Its heid or caipital ceety is Alcalá de Henares. Offeecially the Commonty o Madrid is no subdividit intae formal comarcas; housomeivver, informally some govrenmental institutions hae defined some shires accordin tae different views. The shire o Alcalá doesna figur in ony o these partitions. The territory is made up bi twa natural sub-shires, La Campiña and Alcarria de Alcalá.
Its name comes frae the Arabic القلعة (Al-Qal'at) whose means "the castle", referrin tae the first o the Muslim castles placit alang the banks o the Henares River.
