Albuñuelas (Granada)
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Albuñuelas is a village at the head of the Lecrin Valley,
Granada Granada (,, DIN 31635, DIN: ; grc, Ἐλιβύργη, Elibýrgē; la, Illiberis or . ) is the capital city of the province of Granada, in the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. Granada is located at the fo ...
, Spain. It is made up of three neighbourhoods (''barrios''): Alto, Bajo and Fernán Núñez (locally called La Loma). It is situated on the European route Nº 4 (Spain to Crete).


History

There is evidence of habitation in the area from the late Palaeolithic era. It is impossible to say exactly when the village originated. However, as the Greeks introduced better cultivation of both vine and
olive The olive, botanical name ''Olea europaea'', meaning 'European olive' in Latin, is a species of small tree or shrub in the family Oleaceae, found traditionally in the Mediterranean Basin. When in shrub form, it is known as ''Olea europaea'' ...
to Spain, together with methods of irrigation and Abuñuelas derived from the Latin ' vinolea ' meaning an area of vines, it suggests their cultivation before the time of the Romans 220 BCE until 409 CE. Here they found small, scattered pueblos built of adobe and whitewashed. They gave the province the name Betis where they had vines and grains cultivated, which together with minerals, were exported back to Rome. There are still openings of mineworkings around the village. Evidence of
Moorish The term Moor, derived from the ancient Mauri, is an exonym first used by Christian Europeans to designate the Muslim inhabitants of the Maghreb, the Iberian Peninsula, Sicily and Malta during the Middle Ages. Moors are not a distinct or se ...
occupation can be seen in the Torre del Tio Bayo, an tower constructed in the latter
Nazarí The Nasrid dynasty ( ar, بنو نصر ''banū Naṣr'' or ''banū al-Aḥmar''; Spanish: ''Nazarí'') was the last Muslim dynasty in the Iberian Peninsula, ruling the Emirate of Granada from 1230 until 1492. Its members claimed to be of Arab ...
period, about the middle of the fourteenth century. In the 12th and 13th centuries advances in hydraulic technology were applied to agriculture and the Roman latifundia were superseded by the Arab minifundia system. It is an area of frequent seismic activity. During the
Andalusian earthquake of 25 December 1884 The 1884 Granadan earthquake ( es, Terremoto de Granada de 1884) occurred on 25 December 1884 at 9:08 p.m in the south of Spain, and had an estimated magnitude of 6.7 . It shook a poor region where many of the houses were built without foundations ...
the village suffered considerable damage, in part due to landslides caused by the topography and soil composition. More than 70% of the houses collapsed, and the rest suffered serious or minor damage. There was most damage in the upper neighborhood. There were 102 dead and up to 500 injured.


Economy

Timber,
almond The almond (''Prunus amygdalus'', syn. ''Prunus dulcis'') is a species of tree native to Iran and surrounding countries, including the Levant. The almond is also the name of the edible and widely cultivated seed of this tree. Within the genus ...
s and olives form the main economic activity, on the Sierras de Albuñuelas, which rise to 1426m at Herrero. Albuñuelenses may occasionally be seen farming the surrounding terraces using
mule The mule is a domestic equine hybrid between a donkey and a horse. It is the offspring of a male donkey (a jack) and a female horse (a mare). The horse and the donkey are different species, with different numbers of chromosomes; of the two pos ...
s but more often with modern machinery. Recent climate change has replaced the main crop of cereals with citrus and semi tropical fruit.


Natural History

Two main water courses are located in this municipality, Albuñuelas stream and Barranco de Luna. Both originate in the Sierra de Albuñuelas and excavate the eastern border of the Albuñuelas plateau.


References

Municipalities in the Province of Granada {{Granada-geo-stub