1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Manzanares

MANZANARES, a town of Spain, in the province of Ciudad Real, on the river Azuer, a large sub-tributary of the Záncara, and on the railways from Madrid to Ciudad Real and Lináres. Pop. (1900), 11,229. Manzanares is one of the chief towns of La Mancha, and thus in the centre of the district described by Cervantes in Don Quixote. Its citadel was founded as a Christian fortress after the defeat of the Moors at Las Navas de Tolosa (1212). Bull-fights were formerly held in the main plaza, where galleries to accommodate spectators were built between the buttresses of an ancient parish church. Manzanares has manufactures of soap, bricks and pottery, and an active trade in wheat, wine, spirits, aniseed and saffron.