Monfragüe

The article's lead section may need to be rewritten. Please help improve the lead and read the lead layout guide. (August 2016) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

Monfragüe National Park
IUCN category II (national park)
A view of the Salto del Gitano
Location of Monfragüe
Location	Extremadura
Coordinates	39°50′27″N 6°01′48″W / 39.84083°N 6.03000°W / 39.84083; -6.03000
Area	179 km2 (69 sq mi)[citation needed]
Established	2007
Visitors	331,788 (in 2008)

Monfragüe (

, western Spain.

Location

Monfragüe is a

Monfragüe is famous for its

] The park occupies an area of 18,118 hectares.[2]

The area's and the Park's name comes from the Latin Monsfragorum, "monte fragoso" (Spanish) which means "lush mountain".^[3]

The mountains of Monfragüe house a great number of caves with

for example the "Cueva del Castillo", located on the south face of the Sierra de las Corchuelas. Around the Park are remains of pre-Roman times. In Miravete remnants of an old castle exist, and in Malpartida de Plasencia there is an estate known as "El Calamoco". A warrior stele found in Torrejón el Rubio and the Treasury of Serradilla are evidence of a highly hierarchical agricultural society inhabiting this area.^[3]

Remains of Roman roads, bridges, fountains and gravestones can be found, since the park is close to the Ruta de la Plata (Silver Route). A section of the route, which goes down to the bridge of the Cardinal from Villarreal, can be considered as a vestige of Roman road. As in almost all Spanish geography, valleys provide the layout for the road. Remains of watchtowers exist, in Cerro Gimio for example.^[3]

During the ninth century, the castle of Monfragüe was built with five towers and two perimeters of walls. What is visible today are remnants of multiple restorations after military orders conquered it for

In 1450, Juan de Carvajal ordered the Cardinal's Bridge to be built entirely from granite ashlars; it facilitated communications between Plasencia and Trujillo. Since the bridge was practically the only one crossing the Tagus in the Extremadura, it gave rise to pillage, turning the area into a "paradise" of bandits and robbers hidden in its steep and impenetrable mountain ranges.^[3]

At the beginning of the eighteenth century, the

The

20th century

During the Spanish Civil War in the nineteenthirties, the Extremadura was taken over rapidly. Rather than the conflict itself, the worst aspects were the hunger and poverty which followed. The impenetrable mountains with their maquis shrubland of the region were important to the highlander groups commanded by famous guerrillas like "Quincoces",^[4] "Chaquetalarga" (Joaquín Ventas Cintas) and "the French" (Pedro Díaz Monje),^[5]

In 1966, construction of the dam at Torrejón el Rubio, and the Alcántara Dam in 1969 altered the landscape irreversibly, as it submerged the wild beauty of the Tagus riverbanks along with its ecological and ethnological wealth.^[3]

In 1968, Jesus Garzón arrived in the area, enamored of the beauty of Monfragüe and dedicated himself to

, a lower level of protection than a national park.

In 1991, Monfragüe was declared as a Special Protection Area for birds,^[1] During the following years, the conservationist mentality, the infrastructure in Villarreal and publication efforts about the riches of the Park were strengthened. Since 2003, it has been recognised by

After twenty-five years Monfragüe became a

At the end of 2016, the area also received recognition as a dark-sky preserve.^[7]

Habitas in the park include extensive dense

woodlands, and numerous cliffs and rock faces. The land is mainly used for traditional, low-intensive farming.^[citation needed] However, there were two major changes in the years 1960–70: the river Tagus was dammed, affecting its course through the park and in 1970 brutal reforestation with non-indigenous eucalyptus and pine began. For a planned but never built paper industry in Navalmoral de la Mata many hectares of the Park were desolated and irreversibly altered by terraces built with heavy machinery. The Sierra de Miravete and ravines of the streams Malvecino and Barbaón received a hard blow and important thickets of the Mediterranean forest disappeared.^[3]

The non-indigenous species are being eradicated.^[when?] Commercial forestry is prohibited in Spanish national parks.^{[citation needed]}

Gyps fulvus

) in flight over the park.

In 1988 the

Monfrague is an outstanding site for

]

Other breeding birds for which the park is important are

]

Other wildlife

Iberian lynx survived for a long time before numbers decreased. They were reintroduced and have since been doing well. ^[9] Deer and wild boar live in the park.

• 
  National Park of Monfragüe, in Extremadura. View from the Castle

  .
• 
  Griffon vultures (

  Gyps fulvus

  ) in the rocks of Monfragüe.
• 
  Griffon vultures (

  Gyps fulvus

  ) in the rocks of Monfragüe.
• 
  Bridge over the Tagus River as it passes through the national park.
• 
  Jara in bloom in Monfragüe.
• 
  Deer during the 2008 roar.
• 
  Bee feeding on nectar in the Monfragüe National Park.
• 
  The Tagus River as it passes through the park.
• 
  Evergreen oaks ( Quercus ilex ) in the dehesa de Monfragüe.
• 
  El Salto del Gitano and the lookout for birds.
• 
  Puente del Cardenal, Monfragüe. It is only visible when the level of the Tagus River is very low.

• Official site
• Official site Ambiente, Gobierno de Extremadura
• Magazine about Monfragüe Reddeparquesnacionales.com
• Website about Monfrague National Park