Castile

The Spanish heartland, a high dry plateau whose language and institutions became the country's by weight of numbers. Castile is the meseta, the tableland occupying much of central Spain at around seven hundred metres, with hot summers, cold winters and thin soil - country that supported sheep far better than crops. The Mesta, the sheepowners' guild, held royal privileges to drive enormous migratory flocks along protected routes across the peninsula, producing merino wool for Flanders and a tax base for the crown while discouraging arable farming for centuries. Its towns won representation in the Cortes early, and the Comuneros revolt of 1520 against Charles V was a defence of those liberties that failed. Because Columbus sailed under Castilian authority, the American empire was legally Castile's, and Seville then Cadiz held the monopoly on that trade. Castilian became the language now simply called Spanish. Madrid was made the capital in 1561 for its central position rather than its size. The region emptied through the twentieth century into the cities, and interior depopulation is now a national political issue. Its Romanesque churches and walled towns survive because nothing replaced them. Avila, Segovia, Salamanca and Toledo are World Heritage sites. Castilian Spanish is spoken by around half a billion people worldwide. The meseta covers roughly two-fifths of Spain. Castilla y Leon and Castilla-La Mancha are the modern autonomous communities. Don Quixote is set on its plains. The Camino de Santiago crosses the northern edge. Manchego cheese and saffron come from La Mancha. Windmills still stand on the ridges Cervantes described.

• Existed: 1037 CE – present
• Type: Entity