Province of Teruel

{{Infobox settlement

| name = Teruel Province

| native_name =

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| type = Province

| image_skyline = Sierra Carrascosa34.JPG

| image_alt =

| image_caption = The Sierra Carrascosa with the Guerrero Romano rock formation near Bordón

| image_flag = Flag of Teruel (province).svg

| flag_size =

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| image_shield = Coat of Arms of Teruel Province.svg

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| image_map = Teruel in Spain.svg

| map_alt =

| map_caption = Map of Spain with Teruel Province highlighted

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| coordinates = {{coord|40|40|N|0|40|W|region:ES_type:adm2nd_source:GNS-enwiki|display=inline,title}}

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| subdivision_type = Country

| subdivision_name = {{flag|Spain}}

| subdivision_type1 = Autonomous community

| subdivision_name1 = {{flag|Aragon}}

| established_title =

| established_date =

| seat_type = Capital

| seat = Teruel

| area_footnotes =

| area_total_km2 = 14809

| area_rank = Ranked 10th

| area_note = 2.93% of Spain

| elevation_footnotes =

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| population_footnotes =

| population_total = 134,572

| population_as_of = 2018

| population_rank = Ranked 49th

| population_density_km2 = auto

| population_demonym = Turolense

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}}

Teruel (Catalan: Terol {{IPA|ca|təˈɾɔl|}}) is a province of Aragon, in the northeast of Spain. The capital is Teruel.

It is bordered by the provinces of Tarragona, Castellón, Valencia (including its exclave Rincón de Ademuz), Cuenca, Guadalajara, and Zaragoza. The area of the province is 14,809 km². Its population is 134,572 (2018), of whom about a quarter live in the capital, and its population density is 9.36/km². It contains 236 municipalities, of which more than half are villages of under 200 people. Teruel is the second-least populated province of Spain, and also the second-lowest in population density, in both counts after the province of Soria.

The main language throughout the province is Spanish (with official status), although Catalan is spoken in a northeastern area bordering Catalonia.

Geography

This province is located in the mountainous Sistema Ibérico area. The main ranges in the province of Teruel are Sierra de la Virgen, Sierra de Santa Cruz, Sierra de Cucalón, Sierra de San Just, Sierra Carrascosa, Sierra Menera, Sierra Palomera, Sierra de Javalambre, Sierra de Gúdar, Sierra de Albarracín and the Montes Universales, among others.

Depopulation and neglect

Most of the Teruel Province has undergone massive depopulation since the middle of the 20th century. This situation is shared with other areas in Spain, particularly with those near the Iberian mountain range (much of the provinces of Soria, Guadalajara and Cuenca) and with other areas in Aragón.

The exodus from the rural mountain areas in Teruel rose after General Franco's Plan de Estabilización in 1959. The population declined steeply as people migrated towards the industrial areas and the large cities in Spain, leaving behind their small villages where living conditions were often harsh, with cold winters and very basic facilities.

As a consequence there are many ghost towns in different parts of the province.[http://lospueblosdeshabitados.blogspot.com/search/label/TERUEL%20%20-Collado%20de%20la%20Grulla- Pueblos deshabitados – Collado de la Grulla (Teruel)]

A great number of surviving towns in Teruel province have only a residual population, reviving somewhat during the summer when a few city-dwellers spend their holidays there. Other causes of the strong emigration have been the low productivity of traditional agricultural practices, like sheep and goat farming, the closing of mines, like the large Sierra Menera mine near Ojos Negros,[http://www.docutren.com/archivos/gijon/pdf/sb1.pdf La Compañía Minera de Sierra Menera. Breve historia] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120323004743/http://www.docutren.com/archivos/gijon/pdf/sb1.pdf |date=23 March 2012 }} as well as the lifestyle changes that swept over rural Spain during the second half of the 20th century.[http://despoblacion.blogia.com/temas/la-despoblacion-en-aragon.php Despoblación en Aragon] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120823033158/http://despoblacion.blogia.com/temas/la-despoblacion-en-aragon.php |date=23 August 2012 }}

The "Teruel Exists" ({{langx|es|link=no|Teruel existe}}) movement began at the turn of the 21st century. It is a platform of provincial authorities, institutions and sympathizers seeking to reverse the long-standing neglect of this province.[https://teruelexiste.info/ Teruel existe]

=Population development=

The historical population is given in the following chart:

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id:lightgrey value:gray(0.9)

id:darkgrey value:gray(0.7)

id:sfondo value:rgb(1,1,1)

ImageSize = width:650 height:auto barincrement:30

PlotArea = left:40 bottom:40 top:20 right:20

DateFormat = x.y

Period = from:0 till:270

TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal

AlignBars = late

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ScaleMinor = gridcolor:lightgrey increment:10 start:0

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PlotData=

color:skyblue width:20 shift:(-50,-5) fontsize:M anchor:till

bar:1877 from:0 till:249 text:248,765

bar:1887 from:0 till:247 text:246,817

bar:1900 from:0 till:252 text:251,994

bar:1910 from:0 till:266 text:265,908

bar:1920 from:0 till:264 text:264,062

bar:1930 from:0 till:264 text:263,700

bar:1940 from:0 till:246 text:245,960

bar:1950 from:0 till:243 text:243,269

bar:1960 from:0 till:224 text:223,758

bar:1970 from:0 till:174 text:173,861

bar:1980 from:0 till:153 text:153,457

bar:1990 from:0 till:144 text:143,680

bar:2000 from:0 till:136 text:135,858

bar:2010 from:0 till:143 text:143,162

bar:2020 from:0 till:134 text:134,176

TextData=

pos:(35,20) fontsize:M

text:"Source: Instituto Nacional de Estadística, INE"

Comarcas

The following Comarcas of Aragon are located in Teruel Province:

Notable people

Luis Buñuel, film director from Calanda
Gaspar Sanz, music composer from Calanda
Antón García Abril, music composer
Pablo Serrano, sculptor from Crivillén
Luis Milla, retired footballer who played for CD Teruel, FC Barcelona and R. Madrid
David Civera, light music singer
Federico Jiménez Losantos, author, journalist and radio host
Manuel Pizarro Moreno, businessman, politician and jurist

Notes and references

External links

[http://www.teruel.org/ Teruel.org]
[https://web.archive.org/web/20110314073022/http://www.teruelinfo.com/ Teruel Info. – Caciquismo & desarrollismo] – N.B. This text-only website is in Japanese. Content not clear.
[https://web.archive.org/web/20090225140504/http://www.terueldigital.es/ Teruel Digital]
[http://www.dmoz.org/World/Espa%c3%b1ol/Regional/Europa/Espa%c3%b1a/Comunidades_Aut%c3%b3nomas/Arag%c3%b3n/Teruel/ Directory in dmoz.org]
[https://web.archive.org/web/20090218183859/http://amantesdeteruel.es/ Fundación Amantes de Teruel]
[http://www.embalses.net/provincia-23-teruel.html Estado de los embalses de Teruel]
[https://archive.today/20121208165938/http://www.teruel.com/index_es.html Teruel.com – Tourism]
[http://www.deteruel.com/ Deteruel.com — Comunidad virtual de Teruel]
[http://www.publico.es/espana/370608/el-numero-de-ancianos-espanoles-aumenta-un-20-en-13-anos El número de ancianos españoles aumenta un 20% en 13 años]