Benaoján () is a town and municipality in the province of Málaga, part of 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 ...

Andalusia Andalusia (, ; es, Andalucía ) is the southernmost 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 "historical nationality". The t ...

in southern

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 within the

Sierra de Grazalema Natural Park The Sierra de Grazalema Natural Park ( es, Parque natural de la Sierra de Grazalema) is a natural park in the northeastern part of the province of Cádiz in southern Spain. The park encompasses, within its , a complex of mountain ranges, known col ...

. Its surface area is 32 km². The municipality is situated approximately 17 kilometers from

Ronda Ronda () is a town in the Spanish province of Málaga. It is located about west of the city of Málaga, within the autonomous community of Andalusia. Its population is about 35,000. Ronda is known for its cliff-side location and a deep chasm ...

and 116 km from the capital of the province. It is situated at an altitude of 524 meters. Its inhabitants are called ''benaojanos''. Its name is of

Arab 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, ...

origin. Some believe it means children of Oján, from the Berber tribe, and others think "home of the baker."

Geography

The municipality has two towns: Benaoján and Benaoján Station, the first being the center. It has a population of 1,683 people. It has a population density of 50.37 inhabitants/km². The topography is very rugged karst mountains highlighting the two major geological formations: the Hundidero-Gato system and Cave of the Bathing Pool, of great importance for its prehistoric paintings dating from the

Upper Paleolithic The Upper Paleolithic (or Upper Palaeolithic) is the third and last subdivision of the Paleolithic or Old Stone Age. Very broadly, it dates to between 50,000 and 12,000 years ago (the beginning of the Holocene), according to some theories coin ...

, for which it has been declared National Monument of Rock Art. Also, there are other geological cavities of importance scattered throughout the municipality. It is uneven terrain because of the mountain ranges of Montalate and Líbar and drained by the Guadiaro river. It is highlighted by its oaks, pastures rainfed by the Mediterranean and sheep industry. Its cuisine is highlighted by the sausages and other pork products and dried fruits (especially almonds). It is also the exact Antipode of the suburb of Browns Bay in

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The most populous urban area in the country and the fifth largest city in Oceania, Auckland has an urban population of about ...

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

History

The first evidence of settlement in the land of the current municipality of Benaoján dating back some 250,000 years ago, when

Homo heidelbergensis ''Homo heidelbergensis'' (also ''H. sapiens heidelbergensis''), sometimes called Heidelbergs, is an extinct species or subspecies of archaic human which existed during the Middle Pleistocene. It was subsumed as a subspecies of '' H. erectus'' i ...

groups using transverse valleys of the Sierra Bética moved between coastal and inland Andalucia. Later the Neantherthal man populated these mountains. Some 27,000 years ago Homo sapiens arrived. They were living for more than 20,000 years in the Cave of the Bathing Pool, whose walls would contain hundreds of pictorial representations of The Pool, one of the caves with the most important rock art. When the last ice age ended 10,000 years ago, the fauna of large mammals that inhabited these lands changed which changed the climate as well, which in turn made man's lifestyle change. Entrada pileta

Sister cities

Knittlingen Knittlingen is a town in the Enz district in Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. It lies at the eastern edge of the Kraichgau in the centre of a rectangle that is formed by Heidelberg, Karlsruhe, Heilbronn, and Stuttgart. The centre of Kn ...

(

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 ...

)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Benaojan Municipalities in the Province of Málaga