Almadén

Almadén, town, Ciudad Real provincia (province), in the comunidad autónoma (autonomous community) of Castile-La Mancha, west-central Spain. Almadén is located in one of the world’s richest mercury-producing regions.

The town, originally Roman, then a Moorish settlement (Arabic: al-Maʿdin, “mine”), was captured by Alfonso VII in 1151 and given to the military-religious Knights of the Order of Calatrava, who exploited the mercuric ores. The king of Spain, Charles I (Holy Roman Emperor Charles V), granted the mines to the German Fugger family of merchant-bankers from 1525 to 1645 as security for a loan. From 1645 the mines were worked by the royal exchequer but leased to the Rothschild banking family in London. Mining remains the chief economic activity of Almadén, which is the seat of two mining academies. Cereals and livestock are raised in the surrounding area, and there are flour mills and shoe factories in the town proper. Pop. (2007 est.) mun., 6,294.