Madrid - geography.

Madrid - geography. I INTRODUCTION Madrid, capital and largest city of Spain. It is also the capital of the autonomous region and province of Madrid. The city of Madrid is located in the historic region of New Castile near the geographic center of the Iberian Peninsula. Madrid is Spain's administrative, financial, and transportation center. The city is famous for its historical landmarks, museums, active street life, broad boulevards, and outdoor cafés. Madrid lies in an interior region that Spaniards call the heart of Spain. This region is divided in two by the Sierra de Guadarrama and the Sierra de Gredos mountain ranges. The city has an area of 607 sq km (234 sq mi) and lies within a larger autonomous community and province, both also called Madrid, which make up the same area of 7995 sq km (3087 sq mi). The city of Madrid spreads over several rolling hills at the northern edge of New Castile. Its average elevation is about 640 m (about 2100 ft) above sea level. Until about 1960 the small Manzanares River marked the western and southern boundaries of the city, but since then urbanization has spread across the river. Once a greenbelt at the edge of Madrid, the river is now bordered by high-speed roads that provide motorists with access to the center of the city. Beyond the developed part of the city, which ends abruptly, Madrid is surrounded by farmland. Although Madrid lies as far north as New York City and Chicago, its weather is mild most of the year. Winters in Madrid are fairly temperate because the Gulf Stream brings warm ocean water along the western coast of Spain and Portugal, and prevailing winds pull warm air inland. It is rare for Madrid to have more than a trace of snow; the average temperature in January ranges from 2°C (35°F) to 9°C (47°F). In contrast, summers can be hot, with July temperatures ranging from 17°C (63°F) to 31°C (87°F). The summer heat is often lessened in the evenings by winds from the Sierra de Guadarrama mountains. These same winds, however, can make winter weather seem colder. The yearly rainfall varies considerably, but it averages 460 mm (18 in), about the same as Tucson, Arizona. II A MADRID AND ITS METROPOLITAN AREA The Old City The traditional heart of Madrid is an area 3.9 sq km (1.5 sq mi). In 1656 King Philip IV had a city wall built around the area. Over the next 200 years the city grew through construction of taller buildings and the use of open land within the wall. The first major expansion outside the wall was to the east; this area, known as the Barrio de Salamanca, is still considered an exclusive neighborhood. Major plazas and monuments mark the old inner city. On the west side of the Manzanares River is a large park known as the Casa de Campo (Country House). Overlooking it is the Royal Palace. The palace stands on the site of the older Alcázar Palace, which began as a medieval fortress. In the early 1500s the Alcázar was used as a hunting lodge, and it was remodeled by King Philip II after he established Madrid as his capital city in 1561. The current palace was built from 1738 to 1765 after a massive fire destroyed the Alcázar. Today the Royal Palace stands as a huge, neoclassical monument to the Spanish monarchy in the 1700s. From the Royal Palace one can follow the old Calle Mayor (Main Street) a few blocks east to the equally imposing Plaza Mayor. Madrid has many plazas (large public squares lined with buildings), and the Plaza Mayor is one of the most notable. This plaza was built from 1617 to 1619 and served as the civic and economic center of Madrid until the end of the 19th century. It was used every day as a public market and was the scene of public ceremonies. It was also used as a bullring for royal festivals and held as many as 50,000 spectators. Now the Plaza Mayor is primarily a tourist center. A few blocks farther east along the Calle Mayor is the Puerta del Sol. Considered the center of Madrid, this plaza is the point from which distance is measured on highways leading away from the city. From the Puerta del Sol the main east-west route through the old city continues as the Calle de Alcalá. This street runs a few more blocks east to the Plaza de Cibeles and the nearby Puerta de Alcalá. The Plaza de Cibeles is named after a statue of Cybele, the Roman goddess of nature. In the 18th century King Charles III placed the statue at the plaza, regarded as the main entrance to Madrid. Today the plaza is marked by the immense central post office, which was built in the early 20th century. The Calle de Alcalá continues eastward from the old city, passing the Plaza de Toros (bullring), which can accommodate 25,000 spectators. Though once on the eastern edge of Madrid, the Plaza de Toros is now surrounded by the city. Running north-south from the Plaza de Cibeles is the most famous street of Madrid. The name of this tree-lined boulevard changes three times. The two oldest sections, the Paseo del Prado and the Paseo de Recoletos, made up the eastern edge of the city until it began to expand after 1850. The word prado means meadow or pasture in Spanish, and the area that is now the Paseo del Prado was an open meadow area until around 1740. Thereafter the Prado area was gradually developed into a combination of boulevards, walkways, and fountains lined with museums, libraries, and sidewalk cafés, as well as the royal Botanical Garden. The two older sections of the street are also near Madrid's Retiro Park. Retiro means resting place or retreat in Spanish. This park began as the gardens around a royal palace and in the 1770s it became a public park. The third section of the famous three-part street is the Paseo de la Castellana, which runs north from the old city and was extended several times as the city grew. This boulevard is lined by the skyscrapers and high-rise apartment buildings typical of Madrid's modern sections. B Surrounding Areas Most of Madrid's growth has happened during the 20th century. Unlike many American cities, Madrid had few separately governed suburban cities on its borders until the 1970s. Madrid's large and fast-growing metropolitan area incorporated towns and industrial suburbs that once were independent areas outside of the city. In 1975, when longtime authoritarian leader Francisco Franco died, this method of growth began to change. Since then the government has built superhighways and regional commuter railroads to encourage development of areas outside the city limits. This growth created an industrial axis extending eastward along the highway and railroad to Barcelona. During the 1960s and 1970s the towns of Vicalvaro, Canillejas, San Fernando de Henares, Torrejón de Ardoz, Vallecas, and Villaverde became industrial suburbs. As expansion continued in the 1980s and 1990s, this industrial zone extended south and west to Getafe, Leganés, Alcorcón, and Móstoles, and north and east to Alcobendas, San Sebastián de los Reyes, and Arganda. Residential expansion has spread to the north. III CITY LIFE Until 1975 Madrid's growth was rapid but poorly planned. New areas received public services slowly, and large new skyscrapers destroyed the traditional ambience of many older districts. Since 1975, when Spain entered a new period of democratic government, Madrid has attempted to recover its traditional atmosphere. Many sections still have traditional open-stall markets, plazas, and narrow, cobbled streets that preserve the feeling of a small town. Elsewhere, city authorities have promoted the renovation of 19th-century neighborhoods by requiring that builders retain old building facades and construct modern buildings within them. As a result, many districts that date to the 19th and early 20th centuries retain a lively street life with small shops, café-bars, and family businesses. Increasingly, however, older businesses coexist with American fast-food chains, supermarkets, and modern department stores. The lively street life of the city reflects the kind of housing available to madrileños, as the people of Madrid are called. Most people live in apartment buildings, with stores and offices on the first one or two levels. While many people rent their apartments, most own them and participate in cooperatives that maintain the building. Because living spaces are small by American standards, madrileños do most of their socializing in the streets, bars, restaurants, and parks of their neighborhoods. Only a few very wealthy areas north of the city have single family houses with gardens and yards similar to those in American suburbs. Many of the newest neighborhoods are collections of large apartment buildings standing in open fields. Most of them are now being built as planned neighborhoods with parks, playgrounds, and public swimming pools. Until about 1960 Spain was a poor country, and most Spaniards had few modern conveniences. Now most people who live in apartment buildings in Madrid have washing machines, microwave ovens, gas stoves, refrigerators, and other modern appliances. Many families also have automobiles; there are almost one million cars in the city. Although Madrid has a good subway system, buses, and commuter railroads that connect the city center with the outer districts, the city is choked with traffic. The large number of motor vehicles, combined with Madrid's narrow streets, crowded apartment buildings, and scarce parking, makes traffic jams common. IV POPULATION Madrid's population grew dramatically during the 20th century. According to official censuses, in 1900 Madrid had about 500,000 inhabitants, but by 1960 the city proper had 2,259,000 people. By 1970 it grew to 3,146,000. Since that time the total population of Madrid's metropolitan area has decreased slightly, with a population of 3,132,463 in 2007. Madrid province had a population of 6,081,689 in 2007. Madrid has long been the center of Spanish government and culture. As a result, it has drawn its population from all over the country. Spain itself has four major languages: Castilian, Galician, Basque, and Catalan. Most of Madrid's population has come from the Castilian-speaking regions of the country. Castilian, usually referred to as Spanish, is spoken with several regional accents. The dialect most often heard in Madrid is a modified version of the one spoken in the historic region of Old Castile. The people of Madrid are more similar in their language and national background than the populations of most large European cities. Madrid is also homogeneous in terms of religion, because most Spaniards are members of the Roman Catholic Church. Although most madrileños are not overtly religious and most do not go to church, they are usually baptized, married, and buried in Catholic ceremonies. During most of the rule of General Franco, from 1939 to 1975, the Catholic Church was the only religious group with legal status in Spain. Non-Catholics were severely restricted. After Franco's death in 1975, the close links between the church and the government began to break, and the 1978 constitution guaranteed religious freedom. At that time Madrid's small Protestant population began to attend their own churches openly. The most active missionary groups include the Jehovah's Witnesses and the Mormons. The city also has a small Jewish community with active synagogues. The largest distinctive ethnic minority in the city is the Roma, sometimes called Gypsies. Spain has between 500,000 and 1,000,000 Romani people; because there is nothing legally distinct about them, it is almost impossible to obtain an accurate number of the Roma population. Nevertheless, a large number of the Roma in Spain have been attracted to Madrid. Most Roma speak Spanish, practice Catholicism, and exist successfully in the city. However, they are often the targets of prejudice. For example, they are often associated with marginal activities such as begging, minor theft, and fraud. To help remedy their standing, the Spanish government has designed programs to integrate the Roma into the general population. Since about 1970 other ethnic groups have established a presence in Madrid, as in many large cities. Spain's closeness to Africa has resulted in a small but growing community of immigrants, both legal and illegal, from sub-Saharan Africa. Many Muslim people from nearby Morocco and Algeria have moved to Madrid, giving the city a noticeable Muslim element. Refugees from China, Vietnam, and other parts of Asia have also moved to Madrid. While these communities are small compared to those in other big European cities, they face the challenge of fitting in to Madrid's relatively homogeneous society. V EDUCATION AND CULTURE Madrid is the cultural center of Spain, with theaters, museums, libraries, and educational institutions that attract many scholars and visitors. Of Madrid's public universities, the oldest and largest is the Universidad Complutense de Madrid, also known as the University of Madrid, with more than 130,000 students. The school originally opened in the nearby town of Alcalá de Henares in 1508 and was moved to Madrid in 1836. Another university, the Universidad Autónoma, was opened in 1968 on the north edge of the city, and in 1977 a third, the Universidad de Alcalá, opened in Alcalá de Henares. The Universidad de Carlos III opened in 1990 on the grounds of an old army base on the south edge of the city. Madrid has many museums. The most famous is the Museo del Prado The Prado is actually a complex of three facilities on the eastern side of the Paseo del Prado. It has arguably the best collection of European paintings in the world. The museum also houses a fine collection of art from the Spanish school, which includes artists such as El Greco, Diego Velázquez, and Francisco de Goya. Another notable art museum is the Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, a museum of contemporary art named for the current queen of Spain. It opened in 1986 as a center for temporary exhibits, and its permanent collection was inaugurated in the early 1990s. The museum specializes in 20thcentury paintings, especially works by Spanish artists. It includes one of the most famous paintings by Spanish artist Pablo Picasso, Guernica (1937), which portrays a city bombed during the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939). The painting is an evocative depiction of the tragedy caused by the war. Madrid also has other notable museums, including the Thyssen-Bornemisza art museum, named after the family that collected its works. The museum houses about 800 paintings, mostly European, in the Villahermosa Palace. The Lazaro Galdiano Museum contains paintings, antique jewelry, porcelain, and tapestries. The National Library, north of the Museo del Prado, has copies of almost every book ever published in Spain, as well as a gallery of Spanish art. The library also shares its building with the National Archaeological Museum. Madrid's other notable museums include the Museum of the Army, the Museum of the Navy, the Museum of Bullfighting, and the National Museum of Decorative Arts. Nearby is the Cultural Center of the City of Madrid, which has an art gallery, conference halls, and a zarzuela theater. Zarzuela is the Spanish form of light opera. Scattered around the city are numerous other art galleries, many dedicated to the work of particular Spanish artists. In some ways the most spectacular museum is the Royal Palace itself, where visitors can tour the living quarters of 18th-century and early 20th-century royalty. The palace also houses a large Carriage Museum, the Royal Armory, and a research library of 18th- and 19th-century books and palace records. Several of Madrid's historic buildings have become cultural and administrative centers. Near the Royal Palace is the Royal Opera House. Originating in the 1850s, the Opera House was renovated in 1997. The 17th-century Carcel del Corte (City Prison), near the southeast corner of the Plaza Mayor, is now the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The Casa del Correo, the city's original post office that dominates the Puerta del Sol, was built by King Charles III in the 1760s. It now houses the government offices of the Autonomous Region of Madrid. The huge Cuartel del Conde Duque (Barracks of the Count-Duke) is located a few blocks north of the Royal Palace. Built in the 1700s as a barracks for the royal cavalry guards, it has been renovated as a cultural center. It now houses the Municipal Archives, the Municipal Periodicals Library, Madrid's public library, an exhibition gallery, and other cultural facilities. Madrid has several societies created to promote scholarship in various fields. One of the oldest is the Academy of the Spanish Language, which was founded in 1713. The Academy of History, founded in 1735, has a major library and collection of historical documents. The Academy of Fine Arts, founded in 1757, has an important art museum, as well as an archive that includes engravings from which famous artists, such as Francisco de Goya, made their prints. Another important cultural institution is the Ateneo, which was founded in 1820 and reopened in 1836. The Ateneo has long been a center for cultural and intellectual debate in Madrid and has one of the city's finest libraries of 19th- and early 20th-century scholarly books. Not far from Madrid are several important monuments and places of historical interest. The most impressive is the immense monastery-palace called El Escorial, located northwest of Madrid at the foot of the Sierra de Guadarrama. Built by King Philip II from 1563 to 1584, it was Philip's favorite residence. El Escorial houses the tombs of most of Spain's kings and queens since Philip, and contains a magnificent art collection and library, which are open to the public. A few miles away stands a gigantic civil war memorial built by General Franco. Known as the Valle de los Caidos (Valley of the Fallen), it took more than 15 years to complete. It consists of a concrete cross nearly 150 m (nearly 500 ft) high, built on top of a huge crypt tunneled out of solid granite inside the mountain itself. A monument to Franco's victory in the civil war, and constructed with the forced labor of prisoners of war, it is no longer a very popular place for Spaniards to visit. Nearer the city at El Pardo, north of Madrid, is La Zarzuela, a small royal palace originally built by Holy Roman Emperor Charles V during the 16th century for use as a hunting lodge. Today it is the residence of the Spanish royal family. South of Madrid is the Royal Palace of Aranjuez, a museum and park noted for its extensive gardens. It was built in the 18th century and was the spring residence of the royal family until the late 19th century because of its mild spring weather. In the opposite direction, near Segovia, is the Royal Palace of La Granja, a relatively small palace. During the 18th century the royal court used it as a summer retreat. The palace gardens include a spectacular collection of fountains inspired by those at the Palace of Versailles in France. VI RECREATION Madrid is famous for its numerous sidewalk cafés and café-bars. Madrileños often walk along the avenues in the evenings when the city's many fountains are illuminated, although this activity has declined as many boulevards have become more crowded with automobiles. There are several large parks within the city. The most important is Retiro Park, which is much like New York City's Central Park. It features many tree-lined avenues, an art exhibition pavilion, an artificially created lake, monuments, fountains, and a rose garden. A second large park is the Casa de Campo, which has a cable railway, monorail, and a modern zoo. Another park, the Parque del Oeste, has a broad area of trees, rose gardens, and walks between the city and the Manzanares River. Madrid has a growing variety of fitness centers and sports clubs with golf courses and tennis courts. Spaniards, like most Europeans, are fans of soccer, and Madrid has two huge soccer stadiums, each holding as many as 100,000 people. The city also has a large horseracing track and several large public swimming pools. In the winter madrileños can ski in the nearby mountain ranges, the Sierra de Guadarrama and the Sierra de Gredos. In the summer many people leave the city to escape the heat and spend weekends in the mountains. As prosperity increases in Madrid, it is becoming more common for people to build summer homes in the valleys of the two mountain ranges. VII ECONOMY Until 1900 Madrid was almost entirely an administrative city. Its few industries produced goods for consumers in the city itself. Beginning in the early 20th century, Madrid grew to be an important industrial center. The city's major industrial products include motor vehicles, aircraft, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, processed food, printed materials, and leather goods. Because the area around Madrid has few industrial raw materials such as iron, coal, or oil, the city has little heavy industry. Its factories feature light manufactures and assembly of products, including cars, trucks, appliances, and furniture, using semifinished components made elsewhere. While Madrid is an important industrial center, it is more important as a center of service activities. These include government, banking, publishing, insurance, and finance. Madrid is also a major center of Spain's tourist industry. For example, more than 41 million tourists visited the country in 1996; as a result, Madrid has large hotel and restaurant industries. Madrid is also the center of Spain's highway and railroad systems. Both systems were built with roads and lines running from Madrid to Spain's most important seaports. Since the mid-1970s the government has moved aggressively to upgrade both systems, and excellent freeways now connect Madrid to Spain's other important cities. The railroads have not been developed as rapidly for heavy freight, but the passenger system has improved greatly. Regional commuter lines run between Madrid and the nearby provincial capitals of Segovia, Guadalajara, and Toledo. The country's first high-speed rail line was begun for the Sevilla World's Fair in 1992, making it possible to travel between Madrid and Sevilla in about two hours. The city of Madrid has extensive subway and bus systems. The subway system doubled in size between the early 1960s and the late 1990s, and it now reaches the outlying industrial and residential communities. Madrid's airport, Barajas Airport, is served by airlines from all over the world and is also the center for an air service that connects most major Spanish cities to Madrid. VIII GOVERNMENT The Spanish Constitution of 1978 authorized the creation of several Autonomous Communities within Spain. It granted them authority over many aspects of local schools, universities, regional planning, and traffic control. These communities were further divided into provinces, although some consist of only one province. The Autonomous Community of Madrid, of which the city of Madrid is the capital, contains a single province. Like the other autonomous communities with only one province, there is no separate provincial government. The city of Madrid has a city council and mayor, both of which are popularly elected. All Spaniards 18 years of age and older are entitled to vote, and the voter turnout is usually high. Each member of the city council also serves as the city administrator for a particular area of government--for example, culture, police, taxation, or education. The Autonomous Community of Madrid has an elected regional parliament similar to many European legislatures. The regional parliament elects a president who heads the regional government. A cabinet of ministers assists the president with the various administrative subdivisions of the autonomous community's government. Most offices have four-year terms. IX CONTEMPORARY ISSUES Both Madrid's municipal and regional governments face significant issues involving welfare, primary and secondary education, and regional development. Most debates focus on the best way to manage rapid urban growth and improve the quality of life within Madrid. Particularly important are the issues of growing traffic problems and the pollution created by so many automobiles. In the 1990s the government began to require emission controls on cars and to encourage the use of cleaner types of gasoline. Nevertheless, the pollution problem remains serious. The city of Madrid and the Autonomous Community have worked closely to develop long-term plans for the region. The results have been mixed. Two major superhighways were built around Madrid to reduce congestion in the main part of the city, decreasing the travel time from the airport to many central hotels from about an hour to about ten minutes. However, the number of vehicles continues to grow, aggravating traffic congestion. Regional plans began to encourage outlying areas to develop residential and industrial zones at the same pace, so that people can live closer to where they work. In addition, planning efforts have helped public transit keep pace with the city's physical expansion. Local government in Madrid confronts the same issues of urban crime and drugs as in other cities. During the rule of General Franco, the combination of general poverty and heavy police repression kept levels of crime and drug use low. After Franco's death in 1975, both problems became more pronounced as government policies changed and personal incomes began to rise. In particular, tourists are often the target of petty crime. Spain has fairly harsh laws and punishments for drug trafficking, and thus far the problem has not reached the level of other European capitals. X HISTORY The area around Madrid was occupied by villas in Roman times, but there is no archaeological evidence of an actual town until after AD 800. Scattered evidence suggests that a small, walled town--referred to as Mageritah, Maricen, or Mayrit--appeared following the Moors' conquest of Spain in about AD 854. In 1083, Christians from the region of Castile captured the Moorish kingdom of Toledo, which ruled the small town of Madrid. In the 14th and 15th centuries, the kings of Castile used Madrid's Alcázar, a fortress built by the Moors, as a hunting lodge. The kings also occasionally called the legislative body, the Castilian Cortes, to meet there. In the mid-15th century Henry IV, king of Castile and León, founded the Royal Monastery of San Geronimo, with extensive lands that included the area that is now Retiro Park. The Monastery Church still stands behind the Museo del Prado near the park. In the 16th century Holy Roman Emperor Charles V (also known as Charles I of Spain) called the Cortes to meet in Madrid at least twice during his reign. The most important meeting took place in 1528, when the members of the Cortes swore their loyalty to Prince Philip, Charles's son and the new heir to the throne of Spain. As Philip matured, he wished to separate his entourage from that of his father's court in Toledo. Therefore, beginning in 1550, Philip used the Alcázar in Madrid as a residence. Madrid was then a mid-sized Castilian town. Five years after Philip became king in 1556 as Philip II, he chose Madrid as the permanent seat of his court. Philip II rarely traveled out of Castile, and to govern his distant provinces effectively, he needed a permanent base for his large staff of secretaries, lawyers, accountants, and bureaucrats. Once the court was permanently established in Madrid, the city grew rapidly. An increasing number of aristocrats, feeling a need to be near the king, built palaces in the city. These changes attracted thousands of merchants, bankers, construction workers, and servants. Estimates based on household numbers suggest tremendous growth: in 1600 Madrid had almost 100,000 people, and by 1630 it had from 150,000 to 175,000. By 1590 Philip II had modernized the Alcázar palace with a Renaissance facade and had begun building the Plaza Mayor. His son and successor, Philip III, completed the Plaza Mayor in 1619. The next king, Philip IV, and his first minister decided that the Alcázar was inadequate for royal needs, and in 1534 they built the Buen Retiro Palace. This palace was located between what are now Retiro Park and the Paseo del Prado, including the grounds of the Monastery of San Geronimo. It was a sprawling complex of palaces, gardens, tennis courts, and stables, but most of it was destroyed when the French occupied Madrid during the Peninsular War (1808-1814). The small part that still exists is now part of the Museo del Prado complex. Madrid's population stopped growing from 1630 to 1720 because foreign wars and the decline in silver from Spain's American colonial empire bankrupted the Spanish government. The monarchy could no longer afford the development and expenses that drew people to Madrid. In addition, King Charles II died in 1700 without any heirs, causing a major international war over the succession to the Spanish throne. During this struggle, known as the War of the Spanish Succession (1701-1714), Madrid was alternately occupied by forces from both sides. By 1720 Madrid's economic base was recovering from the war, and the city began to grow again. By 1800 the population reached 200,000. The outcome of the War of the Spanish Succession brought a new dynasty of French Bourbon kings to Spain. About the same time, silver production began to revive in Spain's American colonies, bringing greater wealth to the monarchy and the city. In 1734 a huge fire destroyed the Alcázar palace, and construction of a new Royal Palace began in 1738. This was the first step in a sweeping series of construction projects in Madrid. Over the next 60 years the next three kings, Philip V , Ferdinand VI, and Charles III, built many major buildings and monuments. These include the Basilica of San Fernando el Grande, the Casa del Correo on the Plaza Mayor, the Royal Customs House (now the Treasury Department), the Museum of Natural Science (now the Museo del Prado), the Botanical Gardens, and a Royal Observatory. These kings also constructed a network of boulevards and streets, including the Paseo de Recoletos and the Paseo de Prado on the east side of the city, the Paseo de San Vicente along the Manzanares River on the city's west edge, and several others along the southern boundary. These changes helped establish Madrid as a progressive European city during the late 18th and early 19th centuries. In the first half of the 19th century Madrid, and Spain as a whole, struggled through the Napoleonic Wars and a civil war over which line of the Spanish monarchy should rule. These clashes, combined with independence movements in the Spanish colonies that depleted a main source of Spain's wealth, caused serious economic problems. Political reforms in 1836, however, led the government to sell church-owned land within the walls of the old city. These reforms fostered a new period of growth for the city as the empty lands within the walls were developed. The Royal Opera House was built in the 1850s, and in the same decade development of the first large area outside the old walls was started. The National Library Building was begun in the 1860s, as was the Bank of Spain in the 1880s. By 1900 new neighborhoods had grown up all along the eastern and northern edges of the old city. In 1898 Madrid installed its first electric trams, and in 1910 the city began the first demolitions for the creation of the modern Gran Vía. This major street enables traffic to move freely through the old city. By 1919 the first line of the Madrid subway was in operation between the Puerta del Sol and the new districts north of the old city. In 1926 the city began its first attempts at creating a long-term plan for development as a modern metropolis. The following year construction began on University City, now home of the University of Madrid. The 1930s were chaotic for Madrid, as they were for the rest of the country. In 1931 a new democratic republic was founded in Spain as part of a period of dramatic social and political upheaval. The country became polarized over heated issues, including expansion and modernization of Spanish education, separation of the Catholic Church from the Spanish government, and revolutionary changes in labor and economic relationships. Madrid became the scene of intense political unrest, strikes, and riots. Death squads representing both the political far right and far left began striking their enemies. The situation continued to worsen, and in July 1936 a group of military leaders led a rebellion against the government. Because the rebellion succeeded in some areas of Spain but was stopped in others, the country entered a bitter three-year civil war. As the capital of Spain and the seat of the government, Madrid was an important city during the war. Initially, Madrid resisted the rebellion due to military troops and voluntary worker militias who fought against the rebel troops. In late 1937 madrileños, assisted by international volunteer troops known as the International Brigades, again resisted a fierce siege of the city by General Francisco Franco and the rebel forces. For most of the war, the frontier between the rebel forces, known as Nationalists, and their opponents, known as Republicans, ran along the Manzanares River and through what is now the Parque del Oeste. The Nationalists regularly attacked the western district of the city and the university with artillery bombardment, and the entire city suffered frequent bombings by German planes assisting the Nationalists. Madrid was so important during the war that when the Nationalists finally occupied the city in March 1939, the Spanish Civil War was over. Following the Nationalist victory, General Franco began a nearly 40-year rule of Spain. Although Madrid remained the capital, it was deeply scarred by the war. During the first 15 years of Franco's rule, Madrid was impoverished due to a lack of capital and industry. The economy gradually improved after 1950, bringing a flood of people into Madrid. The Franco government, however, had few resources and no policy to deal with this immigration. As a result Madrid became surrounded with huge temporary slums. After 1960 the government began a massive housing program to construct thousands of cheaply built high-rise apartments, and by 1970 most of the temporary slums had been eliminated. After Franco's death in 1975, life in Madrid changed as Spain shifted to a system of democratic government. For example, the material standard of living rose dramatically. Madrileños gained better housing, more education opportunities, and more modern conveniences. However, during this time traffic in Madrid became a serious problem. During the 1960s, Franco's government tried to make room for cars rather than regulating them. They bulldozed boulevards, installed a huge parking ramp under the Plaza Mayor, and built overpasses in major plazas. In an effort to improve traffic conditions, the democratic government began a new plan of urban development, halting the destruction of boulevards and streets and implementing more systematic control over the traffic problem. The city developed traffic and parking regulations, renovated plazas and parking lots as playgrounds and parks, and removed unsightly overpasses. In 1983 Madrid became the capital of the Autonomous Community of Madrid, which was created under a 1981 law. The region grew as an industrial center to become the wealthiest autonomous community in Spain. In 1992 Madrid was designated as the cultural capital of Europe, which focused international attention on the city and its arts. By the late 1990s Madrid had become a large, dynamic city working to handle the issues surrounding its growth. Madrid was the site of the worst terrorist attack in Spain's history in March 2004 when ten bombs detonated on four commuter trains during the morning rush hour, killing at least 191 people and injuring more than 1,500. A Spanish judge later concluded that al-Qaeda was behind the Madrid bombings in apparent retaliation for Spain's participation in the United States invasion of Iraq. See also U.S.-Iraq War. Contributed By: David R. Ringrose Microsoft ® Encarta ® 2009. © 1993-2008 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.