Caspe

Caspe is a municipality in the province of Zaragoza, part of the autonomous community of Aragon (Spain), seat of the comarca of Bajo Aragón-Caspe. As of 2018 it had a population of 9,525 inhabitants (INE 2018) and its municipality, of 503.33 km2, is the fourth largest in Aragon. Caspe obtained the title of city in the 19th century, as a result of the damage suffered in the Carlist Wars, by concession of Queen Isabella II. There is a popular belief that Caspe is named for ancient inhabitants of the city reportedly from the Caspian Sea. However this widespread etymology lacks philological rigor. The place name Casp was documented in Andalusi sources as "Qsp", "Qasp" or "Qasb", and has been related to the Arabic word "Casba". It is also possible that the name of the city derives from the Indo-European root Cass ("oak") and the suffix pe ("place of" or "below"). Caspe is located at the 41.2 parallel of north latitude and on the Greenwich meridian. It is 104 km southeast of Zaragoza on the banks of the Guadalope river —which no longer carries water in this section, having been diverted upstream when building the Mequinenza reservoir, also called the Sea of Aragon —and a few kilometers from the Ebro. It is 152 meters above sea level in one of the most arid areas of Aragon, with an average temperature of 15 °C and 325 mm of annual precipitation. It is located at the crossroads of two axes: the Ebro — in an east–west direction, partly used by the railway — and, perpendicular to it, the one that, starting from Andorra, passes through Alcañiz and continues to Barbastro and Monzón. Due to its combination of steppe, river, forest, and Mediterranean forest, Caspe is home to a great diversity of fauna and flora. It has a diverse year-round population of birds of prey, such as golden eagles, Eurasian griffon vultures, peregrine falcons, common buzzards, goshawks and sparrowhawks. European merlins, kites and hen harriers in winter, as well as black kites, Egyptian vultures, European short-toed, alcotans, ash harriers and lesser kestrels in summer.