Autonomy of one province of 11.314 km2 and one of the most arid areas of the Peninsula, with a small municipality number, normaly of great extension.

Roman Cologne of Carthage Nova, founded by Asdrúbal in the last third of the S.III to. C, later it was the capital of the Carthaginensis's Roman province. The centuries XVIII and XIX were of economic regression with migrations that repeat itself in the 20th century. The difficulties of the garden especially in drought epochs are the reasons for these migrations. At present the tourist activities have stimulated the region.

Big contrasts between the mountainous areas and the trowels, the littoral with the interior, the dryness with the irrigation, its two big cities (Murcia and Cartagena) with the rural villages.

It stands out between its landscapes:

- Fuensanta's mountain range and the National Station of Sericulture in La Alberca

- The Minor Sea, among the Palos Cape and the bar of San Pedro del Pinatar, is a salty lagoon communicated with the Mediterranean Sea that merely receives continental waters. In the spit of land that separates them great tourist complexes have been constructed.

It distinguishes from North to South:

- Plains and coastal mountains, which are the end of the Andalusian arch that comes to the sea finishing in the Palos Cape, among them the mountain ranges of Almenara, Algarrobo and Cartagena. The coast presents some zones of steep high places with small coves and beaches.

- Interior mountain ranges, continuation of the subAndalusian one with Espuña's saws, Pila, of the Gavilanes, Buey and of the Carche.

- Interior basins inserted among the Andalusian and the subAndalusian ones, which includes the field of Murcia and of Lorca, which occupy the near to the coast depression parallel to the coast. The river Segura waters the field of Murcia and the Sangonera or Guadalentín Lorca's field. The basins of the rivers Mula, Cieza, Jumilla and Yecla increase its altitude towards the mountain.

- In the north sector of the province you can find the last remains of the plateau, in Caravaca and Calasparra's zone. Zone of soft slopes with the mountain ranges of Zacatín, Muela, Puerta Puerto, Picarcho and Molar

Mediterranean with trend to the aridity and variations depending on the nearness to the coast, the existence of mountains or the latitude. In general dry and warm summers and soft winters, being able to reach maxims superior to the 40ºC.

The rainfalls are irregular and scanty, taking place in autumn and spring. In most of the region all 300 annual mm are not reached.

The SE winds bring sporadic storms. Those of the SO are dry, on having corresponded to the decrease for the hillside of lee. Those of east, humid and warm, often bring the cold slug phenomenon.

It is very affected by the fellings and the repopulation with stone pine. The oak forms a part of the forest climax that is very degraded.

In the littoral we find bushes, as the thorny ones, the palmetto and the wild asparagus. They have stood firm coniferous to fix the dunes. In the interior we find bushes formed by small oaks.

Up than 600 m high the aleppo pine appears, pine kernel and whitly. In shady zones the gall oak, in the humid ones the black poplars and poplars. In the most arid zones, which connect with the Almeria's subdesert, we find palmetto, hawthorn and wild asparagus.

The principal one is the Segura, that waters the Murcia's fields. On having entered the province it receives the Mundo's waters, increasing its wealth. Also it receives the waters of the rivers Moralla, Argos, Quípar and Mula, and in near the river mouth of the Sangonera. Its regime comes from the rain with frequent overflows. The transfer Tagus - Segura, initiated in 1967, has been decisive for the irrigation extension.