{"id":2566,"date":"2022-10-24T05:00:35","date_gmt":"2022-10-24T05:00:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.escuela-hablamos.com\/?p=2566"},"modified":"2022-10-21T08:54:21","modified_gmt":"2022-10-21T08:54:21","slug":"madrid-y-sus-curiosidades-curiosities-about-madrid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.escuela-hablamos.com\/pt\/madrid-y-sus-curiosidades-curiosities-about-madrid\/","title":{"rendered":"Madrid y sus curiosidades \u2013 Curiosities about Madrid"},"content":{"rendered":"

Madrid, a fascinating city (technically not \u2013 we\u2019ll come to that later!) which has enthralled all of us here at Hablamos<\/span><\/h2><\/div>
<\/div><\/div>
<\/p>\n

The first pueblo<\/b> (<\/i>village<\/i><\/b>) <\/i>in the area we now call Madrid se fund\u00f3<\/b> (<\/i>was founded<\/i><\/b>)<\/i> in the 9th<\/sup><\/span> century. Being so many centuries old, there are a huge number of curious facts and figures we could tell you about the place, so in this blog we\u2019ve narrowed the list down to a few things we reckon you\u2019ll enjoy learning about before you come to study Spanish<\/b><\/a> here in the capital.<\/p>\n

\n<\/div>

\u00bfPor qu\u00e9 se llama Madrid? – Why the name \u201cMadrid\u201d?<\/span><\/h2><\/div>
<\/div><\/div>
<\/p>\n

As with all towns and cities the world over, Madrid isn\u2019t exactly the original name of the city. To understand the origin of this nombre <\/b>(<\/i>name<\/i><\/b>) <\/i>you need to know that what is now Spain was mostly conquered in the siglos VIII y IX <\/b>(<\/i>8<\/i><\/b>th<\/sup><\/i><\/b><\/span> and 9<\/i><\/b>th<\/sup><\/i><\/b><\/span> centuries<\/i><\/b>) <\/i>by the Moors <\/b>\u2013 a catch-all term for various Muslim groups who entered from North Africa. The emir (or leader) of the Moors at the time, Mohamed I, decided to build fortalezas <\/b>(<\/i>fortifications <\/i><\/b>or <\/i>forts<\/i><\/b>)<\/i> to maintain a strong presence in the conquered areas against Christian invasions from the remaining Spanish kingdoms. According to the leyenda <\/b>(<\/i>legend<\/i><\/b>)<\/i>, Madrid was originally named \u201cMayrit\u201d as this was the Arabic word for a process of extracting water from underground which was employed in the area dues to the large number of subterranean arroyos <\/b>(<\/i>streams<\/i><\/b>)<\/i> around what is now Madrid. Once the Christian kingdoms initiated la Reconquista <\/b>(<\/i>the Reconquest<\/i><\/b>)<\/i> and reclaimed the city, the name stuck but evolved into Madrid.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\n<\/div>

\u00bfPor qu\u00e9 se llaman \u201cgatos\u201d a los madrile\u00f1os? \u2013 Why are people from Madrid called \u201cgatos\u201d?<\/span><\/h2><\/div>
<\/div><\/div>
<\/p>\n

This strange title also dates to the time of the Moors<\/b> and the reconquest of Madrid all the way back in 1085 AD. As the tropas <\/b>(<\/i>troops<\/i><\/b>) <\/i>of Alfonso VI, el Bravo <\/b>(<\/i>the brave<\/i><\/b>) <\/i>approached the city, the battle for Madrid began and at first, the king\u2019s soldiers made very slow progress. One brave individual, armed only with una daga<\/b> (<\/i>a dagger<\/i><\/b>)<\/i> climbed the walls of what was then Mayrit with such speed that onlookers nicknamed him el gato <\/b>(<\/i>the cat<\/i><\/b>). <\/i>He then lowered a rope so others could join him and by doing so allowed the Christians to take control. The same soldier\u2019s family then became important in the city, and over time the name gato<\/b> was used for anyone in Madrid whose padres <\/b>(<\/i>parents<\/i><\/b>) <\/i>and abuelos<\/i><\/b> (<\/i>grandparents<\/i><\/b>) <\/i>had also been born there. So you see, when you come to learn Spanish in Madrid<\/b>, you\u2019ll now know why everyone keeps referring to people as gatos <\/b>(<\/i>cats<\/i><\/b>)<\/i>!<\/p>\n

\n<\/div>

Madrid no siempre ha sido la capital \u2013 Madrid hasn\u2019t always been the capital<\/span><\/h2><\/div>
<\/div><\/div>
<\/p>\n

In many countries, la capital <\/b>(<\/i>the capital<\/i><\/b>)<\/i> has pretty much always been the same city \u2013 for instance London in the UK or Paris in France. However, Spain\u2019s capital has changed unas veces <\/b>(<\/i>a few times<\/i><\/b>)<\/i> <\/i><\/b>over the centuries. For many years, the Corte Real <\/b>(<\/i>Royal Court<\/i><\/b>)<\/i> travelled around Spanish territory and had no permanent base. Then, Felipe II in the 16th<\/sup><\/span> century decided it was about time that there was a capital city and a fixed meeting place for government. The city of Toledo, not far from Madrid, had always been the most important royal residence, but because of various factors, the King decided to settle in Madrid. Even so, between 1519 and 1561, the emperador Carlos V <\/b>(<\/i>Emperor Charles V<\/i><\/b>) <\/i>decided to move the capital to Toledo, then from 1601 to 1606 it went north to Valladolid, and during the Napoleonic Wars the capital was moved to Sevilla and then C\u00e1diz in the south. Despite being the de facto capital all those centuries, Madrid was only formally recognised as such in 1931!<\/p>\n

\n<\/div>

Madrid no es una ciudad \u2013 Madrid isn\u2019t a city<\/span><\/h2><\/div>
<\/div><\/div>
<\/p>\n

\u00a1\u00bfQu\u00e9 dices?! <\/b>(<\/i>What are you talking about?!<\/i><\/b>). <\/i>Technically, this is correct even today. Madrid is still not, officially, a city but rather una villa <\/b>(<\/i>a type of town<\/i><\/b>)<\/i> despite having a population of over 3 million! But what does this mean? Well, una villa<\/b> is a special designation for a town with certain privilegios <\/b>(<\/i>privileges<\/i><\/b>)<\/i> that other places don\u2019t enjoy. In the case of Madrid, it\u2019s pretty obvious that its status as the capital of the country makes it stand out from other \u201ctowns\u201d! Given that tradition and political reality has meant that Madrid has grown to become the vast metropolis we all know and love today, nobody has bothered reclassifying it as a true city. Odd, right?<\/p>\n

And there you have it, some fun facts about Hablamos<\/b><\/a>\u2019s fabulous hometown! Come and join us and learn much more about Madrid and all its curious history!<\/p>\n

\n<\/div>

Hablamos – full-on Spanish!<\/mark><\/span><\/h3><\/div>
<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>