La Vall de Gallinera is a valley and a municipality in north-east

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 ...

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 ...

, included in the

Marina Alta Marina Alta (, "Upper Marina") is a central and coastal ''comarca'' of the autonomous community of Valencia, Spain. The ''comarca'' is located in the area of Alicante and its capital and largest settlement is the city of Dénia. Marina Alta bord ...

comarca A ''comarca'' (, or , or ) is a traditional region or local administrative division found in Portugal, Spain and some of their former colonies, like Brazil, Nicaragua, and Panama. The term is derived from the term ''marca'', meaning a "march, ...

. It is formed by the nuclei of Benirrama, Benialí, Benissivà, Benitaia, Carroja, Alpatró, Llombai and Benissili. All these settlements constitute a single municipality. The total combined population at the moment is around 600.

History

Like in all other valleys of the interior of Marina Alta, the

Moors 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 ...

occupied the territory for almost six centuries. After the

expulsion of the Moriscos The Expulsion of the Moriscos ( es, Expulsión de los moriscos) was decreed by King Philip III of Spain on April 9, 1609. The Moriscos were descendants of Spain's Muslim population who had been forced to convert to Christianity. Since the Span ...

in 1609, the Vall de Gallinera became deserted and the

Duke of Gandia Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and sovereign princes. As royalty or nobility, they are ranke ...

, to whom this area was given, brought from Majorca 150 families to repopulate the valley. As per Cavanilles: "it is easy still to see the origin of all of them in the accent and dialect of its inhabitants. They are very hard working, all they take advantage of it and they live contentedly in that delicious enclosure." Indeed, in this valley,

Valencian Valencian () or Valencian language () is the official, historical and traditional name used in the Valencian Community (Spain), and unofficially in the El Carche comarca in Murcia (Spain), to refer to the Romance language also known as Catal ...

is heavily influenced by

Balearic Catalan Balearic ( ca, balear) is the collective name for the dialects of Catalan spoken in the Balearic Islands: in Mallorca, in Ibiza and in Menorca. At the last census, 746,792 people in the Balearic Islands claimed to be able to speak Catalan, th ...

Economy

The main businesses of the area are the cultivation of cherries, almonds and olives, and rural tourism.

Sources

Ayuntamiento de Vall de Gallinera

Índice estadístico municipal de Vall de Gallinera
Unidad de Documentación de la Diputación de Alicante
Portal Interactivo de Vall de Gallinera

Web de Vall de Gallinera

References

Municipalities in the Province of Alicante Valleys of Spain Landforms of the Valencian Community {{Valencia-geo-stub