New Castile (Spain) in the context of "Community of Madrid"

Castile or Castille (/kæˈstiːl/; Spanish: Castilla [kasˈtiʎa] ) is a territory of imprecise limits located in Spain. The Encyclopædia Britannica defines it as encompassing Old Castile and New Castile, as they were formally defined in the 1833 territorial division of Spain.

Castile's name is generally thought to mean "land of castles" (castle in Spanish is castillo), in reference to the castles built in the area to consolidate the Christian Reconquest from the Moors.

Castilians (Spanish: castellanos) are the inhabitants of the historical region of Castile in central Spain. However, the boundaries of the region are disputed.

Not all people in the regions of the medieval Kingdom of Castile or Crown of Castile think of themselves as Castilian. For that reason, the exact limits of what is Castilian today are disputed. The western parts of Castile and León (that is, the Region of León) and Cantabria, La Rioja, the Community of Madrid and La Mancha are often also included in the definition, but that is controversial for historical reasons and for the strong sense of unique cultural identity of those regions. The Province of Albacete and Ciudad Real are also often included. As an ethnicity, Castilians are most commonly associated with the sparsely populated inner plateau of the Iberian peninsula, which is split into two by the Sistema Central mountain range in northern or 'Old Castile' and southern or 'New Castile'.