Province of Cuenca

For the province in Colombia, see Cuenca Province (Gran Colombia).

Cuenca
Province
Cuenca provincial parliament
Flag Coat of arms
Map of Spain with Cuenca highlighted
Coordinates: 40°00′N 2°00′W
Country	Spain
Autonomous community	Castilla-La Mancha
Capital	Cuenca
Government
• President	Benjamín Prieto (PP)
Area
• Total	17,141 km2 (6,618 sq mi)
• Rank	Ranked 5th
Population  (2012)
• Total	218,036
• Rank	Ranked 44th
• Density	13/km2 (33/sq mi)
Demonym	Spanish: Conquense
Official language(s)	Spanish
Parliament	Cortes Generales
Website	dipucuenca.es

Cuenca (Spanish: [ˈkweŋka] ) is one of the five provinces of the autonomous community of Castilla-La Mancha. It is located in the eastern part of this autonomous community and covers 17,141 square km. It has a population of 203,841 inhabitants – the least populated of the five provinces. Its capital city is also called Cuenca.

Geography

Landscape in the province

The province is bordered by the provinces of Valencia (including its exclave Rincón de Ademuz), Albacete, Ciudad Real, Toledo, Madrid, Guadalajara, and Teruel. The northeastern side of the province is in the mountainous Sistema Ibérico area.

211,375 people (2007) live in the province. Its capital is Cuenca, where nearly a quarter of the population live, some 52,980 people. There are 238 municipalities in Cuenca.

Other populous towns and municipalities include Tarancón, San Clemente, Quintanar del Rey, Huete, Villanueva de la Jara, Motilla del Palancar, Mota del Cuervo, La Almarcha, and Las Pedroñeras.

Cuenca Cathedral (built from 1182 to 1270), located in the city of Cuenca.

History

In 1851, Cuenca lost Requena-Utiel to the neighbouring Valencia Province, with which it was developing commercial ties. Nevertheless, Requena-Utiel remained Spanish-speaking (rather than Catalan), while the loss of its most dynamic region left the province of Cuenca relatively underdeveloped economically.

Population development

The historical population is given in the following chart:

See also

• List of municipalities in Cuenca