Cabra, Spain

Cabra is a municipality in the province of Córdoba, Andalucía, Spain. It is also the name of the former ruling family of that area. As of 2005 the municipality had a population of 20,940 while its seat, the town of Cabra had 19,523 [ [http://www.ine.es/nom/nomena.jsp Instituto Nacional de Estadística population statistics] ] .

Geography

Cabra is in the center of Andalucía. The mean altitude is 452 meters. It covers 229 km ² and has a density of 91.4 inhab/km ². The mean geographical coordinates are coord|37|28|N|4|27|E|, and it is 72 kilometers from the province capital, Córdoba.

History

The area has been settled since the Paleolithic. During Carthaginian and Roman times the area was agricultural, with the old town of Cabra being the market center.

Economy

Cabra’s economy is based on orchards of olives and grapes. The Parque Natural de las Sierras Subbéticas takes up part of the municipality. There are eight small villages, notably Gaena and La Benita.

Agriculture is the most important activity occupying up to 45% of the population, depending on the time of year. Over 85% of the land (outside the park) is cultivated almost entirely in olive trees and grapevines. High quality oils are produced from both the olives and the grape seeds. The industrial sector occupies approximately 30% of the population, with some textiles, metal working, and furniture making. Industrial food-processing is carried out mostly in the towns of Lucena, Baena and Priego. The remainder of the Cabraian population is involved in service industries, including minor tourism. At agriculturally slack times of the year the unemployment rate reaches over 30%.

Local administration and politics

The mayor of Cabra is Mr. Ramón Narváez Ceballos, of the "Partido Andalucista". This party has 8 municipal councillors in the town's ayuntamiento, the Partido Socialista Obrero Español has 7, the Partido Popular has 3 and Izquierda Unida has 3. In the 2004 Spanish General Election the Partido Socialista Obrero Español got 49.05% of the vote in Cabra, the Partido Popular got 29.04%, the "Partido Andalucista" got 14.07% and Izquierda Unida got 5.17 %.

References

External links

* [http://www.cabra.net official Page of the Ilmo. City council of Cabra]
* [http://www.turismodecabra.es tourist portal for the City council of Cabra]
* [http://www.cajaespana.es/pubweb/decyle.nsf/PorMunicipios/3A943527E6EDD63AC1256DC100542D60/$File/14013.PDF?OpenElement Economic Study of Spain - Cabra]
* [http://www.juntadeandalucia.es/agriculturaypesca/estacionesAgroclimaticas/DatosHistoricos.jsp?CODPROVINCIA=14&CODESTACION=101&ORDEN=DESC&FECHAINI=18-12-2003&FECHAFIN=14-07-2005 climatic data - Cabra]
* [http://www.bne.es/cgi-bin/wsirtex?SOY=WBNCONS4&TIP-DOC=W01BIMO&TIPO-AUTOR=NPERSONA&AUTOR=&LOG=Y&TIPO-TIT=TITPRORE&TITPRORE=&LOG=Y&SEL-VAR1=ELUGAR&TXT-VAR1=&LOG=Y&SEL-NUM=NISBN&NUM-NOR=&LOG=Y&NMATERIA=cabra&LOG=Y&FECPRIME=&FECPRIME-D=&FECPRIME-H=&FRM0=Buscar Bibliography on Cabra from the Biblioteca Nacional de España]
* [http://www.juntadeandalucia.es/institutodeestadistica/sima/htm/sm14013.htm Cabra statistics from the Multiterritorial Information System of Andalucía]
* [http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&ll=37.4730,-4.4344&spn=0.010,0.017&t=h Map of Cabra, Andalucía, Spain from GoogleMap]