Pedro Muñoz | ||
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Location in Spain, in the province of Ciudad Real |
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Country | Spain | |
Autonomous community | Castile-La Mancha | |
Province | Ciudad Real | |
Founded | 1284 AD | |
Government | ||
• Mayor | José Juan Fernández Zarco (PSOE) | |
Area | ||
• Total | 101.3 km2 (39.1 sq mi) | |
Elevation | 656 m (2,152 ft) | |
Population (2008) | ||
• Total | 8,595 | |
Time zone | CET (UTC+1) | |
• Summer (DST) | CEST (UTC+2) | |
Postal code | 13620 | |
Area code(s) | 34 (Spain) + 926 (Ciudad Real) | |
Website | www.pedro-munoz.es (Spanish) |
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 is a small municipality, 101.3 km2, due to being abandoned as a municipality in 1410; however, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries it grew into an important economic center in the region. Pedro Muñoz has 45.27 businesses for each 1000 inhabitants.
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.
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).
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.