Castilla–La Mancha in the context of "Castile and León"

Toledo (UK: /tɒˈleɪdoʊ/ tol-AY-doh; Spanish: [toˈleðo] ) is a city and municipality in Spain. It is the capital of the province of Toledo and the de jure seat of the government and parliament of the autonomous community of Castilla–La Mancha.

Toledo is primarily located on the right (north) bank of the Tagus in central Iberia, nestled in a bend of the river.

Extremadura (/ˌɛkstrəməˈdjʊərə/ EK-strə-mə-DURE-ə; Spanish: [e(ɣ)stɾemaˈðuɾa] ; Extremaduran: Estremaúra [ehtːɾemaˈuɾa]; Portuguese: Estremadura; Fala: Extremaúra) is a landlocked autonomous community of Spain. Its capital city is Mérida, and its largest city is Badajoz. Located in the central-western part of the Iberian Peninsula, it is crossed from east to west by the Tagus and Guadiana rivers. The autonomous community is formed by the two largest provinces of Spain: Cáceres and Badajoz. Extremadura is bordered by Portugal to the west and by the autonomous communities of Castile and León (north), Castilla–La Mancha (east), and Andalusia (south).

It is an important area for wildlife, particularly with the major reserve at Monfragüe, which was designated a National Park in 2007, and the International Tagus River Natural Park (Parque Natural Tajo Internacional). The regional government is led by the president of the Regional Government of Extremadura, a post currently held by María Guardiola of the People's Party.

Drylands are defined by a scarcity of water. Drylands are zones where precipitation is balanced by evaporation from surfaces and by transpiration by plants (evapotranspiration). The United Nations Environment Program defines drylands as tropical and temperate areas with an aridity index of less than 0.65. Drylands can be classified into four sub-types:

• Dry sub-humid lands
• Semi-arid lands
• Arid lands
• Hyper-arid lands

Some authorities regard hyper-arid lands as deserts (United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification) although a number of the world's deserts include both hyper-arid and arid climate zones. The UNCCD excludes hyper-arid zones from its definition of drylands.

Castile and León is an autonomous community in northwestern Spain. Castile and León is the largest autonomous community in Spain by area, covering 94,222 km. It is, however, sparsely populated, with a population density below 30/km. While a capital has not been explicitly declared, the seats of the executive and legislative powers are set in Valladolid by law, and for all purposes that city (also the most populated municipality) serves as the de facto regional capital.

Castile and León is a landlocked region, bordered by Portugal as well as by the Spanish autonomous communities of Galicia, Asturias, Cantabria, the Basque Country, La Rioja, Aragon, Castilla–La Mancha, the Community of Madrid and Extremadura. Chiefly comprising the northern half of the Inner Plateau, it is surrounded by mountain barriers (the Cantabrian Mountains to the North, the Sistema Central to the South and the Sistema Ibérico to the East) and most of the territory is drained by the Douro River (Spanish: Duero), flowing west toward the Atlantic Ocean.

The Valencian Community is an autonomous community of Spain. It is the fourth most populous Spanish autonomous community after Andalusia, Catalonia and the Community of Madrid with more than five million inhabitants. Its eponymous capital Valencia is the third largest city and metropolitan area in Spain. It is located along the Mediterranean coast on the east side of the Iberian Peninsula. It borders Catalonia to the north, Aragon and Castilla–La Mancha to the west, and Murcia to the south, and the Balearic Islands are to its east. The Valencian Community is divided into three provinces: Castellón, Valencia and Alicante.

According to Valencia's Statute of Autonomy, the Valencian people are a "historical nationality". Their origins date back to the 1238 Aragonese conquest of the Taifa of Valencia. The newly founded Kingdom of Valencia enjoyed its own legal entity and administrative institutions as a component of the Crown of Aragon, under the purview of the Furs of Valencia. Valencia experienced its Golden Age in the 15th century, as it became the Crown's economic capital. Local institutions and laws continued during the dynastic union of the early modern Spanish Monarchy, but were suspended in 1707 as a result of the Spanish War of Succession. Valencian nationalism emerged towards the end of the 19th century, leading to the modern conception of the Valencian Country. The current autonomous community under the Generalitat Valenciana self-government institution was established in 1982 after the Spanish Transition.

The Community of Madrid (Spanish: Comunidad de Madrid; [komuniˈðað ðe maˈðɾið] ) is one of the seventeen autonomous communities and 50 provinces of Spain. It is located at the heart of the Iberian Peninsula and Central Plateau (Meseta Central); its capital and largest municipality is Madrid. The Community of Madrid is bounded to the south and east by Castilla–La Mancha and to the north and west by Castile and León. It was formally created in 1983, in order to address the particular status of the city of Madrid as the capital of the Spanish State and in urban hierarchy. Its boundaries are coextensive with those of the province of Madrid, which was until then conventionally included in the historical region of New Castile (Castilla la Nueva).

The Community of Madrid is the third most populous in Spain with 7,058,041 (2024) inhabitants, roughly a seventh of the national total, mostly concentrated in the metropolitan area of Madrid. It is also the most densely populated autonomous community. Madrid has both the largest nominal GDP, slightly ahead of that of Catalonia, and the highest GDP per capita in the country. Madrid's economy is highly tertiarised, having a leading role in Spain's logistics and transportation.

La Mancha (Spanish pronunciation: [la ˈmantʃa]) is a natural region and comarca located in the autonomous community of Castilla–La Mancha (Spain), covering parts of the provinces of Albacete, Ciudad Real, Cuenca and Toledo. Its area varies according to authors: from 15,000 km to 30,000 km making it one of the most extensive natural plains on the Iberian Peninsula. It represents the center of the Southern Plateau, bordering the regions of Mesa de Ocaña, Montes de Toledo, Campo de Calatrava, Sierra Morena, Campo de Montiel, Campos de Hellín, Monte Ibérico-Corredor de Almansa, Manchuela, Serranía de Cuenca and La Alcarria.