Valdepiélagos

Historia

Valdepiélagos is a municipality of the Community of Madrid, Spain. It received the title of villa (town) on the 3rd of May, 1801.EtymologyThe origins of the word Valdepiélagos are obscure, nevertheless linguists and historians have proposed two different versions about this name: Valdepiélagos comes from the transposition of val, preposition de, and piélago, which is a poetic word to name a sea or ocean or, in a figurative sense an abundance of waters. According to this theory, the meaning of Valdepiélagos would be valley of many waters. Valdepiélagos was also the place chosen by the ancient residents of nearby Talamanca de Jarama for laying the skins of animals under the sun in order to dry them before they could be further worked on. Thus, the name would consist of val + de + piel + lagos . This explanation is consistent with the local place names in the area, with towns often being named after the trade commodity they produced.Location and road accessThe town of Valdepiélagos is situated on the north-eastern limit of the Community of Madrid, bordering the province of Guadalajara to the north and east, and the municipality of Talamanca de Jarama to the south and west.Regarding to road access, two motorways traverse the municipality: the M-120 which runs from Mesones to Talamanca de Jarama; and the M-125 running from El Cubillo.