The Río Tinto is a river in southwestern Spain that originates in the Sierra Morena mountains of Andalusia. It flows generally south-southwest, reaching the Gulf of Cádiz at Huelva.Since ancient times, a site along the river has been mined for copper, silver, gold, and other minerals.In approximately 3,000 BC, Iberians and Tartessians began mining the site, followed by the Phoenicians, Greeks, Romans, Visigoths, and Moors. After a period of abandonment, the mines were rediscovered in 1556 and the Spanish government began operating them once again in 1724.[1] As a possible result of the mining, Río Tinto is notable for being very acidic and its deep reddish hue is due to iron dissolved in the water. Acid mine drainage from the mines leads to severe environmental problems due to the heavy metal concentrations in the river. In 1873, the multinational Rio Tinto Company was formed to operate the mines; by the end of the 20th century it had become one of the world's largest mining companies, although it no longer controls the Rio Tinto mines; these are now owned by EMED Mining plc.The ore body was deposited in the Carboniferous by hydrothermal activities on the sea floor. The river area has a history of mining activity since the Tartessans and the Iberians started mining in 3000 BC. The mining continued over the Phoenician era and under the Roman Empire until the second part of the 15th century: primarily for copper but also for iron and manganese. In the nineteenth century the mining operation started in large scale mainly by mining companies from the United Kingdom. After the peak of production in 1930 production declined and ended for copper mining in 1986 and for silver and gold in 1996.The mine closed in 2001. Increased copper prices in the 2010s led to efforts by EMED Mining to reopen the mine, but difficulties in acquiring all property rights necessary, environmental concerns, and obtaining regulatory approval delayed reopening. The mine, which employed as many as 20,000 in the past, would employ 350 people during its startup phase. The firm acquired $250 million in financing for the project. Environmental concerns are centered on disused water reservoirs which might not be able to withstand the stress of renewed waste inputs.

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Tarragona is a city located in the south of Catalonia on the north-east of Spain, by the Mediterranean. It is the capital of the province of the same name and of the Tarragonès comarca. Geographically, it is bordered on the north by the province of Barcelona and the province of Lleida. The capital city has a population of 134,085 inhabitants.One Catalan legend holds that it was named for Tarraho, eldest son of Tubal in c. 2407 BC; another attributes the name to 'Tearcon the Ethiopian', a 7th-century BC pharaoh who supposedly campaigned in Spain. The real founding date of Tarragona is unknown.In Roman times, the city was named Tarraco and was capital of the province of Hispania Tarraconensis.The Roman colony founded at Tarraco had the full name of Colonia Iulia Urbs Triumphalis Tarraco.The city may have begun as an Iberic town called Kesse or Kosse, named for the Iberic tribe of the region, the Cossetans, though the identification of Tarragona with Kesse is not certain.Smith suggests that the city was probably founded by the Phoenicians, who called it 'Tarchon, which, according to Samuel Bochart, means a citadel. This name was probably derived from its situation on a high rock, between 250 and 300 feet above the sea; whence we find it characterised as arce potens Tarraco.It was seated on the river Sulcis or Tulcis, on a bay of the Mare Internum, between the Pyrenees and the river Iberus.Livy mentions a portus Tarraconis and according to Eratosthenes it had a naval station or roads but Artemidorus says with more probability that it had none, and scarcely even an anchoring place; and Strabo himself calls it ἀλίμενος.This answers better to its present condition; for though a mole was constructed in the 15th century with the materials of the ancient amphitheatre, and another subsequently by an Englishman named John Smith, it still affords but little protection for shipping.Tarraco lies on the main road along the south-eastern coast of the Iberian Peninsula.It was fortified and much enlarged by the brothers Publius and Gnaeus Scipio, who converted it into a fortress and arsenal against the Carthagenians. Subsequently it became the capital of the province named after it, a Roman colony, and conventus juridicus.

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The Valleys of the Pas and Miera Rivers comprise an administrative comarca in Cantabria, Spain. It is formed by the valleys of said rivers, each one being a natural comarca of its own.The Pas-Pisueña valley is located in the autonomous community of Cantabria, and through it flow the Pas River and its main tributary, the Pisueña River, which joins the Pas in the township of Vargas, part of the municipality of Puente Viesgo.In the whole valley, the repopulation allowed by the foundation of several monasteries had great importance. The most important were the San Vicente de Fístoles monastery and the Santa Cruz de Castañeda collegiate church. In addition to the monasteries, several romanesque temples were built during the 11th to 13th centuries, some of which still stand: the aforementioned Santa Cruz de Castañeda church, the Santa María de Cayón church, and the temple of San Miguel de Monte Carceña, among others. These buildings show the peak and the importance that this comarca had during those centuries.From the 11th century on, a special, perhaps unique, human habitat began to form in the highest parts of these valleys. Its economy was based on ancient transhumant cattle breeding practices which may have been traditional to more extensive areas of Europe and the region, but which with time only survived in isolated places such as these valleys, and others elsewhere in Europe, and in Asia and Africa. The people of this habitat, who were named Pasiegans (Pasiegos) from the name of the valleys and the main river, settled mainly on the flanks of the hills of the Miera and Pas rivers. The settling was scattered, as they lived in wooden and later, stone huts which they occupied during the Spring and Summer, when the pastures were richer. For the Winter they collected enough hay to feed the cows and then moved down to the village longhouses in the valleys. The more stable population group that little by little was created along the valley-bottom roads in a street row pattern became the three Pasiegan villas: Vega de Pas, San Pedro del Romeral and San Roque de Riomiera, which are not contiguous.

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Asturias, officially the Principality of Asturias, is an autonomous community in north-west Spain. It is coextensive with the province of Asturias, and contains most of the territory that was part of the Kingdom of Asturias in the Middle Ages. Divided into eight comarcas, the autonomous community of Asturias is bordered by Cantabria to the east, by Castile and León to the south, by Galicia to the west, and by the Bay of Biscay to the north.The most important cities are the communal capital, Oviedo, the seaport and largest city Gijón, and the industrial town of Avilés. Other municipalities in Asturias include Cangas de Onís, Cangas del Narcea, Gozón, Grado, Langreo, Llanera, Laviana, Lena, Llanes, Mieres, Siero, Valdés, Vegadeo and Villaviciosa.Asturias has been inhabited, first by Homo erectus, then by Neanderthals and finally by modern humans,since the Lower Paleolithic era, and during the Upper Paleolithic was characterized by cave paintings in the eastern part of the area. In the Mesolithic period, a native culture developed, that of the Asturiense, and later, with the introduction of the Bronze Age, megaliths and tumuli were constructed. In the Iron Age, the territory came under the cultural influence of the Celts; the local Celtic peoples, known as the Astures, were composed of tribes such as the Luggones, the Pesicos, and others, who populated the entire area with castros. Today the Astur Celtic influence persists in place names, such as those of rivers and mountains.With the conquest of Asturias by the Romans under Augustus, the region entered into the annals of history. After several centuries without foreign presence, the Suebi and Visigoths occupied the land from the 6th century AD to the beginning of the 8th century, ending with the Moorish invasion of Spain. However, as it had been for the Romans and Visigoths, the Moors did not find mountainous territory easy to conquer, and the lands along Spain's northern coast never fully became part of Islamic Spain. Rather, with the beginning of the Moorish conquest in the 8th century, this region became a refuge for Christian nobles, and in 722, a de facto independent kingdom was established, the Regnum Asturorum, which was to become the cradle of the incipient Reconquista.

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The Canary Islands, also known as the Canaries, are a Spanish archipelago located just off the northwest coast of mainland Africa, 100 kilometres west of the border between Morocco and the Western Sahara. The Canaries are one of Spain's 17 autonomous communities and are among the outermost region of the European Union proper. The islands include Tenerife, Fuerteventura, Gran Canaria, Lanzarote, La Palma, La Gomera, El Hierro, La Graciosa, Alegranza, Isla de Lobos, Montaña Clara, Roque del Este and Roque del Oeste.The archipelago's beaches, climate and important natural attractions, especially Maspalomas in Gran Canaria and Teide National Park and Mount Teide in Tenerife, make it a major tourist destination with over 12 million visitors per year, especially Tenerife, Gran Canaria and Lanzarote.The islands have a subtropical climate, with long warm summers and moderately warm winters.Due to their location above the temperature inversion layer, the high mountains of these islands are ideal for astronomical observation. For this reason, two professional observatories, Teide Observatory on the island of Tenerife and Roque de los Muchachos Observatory on the island of La Palma, have been built on the islands.The capital of the Autonomous Community is shared by the cities of Santa Cruz de Tenerife and Las Palmas de Gran Canaria,which in turn are the capitals of the provinces of Santa Cruz de Tenerife and Province of Las Palmas. Las Palmas de Gran Canaria has been the largest city in the Canaries since 1768, except for a brief period in 1910.Between the 1833 territorial division of Spain and 1927 Santa Cruz de Tenerife was the sole capital of the Canary Islands. In 1927 a decree ordered that the capital of the Canary Islands be shared, as it remains at present.The third largest city of the Canary Islands is La Laguna on Tenerife.During the times of the Spanish Empire the Canaries were the main stopover for Spanish galleons on their way to the Americas because of the prevailing winds from the northeast.

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The Basílica i Temple Expiatori de la Sagrada Família, is a large Roman Catholic church in Barcelona, Spain, designed by Catalan architect Antoni Gaudí. Although incomplete, the church is a UNESCO World Heritage Site,and in November 2010 Pope Benedict XVI consecrated and proclaimed it a minor basilica,as distinct from a cathedral which must be the seat of a bishop. Construction of Sagrada Família had commenced in 1882, Gaudí became involved in 1883,taking over the project and transforming it with his architectural and engineering style, combining Gothic and curvilinear Art Nouveau forms. Gaudí devoted his last years to the project, and at the time of his death at age 73 in 1926 less than a quarter of the project was complete.Sagrada Família's construction progressed slowly, as it relied on private donations and was interrupted by the Spanish Civil War, only to resume intermittent progress in the 1950s. Construction passed the midpoint in 2010 with some of the project's greatest challenges remaining and an anticipated completion date of 2026, the centenary of Gaudí's death.The basílica has a long history of dividing the citizens of Barcelona, over the initial possibility it might compete with Barcelona's cathedral, over Gaudí's design itself,over the possibility that work after Gaudí's death disregarded his design,[10] and the recent proposal to build an underground tunnel of Spain's high-speed rail link to France could disturb its stability.Describing Sagrada Família, art critic Rainer Zerbst said, "It is probably impossible to find a church building anything like it in the entire history of art"and Paul Goldberger called it, "The most extraordinary personal interpretation of Gothic architecture since the Middle Ages."

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Casa Batlló is a renowned building located in the heart of Barcelona and is one of Antoni Gaudí’s masterpieces. Casa Batlló is a remodel of a previously built house. It was redesigned in 1904 by Gaudí and has been refurbished several times after that. Casa Batlló evokes the creativity and playfulness of Gaudí’s work through the incrassate facades and creative floors. Gaudí's assistants Domènec Sugrañes i Gras, Josep Canaleta and Joan Rubió also contributed to the renovation project.The local name for the building is Casa dels ossos , as it has a visceral, skeletal organic quality. It was originally designed for a middle-class family and situated in a prosperous district of Barcelona.The building looks very remarkable — like everything Gaudí designed, only identifiable as Modernisme or Art Nouveau in the broadest sense. The ground floor, in particular, is rather astonishing with tracery, irregular oval windows and flowing sculpted stone work.It seems that the goal of the designer was to avoid straight lines completely. Much of the façade is decorated with a mosaic made of broken ceramic tiles that starts in shades of golden orange moving into greenish blues. The roof is arched and was likened to the back of a dragon or dinosaur. A common theory about the building is that the rounded feature to the left of centre, terminating at the top in a turret and cross, represents the lance of Saint George, which has been plunged into the back of the dragon.The building that is now Casa Batlló was built in 1877 by Emili Sala Cortés, one of Gaudí’s teachers, commissioned by Lluís Sala Sánchez.It was a classical building without remarkable characteristics within the eclecticism traditional by the end of the 19th century.The building had a basement, a ground floor, four other floors and a garden in the back. The house was bought by Josep Batlló in 1900. The design of the house made the home undesirable to buyers but the Batlló family decided to buy the place due to its centralized location. It is located in the middle of Passeig de Gracia, which in the early 20th century was known as a very prestigious and fashionable area. It was an area where the prestigious family could draw attention to themselves.In 1904 Josep Batlló hired Gaudí to design his home; at first his plans were to tear down the building and construct a completely new house. Gaudí convinced Josep that a renovation was sufficient and was also able to submit the planning application the same year. The building was completed and refurbished in 1906. He completely changed the main apartment which became the residence for the Batlló family. He expanded the central well in order to supply light to the whole building and also added new floors. In the same year the Barcelona City Council selected the house as a candidate for that year’s best building award. The award was given to another architect that year despite Gaudí’s design.Josep Batlló died in 1934 and the house was kept in order by the wife until her death in 1940 . After the death of the two parents the house was kept and managed by the children until 1954. In 1954 an insurance company named Seguros Iberia acquired Casa Batlló and set up offices there. In 1970, the first refurbishment occurred mainly in several of the interior rooms of the house. In 1983, the exterior balconies were restored to their original color and a year later the exterior façade was illuminated in the ceremony of La Mercè.In 1993, the current owners of Casa Batlló bought the home and continued refurbishments throughout the whole building. Two years later, in 1995, Casa Batlló began to hire out its facilities for different events. More than 2,500 square meters of rooms within the building were rented out for many different functions. Due to the buildings location and the beauty of the facilities being rented, the rooms of Casa Batlló were in very high demand and hosted many important events for the city.

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Peralada Castle is a castle in Peralada, Catalonia, Spain.

A first castle was the seat of the medieval dynasty of the viscounts of Peralada, started by Berenguer, son of Ponce I, count of Empúries. During the French invasion of the Empordà, in the course of the crusade against Catalonia led by Philip III of France, the castle and the nearby buildings were set on fire and destroyed. Remains of these original structure are in the upper part of the town.

A new castle was built in the mid-13th century outside the line of the new walls. The current edifice received a new Renaissance facade, while the building was enlarged in the 19th century.

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Castles in Spain were built mainly for defensive purposes. During the Middle Ages, northern Christian kingdoms had to secure their borders with their Muslim southern neighbours, thus forcing both Christian and Muslim kings to grant border fiefs to their liege noblemen so as to keep and maintain defensive fortresses. When the Reconquista advanced, those border castles lost their initial purpose, and, as in the rest of medieval Europe, they were used as noble residences and fief-keeps. However, due to sporadic threats of war, they kept their military purposes, for enemy invasions were common. In some locations, such as the Basque country, fiefdoms did not exist as such, and noble families could not afford nor did they need huge fortresses, giving rise to many tower houses. On the other hand, in Muslim Spain many castle-palaces were built: the petty taifa kingdoms that arose after the fall of the Caliphate of Córdoba were militarily weak but culturally rich, and every emir or king liked magnificent palaces, of which the Alhambra of Granada is an example. During the late Middle Ages, Christian kingdoms had secured and enriched themselves well enough to support a more courtly lifestyle, so more residential castles were built, such as the Alcázar of Segovia, which was used as the main residence of the kings of Castile, whereas the Castle of Olite, built in a luxurious gothic style, was the seat of the Kingdom of Navarre's royal court.

After the Conquest of Granada in 1492, the Catholic monarchs ordered all the castles in their realms to be handed over to the Crown. Although the order was not completely carried out, the War of the Germanias, a rebellion against king Charles V in the early 16th century, forced the new Spanish Habsburg dynasty to continue the process, and many castles were demolished as well. Most of castles in Spain were successively abandoned and dismantled, Spanish kings fearing noble and peasant revolts, especially in the newly conquered lands. Accordingly, most of them are nowadays in a state of decay, and although some restoration work has been done, the number of former castles is so large that the Spanish government lacks both the resources and the will to restore them all.

Nowadays in Spain there are around 2500 castles corresponding only to this kind of fortification.

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El castillo de Coca es una fortificación de la localidad de Coca; fue construido en el siglo XV y está considerado por su propio municipio una de las mejores muestras del gótico-mudéjar español.1 Propiedad de la Casa de Alba, cedido al ministerio de Agricultura de España hasta el año 2054.Situado a las afueras de la villa, se levanta sobre el meandro del río Voltoya, afluente del Eresma, en las afuera de la villa de Coca, Segovia, se encuentra el bello castillo que lleva el nombre de dicha villa. Construida en el siglo XV sobre una explanada de una zona escarpada, es uno de los mejores exponentes de la arquitectura gótico-mudéjar española y está declarado Monumento Nacional. Siendo una de las pocas fortalezas de España que no se asienta sobre un cerro,sino sobre unos escarpes del terreno. Rodea el edificio un ancho y profundo foso.Su construcción, atribuida a los alarifes sevillanos,se realizó en el siglo XV principalmente en ladrillo, utilizado no sólo como material de obra, sino también como elemento decorativo; la piedra caliza aparece en las aspilleras, las columnas del patio de armas y otros elementos decorativos.Su sistema defensivo consta de tres partes: el foso y dos recintos amurallados con torreones. Además, dispone de un puente defensivo sobre el foso, que conduce al primer recinto amurallado; tras él, se registra una puerta rejada que lleva al patio de armas.El recinto inferior es de planta cuadrada, y se encuentra flanqueado en sus esquinas por cuatro torres, siendo la de mayor tamaño la torre del homenaje, recorrida en su interior por una angosta escalera de caracol realizada en ladrillo que permite el acceso a diversas plantas destinadas a capilla, sala de armas y otras estancias. La Sala de armas posee una bóveda de nervaduras góticas con mosaicos decorados de motivos geométricos de varios colores. Desde lo alto de la torre se divisan los castillos de Cuéllar y de Íscar.La torre de Pedro Mata sigue en tamaño a la del homenaje, seguramente porque junto a ella protege la puerta de acceso al patio de armas. Las dos restantes son la torre de la Muralla y la de los Peces. Dentro del recinto pueden encontrarse también otras salas con decoración de estuco y mural, así como una mazmorra.La villa perteneció a la Corona de Castilla hasta que en 1439 fue cedida a Íñigo López de Mendoza, marqués de Santillana, quien en 1451 la permutó por la villa de Saldaña con Alonso de Fonseca y Ulloa, obispo de Ávila y arzobispo de Sevilla. En 1453, Alonso de Fonseca y Ulloa obtuvo del rey Juan II de Castilla el permiso real para edificar el castillo, aunque su construcción no se empezó hasta varios años después. Al tener que ausentarse de Coca, Alonso de Fonseca y Ulloa cedío en 1460 los derechos de la villa a su hermano Fernando de Fonseca, que los ejerció hasta su muerte en 1463. Alonso falleció en 1473 siendo arzobispo de Sevilla, y Coca fue heredada por su sobrino, Alonso de Fonseca y Avellaneda, hijo de Fernando, quien llevó a cabo la construcción de la mayor parte del castillo, hasta quedar prácticamente terminada en 1493. A partir de entonces fue residencia palaciega y escenario de grandes fiestas, a las que asistieron notables personalidades.Nombró por su sucesor a su sobrino Alonso de Fonseca y Acevedo, quien mandó construir el castillo en 1473 y lo convirtió en residencia señorial, donde celebró grandes fiestas que eran frecuentadas por diferentes personalidades, entre las que destaca el cardenal francés Jean Jouffroi, que llegó a Castilla con la propuesta de matrimonio entre la infanta Isabel con el duque de Berry de Guyena, hermano de Luis XI de Francia. También visitó el castillo Beatriz de Bobadilla, marquesa de Moya.

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