Yecla

Town hall

Flag

Seal

Yecla

Location in Spain

Coordinates: 38°37′N 1°07′W / 38.617°N 1.117°W

Yecla

Government

• Mayor

Marcos Ortuño Soto

Area

• Total

607.7 km² (234.6 sq mi)

Elevation

602 m (1,975 ft)

Population (2010)

• Total

34,945

• Density

58/km² (150/sq mi)

Demonym(s)

Yeclanos

Website

www.yecla.es

Yecla is a town and municipality in eastern Spain, in the extreme north of the autonomous community of Murcia, located 96 km from the capital of the region, Murcia.

The origin of the term Yecla comes from the Arabic Yakka, which was the name of a fortress located in the place that is now called Cerro del Castíllo. This toponym, however, is not from Arabic origin and it is very likely that it derives from the pre-Roman terms Iko or Ika.

The most important mountains of the locality are Sierra de Salinas (1,238 m), Monte Arabí (1,065 m), Sierra de la Magdalena (1,038 m), and others. The chief buildings are a half-ruined citadel, a modern parish church with a pillared Corinthian facade, and a town hall standing in a fine arcaded plaza mayor (square). Yecla has traditionally had a thriving trade in grain, wine, oil, fruit and other agricultural products produced in the surrounding country. Since the second half of the 20th century, furniture making has become a local trade.

Yecla, with neighboring Jumilla, is one of the primary regions for development of the Murciana and Granadina breeds of dairy goats.

Since the mid-19th century Yecla was consolidated as an agricultural municipality, in particular with the wine production. The main cultures in the region are vines, olive trees, almonds and cereals. In the mid-19th century a new sector rose with the expansion of Yecla. The wood craftsmen have fostered the furniture industry and today Yecla is known by its great furniture production.

Yecla is also a wine-producing region, another attribute it shares with close-by Jumilla

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Wikipedia