Salamanca

Salamanca sits on the northern half of the Meseta Central in the western-central Iberian Peninsula, straddling the Tormes, capital of its province in Castile and León and attached to the comarca of Campo Charro. Its population in 2024 was 144,458. The University of Salamanca, founded in 1218, is one of the oldest in Western Europe and still sets the rhythm of the place. The two studies behind the Gregorian calendar were carried out here in 1515 and 1578, and the oldest surviving printed book on chess was published in the city in 1496.