The soil is the part of the ecosystem on which sits the set of elements and features that characterise a territory. As an ecological system, the soil is a complex of physical, chemical, and biological elements that make up the natural substrate in which life develops on the surface of the planet.

 There are as many definitions of soil as there are disciplines that study it. For a soil scientist, the Earth will always be the solid part of the Earth's crust that suffers and is still suffering the continuous processes that modify and form it from the bedrock. Processes such as climate, the activity of living organisms, water, etc., are the cause of the formation of a complex and dynamic environment that characterizes the landscape. From a broader point of view, the soil is the medium in which a large part of living beings are based on the planet, and it is also supported by many of the activities directly related to the physical environment developed by man — such as agriculture or cattle — and is also the basis of infrastructures, buildings, and distribution networks that make up the fabric of any society and territory. The soil is a part of the territory and from this perspective, in the framework of the European Soil Charter of 1972, is a non-renewable natural resource limited and difficult, fragile, and with a long recovery period, which is subjected to constant processes of degradation and destruction.

MEDIEVAL PERIOD
(Al-Andalus) [711-1238]

MEDIEVAL PERIOD
(Kingdom of València) [1239-1453]

MODERN PERIOD [1454-1789]

CONTEMPORARY PERIOD [1790-2012]