Alhama de Granada is a town in the province of

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 ...

, approx. 50 km from the city of

. The name is derived from the

thermal baths A spa is a location where mineral-rich spring water (and sometimes seawater) is used to give medicinal baths. Spa towns or spa resorts (including hot springs resorts) typically offer various health treatments, which are also known as baln ...

located there, which are called ''al-hammah'' in

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...

History

There is clear evidence that the Romans used the hot springs located near the town. In the 15th century, Arabs consolidated the town next to these hot springs and it was long believed that they built the thermal baths there, though Salvador Raya Retamero, a local historian, argues in his book ''Reseña histórica de los baños termales de la muy noble y leal ciudad de Alhama de Granada'' ("Brief history of the hot springs of the most noble and loyal city of Alhama de Granada") that the earliest baths are in fact Roman in origin. A short interview with the author explains the details. The bath house in the Almohade style of the 12th century that is preserved in the spa is a good example of Arab bath construction. In 1482, the fortress town was taken from the

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 ...

Sultanate and Kingdom of Granada by the

Catholic Monarchs The Catholic Monarchs were Queen Isabella I of Castile and King Ferdinand II of Aragon, whose marriage and joint rule marked the ''de facto'' unification of Spain. They were both from the House of Trastámara and were second cousins, being bot ...

. Alhama's position between Málaga and Granada gave it strategic importance for the Moors but they also had a particular fondness for the town and its thermal waters and hot springs. The cry of sorrow, ¡Ay de mi Alhama!, uttered by Abu Al-Hacen (

Abu l-Hasan Ali, Sultan of Granada Abu'l-Hasan Ali ibn Sa'd ( ar, أبو الحسن علي, Abū al-Ḥasan ‘Alī ibn Saʿd; d. 1485), known as Muley Hacén in Spanish (''Muley'' being derived from Arabic Mawlay = "My Lord"), was the twenty-first Nasrid ruler of the Emirate of ...

) following the battle of 1482 when the town was lost to the Catholic conquerors, entered the Spanish language as an exclamation of regret. The story of the fall of Alhama and the subsequent slaughter of its inhabitants by the Christian knights is referred to in Tariq Ali's, ''The Islam Quintet'' in the first book ''Shadows of the Pomegranate Tree''. The strategic influence of Alhama de Granada made its fall vital for the conquest of the Kingdom of Granada, which led to the beginning of a flourishing Christian age, because of the patronage of the Catholic Monarchs. Magnificent horse shoe arcs were built over the remains of Roman construction and are covered by a vaulted roof, pierced by star-shaped openings that let the daylight filter in. Under the vaulted roof of the baths the oldest warm spring of Alhama de Granada bubbles up. The newest one, which springs up a few metres from the other, was discovered in 1884, many centuries after a terrible earthquake whose epicentre could have been very near the area. Eleno de Céspedes was born into

slavery Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...

in the town in 1545 or 1546, and went on to become possibly the first female (if not

intersex Intersex people are individuals born with any of several sex characteristics including chromosome patterns, gonads, or genitals that, according to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, "do not fit typical bina ...

transgender A transgender (often abbreviated as trans) person is someone whose gender identity or gender expression does not correspond with their sex assigned at birth. Many transgender people experience dysphoria, which they seek to alleviate through tr ...

) surgeon in Spain, and perhaps in Europe.R. Carrillo-Esper et al.,
Elena de Céspedes: The eventful life of a XVI century surgeon
', in the ''Gaceta Médica de México'', 2015, 151:502–6.Emilio Maganto Pavón, ''El proceso inquisitorial contra Elena/o de Céspedes. Biografía de una cirujana transexual del siglo XVI'', Madrid, 2007.Francisco Vazquez Garcia, ''Sex, Identity and Hermaphrodites in Iberia, 1500–1800'' (2015, ), page 46. Alhama de Granada was the community with the highest number of victims from the 1884 Andalusian earthquake. According to ''

El Defensor de Granada ''El Defensor de Granada'' (The Defender of Granada) was a Spanish newspaper with liberal-progressive ideology that was published in Granada between the end of the 19th century and the first third of the 20th century. It disappeared after the outb ...

'' there were 463 dead and 473 injured. The real number seems to have been considerably higher, since more bodies were found under the rubble. More than 70% of the houses collapsed and 15% were badly damaged. The oldest, lower and eastern part of the town suffered less than the newer part. In 1975 the municipality of Alhama de Granada absorbed the municipality of

Ventas de Zafarraya Ventas de Zafarraya is a village in the municipality of Alhama de Granada, Granada, Spain. It is just north of a mountain pass between spurs of the Sierra de Alhama to the west and the Sierra de Tejeda to the east, on the main road from Vélez-Mál ...

Tourism

Alhama de Granada looks out over spectacular scenery; the view to the Sierra Nevada is uninterrupted. The

Sierras of Tejeda, Almijara and Alhama Natural Park The Sierras of Tejeda, Almijara and Alhama Natural Park ( es, Parque natural de las Sierras de Tejeda, Almijara y Alhama) is a protected area in the Spanish provinces of Málaga and Granada. It contains the Sierra de Tejeda and Sierra de Almijara ...

is a few kilometers to the south. Alhama is situated not far from Arenas del Rey (about 14 km away) which itself is situated on the edge of the vast Bermajales lake which is surrounded by woods of poplars and Mediterranean black pines. Constructed between 1947 and 1954 this reservoir with a hydro-electric plant at one end provides sandy beaches, safe swimming and plenty of non-motorised water sports. There are also a couple of cafes at the edge of the lake. Many people spend evenings and weekends barbecuing at the water's edge. There are a few bars in Alhama which serve coffees and "tostadas" in the morning, lunch in the late afternoon, and tapas in the evening. Casa Ochoa Tertulia Bar and Cafe Bar El Tigre are local favorites. For nightlife, El Encuentro plays more contemporary pop and reggae music, while Por Amor Al Arte has live flamenco on the weekends. Andalucía AlhamaDeGranada2 tango7174

Demography

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INE Archiv
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References

External links

Alhama de Granada Portal
with tourism information for Alhama de Granada.

– Sistema de Información Multiterritorial de Andalucía {{authority control Municipalities in the Province of Granada