Yegen is a village of the municipality of Alpujarra de la Sierra in the province of Granada. The village was the home of the British writer

Gerald Brenan Edward FitzGerald "Gerald" Brenan, CBE, MC (7 April 1894 – 19 January 1987) was a British writer and hispanist who spent much of his life in Spain. Brenan is best known for ''The Spanish Labyrinth'', a historical work on the background t ...

in the 1920s, and he described its customs in ''

South from Granada ''South from Granada: Seven Years in an Andalusian Village'' is an autobiographical book by Gerald Brenan, first published in 1957. Brenan, a fringe member of the Bloomsbury Group, moved to Spain in 1919 and lived there on and off for the rest ...

'', one of his best-known books. Brenan stated in the book that he chose Yegen (at the time with no paved road connection or public transport) because of its favourable geography, including abundant water. In recent years the village has held events commemorating the writer's interest in local culture. A Brenan museum is being developed in the village.

History

Most of its inhabitants are descendants of people from the northern regions of Spain (mostly from Galicia) that were brought to the village 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 the 17th century. At the end of the 19th century and all across the 20th century, Yegen, like most of the country, was a land of emigrants that left for better opportunities in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...

(

Andorra , image_flag = Flag of Andorra.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Andorra.svg , symbol_type = Coat of arms , national_motto = la, Virtus Unita Fortior, label=none (Latin)"United virtue is stro ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

, Switzerland) and America. This situation reversed in the late 1980s and now there is a small community with a few

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

and other

an citizens that have bought houses in Yegen as a first or second residence.

References

External links

{{Coord, 36, 59, N, 3, 07, W, display=title, region:ES_type:city_source:GNS-enwiki Populated places in the Province of Granada