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Madrid Madrid
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Madrid
Madrid Madrid, Spain.

Madrid

national capital, Spain
Written by
Timothy John Connell
Director of Language Studies, City University, London. Coauthor of Spain after Franco and others.
Timothy John ConnellAll
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Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree....
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•History

Madrid, city, capital of Spain and of Madrid provincia (province). Spain’s arts and financial centre, the city proper and province form a comunidad autónoma (autonomous community) in central Spain. Madrid’s status as the national capital reflects the centralizing policy of the 16th-century Spanish king Philip II and his successors. The choice of Madrid, however, was also the result of the city’s previous obscurity and neutrality: it was chosen because it lacked ties with an established...

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