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'La Mancha' is an arid, but fertile, elevated plateau (610m [2000ft]) of central Spain, south of Madrid, stretching between the Montes (mountains) de Toledo and the western spurs of the Cerros (hills) de Cuenca, and bounded on the south by the Sierra Morena and on the north by the La Alcarria region. It includes portions of the modern provinces of Cuenca, Toledo, and Albacete, and most of the Ciudad Real province. It constitutes the southern portion of the Castile-La Mancha autonomous community and makes up most of the region.
The climate is continental, with strong fluctuations. Agriculture (wheat, barley, oats,wine grapes) is the primary economic activity, but it is severely restricted by the harsh environmental conditions.
Famous Spaniards like the cinema directors Pedro Almodóvar and José Luis Cuerda, painters Antonio López and his uncle Antonio López Torres, athlete Andrés Iniesta and actress Sara Montiel were born in La Mancha.

Contents

Name

Geography

Culture

Agriculture

Name

The name of 'La Mancha' comes from the words in antique arabian "ma-llashe" which means "no-weather" (and it is not related to "al-manxa", meaning "the balcony"). It has no relation to the Spanish word ''(la) '', which means "stain" or more specifically, "spot".

Geography

The largest plain in the Iberian Peninsula, it is made up of plateaux averaging 500 to 600 metres in altitude (although it reaches 900 metres in Campo de Montiel and other parts), centring on the province of Ciudad Real. The region is watered by the Guadiana, Javalón, Záncara, Cigüela, and Júcar rivers. The Spanish historian Hosta gives the most accepted description of the limits of the geographical La Mancha plain:

''All the territory, plain, arid and dry, that is between Montes de Toledo and the western skirts of Sierra de Cuenca, and from Alcarria to Sierra Morena, including in this denomination the so called Mesa de Ocaña and Quintanar, the comarcas of Belmonte and San Clemente and the old territories of the military Orders of Santiago, San Juan and Calatrava, with all the Sierra de Alcaraz; being its limits to the North the Tajo river and the part called properly Castilla la Nueva, to the East the kingdoms of Valencia and Murcia, and to the South, the kingdoms of Córdoba and Jaen, and to the West, the provinces of Extremadura, spreading 53 leagues from East to West and 33 leagues from North to South. Until XVI century, the east part was also called Mancha de Monte-Aragón, because of the name of the mountains that were the old border between La Mancha and kingdom of Valencia, and to the rest simply Mancha. Afterwards, La Mancha was also divided into Mancha Alta and Mancha Baja, according to the level and flow of its rivers, including the first one the northeast part, from Villarubia de los Ojos until Belmonte, country of the old Iberian Lamitans, and the second one the southwest part, including Campo de Calatrava and Campo de Montiel, old country of the Iberian Oretans.''

Culture

Culturally, La Mancha includes the Sierra de Alcaraz, northern Sierra Morena, Montes de Toledo and Serranía de Cuenca, parts of Tajo river valley, and it is administrative divided among the comarcas of Campo de Montiel and Campo de Calatrava to the south—Don Quixote himself started his adventures in Campo de Montiel—the eastern Mancha Alta, the central Mancha Baja, the western Valle de Alcudia, and Parameras de Ocaña y Manchuela to the north.
Miguel de Cervantes gave international fame to this land and its windmills when he wrote his novel ''Don Quixote de La Mancha'', later the inspiration for Dale Wasserman's musical ''Man of La Mancha''. Some believe that Cervantes was making fun of this region, using a pun; a "mancha" was also a stain, as on one's honor, and thus a hilariously inappropriate homeland for a dignified knight-errant. Translator John Ormsby believed that Cervantes chose it because it was/is the most ordinary, prosaic, anti-romantic, and therefore unlikely place from which a chivalrous, romantic hero could originate, making Quixote seem even more absurd.
Others disagree. Many experts think of La Mancha as the most proper place for an idealist, since it was, as it is still today, a very harsh and ruthless area.
Several film versions of ''Don Quixote'' have actually been filmed largely in La Mancha. However, at least two of the most famous - the 1957 Russian film version, and the screen version of ''Man of La Mancha'', were not. The 1957 film was shot in Crimea, while ''Man of La Mancha'' was filmed in Italy. G.W. Pabst's 1933 version of Cervantes's novel was shot in Alpes-de-Haute-Provence.

Agriculture

La Mancha has always been an important agricultural zone. Viniculture is important in Tomelloso, Valdepeñas and Manzanares, in Ciudad Real and Villarrobledo in Albacete. Other crops include cereals (whence the famous windmills) and saffron. Sheep are raised, providing the famous Manchego cheese.
La Mancha includes two National Parks, Las Tablas de Daimiel and Cabañeros, and one Natural Park, las Lagunas de Ruidera.