Pedro Muñoz is a municipality in the autonomous community of Castile-La Mancha, Spain. It is located in the northeast corner of the province of Ciudad Real, on the bank of the Záncara river. It is in the La Mancha region, in the "Mancha Alta" sub-region. It was founded in 1284 by the Archdeacon of Alcaraz, Pero Muñoz (later adjusted to "Pedro" Muñoz in the municipality's name), as one of a series of defensible points in the La Mancha plains. The village was abandoned in 1410, due to a severe drought, and re-established in 1525. Since the late 19th century, Pedro Muñoz had been an important economic center in the region.
The village has an important architectural heritage of manor houses, hermitages and the Renaissance and Baroque church of St Peter the Apostle. It also has a natural and ecological heritage composed of a protected complex of wetlands, visited by many species of migratory birds.
Geography The municipality is bound to the north by El Toboso, to the west by Campo de Criptana, to the east by Mota del Cuervo and to the south by Socuéllamos and Tomelloso. It has a total area of 101.3 km2 and is located 113 km from the provincial capital. Although it is at a comparatively high altitude, the region itself is flat, on an arid but fertile plateau. It is a typical village in La Mancha with a concentrated population and low-rise housing, typical of the region.
Pedro Muñoz is located in the southern part of the Meseta Central (inner plateau) of the Iberian Peninsula, on the Záncara River in the Guadiana River Basin. The municipality has a nature reserve surrounding a complex of seven lakes: La Vega or Laguna del Pueblo (Town Lake) wetland is considered "green"; Alcahozo, Manjavacas and Monte Chico are salt lakes; and Retamar and Navalafuente are endorheic lakes (not providing any outflow of water such as streams or rivers).
Hydrography and lakes
The boundaries of Pedro Muñoz are within the drainage basin of the Záncara River, a tributary of the Guadiana, and host the wetland complex of Pedro Muñoz, made up of three principal lakes: Vega Lake, Retemar Lake and Navalafuente Lake. This wetland complex was declared a nature reserve in 2002, after receiving the following statements of protection: the wildlife refuge of Vega Lake in 1988, a special protection area for birds (ESPA) in 1989 and a wetland of international importance as a habitat for waterfowl (Ramsar Convention) in 1993. The biosphere reserve of the Wetlands Area was declared by UNESCO in 1981 and comprises a set of lakes and marshes in La Mancha.
Vega Lake is the most important of the complex. It is a sweetwater lake which encourages the growth of non-halophytic vegetation. It has a surface area of 54 hectares and in summer is supplied with water from the treatment plant which alters its natural hydro-chemical composition from flooding and drought. The fauna is abundant with more than 23 species of waterfowl, most notably ducks and waders. Others can be found in the list of the Ramsar Convention.
Navalafuente is an ephemeral or intermittent lake that is formed in very rainy years. Retemar is a purely endorheic lake.
Flora and fauna
Flora
In the wetland areas there are halophytic plants that have adapted to the salty substrate where chlorides and sulphates have concentrated. In these areas the growth is sparse.
In the permanent lakes there is abundant aquatic vegetation supported by the fertile mud on the floor of the lakes, attracting large numbers of waders. There is also vegetation rooted in the lake beds with leaves and flowers floating on or emergent from the surface. Typical plants around the lake are Salicornia, Juncaceae, glasswort (Arthrocnemum macrostachyum) and Phragmites species.
Halophytic rushes grow in the boggy areas. Also important are the sedges and sow thistles which reproduce easily in areas that are less salty. There are also saw-toothed sedge and bull rushes. Nearby in the salty meadows are plantains and grama grass, and a range of aromatic herbs such as rosemary, thyme and mint.
The most common tree, particularly in the more saline areas, is the tamarisk or salt cedar. It forms little thickets around the edge of the lakes, and has a long taproot that is able to reach the water table and thus resist the summer drought. Other trees that thrive in the area are the evergreen or holly oak, poplar species, almond, Acacia species and pines.
Fauna
The wetlands complex is an important natural element to assist the migration of birds between Africa and the north of Europe, despite the high salinity of the water and the summer drought. The presence of crustaceans that can resist the summer drought are fundamental for feeding many waterbirds.
In the fringes of rushes and sedges there are many ducks, like the mallard. Sedentary birds who nest and winter on the lake are sometimes seen, including the black-necked grebe, the coot and the common pochard. Other more common birds which overwinter on the lakes are the shoveler duck, the northern pintail, the eurasian teal and the little grebe. In areas of thicker vegetation the purple heron nests during spring and migrates in August to over-winter in other places. In the salty areas are wading birds such as the black-winged stilt and the avocet.
Among non-aquatic birds are plovers, great reed warblers, black-headed gulls and the hobby. There is in addition one of the more important predators of waterfowl, the marsh harrier, more common on the permanent lakes where there is denser vegetation.
Beyond the wetlands are various other wild animals such as rodents, hares, pole cats, snakes, falcons, owls and partridges.
Demographics Pedro Muñoz had a population of 8,711 inhabitants in 2009, declining slightly to 8,639 inhabitants according to the 2011 census. Its population density is 78.04 inhabitants per km2.
History
Archaeological discoveries Facing La Vega Lake, on a small promontory of marl clay, remnants of successive reconstructions of the Iberian type of adobe buildings were discovered. A subsidence area was found when the land was cleared, with approximately five feet of deposits similar to ancient clay pots. There were large animal teeth, and the skeleton of an animal that appeared to be a carnivore was found in one of the containers. There were also stones joined together with mud, forming Cyclopean walls. It appeared to be a Carpetani settlement, Celtic people living among Oretani, the Celtiberians, the Vaccaei and the Vettones.
Archaeological excavations carried out at Cerro de La Nieve (Hill of the Snow), between 1984 and 1990, threw further light on the first inhabitants of Pedro Muñoz. In successive interventions made at the site numerous archaeological remains have been found, including: bone sculpture; small-scale metallurgy, possibly manufactured in a local copper foundry; handmade ceramics painted in a tradition of the Urnfield culture; bronze fibulae (ornamental pins), utensils and other brassware; Greek pottery (associated with fruit trade); and numerous Iberian cemeteries as well as a Roman and many medieval cemeteries. The settlement was probably part of a system of towns of Iberian contemporaries at the time, Las Mesas, Cuenca and Campo de Criptana, Ciudad Real being the closest neighbors.
Pre-Roman and ancient history In pre-Roman times, the area had a population of about 100 people in the Cerro de La Nieve area. Several samples of Iberian sculptures have been found in this area. Founded in the late 6th or early 5th century BC, it was a semi-nomadic village of the early Iron Age with influences from the Urnfield and Iberian cultures. The village was abandoned c. 300 BC, possibly due to pressures from the Carthaginian conquest of the southern peninsula.
This area was later occupied by the Romans. A Roman tomb was found at Cerro de la Nieve and a Roman road and bridge were built to cross the Záncara river, suggesting that the Iberian fort was occupied by Romans. However, it is unknown if there was a village near or around them at that time. The region was conquered in the 4th century AD by the Visigoths.
Middle Ages
The region was conquered by Iberian Muslims in the 8th century before coming under the Castilians in the 13th century, who then founded the village under the priory of Uclés. The village was founded through the efforts of the Archdeacon of Alcaraz, Pero Muñoz. He was looking to find high, defensible points in the La Mancha plains, close to his headquarters near Alcaraz, that were safe from the raids often carried out by the Muslim armies which caused great havoc among Christians. Alcaraz aimed to populate strategic locations resulting in the village being founded in 1284, the year of the death of King Alfonso X (the Wise) of Castile, whose son Sancho IV succeeded to the throne.
The Archbishop of Toledo had asked permission to create churches throughout this region, expropriating land for this purpose. Realizing that the site was inhabited, he tried to make the villagers abandon the village so that he could to take it. The Archdeacon of Alcaraz (Pero Muñoz) petitioned the Archbishop of Toledo for permission to annex the inhabited land, and the Archdeacon became famous for the complicated lawsuit that ruled in his favour. The Archbishop of Toledo was forced to relinquish his rights to the town and concede it to Alcaraz. For this reason, the villagers honored the Archdeacon by putting his name to the village.
Alfonso XI conceded the village in 1324, and in that same year the village council received a letter of privilege from the Military Order of Santiago.
In 1410, a year of considerable drought in the region, the wetlands receded and divided the town lake into three. This made the land very prone to disease and also attracted pests from the surrounding barren lands. Faced with these plagues, residents were forced to abandon the village.
16th century
In 1525 the town was resettled by the Mayordomo family whose patriarch, Juan Mayordomo, had heard about the fertility of its lands – and also had to abandon their old village, Cervera del Llano, Cuenca, due to a confrontation with the Marquis de Villena over taxation. Juan Mayordomo later informed his relatives that it was a suitable and welcoming place and persuaded them to settle and encourage others to join them. Mayordomo's family was responsible for spreading this message and soon other families began to arrive until the town was reborn. Mayordomo became the first mayor of the municipality due to his leadership.
Farmers residing in the neighbouring villages of Socuéllamos, El Toboso, Campo de Criptana and Mota del Cuervo attempted to destroy the houses where the newcomers had settled. They were fearful that they would lose their new borders, forests and meadows they had gained when the village was abandoned in 1410. To avoid this, Mayordomo and other residents took their case to the courts of Ocaña, Toledo, Avila and Madrid, asking for town powers to be granted. However the councils of Socuéllamos, El Toboso, Campo de Criptana and Mota del Cuervo also filed a lawsuit to prevent this concession, vying for favor against Pedro Muñoz. Spain was at that time positioned as one of the major European powers, and Emperor Charles I had to leave Spain to resolve issues in its European territories. In his place, Queen Isabella of Portugal and Aragon granted town privileges to Pedro Muñoz on 10 August 1531, saving the town from future threats against its homes. For this reason there appears in the right lower quarter of the town's heraldic shield a crown in gratitude to the monarchy, specifically Isabel, for her decision to grant township privileges in a difficult time.
17th and 18th centuries In 1691, Pedro Muñoz was included in the province of La Mancha, with Almagro as the capital, having been segregated from the province of Toledo.