La Rioja is an autonomous community of Spain located in the north of the Iberian Peninsula. It covers part of the Ebro valley in its northern zone and the Iberian system in the south. Geographically it is divided by seven rivers that descend from the mountain to the Ebro, which vertebrates the region, that is why to La Rioja they say: "the one of the seven valleys". The northern area, the valley, has a Mediterranean climate and the south, the mountainous, one more humid and continental. Traditionally it is divided into three subregions from west to east, following the course of the Ebro: La Rioja Alta, La Rioja Media and La Rioja Baja. Each of them with its corresponding central and service municipalities.
The community is uniprovincial, so there is no deputation and is organized in 174 municipalities. The capital and city with the greatest number of inhabitants is Logroño. Its population is 315 381 inhabitants. It borders the Basque Country to the north, Navarra to the northeast, Aragón to the southeast and Castilla y León to the west and south. Throughout history, La Rioja has been a land of passage, borders, crossroads, a battlefield, and a meeting of people, cultures and civilizations, an ancient land of the pre-Roman tribes of the Berones, the Pelendones and the Vascones During the Middle Ages it was a land of borders, battles and territorial disputes, conquered and taken over by different Christian kingdoms and coveted by many others. This autonomous community is historically linked to the Diocese of Calahorra and the Kingdom of Nájera.
The first reference to La Rioja as Rioga, is written in the jurisdiction of Miranda de Ebro, in the year 1099. The Statute of Autonomy of La Rioja, also called Statute of San Millán, was approved in 1982, thereby providing the region of corresponding self-government. It is well known for its production of wines under the Rioja Qualified Denomination of Origin, the oldest in Spain, making some of the most internationally renowned wines. It is also one of the most important paleontological territories in the world in terms of icnite deposits, which stand out for their number and conservation. Among its monuments are the monasteries of San Millán de la Cogolla, considered medieval centers of culture and declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1997. Since 2015 its president is José Ignacio Ceniceros González, of the Popular Party.