Valdepenas - Encyclopedia

GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES

VALDEPENAS, a town of Spain, in the province of Ciudad Real; near the right bank of the river Jabalon, a tributary of the Guadiana, and on the Madrid-Cordova and Valdepenas-La Calzada railways. Pop. (woo) 21,015. Valdepenas is the largest town in the Campo de Calatrava, an extensive plain north of the Sierra Morena. Its commerce developed rapidly in the last quarter of the 19th century, largely as a result of improvements in its communications by road and rail; the population in the same period increased by more than one-third. Valdepenas contains large distilleries, tanneries, flour mills, cooperages, and other factories; but its trade is chiefly in the red wines for which the district is famous throughout Spain. There are hot mineral springs near the town.