La Carolina is a city and municipality located in the province of Jaén,

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 ...

. According to the 2014

census A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses incl ...

, the municipality has a population of 15,808 inhabitants.

History

La Carolina was formerly the capital of the ''Intendencia'' of the Nuevas Poblaciones de Andalucía y Sierra Morena founded in this formerly remote and desolate area of the

Sierra Morena The Sierra Morena is one of the main systems of mountain ranges in Spain. It stretches for 450 kilometres from east to west across the south of the Iberian Peninsula, forming the southern border of the ''Meseta Central'' plateau and providi ...

in 1767 by King

Charles III Charles III (Charles Philip Arthur George; born 14 November 1948) is King of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms. He was the longest-serving heir apparent and Prince of Wales and, at age 73, became the oldest person to ...

. The object of the plan, drawn up by his minister

Pablo de Olavide Pablo de Olavide y Jáuregui (Lima Lima ( ; ), originally founded as Ciudad de Los Reyes (City of The Kings) is the capital and the largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón, Rímac and Lurín Rivers, in the dese ...

, administrator of

Andalusia Andalusia (, ; es, Andalucía ) is the southernmost Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in Peninsular Spain. It is the most populous and the second-largest autonomous community in the country. It is officially recognised as a ...

, was to populate the area around Despeñaperros gorge. Known as "the gateway to Andalusia"; this pass was a notorious point on the

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-

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...

royal highway for bandits. Other towns of note in this plan were La Carlota and La Luisiana. The ''Intendencia'' administrative division was wrapped up in 1813. Six thousand Catholic settlers arrived from Belgium, Germany, Austria and Switzerland to take advantage of the generous offers of land and livestock being made to colonizers (five chickens, five goats, five sheep, two cows, and a sow per family). With a few years, about half of them had died from illness or gone home: the rest gradually lost their national identities over the years, and took on the language and customs of their host country. One can still find people in this area with Germanic surnames such as Eisman, Minch, Clap, Smidt, Ming and Kobler. The town's relatively recent history, as well as its northern European target population, explains its unusually regular, colonial-style grid layout, with wide avenues, as opposed to the more common winding narrow streets typical of 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 ...

-patterned towns in Andalusia.

Towns of the ''Intendencia''

Became later part of Jaén Province

* Aldeaquemada * Arquillos *

Carboneros Carboneros is a city located in the province of Jaén, Spain. According to the 2006 census (INE INE, Ine or ine may refer to: Institutions * Institut für Nukleare Entsorgung, a German nuclear research center * Instituto Nacional de Estadíst ...

* La Carolina * Concepción de Almuradiel *

Guarromán Guarromán is a city located in the province of Jaén, Spain. According to the 2006 census (INE INE, Ine or ine may refer to: Institutions * Institut für Nukleare Entsorgung, a German nuclear research center * Instituto Nacional de Estadísti ...

* Miranda del Rey, a village of Santa Elena municipality * Magaña- Montizón, Magaña is a village of Santa Elena municipalityMadoz; Magaña - Historia
/ref> * Navas de Tolosa, a village of La Carolina municipality * Santa Elena

Became later part of Córdoba Province

* La Carlota *

La Luisiana La Luisiana is a city located in the province of Seville, Spain. According to the 2005 census (INE INE, Ine or ine may refer to: Institutions * Institut für Nukleare Entsorgung, a German nuclear research center * Instituto Nacional de Estad� ...

Fuente Palmera Fuente Palmera is a city in the province of Córdoba, Spain. According to the 2006 census (INE INE, Ine or ine may refer to: Institutions * Institut für Nukleare Entsorgung, a German nuclear research center * Instituto Nacional de Estadístic ...

* San Sebastián de los Ballesteros

References

External links

* Municipalities in the Province of Jaén (Spain) Sierra Morena Settlement schemes in Spain {{Andalusia-geo-stub