Benicàssim
Encyclopedia
Municipality
A municipality is essentially an urban administrative division having corporate status and usually powers of self-government. It can also be used to mean the governing body of a municipality. A municipality is a general-purpose administrative subdivision, as opposed to a special-purpose district...
embracing a beach resort located in the province of Castelló
Castellón (province)
Castellón or Castelló is a province in the northern part of the Valencian Community, Spain. It is bordered by the provinces of Valencia to the south, Teruel to the west, Tarragona to the north, and by the Mediterranean Sea to the east. The western side of the province is in the mountainous...
, on the Costa del Azahar
Costa del Azahar
Costa del Azahar or Costa dels Tarongers is the name for the coast of the province of Castellón in Spain, from Vinaròs to Almenara.Towns on the Costa del Azahar include Peníscola, Benicàssim and Castelló de la Plana....
in Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
. The mountain range known as Desert de les Palmes
Desert de les Palmes
Desert de les Palmes , also known as Serra del Desert de les Palmes is a 18.8 km long mountain range in the Plana Alta comarca, Valencian Community, Spain. Its highest point is Bartolo ....
rises inland protecting the town from the north wind. The name is derived from the Berber Banu Qasim tribe, a segment of the Kutama
Kutama
The Kutama were a powerful Berber tribe, in the region of Jijel , a member of the great Sanhaja confederation of the Maghrib and the armed body of the Fatimid Caliphate.-Origins of the Kutama:...
Berbers that settled the area during the 8th century Moorish conquest of Spain.
Benicasim is located 13 km north of the town of Castelló de la Plana, on the north of the Valencian Community
Valencian Community
The Valencian Community is an autonomous community of Spain located in central and south-eastern Iberian Peninsula. Its capital and largest city is Valencia...
. It has a population of 18,098. Its main economic activity comes from tourism; most notably the town is famous for some of the most important artificial beaches in Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
.