesting area for waterbirds. The Duero is surrounded by forests of Ribera and constitutes a very interesting swamp ecosystem. It is an area of great plains and absence of high elevations. The fauna is abundant, such as heron, martinete, common egret, snakes, ducks spoons, porrores common pochards, tufted ducks, cormorants, albotan, osprey, snake necklace, eagle of ladder, heron, peregrine falcon, lizards and colirroja Cinderella, ocelad lizard, frog of San Antonio, toads birth attendants, polecats, badger. The nature reserve is considered a Special Protection Area for Birds.
• Canal of Castile: (Canal de Castilla in Spanish) Construction started in 1753 and it took almost a century to complete since it was opened in 1849. It is shaped like a "Y" upside down and its purpose was the transport of the wheat of Castile toward the ports of the Cantabrian Sea but the arrival of the railroad soon made him become obsolete. Crosses 9 municipalities in the province.With the passage of time, in the margins of the channel have been forming a series of wetlands of high ecological value, representing an island of biodiversity. Its high ecological value is related to its diverse aquatic vegetation and with the large number of vertebrate species that are hosting them. Within the birds, in the channel there are 121 species of nesting birds and also wintering birds and birds hydrosphere and accidental; 42 species of mammals, 15 of them insectivorous; 11 species of amphibians and 14 reptiles and 14 species of fish.

Demography

Valladolid, with 298,866 people is the capital and the most populous city.

Laguna de Duero, with 22,645 people is the second most populous municipality.

Medina del Campo, is the third with 20,583 people in 2019.

Most populous municipalities

Foreign population by nationality Main countries (2019)
Country	Number	%
Bulgaria	5160	20,89%
Romania	5039	20,40%
Morocco	3432	13,89%
Colombia	1209	4,89%
Dominican Republic	863	3,49%
Brazil	850	3,44%
China	812	3,28%
Portugal	715	2,89%
Venezuela	683	2,76%
Italy	456	1,84%
France	365	1,47%
Ecuador	352	1,14%

A typical village in the province.

The twenty most populated municipalities in the province of Valladolid are the following ( INE of 2014):

Municipality by population
Rank	Municipality	Population
1ª	Valladolid	306,830
2ª	Laguna de Duero	23,555
3ª	Medina del Campo	21,274
4ª	Arroyo de la Encomienda	17,572
5ª	Tordesillas	8,973
6ª	Cistérniga	8,734
7ª	Tudela de Duero	8,717
8ª	Íscar	6,678
9ª	Zaratán	6,029
10ª	Peñafiel	5,428
11ª	Simancas	5,331
12ª	Cigales	5,008
13ª	Medina de Rioseco	4,906
14ª	Aldeamayor de San Martín	4,891
15ª	Santovenia de Pisuerga	4,155
16ª	Boecillo	3.989
17ª	Olmedo	3,759
18ª	Cabezón de Pisuerga	3,622
19ª	Pedrajas de San Esteban	3,503
20ª	Mojados	3,384

There are 225 municipalities, the majority are small.

Taking into account that the population of Valladolid, Laguna de Duero, Medina del Campo and Arroyo de la Encomienda represent almost 75% of the total of the 23 municipalities in the metropolitan area of Valladolid, there is a clear demographic contrast with highly depopulated areas of a marked rural character; among the more uninhabited areas of the province are Aguasal, Torrecilla de la Torre, Almenara Adaja, San Salvador, and Fontihoyuelo, which do not exceed the 40 registered inhabitants.

Patrimony

Castle of La Mota

Castle of Peñafiel, view from Plaza del Coso

Portillo Castle

Castle of Torrelobatón

Simancas Castle

Fuensaldaña Castle

Montealegre de Campos Castle

Walls of Urueña, a medieval town

The province has a total of 188 monuments considered as objects of Cultural Interest. A large part of them are castles, churches and historical sites, although there are also archaeological sites or files. In the case of the churches and monasteries are wide variety of architectural styles, including the preromanesque, romanesque, gothic, renaissance and baroque.

• 
  Church of San Cipriano of San Cebrián de Mazote, of preromanesque style.
• 
  Church of Our Lady of the Announced of Urueña, example of romanesque architecture.
• 
  San Pablo Church (Valladolid), example of gothic style.
• 
  Cathedral of Valladolid, example of renaissance Herrerian style.
• 
  Church of Our Lady of the Assumption of Rueda, one of the best examples of baroque architecture.

Gastronomy

Tejas with almond.

Barrels of a winery with the Ribera del Duero protected designation of origin.

Roast lechazo, is a very typical dish from the province, as well as others such as roast suckling pig.

The gastronomy of the Valladolid province is typically Spanish, although each area presents a different picture. In the northern area of the province, especially in the region of Tierra de Campos ("Land of Fields"), is the development of traditional sheep's cheese, among which is the cheese of Villalón de Campos, curing or cured; it is a fresh cheese also known as pata de mulo ("mule's leg"). They are also the usual garlic soup, stew developed slowly in stew to the Firelight, the lentils stewed elaborated with the variety pardina own of Tierra de Campos and pigeon or palomino made with different techniques. Within the typical cakes include the rolls of the Virgin of the sources used in Villalon of fields, the donuts of palo, appendages, oil cakes and greaves. In Medina de Rioseco you can taste the traditional sugared almonds or marinas, puff pastry cream filling and covered with sugar.

Bread

Variety of Durum wheat (Triticum aestivum). Due to the climate, the predominant crop is dryland farming (barley, wheat, avena, rye ...).

Bread made in the province of Valladolid has a great tradition that goes back to the ninth century (see also: History of bread). In fact, Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, during their retreat in the monastery of Yuste, made him get the bread in Valladolid and during the 16th century the master bakers members were financially supported by the Crown.

The typically Castilian bread receives the name of "Candeal bread", "sobao o bregado" ("sobao or labored"), because since remote times in Castile the wheat variety most used is the durum. It is a thin crust of bread and lightly toast, miga very white and compact with a fine texture and distinctive flavor. This type of bread is suitable to accompany red meats, stews or legumes accompanied by wines from the province. Traditionally it is made by hand, with an amassed slow fermentation and a prolonged, finished cooking in the wood-fired oven.

Under this denomination, fall different varieties; among them the most prominent is the variety of "lechuguino bread", characterized by its typical drawing and care that gives the name to the variety, since it was formerly known as, especially in rural areas, "lechuguino" to those people who were overly arranged.

Other varieties are the typical bread of four beds, with a characteristic splitting of the earth on which the central part is separated from the four masons or edges, the bread of tables, the bread of pulley, with a slit made with a string that imitates a pulley, the white bar or peaks and the Fabiola, created in 1961 by a baker from Valladolid in honor of Queen Fabiola of Belgium.

Other types not so traditional in the province but very consumed in the zone are the rustic bar and the bar of flame, that in Valladolid takes the common name of toolbar riche.

Culture

A Holy Week procession.

Calderón Theatre is the festival headquarters of seminci.

National Sculpture Museum.

A document from the Archivo General de Simancas (General Archive of Simancas). The UNESCO was awarded the distinction of World Heritage Site within its category Memory of the World Programme both to this file as the Treaty of Tordesillas.

The Provincial government is developing a program called "Cultural Travel" with the intention of bringing the population not only of Valladolid but of all Spain the rich collection of the historical province and the rich cultural heritage of the province of Valladolid to know and be able to learn, to understand, appreciate and enjoy this legacy (castles, palaces, churches, museums, gastronomy...). The province is one of the most advanced in terms of museums taking some of the most important of Castile and Leon and of Spain.

Holy Week holds ("Semana Santa" in Spanish) one of the best known Catholic traditions in the province. Is the annual commemoration of the Passion of Jesus Christ celebrated by Catholic religious brotherhoods and fraternities that perform penance processions on the streets of each city and town during the last week of Lent, the week immediately before Easter.

Easter is one of the most spectacular and emotional fiestas in Valladolid. Religious devotion, art, colour and music combine in acts to commemorate the death of Jesus Christ: the processions. Members of the different Easter brotherhoods, dressed in their characteristic robes, parade through the streets carrying religious statues (pasos) to the sound of drums and music – scenes of sober beauty.

Seminci ("Valladolid International Film Festival" in English) is a film festival held annually in Valladolid since 1956. Is one of the foremost (and oldest) film festival. The festival has always been characterised by its willingness to take risks and to innovate in its programming. It has also been keen to critically examine each new school or movement as it has arisen, whether it be German, Polish, Chinese, Canadian or otherwise. With a genuine concern for the art of cinema, for film-making and film-makers rather than the more obvious commercial or glamorous aspects of the industry, the festival has built up an identity of its own – equally attractive to enthusiasts, professionals and the media.

The National Sculpture Museum has more than 1,500 sculptures and 1,200 paintings from Middle Ages until the beginning of the 19th century, as well as a number of high-quality paintings (Rubens, Zurbarán or Melendez, among others). Sculptural collection is the most important Spanish of the Peninsula and one of the most prominent European of this thematic area.

The museum exposes many national sculptures, and some in Europe, as well as some paintings, ranging from the 13th to 19th centuries of Iberian Peninsula and the former territorial areas linked to Spain (Latin America, Flanders and Italy). Painters are present as Bononi, Rubens, Zurbarán, Ribalta or Melendez, but the center of your collection corresponds to sculptures dating back from the 15th to 17th centuries.

The Unesco was awarded the distinction of World Heritage Site within its category Memory of the World Programme at the Treaty of Tordesillas in 2007 and Archivo General de Simancas in 2017.

Sports

Real Valladolid plays as local in the José Zorrilla Stadium.

Valladolid has professional teams in four sports: football (soccer), basketball, handball and rugby. In football Real Valladolid is an historic team of the Spanish Liga. In basketball CB Ciudad de Valladolid replaces the original CB Valladolid (which featured players such as Arvydas Sabonis, Oscar Schmidt, John Williams, Ed O'Bannon and Panagiotis Vasilopoulos) following the older team's bankruptcy. In handball, BM Atlético Valladolid replaced BM Valladolid (winner of two King's Cups, one ASOBAL Cup and one EHF Cup Winners' Cup). There is also a women's handball team, BM Aula Cultural. Valladolid is also known as a national center for rugby, with two of the top teams of the league División de Honor de Rugby: CR El Salvador and Valladolid RAC, which between the two have won twenty National League Championships, fourteen King's Cups and fourteen Spanish Supercups.

Transport

The province of Valladolid has a great strategic importance because it is an important communications hub. From the national point of view, is the track that connects Madrid with all the north of Spain, from Vigo (Galicia) until San Sebastián (Basque Country). From the international point of view, here goes the shortest land route that connects Portugal with France, from the north of Portugal (Porto) to the south of France (Hendaye).

Roads

Autopistes and autovies

Name	From/Until	Important towns of Valladolid where it passes
Autovía del Noroeste	Madrid-A Coruña	Medina del Campo, Rueda, Tordesillas, Urueña
Autovía de Castilla	Burgos-Portugal	Cabezón de Pisuerga, Cigales, Valladolid, Simancas, Tordesillas, Alaejos
Autovía del Duero	Soria-Zamora	Peñafiel, Quintanilla de Onésimo, Tudela de Duero, Valladolid, Tordesillas
Autovía Valladolid-León	Valladolid-León	Valladolid, Medina de Rioseco, Mayorga
Autovía de Pinares	Valladolid-Segovia	Valladolid, Boecillo, Portillo, Aldeamayor de San Martín
VA-11	Valladolid-Tudela de Duero	Valladolid, Tudela de Duero
VA-12	Valladolid-Boecillo	Valladolid, Laguna de Duero, Boecillo
VA-20	Valladolid-Arroyo de la Encomienda	Valladolid, Arroyo de la Encomienda
VA-30	Cabezón de Pisuerga-Arroyo de la Encomienda	Cabezón de Pisuerga, Santovenia de Pisuerga, Renedo de Esgueva, Valladolid, Arroyo de la Encomienda

Autovía de Castilla.

National roads

Name	From/Until	Important towns of Valladolid where it passes
N-VI	Madrid-A Coruña	Medina del Campo, Rueda, Tordesillas, Mota del Marqués, Villardefrades
N-122	Zaragoza-Portugal	Peñafiel, Quintanilla de Arriba, Quintanilla de Onésimo, Tudela de Duero, Valladolid, Tordesillas
N-601	Madrid-León	Olmedo, Mojados, Laguna de Duero, Valladolid, Medina de Rioseco, Mayorga
N-620	Burgos-Portugal	Valladolid, Tordesillas, Alaejos

Train of the Renfe (AVE) Class 114 in Valladolid-Campo Grande Station..

European roads

Name	From/Until	Important towns of Valladolid where it passes
E-80	Lisboa-Gürbulak	Valladolid, Tordesillas, Alaejos
E-82	Tordesillas-Oporto	Tordesillas

Railways

Valladolid Airport terminal.

The path of the Spanish High Speed (AVE) stops in the town of Valladolid as part of the Madrid–Valladolid high-speed rail line. This line was inaugurated on 22 December 2007. It is expected that in the future other localities such as Olmedo and Medina del Campo have another high-speed lines that are at different stages of project like Olmedo-Zamora-Galicia high-speed rail line or Valladolid-Palencia-León high-speed rail line.

There is one publicly owned railway company operating: the Spanish national Renfe that operates long-distance and high speed rail services (AVE, Avant and Talgo).

Municipalities

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Province of Valladolid.

• Valladolid Province Tourism Board official Website
• Spain's Tourism Board official Website