| Official Name: | Zafra |
| Flag Size: | 150 |
| Seal Size: | 75 |
| Pushpin Map: | Spain |
| Pushpin Map Caption: | Location in Spain. |
| Subdivision Type: | Country |
| Subdivision Name: | Spain |
| Subdivision Type1: | Autonomous community |
| Subdivision Name1: | Extremadura |
| Subdivision Type2: | Province |
| Subdivision Name2: | Badajoz |
| Subdivision Type3: | Comarca |
| Subdivision Name3: | Zafra - Río Bodión |
| Leader Title: | Mayor |
| Leader Name: | Juan Carlos Fernández Calderón (Partido Popular) |
| Area Total Km2: | 62.6 |
| Elevation M: | 508 |
| Population Demonym: | Zafrenses, Segedanos/as |
| Population Density Km2: | auto |
| Timezone: | CET |
| Utc Offset: | +1 |
| Timezone Dst: | CEST |
| Utc Offset Dst: | +2 |
| Coordinates: | 38.4167°N -31°W |
Zafra (pronounced as /es/; Çafra) is a town in the Province of Badajoz (Extremadura, Spain), and the capital of the comarca of Zafra - Río Bodión. It has a population of 16,677,[1] according to the 2011 census.
Zafra is the hometown of Fray Ruy Lopez, author of one of the first European treatises on chess, and the humanist Pedro de Valencia.
Zafra has been associated with the Roman names Restituta Iulia Imperial,[2] Contributa Iulia Ugultunia,[3] and Segida Restituta Iulia,[3] though this applies equally to some of the other towns in the area.[4] The name Contributa Julia appears on an 1849 map[5] of Roman Hispania (in the south-west of Spain, in the area named Baeturia) alongside the name Regina (presently associated with the ruins of a small Roman town of the same name [6]), lending some geographical support to the possibility of an association of the name Contributa Iulia or Contributa Julia with Zafra. Other sources, however, support an association of the name Segida Restituta Iulia with Zafra.[7] [8] Yet other, authoritative, sources associate no Roman name with Zafra.[9] In the area round Zafra may be found the remains of as many as 20 Roman villas.[10] These, and associations between the name Restitutia Iulia and a migration from the legendary Segeda,[11] may be linked to the origin of the town.
