Why is Madrid the capital of Spain?

This is a new article in a series about cities that includes transportation technology (partially). 1, 2, 3, Four, Five, 6and 7), Rise of the City (pittsburgh, Chicago, new york, quebec, Kansas City, Minneapolis-St. Paul, How to create a new city, Interview with Mark Rutter), and urbanism (1, 2).

So far, we have mainly looked closely at examples of New World cities, as their emergence is well documented, but recent research has shown that the same can be said for Old World cities. Now you can. And few countries in Europe have a story as bizarre as Madrid.

Most of the capitals of countries around the Mediterranean have existed for thousands of years. In fact, the Romans did not find a majority, but rather further developed the largest and best positioned. London was an exception, as it needed a bridge that locals could not build.

In fact, bridges are a common theme in European capitals.

Almost every capital has a river, and therefore a bridge.

But can you name the rivers in Madrid?
no?
Are you sure?
please do not worry. Madrid’s rivers are poor. That’s weak. It’s an insult to the capital’s rivers. It’s a weak flow.

Don’t be fooled by over-the-top bridges and levees. Instead, note that the bridge is so low that it is difficult for ducks to pass under it. The “island” in the middle is a sandbar.why madrileños Do we allow sandbars like this to form? Because there is no point in eliminating them. The only thing that overcomes Manzanares is his inferiority complex.

However, Spain is one of the oldest countries in Europe. How is it possible that a capital city so young could have such an unacceptable river?

And the weirdness isn’t over yet.When Madrid became the capital of Spain 1561, was not the largest city in the country. It was neither a second city nor a third city.it is 10th!

what is happening? !

To understand this, let’s look back at how large cities generally come into being, and how Madrid’s path was different.

in Why some cities thriveWe explained the basic mechanism by which cities eventually grow.

• Small towns are formed around rivers for water and irrigation

• About military positions that are easy to defend

• Big things grow at crossroads, because that’s the perfect place for the market.

• Markets create wealth, bring people together, and increase trade.

• More infrastructure will be built, the trade of the city will further increase, and the strength of the city will be strengthened

• Usually a river is one of the roads

• These cities are often located at the confluence of rivers, thus providing two free natural communication channels: rivers that do not require much infrastructure.

• Many other cities are located on the coast and provide access to the sea, allowing trade with other coastal cities.

This is clear when you look at the population map of France. Rivers can be traced because they are populated, and where they meet there are large population nodes, or cities.

And the bigger the city, the more services it offers, the more specialized it becomes, resulting in more trade, more wealth, more investment in infrastructure, more commerce. , creating a wonderful loop of network effects.

After all, this means that the bigger the city, the bigger the city. It begins to attract people from its surroundings and absorb its population. This completes the fractal pattern of cities around the world.

This is a fairly Darwinian way for cities to emerge and grow, meaning that cities with strong early advantages will eventually outperform others.

And so the peacock-like Madrid was born, flaunting its evolution.

Of course, peacocks have a less straightforward evolutionary advantage. Having a tail does not increase your chances of survival from predators. In fact, they pose even more difficulties. that’s the point. By showing that they are still alive despite their huge tails, the females prove that they must be strong.

It was Philip II who decided to make Madrid the capital of Spain. Philip II was one of the most powerful kings in the country’s history, ruling in the 1500s.

Until the mid-1500s, Spain had no fixed capital. The king was to travel with an itinerant court. So what did Philip II have in mind when making this decision?

Of course, he had his country in mind.

There are two things you can immediately notice about Spain.

1. surrounded by the sea

2. covered by mountains

Mountains have a profound effect on rivers.

All these mountains meant many rivers separated from each other. That made them small. It also became impossible to navigate, so it could no longer be used for trade.

It is truly the Spain of the Iberian Peninsula. Philip II also had his empire.

And if you zoom in on the part of Europe that was the wealthiest at the time, this was the Spanish Empire.

• The Kingdoms of Castile (“Castile” in the map above) and Aragon were very powerful

• Aragon ruled the eastern Mediterranean, including southern Italy

• America under Castile

• and the Low Countries (present-day parts of the Netherlands and Belgium).

• There are also things like Milan

Now, let’s put ourselves in this man’s shoes. He must have a capital as close as possible to the Iberian possessions, the American possessions, the Italian possessions and the Dutch possessions. The Iberian Peninsula is a natural place to do that because of its central location.

But where exactly? This map shows the terrain of Spain and Spain at night. Lights indicate where people are. After Philip II, the pattern changed, but not by much.

It’s interesting to note that Spain has so many populated islands along its coast. Where there is a coastal plain, there is always a densely populated area. And because there are mountains everywhere, all these coastal plains are isolated from other areas. In fact, most of Spain’s coastal cities were islands.

And each coast had a different focus.

• The eastern coast was focused on holding Italy and defending itself against attacks by Berbers from Africa.

• The southwest coast focused on trade with America.

• The North Coast focused partly on America, but also on Dutch territory and the war with Great Britain.

In addition to all these coastal regions, Philip needed to connect three large inland regions: the two plateaus of Castile and the Ebro Valley.

This is the reason why the imperial court used to circulate. There were so many possessions and they were so separated that the king had to roam from place to place to make sure things ran smoothly.

This is a fun puzzle.I wonder where it is you Would we put the capital in this situation?

The most natural place is It is the region most connected to all these regions.

Surprisingly, the coast wasn’t all that connected. Isn’t having a port a connection? But in this situation, just having a port wasn’t enough.

• The east coast was being chased by the Berbers, so there wasn’t much traffic.

• The northern coast was being pursued by British troops.

• All of these coasts are on the periphery and face different seas, so there is not a lot of traffic between them.

This is why the city with the best access to the coast was Seville, the red dot in the southwest, with access from the river to the sea, and thus to America. The remaining cities had little maritime traffic.

However, there were many roads connecting the country in the interior. As a result, the most connected locations were in the center, around Toledo and Burgos. Note that one of his most connected locations, Madrid, is also there.

According to this, the king could have found a new capital in Toledo and completed it. Why didn’t you do that?

This is Toledo.

It is a wonderful city, perched on a huge rock, surrounded and protected by the Tagus River.

This is useful when fighting Muslims, but once it’s over it becomes a bit unwieldy.

• The roads are narrow and not ideal for traveling with court or escorts.

• The city cannot grow any further.

• Its urban character cannot be determined.

And Philip II loved urbanism. He traveled throughout the European Empire and absorbed many ideas from Italy and the Low Countries. That is why he built the Escorial Palace.

A small city that he could grow and shape suited him.

Also, like Valladolid, Toledo had other problems. Toledo was a center of alternative power.

Valladolid and Toledo were home to many ancient nobility and religious leaders, and both served as centers of power. The king did not want that. He wanted a capital that would not be in his shadow. A small city with no aristocrats suits her.

There was no alternative center of power in Madrid. In fact, after a recent revolt, Philip II murdered many nobles and confiscated much land. He had no rivals in Madrid and enough land to build a new city of his choice.

Madrid also had other advantages:

• Being close to the mountains, water was plentiful.

• Air flow from the mountains was considered a way to fight infectious diseases at a time when diseases like the bubonic plague were attacking the population every few decades.

• Due to its remoteness from populated areas, the forest remained untouched and perfect for hunting.

• It was built on a hill that was easy to defend.

That’s why he chose Madrid as his capital.

As for the capital, the transportation infrastructure was centered around Madrid. Here is a comparison of the Roman roads of the Iberian Peninsula with today’s main roads.

Notice how many roads have been preserved. Not only because the Romans were good at navigating roads, but also because they simply chose geographically appropriate locations to build their roads.

However, in the heart of Spain, around Madrid, the road network has been completely reshaped to center around Madrid. Recent history has accelerated this process.

Road planning in the early 20th century was centered around Madrid as Spain’s central communication node. The same was true of highway planning in the late 20th century.

The same thing can be seen in today’s railways. Most high-speed trains (blue) pass through Madrid, as do many standard trains.

And of course, here’s what happens with airports.

Madrid’s airport is the fifth busiest in Europe.

All this infrastructure means more trade, more wealth, more specialization, more investment, etc.

Note that Barcelona’s population has been close to Madrid’s for a very long time. There are many reasons for this, but an important one is that Barcelona, ​​as a port city, has the potential to compete in the Mediterranean and ultimately global intermodal trade in a way that Madrid could not. is.

However, it is difficult to escape the role of network effects. Large cities grow larger and suck population from neighboring cities.

These are all very similar to what we covered Chicago: began as a market platform between the Mississippi River and the Great Lakes through river trade.

From there, it became an important node in the railway system.

and highway system:

It eventually developed one of the world’s largest airports and the world’s largest goods market.

Following a similar path, aided by a bit of good fortune from the preferences of King Felipe II, Madrid was transformed from a small backwater city into a metropolis. second largest city After Paris, it is the largest metropolitan area of ​​the European Union and the capital of the world.

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