Calasparra is a municipality in the autonomous community

Autonomous communities of Spain

An autonomous community In other languages of Spain:*Catalan/Valencian .*Galician .*Basque . The second article of the constitution recognizes the rights of "nationalities and regions" to self-government and declares the "indissoluble unity of the Spanish nation".Political power in Spain is...

 of Murcia

Region of Murcia

The Region of Murcia is an autonomous community of Spain located in the southeast of the country, between Andalusia and Valencian Community, on the Mediterranean coast....

, 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...

.

Geography

Calasparra has an area of 193 km² and a population of 9,700 (2004). Between 2004 and 2006 more than 2,000 British immigrants bought new homes off-plan, built on 3 new urbanisations sateliting the town, with more purchasing country homes. Calasparra is situated in a mountainous region (400m) in the northwest of the province of Murcia. In contrast to the surrounding arid terrain, Calasparra benefits from being crossed by four rivers, including the Segura

Segura

Segura is a medium-sized river in southeastern Spain.It starts at Santiago Pontones , passes Calasparra, Cieza, Murcia, Beniaján, Orihuela, Rojales and ends in the Mediterranean Sea near Guardamar del Segura in the province of Alicante...

. This has enabled the cultivation of rice

Rice

Rice is the seed of the monocot plants Oryza sativa or Oryza glaberrima . As a cereal grain, it is the most important staple food for a large part of the world's human population, especially in East Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia, the Middle East, and the West Indies...

, for which the town is noted, and dates back to the 14th century.

The population is predominately Spanish, but other nationalities feature, particularly Moroccans and English.

External links

• Official municipal government website of Calasparra
• Viva Murcia community info/photos for Calasparra