ALCAZAR, OCANA AND THE STEPPES OF NEW CASTILLE,CASTILES, LEON, AND ESTREMADURA,Spain,Antique Map

HISTORICAL MAP CHART

OCANA, a town of central Spain, in the province of Toledo; on the extreme north of the tableland known as the Mesa de Ocana, with a station on the railway from Aranjuez to Cuenca. The town is surrounded by ruined walls, and in it are the remains of an old castle. In one of its parish churches is the chapel of Nuestra Sefiora de los Remedies, in which Ferdinand and Isabella were married in 1469. Ocana is the Vicus Cuminarius of the Romans, and was the dowry that El Motamid of Seville gave his daughter Zaida on her marriage with Alphonso VI. of Castile (1072-1109). Near Ocana, on the igth of November 1809, the Spanish under their Irish general Lacy were routed by the French under Joseph Bonaparte and Marshal Soult. ALCAZAR DE SAN JUAN, or ALCAZAR, a town of Spain, in the province of Ciudad Real, in the plain of La Mancha, at the junction of the Madrid-Manzanares and Madrid-Albacete railways.Owing to its position on two important railways, Alcazar has a flourishing transit-trade in the wines of EstremadUra and Andalusia; the soda and alkali of La Mancha are used in the manufacture of soap; and gunpowder, chocolate and inlaid daggers are also made here. Alc&zar is sometimes identified with the Roman Alee, captured by Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus in 180 s.c. It derives its existing name from its medieval Moorish castle (al-kasr), which was afterwards garrisoned by the knights of St John. The townsfolk contend that the great Cervantes was a native of Alcazar; and, although this claim must be disallowed, much of the action of his masterpiece, Don Quixote, takes place in the neighborhood. El Toboso, for instance, a village 12 m. E.N.E. [pop. (1900) 1895], was the home of the Lady Dulcinea del Toboso; Argamasilla de Alba (3505), 22m. S.E., is declared by tradition to be the birthplace of Don Quixote himself. Localantiquaries even identify the knight with Don Rodrigo de Pacheco, whose portrait adorns the parish church; and the same authorities hold that part of the romance was written while Cervantes was a prisoner in their town. An edition of Don Quixote was published at Argamasilla in 1864.

1890s Wood Engraving, Antique Map

Approximate Overall Size: 7 X 10 1/2 inches

CONDITION: Book Plate INTEXT MAP - Excellent Condition. Beautiful with excellent detail. There is Text on Front and Back Side.