HURDES, LAS or JURDES, a region of north-west Spain, south of Salamanca and the Sierra de Pena de Francia and east of the Sierra de Bejar. The Hurdanos are a peculiar people, probably originally a settlement of religious and political refu gees; they number about 6,000 and inhabit primitive slate ham lets in the isolated mountainous region of the Sierra de Gata. The principal wealth consists in goats and bees. Much damage is done by boars and wolves. In the high-lying districts the Hur danos suffer from goitre; along the rivers they are subject to malaria. In 1922 King Alfonso rode through the most difficult parts of Las Hurdes, and since then rapid progress has been made in the improvement of this region, and a good road has been built from La Alberca to the lovely valley of Las Batuecas, which was previously almost inaccessible.
See M. Legendre, Las Jurdes. Etude de geographic humaine (Paris, 1927).