The fourth largest region in Spain in terms of area, but sparsely populated, Aragon (Spanish: Aragón) does not offer anything that is usually associated with Spain. No beaches, cold in winter and for the most part far away from mass tourism make this part of Spain very original.
Aragon is primarily known for its scenic attractions, in particular the Pyrenees with gorges, rivers and forests with the highest mountain: Pico d'Aneto (3404 m). It is therefore a paradise for hikers and other outdoor activities. Also a festival for skiers in winter, with extensive ski areas (Formigal, Cerler, Panticosa e.g.) that leave nothing to be desired. The Ebro basin can distract from the partial monotony of the landscape in the interior of the region. Cultural highlights can be found in particular in the south of the Mudéjar towns. These still preserve buildings that are reminiscent of the Moorish times of the region. However, they were commissioned by Christians from Moorish architects.
1 Zaragoza
2 Barbastro
3 Calatayud
4 Huesca
5 Jaca
6
Monegros
7 Teruel
Spanish (castellano) with its own intonation; Aragonese in some valleys, vaguely Valencian in the east.
Automobile
Train (Canfranc station for Pyrenees region)
Zaragoza Airport (Sanjurjo)
Distinctive road network, also in the Pyrenees area
Train via the
center of Zaragoza, but also via Huesca/Jaca/Canfranc
Poor bus
connections for journeys in the Pyrenees region
Sightseeing features
Mudejar architecture in Teruel, Zaragoza, Calatayud, Cervera de la
Cañada and Tobed - UNESCO World Heritage Sites
Parque Nacional de
Ordesa y Monte Perdido - the "lost mountain" is a UNESCO World Natural
and Cultural Heritage Site because of its geological uniqueness, the
beauty and diversity of nature, the traditional ways of life such as
alpine farming that have become rare in Europe and the extraordinary
role played by art and culture.
Valle de Hecho, Valle de Anso
Zaragoza, Jaca on the Camino Santiago, Huesca, Fuendetodos (Goya's
birthplace)
Hiking in the Pyrenees
Skiing in ski centers e.g. B. Formigal,
Cerler, Panticosa (Grupo Aramon - one of the largest ski areas in Spain)
Urban tourism (Zaragoza - 5th largest city in Spain - 647 373
inhabitants)
Meat al chilindrón (in a sauce with tomato, onion and pepper)
Most famous wine: Cariñena (dark red and extremely strong)
Nightlife in Zaragoza in the old town or Calle San Miguel
Aragon, occupying the northeast of the Iberian Peninsula, has served
as a bridge between the Mediterranean Sea, the peninsular center and the
Cantabrian coast. The human presence in the lands that today form the
autonomous community date back several millennia, but the current
Aragon, like many of the current historical nationalities, were formed
during the Middle Ages.
prehistory
The oldest testimonies of
human life in the lands that today make up Aragon, go back to the time
of the ice ages, in the Pleistocene , some 600,000 years ago. This
population left behind the Acheulean industry, which found its best
weapons in the flint bifaces or the quartzite cleavers . Two new
cultures appeared in the Upper Paleolithic : Solutrean and Magdalenian.
The Epipaleolithic was centered in Lower Aragon, occupying the time
between the seventh and fifth millennium.
In the first half of
the fifth millennium BC, Neolithic remains were found in the Sierras
Exteriores of Huesca and in Lower Aragon. The Eneolithic was
characterized in the province of Huesca presenting two important
megalithic nuclei: the Pre-Pyrenees of the Sierras Exteriores and the
high Pyrenean valleys.
The Final Bronze begins in Aragon around
1100 BC. C. with the arrival of the culture of the urn fields. They are
Indo-European people, with a supposed origin in Central Europe, who
cremate their dead by placing the ashes in a funerary urn. There are
examples in the Cueva del Moro in Olvena, the Masada del Ratón in Fraga
, Palermo and the Cabezo de Monleón in Caspe , although the Castellets
site in Mequinenza stands out , the only one in all of Aragon in which
burial necropolises have been found together. and cremation. Part of the
excavations of this last site can be seen in the Museum of Zaragoza.
From the metallurgical point of view, there seems to be a boom given the
increase in foundry molds that are located in the towns.
The Iron
Age is the most important, since throughout the centuries that it lasts
the true substratum of the Aragonese historical population is
constituted. The arrival of Central Europeans during the Bronze Age
through the Pyrenees until they reached the Bajo Aragonese area,
represented an important ethnic contribution that paved the way for the
invasions of the Iron Age.
The Mediterranean contributions led to a commercial activity that
will constitute a powerful stimulus for iron metallurgy, promoting the
modernization of indigenous tools and weapons, replacing the old bronze
with iron. There is presence of Phoenician, Greek and Etruscan products.
In the sixth century B.C. there are six groups with different social
organization: Vascones , Suessetanos , Sedetanos , Iacetanos , Ilergetes
and Citerior Celtiberians . They are Iberian groups with a tendency
towards stability, fixing their habitat in durable towns, with houses
that evolve towards more enduring and stable models. There are many
examples in Aragon, among which Cabezo de Monleón in Caspe , Puntal de
Fraga stood out., Roquizal del Rullo or Loma de los Brunos. The type of
social organization was based on the family group, made up of four
generations. Self-sufficient societies in which most of the population
was dedicated to agricultural and livestock activities. In the Iberian
sphere, power was monarchical, exercised by a king; there was a
democratic assembly with the participation of the male population. There
were visible social differences and established legal-political
statutes.
The Romans arrived and easily progressed inland. In the
territorial distribution that Rome made of Hispania, the current Aragon
was included in Hispania Citerior. In the year 197 a. C., Sempronio
Tuditano is the praetor of the Citerior and had to face a general
uprising in his territories that ended with the Roman defeat and the
death of Tuditano himself. Given these facts, the Senate sent the consul
Marco Porcio Catowith an army of 60,000 men. The indigenous peoples of
the area were in revolt, except for the Ilergetes who negotiated peace
with Cato. There were different uprisings of the Iberian peoples against
the Romans, in 194 a. C. sees a general uprising with the elimination of
half the Roman army, in 188 a. C. Manlio Acidino, praetor of the
Citerior, must face in Calagurris with the Celtiberians, in 184 a. C.
Aulo Terencio Varrón did it with the suessetanos, to which he took the
capital, Corbio.
In the first century B.C. C. Aragon was the
scene of the civil war to seize power from Rome where the governor
Quinto Sertorio made Osca ( Huesca ) the capital of all the territories
controlled by them.
Already in the 1st century, what is now
Aragonese territory became part of the Tarraconensis province and its
definitive Romanization took place, creating roads and refounding
ancient Celtiberian and Iberian cities such as Caesaraugusta (Zaragoza),
Turiaso (Tarazona), Osca , (Huesca) or Bilbilis (Calatayud).
In
the middle of the 3rd century the decline of the Roman Empire began.
Between the years 264 and 266 the Franks and the Alemanni, two Germanic
peoples who passed through the Pyrenees and reached Tarazona, which they
looted. In the agony of the Empire, groups of bandits arose that
dedicated themselves to looting. The Ebro valley was devastated in the
5th century by various bands of criminals called bagaudas.
After the disintegration of the Western Roman Empire, the present-day
area of Aragon was occupied by the Visigoths, forming the Visigothic
Kingdom.
In the year 714, the Arabs arrived in the central area
of Aragon, converting ancient Roman cities such as Saraqusta (Zaragoza)
or Wasqa (Huesca) to Islam . It was at this time that an important
muladí family was formed, the Banu Qasi (بنو قاسي), their domains were
located in the Ebro valley between the 8th and 10th centuries. After the
disappearance of the Caliphate of Córdoba at the beginning of the 11th
century, the Taifa of Zaragoza emerged , one of the most important in
Al-Andalus., leaving a great artistic, cultural and philosophical
legacy.
The name of Aragón is documented for the first time
during the Early Middle Ages in the year 828, when a small county of
Frankish origin arose between the rivers that bear its name, the Aragón
river , and its brother the Aragón Subordán river . That County of
Aragon would be united to the Kingdom of Pamplona until 1035, and under
its wing it would grow to form the dowry of García Sánchez III on the
death of King Sancho "el Mayor" of Pamplona, in a period characterized
by Muslim hegemony in almost all of the Iberian peninsula. Under the
reign of Ramiro IThe borders would be extended with the annexation of
the counties of Sobrarbe and Ribagorza (year 1044), after having
incorporated populations of the historical region of the Cinco Villas .
In 1076, on the death of Sancho IV el de Peñalén , Aragon
incorporated part of the Navarrese kingdom into its territories, while
Castile did the same with the western area of the former domains of
Sancho el Mayor. Through the reigns of Sancho Ramírez de Aragón and
Pedro I , the kingdom expands its borders to the south, establishes
threatening fortresses over the capital of Zaragoza at El Castellar and
Juslibol and takes Huesca, which becomes the new capital.
This is
how the reign of Alfonso I “el Batallador” was reached , who would
conquer the flat lands of the middle Ebro valley for Aragon: Ejea ,
Valtierra , Calatayud , Tudela and Zaragoza , the capital of the
Saraqusta Taifa . Upon his death, the nobles would choose his brother
Ramiro II "the Monk" , who left his religious life to assume the royal
scepter and perpetuate the dynasty, which he achieved with the dynastic
union of the House of Aragon with the owner of the County of Barcelona
in 1137, the year in which the union of both patrimonies would give rise
to the Crown of Aragonand would add the forces that in turn would make
possible the conquests of the Kingdom of Majorca and the Kingdom of
Valencia . The Crown of Aragon would become the hegemonic power in the
Mediterranean, controlling territories as important as Sicily or Naples.
This situation would be repeated in the Caspe Compromise (1412),
where a war that would have dismembered the Crown of Aragon was avoided
as a good handful of aspirants to the throne arose, after the death of
Martín I "el Humano" a year after the death of his eldest son, Martín
"el Joven". Fernando de Antequera is the chosen one, from the Castilian
branch of the Trastámara family , but also directly related to the
Aragonese king Pedro IV "el Ceremonioso" , through his mother Leonor de
Aragón.
Aragon is already a large-scale political entity: the
Crown, the Parliament, the Provincial Council of the Kingdom and the
Foral Law constitute its nature and character. The marriage of Ferdinand
II of Aragon with Isabella I of Castile, celebrated in 1469 in
Valladolid, later led to the union of the crowns of Aragon and Castile,
creating the foundations of the Modern State.
modern age
The
Modern Age , however, also witnessed the tensions between the power of
the Hispanic Monarchy and those established in the foral states
originating from the evolution of medieval institutions, which ended up
exploding in the conflict of the Alteraciones de Aragón in 1591.
After the subsequent reduction of the powers of the Generalitat of
Aragon in the Parliament of Tarazona in 1592, mainly in military matters
to prevent an army from being armed in front of the King of Spain with
the resources and prerogatives of the Diputación del General, the
Century xvii was a period of decline of the institutions of the Kingdom
of Aragon, which was compensated with the historiographic work and legal
literature that kept the memory of the Aragonese peculiarities. In this
sense, the creation in 1601 of the Archive of the Kingdom of Aragon
(largely destroyed during the War of Spanish Independence and the Sieges
of Zaragoza together with the Palace of the Diputación del Reino ), the
continuity of the position of chronicler of Aragon — where authors such
as Jerónimo Zurita had stood out— and its obvious results in the work of
the Argensola brothers with their information on the events of Aragon of
1590 and 1591 (from Lupercio ) and Alteraciones populares de Zaragoza of
the year 1591 (by Bartolomé , or the Anales de Juan Costa and Jerónimo
Martel , eyewitnesses and also chroniclers of the Kingdom, which were
nevertheless destroyed by royal censorship; works all of them written to
counteract the version filipinaof the facts.
On the other hand,
the Diputación del General also exercised censorship, and ordered the
burning of the History of things that happened in this Kingdom in six
volumes of the Castilian Antonio de Herrera because "in said Chronicles
many things contrary to the truth were said" and it was entrusted to
Vicencio Blasco de Lanuza the writing of some Ecclesiastical and Secular
Histories of Aragon , whose second volume, which dealt with the serious
events that recently occurred, was published in 1619, three years before
the first, which gives an idea of the intention to respond to
Herrera's vision. Along the same lines, a ceremonial and brief list of
all the charges and ordinary things of the Diputación del Reino de
Aragón was commissioned. His lieutenant mayor, Lorenzo Ibáñez de Aoiz .
The cartography of the Kingdom of Aragon was also undertaken in this
period, entrusted to the Portuguese Juan Bautista Lavaña . These last
two works were completed in 1611.
During the War of Succession,
Aragon (like the rest of the Crown's territories: Catalonia , Valencia
and Majorca ) supported Archduke Carlos (of the House of Austria)
against Felipe V (of the Bourbons). After the battle of Almansa (1707),
Felipe V abolished the Aragonese privileges, adopted several centralist
measures and all the old political provisions of the kingdom (Nueva
Planta Decrees) were annulled. Aragon became in practice a province and
its Council was absorbed by the Council of Castile.
The War of Independence, after the intense destruction of the city of
Zaragoza, halted economic progress and significantly delayed the
capital's incorporation into the rhythm of modernity. With the first
provincial organization of Spain in 1822, Aragon had four provinces,
with Calatayud being the capital of the fourth province that comprised
municipalities of the current provinces of Zaragoza , Teruel , Soria and
Guadalajara . It disappeared with the new abolition of the Constitution
by Ferdinand VII . The provincial division of 1833 organized the
Aragonese territory into the three current provinces.
Throughout
the 19th century, the Carlists, who sought supporters for their cause in
this land, offered the restoration of the former regional liberties of
the already ancient and disappeared kingdom of Aragon. It was also in
this century the transition from a rural society to an industrial and
urban functioning, leading to a massive exodus from the countryside to
the largest cities of Aragón, Huesca, Zaragoza, Teruel or Calatayud ,
and a true emigration to other nearby regions , such as Catalonia and
Madrid .
During the 20th century, the history of Aragon has gone
hand in hand with that of the rest of the Spanish territory, to
highlight the "cyclical" economic impulse in the dictatorship of the
military Miguel Primo de Rivera (1923-1931) and the progress in civil
liberties and individuals, during the Second Republic. Also in June
1936, the Draft Autonomy Statute for Aragon was presented in the Spanish
Cortes, but the imminent civil war prevented the development of the
autonomist project.
Aragon was divided by the two sides that
faced each other in the Civil War . On the one hand, the eastern zone,
closest to Catalonia and controlled by the Regional Defense Council of
Aragon, loyal to the Republic, and on the other, the western zone, where
the three provincial capitals were located and under the control of the
national rebel fact. , having a harsh, bloody and savage repression in
them and during the contest. Some of the most important battles of the
Civil War were fought in Aragon, such as Belchite , Teruel or the Ebro .
Aragon since 1939 was under the Franco dictatorship along with the rest
of Spain.
During the 1960s, an exodus and depopulation from rural
areas to industrial areas such as provincial capitals, other areas of
Spain, as well as other European countries were unleashed. In 1964, one
of the so-called Development Poles was created in Zaragoza. In the
1970s, as in the rest of the State, a period of transition was
experienced, after the extinction of the previous regime, with the
recovery of democratic normality and the creation of a new
constitutional framework.
They began to claim their own political
autonomy, for the Aragonese historical territory; sentiment that was
reflected in the historic demonstration on April 23, 1978 that brought
together more than 100,000 Aragonesethrough the streets of Zaragoza. By
not having affirmatively voted in the past for a project of the Statute
of autonomy (second transitory provision of the constitution) and not
making use of the difficult access to autonomy by article 151, whose
aggravated procedure required, apart from the fact that the initiative
of the process that the autonomous community follow the steps of article
143, that it be ratified by three quarters of the municipalities of each
of the affected provinces that represent at least the majority of the
electoral census, and that said initiative be approved by means of a
referendum by the affirmative vote of the majority of the voters of each
province, Aragon acceded to self-government by the slow route of article
143, obtaining a lower ceiling of competence, and less self-management
of resources, for more than twenty years .
On August 10, 1982,
the autonomy statute for Aragon was approved by the Cortes Generales,
signed by the then Prime Minister, Leopoldo Calvo-Sotelo, and sanctioned
by King Juan Carlos I. On May 7, 1992, a Special Commission of the
Courts of Aragon, elaborated a reformed text that was approved by the
Courts of Aragon and by the Spanish Courts. Once again, a small
statutory reform in 1996 broadened the jurisdictional framework, forcing
a definitive comprehensive review for several years, and a new statutory
text was approved in 2007, by majority but without achieving total
unanimity. In the 1990s, the Aragonese society increases a significant
qualitative step in the quality of life due to the economic progress of
the State at all levels.
At the beginning of the 21st century, a
significant increase in infrastructure was established, such as the
arrival of the High Speed train ( AVE ), the construction of the new
Somport-Sagunto highway and the promotion of the two airports of the
autonomous community, Zaragoza and Huesca-Pyrenees. At the same time,
large technological projects were undertaken, such as the Walqa
Technological Park and the implementation of a telematic network
throughout the community.
In 2007, the Aragon Autonomy Statute
was again reformed - which was approved by a broad consensus in the
Parliament of Aragon with the support of the PSOE, the PP, the PAR and
the IU, while the CHA abstained - granting the autonomous community the
recognition of historical nationality (since the organic law of 1996 of
reform of the statute, it possessed the condition of nationality ), 14A
new title is included on the Administration of Justice and another on
the rights and duties of the Aragonese and guiding principles of public
policies , the possibility of creating their own tax agency in
collaboration with the state agency, as well as the obligation to public
powers to ensure to avoid transfers of the hydrographic basins such as
the transfer of the Ebro , among many other modifications of the Statute
of Autonomy .
The designation of Zaragoza as the venue for the
2008 International Exposition, whose thematic axis revolved around water
and sustainable development, meant a series of changes and accelerated
growth for the autonomous community. In addition, that same year two
anniversaries were celebrated: the bicentennial of the Sieges of
Zaragoza of the War of Independence against the Napoleonic invasion,
which occurred in 1808, and the centenary of the Spanish-French
exhibition of 1908.which was a modern event , to demonstrate the
cultural and economic thrust of Aragon and at the same time that it
would serve to strengthen ties and heal wounds with the French neighbors
after the events of the Napoleonic Wars of the previous century .
The current coat of arms of Aragon is made up of the four quarters
and is attested for the first time in 1499, consolidating since the
Modern Age to firmly take root in the 19th century and being approved,
according to precept, by the Royal Academy of History in 1921.
The first quarter appears at the end of the 15th century and
commemorates, according to traditional interpretation, the legendary
kingdom of Sobrarbe ; In the second barracks there is the so-called «
Cruz de Íñigo Arista », an innovation of Pedro IV the Ceremonious (based
on an anachronistic interpretation of the cross that symbolized the
religion of the Asturian, Navarrese and Aragonese Christian kings), who
took it up. of the ancient kings of Aragon, although historically there
were no heraldic emblems (or "signal weapons", as they were called in
the Middle Ages) on the peninsula before the dynastic union of the House
of Aragon with that of Barcelona in 1137 ; in the third quarter appears
the Cross of Saint George cantoned with four Moorish heads (the
so-called " Cruz de Alcoraz "), which is attested for the first time in
a seal of 1281 of Pedro III of Aragon and would recall, according to
tradition that emerged from the fourteenth century, the battle in which
Pedro I and the future Alfonso I the Battler took Huesca and it was
considered in the Modern Age one of the exclusive emblems of the kingdom
of Aragon; and in the fourth is the emblem of the so-called " bars of
Aragon " or Royal Sign of Aragon , the oldest of the heraldic emblems
that are part of the current shield, dating from the second half of the
century xii .
This emblem of gules and gold sticks was used
exclusively on seals, banners, shields and banners, being nothing more
than a family emblem that later denoted the authority as King of Aragon
until, with the birth of the modern State, it began to be a territorial
symbol .
The current flag was approved in 1984, with the provisions of Article
3 of the Statute of Autonomy of Aragon, the flag is the traditional one
of the four horizontal red bars on a yellow background together with the
shield of Aragon moved towards the pole.
The bars of Aragon, a
common historical element of the current four autonomous communities,
that in their day were integrated into the Crown of Aragon, are present
in the third quarter of the coat of arms of Spain.
The Aragon anthem was regulated in 1989 with music by the Aragonese
composer Antón García Abril who combines the ancient Aragonese musical
tradition with popular musical elements within a modern conception. The
lyrics were written by the Aragonese poets Ildefonso Manuel Gil , Ángel
Guinda , Rosendo Tello and Manuel Vilas , and values such as freedom,
justice, reason, truth, open land... which historically represent the
expression of Aragon, stand out within its poetic framework. as town
In addition to the official hymn, José Antonio Labordeta's Canto a
la libertad is generally considered the unofficial hymn of the
community.
Aragon Day is celebrated on April 23 and commemorates Saint George, patron saint of the Kingdom of Aragon since the 15th century. It appears included in Article 3 of the Statute of autonomy of Aragon since 1984. Institutional events such as the delivery of the Aragon Awards by the Government of Aragon or the composition of a floral Aragon flag are carried out, with the collaboration of citizens, in the Plaza de Aragon in Zaragoza.
The surface of Aragón is 47,719.2 km² of which 15,636.2 km² belong to
the province of Huesca , 17,274.3 km² to the province of Zaragoza and
14,808.7 km² to the province of Teruel . The total represents 9.43% of
the surface of Spain, thus being the fourth largest autonomous community
behind Castilla y León, Andalucía and Castilla-La Mancha. The
Encyclopaedia Britannica, in its 1911 edition, defined Aragon as a
central plain surrounded by mountain ranges. 8th
It is located in
the northeast of the Iberian Peninsula, at a latitude between 39º and
43º' N in the temperate zone of the Earth. Its limits and borders are in
the north with France , the regions of ( Occitania and Nueva Aquitania
), in the west with the autonomous communities of Castilla-La Mancha
(provinces of Guadalajara and Cuenca ), Castilla y León (province of
Soria ), La Rioja and Navarra and to the east with the autonomous
communities of Catalonia (provinces of Lleida and Tarragona ) and
Valencian Community (provinces of Castellón and Valencia ).
The orography of the community has as its central axis the Ebro
valley (with heights between 150 and 300 meters approx.) which transits
between two foothills, the Pyrenees and the Iberian, preambles of two
large mountainous formations, the Pyrenees to the north and the Iberian
system to the south; the autonomous community has the highest peaks of
both mountain ranges, Aneto and Moncayo respectively.
Pyrenees
The Aragonese Pyrenees is located in the north of the province of Huesca
and is arranged longitudinally in three large units: the High Pyrenees,
the Intrapyrenean Depression and the Exterior Sierras. The High Pyrenees
is formed in turn by the Axial Pyrenees and the Interior Sierras.
The oldest materials are found in the axial Pyrenees: granite ,
quartzite , slate and limestone , and it contains the highest heights of
the mountain range: Aneto (3,404 m asl ), La Maladeta (3,309 m asl ) and
Perdiguero (3,221 m asl) . The interior Pre-Pyrenees, made up of more
modern rocks (limestone) also has large mountains such as Monte Perdido
(3,355 m asl), Collarada (2,886 m asl) and Tendeñera (2,853 m asl) .
The intrapyrenean depression is a wide perpendicular corridor. Its
best represented stretch is the Berdún Canal . The southern limit of the
depression corresponds to the energetic reliefs of San Juan de la Peña
(1552 m asl ) and Peña Oroel (1769 m asl ), modeled on conglomerates of
the Campodarbe Formation.
The outer pre-Pyrenean mountain ranges
are found in the foothills of Huesca and constitute the southernmost
unit of the Pyrenees; Formed by predominantly calcareous materials, they
reach heights between 1,500 and 2,000 meters. The Sierra de Guara stands
out, one of the most important mountain ranges in the Spanish
pre-Pyrenees, its summit, the Tozal de Guara reaches 2077 m asl. The
Mallos de Riglos, near the town of Ayerbe, stood out for their beauty.
Ebro depression
A wide plain extends, after passing the
foothills, corresponding to the Ebro depression . To the southwest is
the Sierra de Alcubierre (811 m asl ) one of the typical millstones of
the depression. The Ebro depression is a tectonic trench filled with
sedimentary materials accumulated in the Tertiary era in horizontal
series. Fine materials such as clays, gypsum and limestone were
deposited in the center. To the south of the Ebro the millstones of
Borja and Zaragoza have remained .
Iberian system
The
Aragonese Iberian System is divided between the provinces of Zaragoza
and Teruel. It is a set of mountains without a clear structural unit,
which can be divided into two areas: the Jalón Iberian System and the
Turolense Iberian System. In the first, Moncayo stands out with 2314 m
asl, formed by Paleozoic quartzite and slate, partly covered by Mesozoic
limestone; to the southeast of Moncayo the Iberian System descends in
height. The second is made up of high ground (from 1,000 to 2,000 m asl
in general), but flattened and solid. To the southwest of the
depression, the peaks of the Sierra de Albarracín are reached above 1800
m asl , to the southeast the Sierra de Javalambre exceeds 2000 m asl and
finally we reach the Sierra de Gúdar (2024 m asl ) in transition to the
Maestrazgo .
Although the climate of Aragon can be considered, in general, as a
continental Mediterranean, its irregular orography leads to the creation
of various climates or microclimates throughout the entire community.
From the high mountain of the central Pyrenees to the north, with
perpetual ice (glaciers), to the steppe or semi-desert areas, such as
the Monegros, passing through the intense continental climate of the
Teruel-Daroca area.
The main characteristics of the Aragonese
climate are:
The aridity, product of a basin situation wedged between
the Pyrenean mountain ranges to the north and the Iberian System to the
south, which causes the rain to discharge on these elevated foothills
and creates a central situation of absence of precipitation and
temperature contrasts, with extreme seasons very long with very cold
winters and hot summers, and short and variable transitions —spring and
autumn—, all typical of the specific continental climate of the Iberian
Peninsula .
The irregularity of the rains due to the Mediterranean
climate component, with alternating dry and wet years.
The air
currents that are confined in the middle valley of the Ebro from
northwest to southeast ( cierzo ), which stands out for its intensity
and frequency, and from southeast to northwest ( embarrassment ).
Average temperatures are highly dependent on altitude. In the Ebro
valley, winters are relatively mild, although frosts are very common and
the wind chill can decrease a lot with the north wind, temperatures in
summer can reach close to 40 °C. In the mountain areas, the winters are
long and severe, the average temperatures can be up to 10 °C lower than
in the valley.
Two are the most important winds in Aragon: the
north wind and the eastern embarrassment . The first is a very cold and
dry wind that runs through the Ebro valley from northwest to southeast
and can be very strong and fast. The second is a warm, more irregular
and soft wind coming from the south-east.
The vegetation follows the oscillations of the relief and the climate. There is a wide variety, whether it is wild vegetation or human crops. In the high areas you can find forests (pine, fir, beech, oak), scrub and meadows, while in the areas of the Ebro valley holm oak and juniper are the most numerous trees, apart from the land exploited for agricultural use.
Most of the Aragonese rivers are tributaries of the Ebro, which is
the largest in Spain and divides the community in two. Of the
tributaries on the left bank of the river, that is, the rivers
originating in the Pyrenees, the Aragón river stands out , which rises
in Huesca but flows into Navarre, the Gállego and the Cinca , which
joins the Segre just before to flow into the Ebro at the height of
Mequinenza, in what is known as Aiguabarreig, forming one of the largest
river confluences in all of Europe. On the right bank, the Jalon, the
Huerva and the Guadalope stood out.
In the course of the Ebro
river, near the border with Catalonia, is the Mequinenza reservoir, with
a capacity of 1,530 hm³ and a length of about 110 km; It is popularly
known as the "Sea of Aragon". Special mention in hydrography deserves
the small Pyrenean mountain lakes called ibones. These lakes, of great
scenic beauty, have their origins in the last ice age and are usually
found above 2,000 m above sea level.
In turn, it should be noted
that the autonomous community belongs to three hydrographic
confederations: the aforementioned Ebro, the Tagus (which is born in the
Sierra de Albarracín ) and the Júcar whose main river in this community
is the Turia .
In Aragon, protected natural spaces are managed by the Red Natural de
Aragón, an entity created in 2004 to protect all elements with
ecological, landscape and cultural value and, at the same time,
coordinate and establish common standards that contribute to their
conservation and sustainable use. This entity includes national parks,
natural parks, nature reserves, biosphere reserves and other protected
natural spaces that have been declared by the autonomous community, the
Ramsar Convention or the Natura 2000 Network.
Within the
protected spaces is the only national park in Aragon: the Ordesa y Monte
Perdido National Park , the second national park created in Spain, in
1918, it is located in the Pyrenees in the Sobrarbe region , it occupies
an area of 15 608 ha , apart from the 19,679 ha of the peripheral
protection zone. Currently, it also enjoys other protection figures such
as the Ordesa -Viñamala Biosphere Reserve and is listed as a World
Heritage Site by UNESCO .
Since 2019, there is a second biosphere
reserve in the community, the Cabriel Valley, which includes the 220
kilometers of this river bed, belonging mainly to Castilla-La Mancha and
the Valencian Community, but which includes five municipalities at its
source from the province of Teruel .
There are also four natural
parks : the Moncayo natural park with an area of 11,144 ha, the Sierra y
Cañones de Guara natural park with 47,453 ha and 33,286 ha of peripheral
protection zone, the Posets-Maladeta natural park with 33,440.60 ha and
5,290.20 ha of peripheral protection zone, and the Valles Occidentales
natural park with 27,073 ha and 7,335 ha of peripheral protection zone.
There are also three nature reserves, five natural monuments and
three protected landscapes.
The Natura 2000 Network is made up of
the Special Conservation Areas (ZEC) and the Special Protection Areas
for Birds (ZEPA). Today the Natura 2000 Network in Aragon is made up of
201 spaces, which represents 13,612 km² and 28% of its territory with
spaces such as the Aiguabarreig Ebro-Segre-Cinca in Mequinenza , the
Sariñena Lagoon or the Belchite steppes .
Its traditional economy belonging to the primary sector with a
predominance of cereal and fodder crops, supported by an important sheep
herd, has been greatly modified in recent years by the unstoppable rise
of the industrial, service and trade sectors, followed by tourism. For
these purposes, the role of Zaragoza and its commercial and logistic
capacity in the northeast sector of the peninsula is noteworthy .
Aragon's GDP accounts for 3% of Spain's total GDP, with per capita
GDP standing at €26,107 in 2008, ranking 5th in Spain, exceeding the
national and EU average . The Opel company (Groupe PSA) has a factory
located near the city of Zaragoza, in the municipality of Figueruelas.
There are other important companies in electricity generation such as
Endesa with its Teruel Thermal Power Plant, in Andorra; the SAICA paper
mill, in Zaragoza and Burgo de Ebro; ICT Ibérica, i.e. in Burgo de Ebro,
Pikolín, Sabeco, Inditex or BSH, in Zaragoza; Lacasa Chocolates in
Utebo; or the Cella logging industry, the third in Europe.
The
PLAZA Complex, close to the Zaragoza airport, is the largest freight
logistics and transport center in southern Europe.
The regional
radio and television is launched, after almost fifteen years of a
continuous delay due to "extraordinary circumstances" of a political and
economic nature, where the crossed interests of the local media and the
lack of general political consensus, had postponed this media initiative
.
Its traditional products are already known internationally,
highlighting the lamb from Aragon, bread with tomato, Somontano wines,
Teruel ham, olive oil from Bajo Aragón, Calanda peach and almonds. The
existing denominations of origin have helped them open up new
international markets such as Japan, China or the United States, as well
as Europe.
The future is outlined towards the growth of the
tertiary sector, the maintenance of the secondary, and the gradual
reduction of the primary, like most Western economies. As important
economic activities, the growth of sports tourism stands out, promoted
through Aramón, that is, the set of ski resorts; Although a recent
phenomenon facilitated by the improvement of road communications (
Autovía Mudéjar ) is developing, such as cultural tourism, where the
city of Teruel is becoming a center of attraction at the national level,
thanks to its historical heritage (the Aragonese mudejar, declared a
World Heritage Site), the Dinópolis theme park and its proximity to
Albarracín .