Province of Teruel



Teruel is a province of Aragon, in the northeast of Spain. The capital is Teruel. It is bordered by the provinces of Tarragona, Castellón, Valencia (including its exclave Rincón de Ademuz), Cuenca, Guadalajara, and Zaragoza.

The area of the province is 14,809 km². Its population is 138,686 (2003), of whom about a quarter live in the capital, and its population density is 9.36/km². It contains 236 municipalities, of which more than half are villages of under 200 people.

The main language throughout the province is Spanish, although Catalan is official in the Matarranya comarca.

Geography
This province is located in the mountainous Sistema Ibérico area. The main ranges in the province of Teruel are Sierra de la Virgen, Sierra de Santa Cruz, Sierra de Cucalón, Sierra de San Just, Sierra Carrascosa, Sierra Menera, Sierra Palomera, Sierra de Javalambre, Sierra de Gúdar, Sierra de Albarracín and the Montes Universales, among others.

Depopulation and neglect
Teruel Province has undergone massive depopulation since the second half of the 20th century. The exodus from the rural mountainous areas in Teruel rose after General Franco's Plan de Estabilización in 1959. The population declined steeply as people emigrated towards the industrial areas of the large cities and the coastal towns where tourism grew exponentially, leaving behind their small villages where living conditions were often harsh, with cold snowy winters and very basic facilities. As a consequence there are many ghost towns in different parts of the province.

A great number of surviving towns in Teruel province have only a residual population, reviving somewhat during the summer when city-dwellers spend their holidays there. Other causes of the strong emigration have been the abandonment of traditional agricultural practices, like sheep and goat rearing, by the local youth, the closure of mines, like the large Sierra Menera mine near Ojos Negros, as well as the lifestyle changes that swept over rural Spain during the second half of the 20th century.

The "Teruel exists" (Teruel existe) movement began at the turn of the century. It is a platform of provincial authorities, institutions and sympathizers seeking to reverse the long-standing neglect of this province.

Comarcas
The following Comarcas of Aragon are located in Teruel Province:
 * Bajo Martín
 * Jiloca
 * Cuencas Mineras
 * Andorra-Sierra de Arcos
 * Bajo Aragón
 * Comunidad de Teruel
 * Maestrazgo
 * Sierra de Albarracín Comarca
 * Gúdar-Javalambre
 * Matarranya

Famous people

 * Luis Buñuel, film director from Calanda
 * Gaspar Sanz, music composer from Calanda
 * Antón García Abril, music composer
 * Pablo Serrano, sculptor from Crivillén
 * Luis Milla, retired footballer who played for CD Teruel, FC Barcelona and R. Madrid
 * David Civera, light music singer
 * Federico Jiménez Losantos, author, journalist and radio host
 * Manuel Pizarro Moreno, businessman, politician and jurist
 * DJ Jano, dj and music productor