Not to be confused with Zagora.

Zaragoza
Basilica of Our Lady of the Pillar and the Ebro River
Flag Coat of arms
Zaragoza Location of Zaragoza within Spain
Coordinates: 41°39′N 0°53′W / 41.65°N 0.883°W / 41.65; -0.883Coordinates: 41°39′N 0°53′W / 41.65°N 0.883°W / 41.65; -0.883
Country	Spain
Autonomous community	Aragón
Province	Zaragoza
Comarca	Zaragoza
Districts	Actur, Casco Antinguo, Centro, Delicias, Universidad, San José, Las Fuentes, La Almozara, Oliver-Valdefierro, Torrero-La Paz, Margen Izquierda, Barrios Rurales Norte, Barrios Rurales Oeste
Government
• Type	Mayor-council
• Body	Ayuntamiento de Zaragoza
• Mayor	Juan Alberto Belloch (PSOE)
Area
• Total	1,062.64 km2 (410.29 sq mi)
Elevation	199 m (653 ft)
Population (1 January 2010)INE
• Total	701,090
• Density	660/km2 (1,700/sq mi)
Demonym	zaragozano (m), zaragozana (f)
Time zone	CET (GMT +1)
• Summer (DST)	CEST (GMT +2) (UTC)
Postcode	50001 - 50018
ISO 3166-2	ES-Z
Website	http://www.zaragoza.es/

Zaragoza (Spanish pronunciation: [θaɾaˈɣoθa]), also called Saragossa in English,^[1] is the capital city of the Zaragoza province and of the autonomous community of Aragon, Spain. It is situated on the Ebro river and its tributaries, the Huerva and the Gállego, near the centre of the region, in a valley with a variety of landscapes, ranging from desert (Los Monegros) to thick forest, meadows and mountains.

On 1 September 2010 the population of the city of Zaragoza was 701,090,^[2] within its administrative limits on a land area of 1,062.64 km2 (410.29 sq mi), ranking fifth in Spain. It is the 35th most populous municipality in the European Union. The population of the metropolitan area was estimated in 2006 at 783,763 inhabitants. The municipality is home to more than 50 percent of the Aragonese population. The city lies at an elevation of 199 metres.

Zaragoza hosted Expo 2008 in the summer of 2008, a world's fair on water and sustainable development. It was also candidate for the European Capital of Culture in 2016.

The city is famous for its folklore, a renowned local gastronomy, and landmarks such as the Basílica del Pilar, La Seo Cathedral and the Aljafería Palace. Together with La Seo and the Aljafería, several other buildings form part of the Mudéjar Architecture of Aragon which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The Fiestas del Pilar are among the most celebrated festivals in Spain.

History[link]

Roman Caesaraugusta[link]

Roman theatre

The Sedetani, a tribe of ancient Iberians, populated a village called Salduie, Salduba in Roman sources. Later on, Augustus founded there a city called Caesaraugusta to settle army veterans from the Cantabrian wars. The foundation date of Caesaraugusta has not been set with total precision, though it is known to lie between 25 BC and 12 BC. The city did not suffer any decline during the last centuries of the Roman empire and was captured peacefully by the Goths in the 5th century.

Moorish Saraqusta[link]

Aljafería Palace (at night), built in the 11th century.

In 714 the Berbers and Arabs took control of the city, renaming it Saraqusta (سرقسطة). It later became part of the Emirate of Cordoba. It grew to become the biggest Muslim controlled city of Northern Spain and as the main city of the Emirate's Upper March, Zaragoza was a hotbed of political intrigue. In 777 Charlemagne was invited by Husayn, the Wali (governor) of Zaragoza, to take the submission of the city but having marched an army to the city gates he found Husayn to have had a change of heart and was forced to give up after a month-long siege of the city, facing Basque attacks on his rear guard on his withdrawal. Four years later Emir Abd ar-Rahman I sent an army to reestablish firm control over the city. Husayn's family rebelled again in 788, and the head of the Banu Qasi was killed trying to put down the insurrection. Subsequent rebellions were launched there by Matruh al-Arabi (789), Bahlul Ibn Marzuq (798) and Amrus ibn Yusuf (802), who reached an accord with the Emir and retained control of the city. In 852, control of the city was awarded to Musa ibn Musa of the Banu Qasi, but following a defeat at Christian hands in 861 he was deprived of the city by the Emir, only for it to be retaken by his son Isma'il a decade later. Muhammad ibn Lubb ibn Qasi rebelled against the Emir in 884, and according to chronicler Ibn Hayyan he sold Zaragoza to Raymond of Pallars, but it was immediately retaken by the Emir and in 886 was given to the Banu Tujibi. In spite of a 17-year siege by the Banu Qasi, the Banu Tujibi continued to hold the city, growing in power and autonomy, until in 1018 they broke from Cordoban control and founded an independent Taifa state.

Taifa of Zaragoza[link]

From 1018 to 1118 Zaragoza was one of the taifa kingdoms, independent Muslim states which emerged in the eleventh century following the destruction of the Cordoban Caliphate. During the first three decades of this period, 1018–1038, the city was ruled by the Banu Tujibi. In 1038 they were replaced by the Banu Hud, who had to deal with a complicated alliance with El Cid of Valencia and his Castilian masters against the Almoravids, who managed to bring the Taifas Emirates under their control. After the death of El Cid his kingdom was overrun by the Almoravids, who, by 1100, had managed to cross the Ebro into Barbastro, which brought Aragon into direct contact with them. The Banu Hud stubbornly resisted the Almoravids and ruled until they were eventually defeated by them in May 1110.

La Seo Cathedral

The last sultan of the Banu Hud, Abd-al-Malik Imad ad-Dawla, the last king of Zaragoza, forced to abandon his capital, allied himself with the Christian Aragonese under Alfonso the Battler and from that time the Muslims of Zaragoza became military regulars within the Aragonese forces.

Aragonese era[link]

In 1118 the Aragonese conquered the city from the Almoravids and made it the capital of the Kingdom of Aragon. After Alfonso's death without heirs in 1134, Zaragoza was swiftly occupied by Alfonso VII of León and Castile, who vacated it in 1137 only on condition it be held by Ramon Berenguer IV of Barcelona as a fief of Castile.

Assault of the French army at Santa Engracia Monastery on 8 February 1809 during the Peninsular War.

Zaragoza was the scene of two controversial martyrdoms related with the Spanish Inquisition: those of Saint Dominguito del Val, a choirboy in the basilica, and Pedro de Arbués, head official of the inquisition. While the reality of the existence of Saint Dominguito del Val is questioned, his "murder" at the hands of "jealous Jews" was used as an excuse to murder or convert the Jewish population of Zaragoza.^[3]

Zaragoza suffered two famous sieges during the Peninsular War against the Napoleonic army: a first from June to August 1808; and a second from December 1808 to February 1809 (see Agustina de Aragón, Siege of Saragossa (1809)), surrendering only after some 50,000 defenders had died.^[4]

Modern history[link]

Despite a decline in the outlying rural economy, Zaragoza has continued to grow. During the second half of the 20th century, its population boomed as a number of factories opened in the region. In 1979 the Hotel Corona de Aragón fire killed at least 80. The armed Basque nationalist and separatist organization ETA from northern Spain has been blamed, but officially the fire is still regarded as accidental. ETA carried out the 1987 Zaragoza Barracks bombing in the city which killed eleven people, including a number of children, leading to 250,000 people taking part in demonstrations in the city.

Demographics[link]

Population, in thousands, can be seen here: <timeline> ImageSize = width:650 height:300 PlotArea = width:450 height:230 left:180 bottom:35 AlignBars = late

DateFormat = yyyy Period = from:0 till:700 TimeAxis = orientation:vertical ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:50 start:0

BarData=

 bar:1900 text:"1900"
 bar:1910 text:"1910"
 bar:1920 text:"1920"
 bar:1930 text:"1930"
 bar:1940 text:"1940"
 bar:1950 text:"1950"
 bar:1960 text:"1960"
 bar:1970 text:"1971"
 bar:1981 text:"1981"
 bar:1991 text:"1991"
 bar:1994 text:"1994"
 bar:1996 text:"1996"
 bar:2001 text:"2001"
 bar:2004 text:"2004"
 bar:2005 text:"2005"
 bar:2006 text:"2006"
 bar:2008 text:"2008"

PlotData=

 width:17
 bar:1900 color:brightblue from:0 till:99
 bar:1910 color:brightblue from:0 till:112
 bar:1920 color:brightblue from:0 till:141
 bar:1930 color:brightblue from:0 till:174
 bar:1940 color:brightblue from:0 till:239
 bar:1950 color:brightblue from:0 till:264
 bar:1960 color:brightblue from:0 till:326
 bar:1970 color:brightblue from:0 till:480
 bar:1981 color:brightblue from:0 till:591
 bar:1991 color:brightblue from:0 till:594
 bar:1994 color:brightblue from:0 till:607
 bar:1996 color:brightblue from:0 till:602
 bar:2001 color:brightblue from:0 till:611
 bar:2004 color:brightblue from:0 till:639
 bar:2005 color:brightblue from:0 till:647
 bar:2006 color:brightblue from:0 till:661
 bar:2008 color:brightblue from:0 till:682

</timeline>

• Historical Series of population: National Statistics Institute of Spain (INE)
• Dates 2006 City council of Zaragoza.

Climate[link]

Zaragoza climate chart (Airport)

Zaragoza has a semi-arid climate (Köppen climate classification BSk), as it lies in a wide basin entirely surrounded by mountains, but shows characteristics of a Continental Mediterranean climate (Köppen: Csa) such as drier summers and winters, and wetter springs and autumns. The average precipitation is a scanty 310 mm with abundant sunny days, and the rainfall centers in spring. There is drought in summer. The temperatures are high in summer reaching up to 40 °C (104 °F).

In winter the temperatures are low (usually 0 to 10 °C) either because of the fog (about 20 days from November to January) or a cold and dry wind blowing from the NW, the Cierzo (related to other northerly winds such as the Mistral in the SE of France) on clear days. Frost is common and there is sporadic snowfall.

Economy[link]

Torre del Agua at the Expo 2008 site.

In addition to the advantageous geographic situation, an Opel factory was opened in 1982 in Figueruelas, a small village nearby. The progressive decline of the agrarian economy turned Opel into one of the main pillars of the regional economy, along with Balay, which manufactures household appliances; CAF (Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles S.A.), which builds railway engines for both the national and international markets; SAICA and Torraspapel in the stationery sector; and various other local companies, such as Pikolin, Lacasa and Imaginarium SA.

The city's economy benefited from projects like the Expo 2008 (the official World's Fair, with the theme of water and sustainable development, held between 14 June and 14 September 2008), Plataforma Logística de Zaragoza (PLAZA), Parque Tecnológico de Reciclado (PTR), as well as being on the route of the AVE high-speed rail route since December 2003, which consolidates the city role as a communications hub. Currently, Zaragoza's Airport is a major cargo hub in the Iberian Peninsula, only behind Madrid, Barcelona and Lisbon.

Zaragoza is home to a Spanish Air Force base, which was (until 1994) shared with the U.S. Air Force.^[6] In English, the base was known as Zaragoza Air Base. The Spanish Air Force maintained an F/A-18 Hornet wing at the base. No American flying wings (with the exception of a few KC-135's) were permanently based there, but it served as a training base for American fighter squadrons across Europe. It is also the main headquarters for the Spanish Land Army, hosting the Academia General Militar, a number of brigades at San Gregorio, and other garrisons.

Culture[link]

View of Zaragoza (1647) by Juan Bautista Martínez del Mazo.

Zaragoza is linked by legend to the beginnings of Christianity in Spain. According to legend, the Virgin Mary appeared miraculously to Saint James the Great in the first century, standing on a pillar. This legend is commemorated by a famous Catholic basilica called Nuestra Señora del Pilar ("Our Lady of the Pillar").

The event, called "Las Fiestas del Pilar", is celebrated on October 12th, which is a major festival day in Zaragoza. Since it coincided in 1492 with the discovery of the Americas by Christopher Columbus, that day is also celebrated as El Día de la Hispanidad (Columbus Day, literally Hispanic Day) by Spanish-speaking people worldwide.

"El Pilar" lasts for nine days, with all kinds of activities: from the massively attended Pregon (opening speech) to the final fireworks display over the Ebro, there are bands, dances, procession of gigantes y cabezudos (carnival figures made of papier mache), concerts, exhibitions, the famous "vaquillas" bulls and the bull festival. Some of the most important features are the Ofrenda de Flores (Flower offering) to the virgin on the 12th, when an enormous cloak is made of the flowers

Education[link]

Education in Aragon starts when children are 6 years old at Primary School. From 11 to 16 pupils have to go to Secondary School (E.S.O or "Educacion Secundaria Obligatoria). These two periods are compulsory for all students. After that, those who wish to continue their studies can take "Bachillerato". This is the last stage before going to the university. "Bachillerato" lasts two years in which you can choose subjects to prepare for the course of your choice at University. There are four options to take: sciences (chemistry, biology,...), technology (physics, technical design), social sciencies (economy and maths) or Greek and Latin and arts (music, drawing, dance...)

When students finish "Bachillerato", they have to do global exams in order to get a good mark to enter university. This set of exams is called P.A.U. ("Prueba de acceso a la universidad").

The University of Zaragoza is based in the city. As one of the oldest universities in Spain and a major research and development centre, this public university awards all the highest academic degrees in dozens of fields. Zaragoza is also home to the MIT-Zaragoza International Logistics Program, a unique partnership between MIT, the Government of Aragon and the University of Zaragoza.

There is also a private university, Universidad San Jorge, which is located in Villanueva de Gállego, 14 km to the north.

Transportation[link]

Third Millennium Bridge

Zaragoza tram on trials

The city is connected by motorway with the main cities in central and northern Spain: Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia and Bilbao, all of which are located about 300 kilometres (200 miles) from Zaragoza.

Zaragoza Airport is a small commercial airport. It also is the home of the Spanish Air Force 15th Group, as well as was used by NASA as a contingency landing site for the Space Shuttle in the case of a Transoceanic Abort Landing (TAL).

Zaragoza is also connected to the Spanish High Speed railway (Renfe's AVE), by the Madrid-Barcelona high-speed rail line. Madrid is reachable in 1 hour 15 minutes, and Barcelona in approximately 1 hour 30 minutes. The central station is "Intermodal Zaragoza Delicias Station", which serves both railway lines and coaches. In addition to long distance railway lines and the high speed train, Zaragoza has a network of commuter trains (Renfe's cercanías).

The city has a network of buses which is controlled by TUZSA^[7] (Urban Transport Company of Zaragoza). The network consists of 31 regular lines (2 of them circle lines), 2 scheduled routes, 6 shuttle buses(1 free), and 7 free night buses operating on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays.

There is also an interurban bus network operated by CTAZ^[8] (Transport Consortium Zaragoza Area) with 17 regular lines.

The first line of the Zaragoza tram (Valdespartera-Parque Goya) is fully operational along the first phase from Valdespartera to Plaza Paraíso. Construction of the second phase (Plaza Paraíso-Parque Goya) began on 19th July 2011 and the works are scheduled to be finished in 18 months, followed by a 3-month trial period.

Around the city, cycle lanes facilitate easy two wheeled travel around the city and cyclists can thus avoid conflict with pedestrians and the dangers of motor vehicles, as well as the obvious advantages of improving fitnes and helping to reduce pollution. Furthermore, the city council has a public bicycle hire scheme. In return for a small annual charge, you can collect a bicycle from one hire point in the street and ride to another part of the city and leave the bike at a different hire point. Although not without a few drawbacks, by using a hired cycle, you can make sure your own bike is not stolen if you leave it in the street!

Sport[link]

Torre del Agua in the Luis Buñuel Metropolitan Water Park, at the Expo 2008 site.

Zaragoza's football team, Real Zaragoza, plays in the Primera División. One of the most remarkable events in the team's recent history is the winning of the former UEFA Cup Winners' Cup in 1995. The team has also won the Spanish National Cup "Copa del Rey" six times: 1965, 1966, 1986, 1994, 2001 and 2004 and an Inter-Cities Fairs Cup (1964).

Zaragoza's handball team, BM Aragón, plays in the Liga ASOBAL.

Their local basketball team, Basket Zaragoza 2002, is now on the Liga ACB. They play at the Príncipe Felipe with a capacity of 11,000 and their head coach is José Luis Abós and Basket Zaragoza plays in the Liga Femenina de Baloncesto.

Zaragoza was strongly associated with Jaca in its failed bid for the 2014 Winter Olympics.

A permanent feature built for Expo 2008 is the pump-powered artificial whitewater course "El Canal de Aguas Bravas."

Zaragoza has a lot of facilities to practice sports, you can swim, play soccer, basketball, tennis, etc. for a low price. You can also enjoy other outside sports such as cycling because there a lot of bicycle routes by the river.

Main sights[link]

Basilica of Our Lady of the Pillar,

Puente de Piedra

The Roman walls.

Pavilion of Aragon in the Expo 2008.

Santa María Magdalena church.

Near the basilica on the banks of the Ebro are located the city hall, the Lonja (old currency exchange), La Seo (literally "the See" in the Aragonese language) or Cathedral of San Salvador, a magnificent church built over the main mosque (partially preserved in the 11th-century north wall of the Parroquieta), with Romanesque apses from 12th century; inside, the imposing hallenkirche from the 15th to 16th centuries, the Baroque tower, and finally, with its famous Museum of Tapestries near the Roman ruins of forum and port city wall.

Some distance from the centre of the old city is the Moorish castle (or palace) Aljafería, the most important Moorish buildings in northern Spain and the setting for Giuseppe Verdi's opera Il trovatore (The Troubadour). The Aragonese parliament currently sits in the building.

The churches of San Pablo, Santa María Magdalena and San Gil Abad were built in 14th century, but the towers may be old minarets dating from the 11th century; San Miguel (14th century); Santiago (San Ildefonso) and the Fecetas monastery are Baroque with Mudéjar ceilings of the 17th century. All the churches are Mudéjar monuments that comprise a World Heritage Site.

Other important sights are the stately houses and magnificent palaces in the city, mainly of the 16th century: palaces of the count of Morata or Luna (Audiencia), Deán, Torrero (colegio de Arquitectos), Don Lope or Real Maestranza, count of Sástago, count of Argillo (today the Pablo Gargallo museum), archbishop, etc.

The most important Zaragoza museums are the Museum of Fine Arts, with paintings by early Aragonese artists, 15th century, and by El Greco, Ribera and Goya, and the Camón Aznar Museum, with paintings ranging from Rubens, Rembrandt, Van Dyck, Velazquez and Goya to Renoir, Manet and Sorolla.

On 14 June 2008, the site of Expo 2008 opened its doors to the public. The exhibition ran until 14 September.

Other sights[link]

• Puente de Piedra
• San Ildefonso church
• Santa Engracia Monastery
• San Nicolás de Bari church
• Palacio de Larrinaga
• Santo Tomás de Aquino church
• San Agustín Convent
• Church of Santa Isabel de Portugal
• Casa Solans
• Palacio de los Luna
• Arch of Deán
• Arguillo Palace
• Casino mercantil
• Bullring
• The Giants of Zaragoza
• Jose Antonio Labordeta Park
• San José Bajo Arena
• Casa Rivero Lahoz
• "Quique" Stadium (Home of El Salvador Football Club)

Twin towns and sister cities[link]

The following are Sister cities of Zaragoza:^[9]

• Pau, Pyrénées-Atlantiques, France
• Skopje, Macedonia^[10]
• Biarritz, Aquitaine (Basque Country), France
• Móstoles, Community of Madrid, Spain
• Bethlehem, Palestinian Authority^[11][12][13]
• León, Nicaragua
• La Plata, Buenos Aires Province, Argentina
• Zaragoza, Guatemala
• Tijuana, Baja California Mexico
• Ponce, Puerto Rico, United States
• Coimbra, Portugal^[14]
• Zamboanga City, Philippines
• Kyoto, Japan
• Tirana, Albania^[15][16]
• La Paz, Bolivia
• Cúcuta, Colombia
• Toulouse, Midi-Pyrénées, France
• Barnaul, Altai Krai, Russia
• Dalian, Liaoning China
• Yulin, Guangxi China
• Mdina, Malta
• Córdoba, Córdoba Province, Argentina

See also[link]

• Crown of Aragon
• Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Zaragoza

References[link]

Notes

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Zaragoza, Spain

• Zaragoza travel guide from Wikitravel
• Council of Zaragoza
• Saragossa Global (English)
• Saragossa Brand (English)
• Zaragoza panorama
• Zaragoza Tourism Board Official Website
• Overview of the City
• Complete guide to Zaragoza
• Interactive Tourist Maps and audio guide about the city of Zaragoza in Spanish, English, French, German and Chinese languages

Articles Relating to Zaragoza v t e Capitals of provinces of Spain A Coruña Albacete Alicante Almería Ávila Badajoz Barcelona Bilbao Burgos Cáceres Cádiz Castellón de la Plana Ciudad Real Córdoba Cuenca Donostia-San Sebastián Girona Granada Guadalajara Huelva Huesca Jaén Logroño Las Palmas León Lleida Lugo Madrid Málaga Murcia Ourense Oviedo Palencia Palma Pamplona Pontevedra Salamanca Santander Santa Cruz Segovia Seville Soria Tarragona Teruel Toledo Valencia Valladolid Vitoria-Gasteiz Zamora Zaragoza v t e Capitals of autonomous communities of Spain Seville (Andalusia) Zaragoza (Aragon) Oviedo (Asturias) Palma (Balearic Islands) Vitoria-Gasteiz (Basque Country) Santa Cruz & Las Palmas (Canary Islands) Santander (Cantabria) Toledo (Castile–La Mancha) No capital (Castile and León) Barcelona (Catalonia) Mérida (Extremadura) Santiago de Compostela (Galicia) Logroño (La Rioja) Madrid (Community of Madrid) Murcia (Region of Murcia) Pamplona (Navarre) Valencia (Valencian Community) Ceuta1 Melilla1 1 Autonomous cities.

At the Universidad Internacional de Andalucia in 2007.

Federico Mayor Zaragoza (b. January 27, 1934 in Barcelona) is a Spanish scientist, scholar, politician, diplomat and poet. He served as Director-General of UNESCO from 1987 to 1999.He is currently the Chairman of the Foundation for a Culture of Peace and member of the Honorary Board of the International Decade for the Promotion of a Culture of Peace and Non-Violence for the Children of the World^[1] as well as the Honorary Chairman of the Académie de la Paix.^[2]

Biography[link]

Federico Mayor Zaragoza obtained a Ph.D. in pharmacy from the Complutense University of Madrid in 1958. In 1963 he became professor of biochemistry at the School of Pharmacy of the University of Granada, and in 1968 was elected rector of that university, a post he held until 1972. The following year he was appointed professor in biochemistry at the Autonomous University of Madrid. In 1974 he co-founded the Severo Ochoa Molecular Biology Centre at the Autonomous University of Madrid and the Spanish High Council for Scientific Research. The main focus of Professor Mayor's scientific research has been on molecular brain disease, and he was responsible for drawing up the Spanish National Plan for Mental Health Prevention. He is a member of the Club of Rome, the Club of Budapest, a founder member of the Issyk-Kul Forum. In 2005 he received the Prize Creu de Sant Jordi from the Generalitat de Catalunya. He is an honorary Member of several scientific societies and a Member of several academies, among them, the World Academy of Art and Science. He has also received several honorary doctorates (Honoris Causa). He is Honorary President of the University of Granada.

Spanish Political Career[link]

Federico Mayor Zaragoza was undersecretary of Education and Science in the Spanish Government (1974–1975), UCD deputy for Granada region in the Spanish Parliament (1977–1978), Adviser to the President of the Government (1977–1978), Minister of Education and Science (1981–1982) and CDS deputy in the European Parliament (1987).

UN career[link]

In 1978 Federico Mayor Zaragoza became Deputy Director-General of UNESCO. In 1987 he was elected Director-General of UNESCO, and re-elected for a second mandate in 1993. After deciding not to run for a third term, in 1999 he returned to Spain to create the Foundation for a Culture of Peace, of which he is Chairman.

UNESCO[link]

During his 12 years as head of UNESCO (1987–1999) Federico Mayor Zaragoza gave new life to the organization's mission to "build a bastion of peace in the minds of all people", putting the institution at the service of peace, tolerance, human rights and peaceful coexistence, working within the scope of its powers and remaining faithful to its original goals. Under Mayor's guidance, UNESCO created the Culture of Peace Programme, whose objectives revolve around four main themes: education for peace; human rights and democracy; the fight against isolation and poverty; the defense of cultural diversity and intercultural dialogue; and conflict prevention and the consolidation of peace.

Within the framework of this strategy, numerous international meetings and conferences were held on subjects such as education in non-violence, the eradication of discrimination and the promotion of pluralism and international cooperation. The result of these meetings was some 30 Declarations expressing a will to promote education, science, culture, research and teaching, justice and the "moral and intellectual solidarity" to which the constitution of UNESCO refers.

On 10 November 1998, the UN General Assembly declared the years 2001–2010, International Decade for the Promotion of a Culture of Peace and Non-Violence for the Children of the World and, on 13 September 1999, it adopted the Declaration and Programme of Action on a Culture of Peace, which embodies Mayor's greatest aspirations from both a conceptual and practical standpoint.

Later life[link]

In 2000, Federico Mayor Zaragoza founded the Foundation for a Culture of Peace,serving as its President.^[3]

In 2002, Federico Mayor Zaragoza was appointed to chair the European Research Council Expert Group (ERCEG).^[4] The European Union has identified the need to strengthen the competitiveness of Europe and to become a knowledge-based economy. In view of the importance of a strong research capacity for economic stability and growth, the Expert Group recommends a new European dimension for research funding.The first and main task for the ERC should be to support investigator-driven research of the highest quality selected through European competition.

In 2002, Federico Mayor Zaragoza co-founded with Boutros Boutros Ghali, John Brademas, Edward J. Nell, Karim Errouaki and Alain Chanlat the Centre Humanism, Management & Globalization (HMG) at HEC-Montreal. The aim of HGM was to support projects and develop programs based on policies that would humanize the process of globalization across its many dimensions- economic, ecological, social, political, cultural and organizational. Responsibility for putting humanism into practice rests largely on the shoulders of our leaders and managers. They are the link between macroscopic, societal phenomena and everyday activities that, in contrast are resolutely microscopic in nature. The Mission of HGM was to link these two levels of concern. The approach was to present and disseminate management ideas and practices that are inspired by values and ethics that respect the principles of both universal and pluralist humanism. This is the only way to make a real contribution and create a true Culture of Peace.^[5]

In 2005, Federico Mayor Zaragoza is designed Co-President for the UN High Level Group for the Alliance of Civilizations, by Kofi Annan, the United Nations Secretary-General. The Alliance of Civilizations (AoC) is an initiative proposed by the President of the Government of Spain, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, at the 59th General Assembly of the United Nations (UN) in 2005. It was co-sponsored by the Turkish Prime Minister, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. The initiative seeks to galvanize international action against extremism through the forging of international, intercultural and inter religious dialogue and cooperation. The Alliance places a particular emphasis on defusing tensions between the Western and Islamic worlds.To fulfill the objective of the initiative, the UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan assembled a High-Level Group (HLG) consisting of 20 eminent persons drawn from policy making, academia, civil society, religious leadership, and the media. A full range of religions and civilizations were represented.Among the members were former Iranian President Mohammad Khatami, who proposed the Dialogue Among Civilizations initiative, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, South African Nobel laureate, Prof. Pan Guang, who obtained the Saint Petersburg-300 Medal for Contribution to China-Russia Relations, and Arthur Schneier, who is the founder and president of the "Appeal of Conscience Foundation" and who gained the "Presidential Citizens Medal". The HLG met 5 times between November 2005 and November 2006, and produced a report prioritizing relations between the Western and Muslim societies.^[6]

In 2007, Federico Mayor Zaragoza co-founded with Boutros Boutros Ghali, Michel Rocard, John Brademas, Robert Mundell, Edward J. Nell, Karim Errouaki, Mohamed Hassad, and Tomas Solis the Tangier Expo 2012 International Support Committee. Federico Mayor Zaragoza was designed by HM King Mohammed VI of Morocco as the President of the Tangier Expo 2012 International Support Committee. HM King Mohammed VI of Morocco has decided in 2006 to submit the candidacy of Tangiers, the City of the Strait of Gibraltar for the organization of the 2012 International Exhibition. The theme of the exhibition was Routes of the World, Cultures Connecting. For a More United World.^[7]

Federico Mayor Zaragoza is a member of the Fondation Chirac's honour committee^[8], ever since the foundation was launched in 2008 by former French president Jacques Chirac in order to promote world peace. He also participates as jury member for the Prize for Conflict Prevention^[9] awarded every year by this foundation.

In 2011, Federico Mayor Zaragoza was appointed the President of the International Commission for the Abolition of the Death Penalty. The Commission, an initiative of the Spanish government which is supported by 15 states, is promoting a universal abolition of the death penalty. It is promoting that a moratorium is respected universally by 2015, as previous step to total abolition. It is also promoting abolition in legislation in those countries where a moratorium already exists. Federico Mayor Zaragoza, speaking at the Parliamentary Assembly on 14 April 2011, he highlighted the role of the Council of Europe, OSCE and EU to make Europe a Death Penalty free zone, except for one country and argued that despite progress achieved in the last decades– two thirds of the countries in the world have already abolished the death penalty – efforts must be intensified until its total eradication. He went on to argue that "The right to life is the most basic of all rights, because it is a pre-requisite for the exercise of all the other human rights." He pointed out two key arguments for abolition: death penalty is irreversible – mistakes cannot be repaired – and there in no evidence of its deterrent value to prevent criminality.

Foundation for a Culture of Peace[link]

It was founded in March, 2000,and ascribed to the protectorate for foundations of the Community of Madrid's regional Department of Education. The Foundation's objective is to contribute to building and consolidating a Culture of Peace through reflection, research, education and on-the-spot action. Its activities focus mainly on linking and mobilizing networks of institutions, organizations and individuals who have proven their commitment to the values of the Culture of Peace.

Through the Foundation for a Culture of Peace, Mayor continues the task he began as director-general of UNESCO : that of promoting the transition from a culture of violence and force, to a culture of peace and tolerance. Each year the Foundation offers an annual Culture of Peace course in collaboration with the Juan Carlos I University of Madrid, with educational content including democracy, human rights, and the origin of conflicts. In December 2000, the Foundation organized an international conference attended by major figures in the struggle for justice, freedom, and peace. At the end of the conference, the Declaration of Madrid was adopted unanimously.

Federico Mayor Zaragoza calls for a new world order to extricate humanity from our present dilemma. A new ethical and moral order whose cultural, scientific and social dimensions balance economic and technology development. For our real goal in life is ti improve the quality of life of each and everyone of us. This involves new forms of cooperation as the world is now one village.

Federico Mayor Zaragoza endorses the stand taken by UNESCO with regard to peace, disarmament, human rights and education. In the domain of information he suggests a new approach, warning against any monopoly control of communications, and denouncing the dangers of one sided information.

Federico Mayor Zaragoza argued that man is in a state of transformation; from homo faber he is on the path to homo sapiens. Knowledge liberates, and scientists have a crucial role to play. The new order proposed requires a proper use of knowledge- for knowledge, like all else, only exists through humanity and for humanity. It should thus be the focus of our reflections. All power to the imagination!

Activities and research[link]

Activities

The activity of the Foundation for a Culture of Peace is mainly based on the entailment and mobilization of networks of institutions, organizations and individuals that stand out by their commitment with the values for the culture of peace.The concrete actions of the Foundation are mainly centered in the divulging and educative areas.^[10]

Research

Federico Mayor Zaragoza published his opus magnum book The World Ahead in 2000 (Zed Books, UNESCO, 2000). The specific aim of the book, which he has drawn up in collaboration with Jerome Binde and with the assistance of Jean-Yves Le Saux, Ragnar Gudmundsson, and the team of UNESCO's Analysis and Forecasting Office, is to prepare us more thoroughly for the coming decades so that we may respond in good time to the challenges of the future. This book began with a complaint and a vision. The complaint charged that the governments of the wealthiest countries are almost exclusively preoccupied with economic affairs. They systematically reduce official development aid and their contributions to the United Nations organizations. Barring the old exception, they are failing on honor their commitment to devote 0.7% of their GNP to public aid for development. We had the opportunity of building peace on the basis of greater sharing and of implementing international global cooperation programmes. This drive, which was undertaken within the framework of the major United Nations conferences that punctuated the last decade, is slowing down. The biggest powers call the tune. For all that, do we see world peace and order? The 1990s saw genocide recurring as though this century's end allowed horror to be rendered banal. Yet, in the age of globalization, such tragedies have taken on a new form. Societies that have lost their bearings seem to be searching for enemies, but the enemy is now diffuse and unattainable, ever-changing, everywhere and nowhere. Federico Mayor argued that Freud detected a ‘discontent’ in civilization and questioned if is it possible to diagnose today, as some experts do, a ‘discontent’ in globalization? He observed that some speak of divorce between a sense of direction and power and others have referred to the loss of references, the erosion of principles, the vertigo they claimed would grip societies in transition around the third millennium. He added that we cannot fail to observe the increase in ‘soul-sickness’ at the very heart of the most prosperous societies and social categories which seem best protected from misfortune. The heart itself seems prey to a curious void, indifference and passivity grow, there is an ethical desert, passions and emotions are blunted, people's eyes are empty and solidarity evaporates. Grey areas expand, mafias work their way into the heart of states and of financial markets, and the law of the jungle prevails. Amnesia wins out- the future seems unreadable. We witness the divorce between forecast and plan; long term vision is discredited; obsession with the short term, with precariousness, and with the tyranny of emergency situations has us in its grip and the twentieth century seems to be ending in a state of stress as we zap perpetually from one crisis to another one. The Vision is inspired by the work of Nobel prizewinner, physicist, chemist, philosopher and one of the great thinkers of our time, late Ilya Prigogine, who argued that: ‘’We cannot predict the future, but we can prepare it’’. He added: ‘’As Paul Valéry has written, ‘’the future is construction’’. Our human action depends on our memory of the past, our analysis of the present and our anticipation of the future’’ (see Prigogine, ‘’Foreword’’ in F. Mayor, The New Page, Dartmouth Publishing/UNESCO, 1995). Federico Mayor argued that, as observed Ilya Prigogine, we cannot predict the future because the future will never be as before. We can prepare for it because, far from being inscribed in a book of destiny, the future is uncertainty, bifurcation, unpredictable creation. It is in our hands, because the future is freedom- for the most part, it will be exactly what we make of it. We can prepare for the future, but are we prepared for the twenty-first century.

More recently, Federico Mayor Zaragoza was working with Edward J. Nell (Professor of Economics at the New School for Social Research, New York) and Karim Errouaki ^[11] on a book called Reinventing Globalization after the Crash (forthcoming in 2012). The book is prefaced by Boutros Boutros Ghali, and will constitute a new blueprint of the Foundation for a Culture of Peace. The book is based on material provided by Federico Mayor Zaragoza's book The World Ahead (Zed Books, UNESCO, 2000), revisited and animated by the theoretical framework put forward by Edward J. Nell in his opus magnum book General Theory of Transformational Growth (Cambridge University Press, 1998) and extended by Karim Errouaki (UM, HEC-Montreal, 2003) ^[12] who argued that Transformational Growth provides a new vision and a new framework, for thinking about economic development, bringing it into the framework of economic history.

The purpose of the book, which is embodied in their title, is to re-invent globalization in a way that it will ensure that globalization is only profitable and sustainable -the subject of many studies- but it will result in human development. They want to suggest ways to recreate global economy as to humanize it. The main thesis is that globalization brings about creative destruction; we want to ensure not only that the creation outweighs the destruction, but also as far as possible, that those who suffer will be compensated. They will argue that no automatic or market forces will ensure these results; indeed, a good deal of market-driven globalization is predatory, taking advantage of the economically weak, and it often leads to widespread increases in inequality and poverty. They suggest that Government policies will be needed to counter this. They define nine key variables that will make it possible to analyze the interaction between economic advances and the resulting impacts of society, the environment, and the demographics of the system. They go on to suggest that they are currently interacting in negative ways today, that is, in ways that undermine, rather than advance, human development. They present the model of "Transformational Growth", setting out the ways the variables interact in a simple matrix which we called the transformational growth Matrix. This need not be filled in with actual numbers. A great deal of insight can be gained just from knowing whether the relationships are positive or negative, even more, of course, if we can say whether they are strong or weak. Then they show in detail how the interacting vectors – given the current state of the world - lead to largely negative results, so that an improvement in the level of economic activity will tend to be undermined and reversed by the interacting social and environmental consequences. The analysis focuses chiefly on the interaction between advanced economies and developing ones. In short, as things stand now, the pressures of globalization to increase economic activity will tend to be undermined or misdirected, so that in the end the effect may be to make many people worse off. (At a later stage they will consider the transformational relationships between advanced economies.)

Committee of Experts[link]

In 2003–2004 Mayor Zaragoza sat on an ad hoc committee of experts, for which he was spokesman, set up to advise the Spanish government regarding the return of the polemical "Salamanca Papers" to the autonomous government of Catalonia. Comprising, among others, Columbia University Professor of History Edward Malefakis, and Juan Pablo Fusi, the committee declared in 2004, by a majority of 14 of its 17 members, that it was "just and legitimate" that the documents be returned to the autonomous government.^[13] The documents were finally transferred in 2005.

Publications[link]

Mayor has published over 100 articles in scientific journals and numerous articles in popular journals. In addition to numerous scientific publications, Mayor has published numerous books and over seven books of poetry – A contraviento (1985), Aguafuertes (1991), El fuego y la esperanza (1996), Terral (1997), Voz de Vida, Voz Debida (2007), Alzare mi Voz (2007) and En Pie de Paz (2008). Mayor has also published more than seventy publications on education strategies, development, human resources and science and technology.

Books[link]

• Tomorrow Is Always Too Late, Stamford Publishing, 1992.
• Memory of the Future, UNESCO Publishing, 1995
• La Paix Demain?, UNESCO Publishing, 1995.
• Science and Power, UNESCO Publishing, 1995
• The New Page, UNESCO Publishing, 1995.
• UNESCO: Un Idéal en Action, UNESCO Publishing, 1996.
• The World Ahead: Our Future in the Making, Zed Books,2000.
• Los Nudos Gordianos, Galaxia Gutenberg,1999.
• La Palabra y la Espada, AEFLA, 2002
• La Fuerza de la Palabra, Adhara, 2005
• Un Dialogo Iberico en el marco europeo y mundial (with Mário Soares), Galxia Gutenberg, 2006.
• Enfermedades Metabólicas (ed.) (2006)
• Tiempo de Acción, 2008
• Tiempo de Accion, Universidad de Granada, Editorial Anfora Nova, 2008
• The Crime of Silence, 2011
• Reinventing Globalization After the Crash (with Edward J. Nell and Karim Errouaki), forthcoming in 2012.
• Economics and Management in Dialogue: Reinventing Management (Organizational Strategies through the Transformational Growth Lens), with Edward J. Nell and Karim Errouaki, forthcoming.

References[link]