Мантуя провинциясы: табиғаты мен тарихы

Province of Italy

The province of Mantua (; Mantuan, Lower Mantuan: pruvincia ad Mantua; Upper Mantuan: pruinsa de Mantua) is a province in the Lombardy region of Italy. Its capital is the city of Mantua. It is bordered to the north east by the province of Verona, to the east by the province of Rovigo, to the south by the province of Ferrara, province of Modena, province of Reggio Emilia and province of Parma, to the west by the province of Cremona and to the north west by the province of Brescia.

Founded in the tenth century BC on the plain formed by meanders of the River Mincio, Mantua became an Etruscan town and important trading post for pottery and agricultural products. Despite its defensible position, it was unable to withstand the Celtic invaders in the sixth and fifth centuries BC who overwhelmed it, and the whole area was later conquered by the Romans. By the fifth century AD, the Western Roman Empire was collapsing. Mantua was overrun by a series of invaders, including the Visigoths, Vandals, and Ostrogoths. After 568 the Lombards seized control of the part of northern Italy which is now known as Lombardy and included Mantua. The River Po is subject to flooding and much of the bank is raised by levees.

There are a number of nature reserves and protected areas in the province. The Parco regionale del Mincio was established on 8 September 1984 with an area of approximately 16,000 hectares. It includes several nature reserves and has a range of habitats including moraines, hills, plains, and the meandering riverbeds in the complex of lakes of Mantua. Birds found in the park include storks, herons, purple herons, egrets, night herons, kingfishers, bee eaters, coots, moorhens, peregrine falcons, hawks, great crested grebe and black kite. The Parco dell'Oglio Sud is another regional park that lies on the boundary of the province with the province of Cremona. It was established in 1988 and has an area of about 12,800 hectares. It is a river park that runs along the stretch of the river Oglio which forms the boundary. It lies to the south of Lake Iseo and the administrative centre is at Calvatone. Birds present in this park include great egret, grey heron, Montagu's harrier, Eurasian scops owl, bearded reedling, woodcock, barred warbler, crested lark, sedge warbler, moustached warbler, little egret, Eurasian hobby and ferruginous duck. The Riserva naturale Bosco Fontana is a state nature reserve with an area of about 23,300 hectares. It is a wooded area that is a remnant of the natural forests that covered the Po valley in ancient times. It is a dense marshy forest composed mainly of Turkey oaks, pedunculate oaks, hornbeams, limes, poplars, elms and alders, which are accompanied by numerous species of shrubby undergrowth. There are glades with abundant wildflowers and fungi flourish among the trees, an important factor being the richness of the groundwater. Among the mammals found in the reserve are the least weasel, beech marten and European polecat, and the birds include the common buzzard, the great spotted woodpecker and the Eurasian wryneck.

Despite Mantuan landscape is primarily an agricultural one and the primary sector accounted for the 6% of local GDP in 2003, much above Italian average, the province has an historically strong industrial sector, which accounts for 37% of the GDP, while the tertiary sector holds the remaining 56%. Overall, the gross domestic product of the province was estimated in 2003 at over €10 billion.

Here is a list of the most populated municipalities of the province. Rank Municipality Populationas of 2017 Area (km2) Density (inhabitants/km2) Altitude (mslm) 1stMantua49,40363.8119 2ndCastiglione delle Stiviere23,70442.02116 3rdSuzzara21,28860.1020 4thViadana20,151103,8426 5thPorto Mantovano16,51337.4429