Province of Cuenca

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

Not to be confused with Cuenca, Ecuador or Cesar Cuenca.

Cuenca
Province
Cuenca provincial parliament
Flag Coat of arms
Map of Spain with Cuenca highlighted
Coordinates:
Autonomous community	Castile-La Mancha
Capital	Cuenca
Government
• President	Juan Manuel Ávila Francés (PSOE)
Area
• Total	17,141 km2 (6,618 sq mi)
Area rank	Ranked 5th
Population (2012)
• Total	218,036
• Rank	Ranked 44th
• Density	13/km2 (33/sq mi)
Demonym(s)	Spanish: Conquense
Official language(s)	Spanish
Parliament	Cortes Generales
Website	dipucuenca.es

Cuenca is a province of central Spain, in the eastern part of the autonomous community of Castile–La Mancha.

Geography

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 Cathedra (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 Castillian/Spanish speaking (rather than Valencian), while the loss of its most dynamic region left the province of Cuenca relatively under-developed economically.