We have learned that the capital of Spain is Madrid, but did you know Spain had a different capital city in the past? Toledo was Spain’s first capital city. However, in 1561, King Philip II moved his court to Madrid and established Madrid as the new capital of Spain.
Toledo is mentioned in early history by the Roman historians. It goes back as far as the year 17. Pretty impressive for a city! That same historian, Livy, wrote about Toledo as being “a small city, but fortified by location.” How does a town develop for that many centuries? Toledo is special because of the amount of history it has. For a city to be protected by the European Union and proclaimed the city as a protected historical site, there must be something amazing about the city.
On a map, you will notice that the town is right in the middle of Spain. It takes almost three hours in a car to get to the ocean, which is about 330 miles away. The town of Toledo is landlocked, and when it comes to the development of cities, it is more normal for coastal cities to develop early on. Having the sea nearby provides a lot of development for cities. Even though Toledo does not have an ocean nearby, but it has the next best thing: the Tagus River.
