La Rioja

By Christopher Minster

Located in the Spanish northeast, La Rioja is one of the smaller Spanish autonomous regions, consisting entirely of the province of La Rioja, formerly known as Logroño. It was conquered first by Romans and then by the Moors, before Christians from northern Spain drove the Moors out in the tenth century. A small and relatively weak kingdom, it has changed hands several times since the Roman era, eventually becoming part of the Kingdom of Castile. Even then, it was still vulnerable: it was conquered by Napoleonic French forces and remained a part of France until 1814.

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