Jumilla () is a town and a
municipality
A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate.
The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...
in southeastern
Spain
, image_flag = Bandera de España.svg
, image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg
, national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond")
, national_anthem = (English: "Royal March")
, i ...
. It is located in the north east of the
Region of Murcia
The Region of Murcia (, ; es, Región de Murcia ), is an Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Spain located in the southeastern part of the Iberian Peninsula, on the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean coast. The region is in ...
, close to the towns of
Cieza and
Yecla. According to the 2018 census, the town population was 25,547.
Geography
The municipality, located in the north of the
Region of Murcia
The Region of Murcia (, ; es, Región de Murcia ), is an Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Spain located in the southeastern part of the Iberian Peninsula, on the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean coast. The region is in ...
, covers . It shares borders with the municipality of
Yecla at its northeast and its east; with
Abarán,
Fortuna
Fortuna ( la, Fortūna, equivalent to the Greek goddess Tyche) is the goddess of fortune and the personification of luck in Roman religion who, largely thanks to the Late Antique author Boethius, remained popular through the Middle Ages until at ...
and
Cieza at its south and with
Abanilla
Abanilla is a Spanish municipality located in the Comarca Oriental (composed by Fortuna and Abanilla) in the Autonomous Community of Murcia. It lies close to the border of the province of Alicante in the Autonomous Community of Valencia.
Geo ...
at its east. It also adjoins the province of
Albacete
Albacete (, also , ; ar, ﭐَلبَسِيط, Al-Basīṭ) is a city and municipality in the Spanish autonomous community of Castilla–La Mancha, and capital of the province of Albacete.
Lying in the south-east of the Iberian Peninsula, the ...
in the
autonomous community
eu, autonomia erkidegoa
ca, comunitat autònoma
gl, comunidade autónoma
oc, comunautat autonòma
an, comunidat autonoma
ast, comunidá autónoma
, alt_name =
, map =
, category = Autonomous administra ...
Castilla–La Mancha
Castilla–La Mancha (, , ), or Castile La Mancha, is an autonomous community of Spain. Comprising the provinces of Albacete, Ciudad Real, Cuenca, Guadalajara and Toledo, it was created in 1982. The government headquarters are in Toledo, and ...
at its west and the province of
Alicante
Alicante ( ca-valencia, Alacant) is a city and municipality in the Valencian Community, Spain. It is the capital of the province of Alicante and a historic Mediterranean port. The population of the city was 337,482 , the second-largest in t ...
in the autonomous community
Valencian Community
The Valencian Community ( ca-valencia, Comunitat Valenciana, es, Comunidad Valenciana) is an autonomous community of Spain. It is the fourth most populous Spanish autonomous community after Andalusia, Catalonia and the Community of Madrid wi ...
.
In this municipality there are several mountain landforms. There are three which are specially noteworthy in the territory and these are Sierra del Carche, Sierra del Buey and Sierra de la Pila. Other geographical elements that occupy the territory are three
salt evaporation ponds
A salt evaporation pond is a shallow artificial salt pan designed to extract salts from sea water or other brines. The Salt pans are shallow and large of size because it will be easier for sunlight to travel and reach the sea water. Natural s ...
. Regarding water landforms, there are not any basin with permanent water flow, but there are three ''ramblas'' or
''arroyos'' (creeks).
Human geography
The inhabitants of the municipality are distributed in the following localities: Jumilla, where 24,416 people live; La Estacada, where there are 284 residents; Fuente del Pino, which is located in the northern half and is home to 125 people; Cañada del Trigo, which is located in the southeast of Jumilla and has a population of 121; Torre del Rico, which is placed in the southeast of the municipality and is occupied by 106 residents; El Carche, which is placed in the east of the territory and occupied by 8 residents; La Alquería, with a population of 155 and Las Encebras, which is located in the southern half and is home to 45 people.
History
This current municipality was populated in the
Lower Paleolithic, 450,000 years ago. Remains of human presence in the
Upper and
Middle Paleolithic were discovered in the same spot as the Lower Paleolithic ones. These have a date of the 80,000 BC.
There is also evidence of human presence in the
Epipaleolithic in this territory, and it consists in the archaeological sites.
Regarding the
Chalcolithic
The Copper Age, also called the Chalcolithic (; from grc-gre, χαλκός ''khalkós'', "copper" and ''líthos'', "stone") or (A)eneolithic (from Latin '' aeneus'' "of copper"), is an archaeological period characterized by regular ...
in this current municipality, ruins of an ancient
hamlet
''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...
are the trace of the people living in that era. The archaeological site is named El Prado, and it has a distance of from the town Jumilla. This hamlet was inhabited by 300 people, and its dwellings consisted of huts formed with reed and mud adobe.
There is a cave in this current municipality which had a sacred purpose for these people 5,000 years ago. In that spot,
burial sites
Burial, also known as interment or inhumation, is a method of final disposition whereby a dead body is placed into the ground, sometimes with objects. This is usually accomplished by excavating a pit or trench, placing the deceased and objec ...
had been discovered.
The
Bronze Age
The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second prin ...
(1900 BC - 900 BC in Region of Murcia) was an important period for Jumilla and this statement is based in the fact that a relevant quantity of hamlets of this era were found with some archaeological operations.
In the 3rd century BC, the
Carthaginians
The Punic people, or western Phoenicians, were a Semitic people in the Western Mediterranean who migrated from Tyre, Phoenicia to North Africa during the Early Iron Age. In modern scholarship, the term ''Punic'' – the Latin equivalent of the ...
colonised a large part of the
Iberian Peninsula
The Iberian Peninsula (),
**
* Aragonese and Occitan: ''Peninsula Iberica''
**
**
* french: Péninsule Ibérique
* mwl, Península Eibérica
* eu, Iberiar penintsula also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in southwestern Europe, def ...
: from the current city of
Cádiz
Cádiz (, , ) is a city and port in southwestern Spain. It is the capital of the Province of Cádiz, one of eight that make up the autonomous community of Andalusia.
Cádiz, one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in Western Europe, ...
, to the
Ebro River
, name_etymology =
, image = Zaragoza shel.JPG
, image_size =
, image_caption = The Ebro River in Zaragoza
, map = SpainEbroBasin.png
, map_size =
, map_caption = The Ebro ...
. The
Roman Republic
The Roman Republic ( la, Res publica Romana ) was a form of government of Rome and the era of the classical Roman civilization when it was run through public representation of the Roman people. Beginning with the overthrow of the Roman Ki ...
waged war on
Carthage
Carthage was the capital city of Ancient Carthage, on the eastern side of the Lake of Tunis in what is now Tunisia. Carthage was one of the most important trading hubs of the Ancient Mediterranean and one of the most affluent cities of the cla ...
in the
Second Punic War, and won.
As a result of these facts, Jumilla became Roman territory, and its farming lands were divided up among legionnaires. Remains of
Ancient Rome
In modern historiography, ancient Rome refers to Roman civilisation from the founding of the city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD. It encompasses the Roman Kingdom (753–509 BC ...
in Jumilla are the
Roman villa
A Roman villa was typically a farmhouse or country house built in the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire, sometimes reaching extravagant proportions.
Typology and distribution
Pliny the Elder (23–79 AD) distinguished two kinds of villas n ...
's ruins, which are part of the landscape of the municipality. Some remarkable remains are a bronze statuette of the god Hypos and mosaics.
There is a trace element from the 5th century AD (
Late antiquity
Late antiquity is the time of transition from classical antiquity to the Middle Ages, generally spanning the 3rd–7th century in Europe and adjacent areas bordering the Mediterranean Basin. The popularization of this periodization in English ha ...
) and it consists in a funerary structure.
In the year 711 AD,
Berbers and
Arabs
The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Western Asia, ...
entered the Iberian Peninsula and conquered a large portion of it. Approximately the area of the current Region of Murcia came to be under Adb's Al-Aziz power. The Abd's Al-Aziz troops circulated through Jumilla territory. The
Muslims
Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...
used previous built fortifications for erecting their fortress.
In the mid-13th century, the king of the
Taifa of Murcia
The Taifa of Murcia () was an Arab '' taifa'' of medieval Al-Andalus, in what is now southern Spain. It became independent as a ''taifa'' centered on the Moorish city of Murcia after the fall of the Umayyad Caliphate of Córdoba (11th centur ...
Aben Hud was menaced by the
Castillian troops and by the monarch of the
Emirate of Granada
)
, common_languages = Official language: Classical ArabicOther languages: Andalusi Arabic, Mozarabic, Berber, Ladino
, capital = Granada
, religion = Majority religion: Sunni IslamMinority religions: Ro ...
, Aben Almahar. The king of the Taifa of Murcia reached an agreement with the prince
Alfonso X of Castile
Alfonso X (also known as the Wise, es, el Sabio; 23 November 1221 – 4 April 1284) was King of Castile, León and Galicia from 30 May 1252 until his death in 1284. During the election of 1257, a dissident faction chose him to be king of Ger ...
, who would be king. In this deal, issues such as respecting the inhabitants lives and possessions were agreed.
Alfonso X of Castile visited Jumilla when he was king. He decided to get the Church of Santa María de Gracia built, and nowadays, a part of the church is still preserved.
After the death of Alfonso X, there were disputes for reigning. The
Crown of Aragon
The Crown of Aragon ( , ) an, Corona d'Aragón ; ca, Corona d'Aragó, , , ; es, Corona de Aragón ; la, Corona Aragonum . was a composite monarchy ruled by one king, originated by the dynastic union of the Kingdom of Aragon and the County of ...
took advantage of that situation - It broke out a war against the
Crown of Castile and invaded the Kingdom of Murcia. Jumilla was conquered in the late 13th century or in the early 14th century. It was during under the Crown of Aragon Control era when the first historic document which address solely Jumilla was written. The document was about demarcating lands and municipality with boundary markers.
In the mid-14th century, when Jumilla was under the
Crown of Aragon
The Crown of Aragon ( , ) an, Corona d'Aragón ; ca, Corona d'Aragó, , , ; es, Corona de Aragón ; la, Corona Aragonum . was a composite monarchy ruled by one king, originated by the dynastic union of the Kingdom of Aragon and the County of ...
power, this town became a border locality. As a consequence, Jumilla must have been ruled with a man having an iron fist. Consequently, the inhabitants asked the king
Peter of Castile
Peter ( es, Pedro; 30 August 133423 March 1369), called the Cruel () or the Just (), was King of Castile and León from 1350 to 1369. Peter was the last ruler of the main branch of the House of Ivrea. He was excommunicated by Pope Urban V for ...
for help in order to live in territory which belonged again to the
Crown of Castile.
Frederik of Castile, who was son of the king
Ferdinand III of Castile
Ferdinand III ( es, Fernando, link=no; 1199/120130 May 1252), called the Saint (''el Santo''), was King of Castile from 1217 and King of León from 1230 as well as King of Galicia from 1231. He was the son of Alfonso IX of León and Berenguel ...
, caused Jumilla to belong to the Crown of Castile again in the year 1357.
Two of the first important facts in Jumilla were the French invasion and the resulting
Peninsular War
The Peninsular War (1807–1814) was the military conflict fought in the Iberian Peninsula by Spain, Portugal, and the United Kingdom against the invading and occupying forces of the First French Empire during the Napoleonic Wars. In Spain ...
. Jumilla plunged into the war and its inhabitants established the military defence junta.
Economy
Jumilla's economy is based on agriculture with main cultivation being vineyards, olive trees and fruit trees.
Jumilla is home to a large
photovoltaic solar power
Solar power is the conversion of energy from sunlight into electricity, either directly using photovoltaics (PV) or indirectly using concentrated solar power. Photovoltaic cells convert light into an electric current using the photovolta ...
farm, with an installed peak power capacity of 20 megawatts. The solar farm consists of 120,000 solar panels and covers . The farm's total annual production will be the equivalent of the energy used by 20,000 homes. The solar panels are owned by groups of investors. It is expected to generate an estimated annual income of $28 million (€19 million) and a reduction in
CO2 emission
Greenhouse gas emissions from human activities strengthen the greenhouse effect, contributing to climate change. Most is carbon dioxide from burning fossil fuels: coal, oil, and natural gas. The largest emitters include coal in China and la ...
s of 42,000 tons a year. Powerlight provided single-axis
solar trackers to improve the system's performance.
Jumilla, together with neighboring
Yecla, is one of the primary regions for development of the
Murciana and
Granadina breeds of
dairy goats.
Jumilla is also a
wine
Wine is an alcoholic drink typically made from fermented grapes. Yeast consumes the sugar in the grapes and converts it to ethanol and carbon dioxide, releasing heat in the process. Different varieties of grapes and strains of yeasts are m ...
-producing region famous for its
Carta Roja wines. Jumilla's wine production and culture are particularly notable for its use of the
Monastrell grape as a varietal.
Main sights
Some buildings that have special culture values such as historic or artistic are shown below:
*El Casón: This is a funerary vault which estimated date of its building is the 5th century AD.
*Jumilla's castle: The hill where the castle is built was inhabited by people from the Bronze Age. In a later era, this was occupied by people when Iberian civilizations were present in large part of Iberian Peninsula, and specifically in the current municipality. In Roman Iberian Peninsula period, people also leveraged this hill. The last era in regards to this hill before the construction of the current castle is the one when large part of Iberian Peninsula was under Muslim peoples rule. They built a fortress in the 8th century, but they used unstable materials. The current castle was built in the year 1461 and its architectural style is
gothic.
*Cuco de la Alberquilla/ Cuco de Zacarías
*Santa María del Rosario Church: It was built on a Muslim cemetery in the first half of the 15th century, and it is placed in the town end.
*Palacio del Antiguo Concejo
*San Agustín Church: It is placed in the town end, and locals conceive it as a border demarcator in regards to the town and the countryside. It was erected in the year 1570 and restored in the late-18th century. It has a rectangular plan, one
nave
The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...
, some side chapels, and a small crossing. Two
domes
A dome () is an architectural element similar to the hollow upper half of a sphere. There is significant overlap with the term cupola, which may also refer to a dome or a structure on top of a dome. The precise definition of a dome has been a m ...
are present in the building – one roofs the crossing and the other roofs the
altar
An altar is a table or platform for the presentation of religious offerings, for sacrifices, or for other ritualistic purposes. Altars are found at shrines, temples, churches, and other places of worship. They are used particularly in paga ...
.
*Santa Ana del Monte Convent: This was built in the year 1573.
*San Roque Arch
*San José Church: This was built in the late 17th century. Its architectural style is
baroque with local features of Region of Murcia.
*San Antón Church: This was formed in 1611 and is placed in the town end. It has a Greek cross plan. The building was restored in 2002. Currently, it serves as a museum for
Holy Week
Holy Week ( la, Hebdomada Sancta or , ; grc, Ἁγία καὶ Μεγάλη Ἑβδομάς, translit=Hagia kai Megale Hebdomas, lit=Holy and Great Week) is the most sacred week in the liturgical year in Christianity. In Eastern Churches, w ...
issues.
*Vico Theatre: This building was constructed in the late 19th century and its architectural style is
eclectic.
*Modernist building: It was built in the year 1911.
Festivities
The festivities held in the municipality are shown below:
*
Holy Week
Holy Week ( la, Hebdomada Sancta or , ; grc, Ἁγία καὶ Μεγάλη Ἑβδομάς, translit=Hagia kai Megale Hebdomas, lit=Holy and Great Week) is the most sacred week in the liturgical year in Christianity. In Eastern Churches, w ...
*Wine grapes harvesting festivity: this event takes place in August, and it coincides with the
patron saint
A patron saint, patroness saint, patron hallow or heavenly protector is a saint who in Catholicism, Anglicanism, or Eastern Orthodoxy is regarded as the heavenly advocate of a nation, place, craft, activity, class, clan, family, or perso ...
festivity.
*Patron saint festivity: It is held in August. It usually starts on the second week and lasts 10 or 11 days.
*
Moros y cristianos: it also occurs in August.
* Jumilla Town National Festival of Folklore
See also
*
Torta de gazpacho
Torta de gazpacho is a type of torta, or flat bread, used to prepare a dish called ''gazpacho'' or ''gazpacho manchego'' in La Mancha and Southeast Spain, including Murcia and parts of the autonomous community of Valencia.
A ''torta de ...
*
Spanish wine
Spanish wine () includes red, white, and sparkling wines produced throughout the country. Located on the Iberian Peninsula, Spain has over 1.2 million hectares (2.9 million acres) planted in wine grapes, making it the most widely pla ...
References
{{authority control
Municipalities in the Region of Murcia