Peñas Madrileñas

Lore & Background

The territory of the Community of Madrid has been populated since the Lower Paleolithic. Under Roman rule, urban centres included Complutum and Titulcia. During the Middle Ages, the region was a frontier march for the Umayyads, with Mayrit (Madrid) and Talamanca founded around 860. The region passed to Christian control under Alfonso VI. In 1561, King Philip II made Madrid the capital of the Hispanic Monarchy.

Reader's Guide

The Community of Madrid is the 3rd most populous in Spain with 7,113,886 inhabitants as of 2025. It is the most densely populated autonomous community. Madrid has both the largest nominal GDP and the highest GDP per capita in the country. The economy is highly tertiarised. It contains four World Heritage Sites: the Monastery and Royal Site of El Escorial, the university and historic centre of Alcalá de Henares, the cultural landscape of Aranjuez, and the Paseo del Prado and Buen Retiro park in Madrid City.

Did You Know?

• The Community of Madrid is almost entirely comprised in the Tagus Basin.
• The climate ranges from mediterranean to semi-arid, except in the Central System highlands.
• The Montejo Beech Forest is part of the transnational Ancient and Primeval Beech Forests of the Carpathians and Other Regions of Europe world heritage site.