Despeñaperros (literally, '' liff wheredogs plunge'') is a

gorge A canyon (; archaic British English spelling: ''cañon''), gorge or chasm, is a deep cleft between escarpments or cliffs resulting from weathering and the erosion, erosive activity of a river over geologic time scales. Rivers have a natural tend ...

canyon A canyon (; archaic British English spelling: ''cañon''), gorge or chasm, is a deep cleft between escarpments or cliffs resulting from weathering and the erosive activity of a river over geologic time scales. Rivers have a natural tendency t ...

carved out by the Despeñaperros river. It is located in the

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

of Santa Elena in the northern portion of the

province A province is an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman , which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire, Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...

of Jaén,

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

. The area was declared a natural park by the Andalusian Autonomous Government, primarily for its

geology Geology (). is a branch of natural science concerned with the Earth and other astronomical objects, the rocks of which they are composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Modern geology significantly overlaps all other Earth ...

and

landscape A landscape is the visible features of an area of land, its landforms, and how they integrate with natural or human-made features, often considered in terms of their aesthetic appeal.''New Oxford American Dictionary''. A landscape includes th ...

, but also for its notable

flora Flora (: floras or florae) is all the plant life present in a particular region or time, generally the naturally occurring (indigenous (ecology), indigenous) native plant, native plants. The corresponding term for animals is ''fauna'', and for f ...

and

fauna Fauna (: faunae or faunas) is all of the animal life present in a particular region or time. The corresponding terms for plants and fungi are ''flora'' and '' funga'', respectively. Flora, fauna, funga and other forms of life are collectively ...

. The gorge has steep walls, some more than in height. It has historically been much used by humans as a natural pass through the Sierra Morena, constituting a principal path of connection between

Andalusia Andalusia ( , ; , ) is the southernmost autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in Peninsular Spain, located in the south of the Iberian Peninsula, in southwestern Europe. It is the most populous and the second-largest autonomou ...

and the

Meseta Central The ''Meseta Central'' (, sometimes referred to in English as Inner Plateau) is one of the basic geographical units of the Iberian Peninsula. It consists of a plateau covering a large part of the latter's interior. Developed during the 19th cent ...

, Castile-La Mancha, and the rest of Spain. Today the Despeñaperros is the route of the Autovía A-4 and of one of Andalusia's most important

railway Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...

connections to the rest of Spain. Until the 1992 construction of the high-speed

Puertollano Puertollano () is a municipalities of Spain, municipality of Spain located in the province of Ciudad Real, Castile-La Mancha. The city has a population of 45,539 (2022). Contrasting to the largely rural character of the region, Puertollano stands o ...

– Córdoba route ( to the west), this rail route was second in importance only to the Mérida–

Seville Seville ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Spain, Spanish autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the Guadalquivir, River Guadalquivir, ...

line in terms of connecting from Andalusia to the rest of Spain.

Geology

The Sierra de Despeñaperos is located at the eastern limit of the Sierra Morena. The mountain range is oriented east–west, but is crossed by some rivers oriented north–south, so that some zones of the Meseta Central drain south to the

Guadalquivir The Guadalquivir (, also , , ) is the fifth-longest river in the Iberian Peninsula and the second-longest river with its entire length in Spain. The Guadalquivir is the only major navigable river in Spain. Currently it is navigable from Seville ...

and thence to the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the ...

, crossing the theoretical natural barrier of the range. One of these is the Despeñaperros river, but the Guarrizas also crosses to the east, forming the beautiful Cimbarra Falls, protected as a ''paraje natural''. The Despeñaperros flows into the Guarrizas about south of the gorge. The vertical walls of the gorge expose geological layers that reveal the history of the surrounding land. The walls are composed of extremely hard "Armorican"

quartzite Quartzite is a hard, non- foliated metamorphic rock that was originally pure quartz sandstone.Essentials of Geology, 3rd Edition, Stephen Marshak, p 182 Sandstone is converted into quartzite through heating and pressure usually related to tecton ...

, formed in the ocean 500 million years ago in the

Paleozoic The Paleozoic ( , , ; or Palaeozoic) Era is the first of three Era (geology), geological eras of the Phanerozoic Eon. Beginning 538.8 million years ago (Ma), it succeeds the Neoproterozoic (the last era of the Proterozoic Eon) and ends 251.9 Ma a ...

, which were later covered by more recent materials. In the

Carboniferous The Carboniferous ( ) is a Geologic time scale, geologic period and System (stratigraphy), system of the Paleozoic era (geology), era that spans 60 million years, from the end of the Devonian Period Ma (million years ago) to the beginning of the ...

these were elevated and exposed to erosion, finally to be discovered here and at Cimbarra Falls. According to the prevailing theory, it took some 320 million years of the Variscan orogeny for the continental collision of

Laurasia Laurasia () was the more northern of two large landmasses that formed part of the Pangaea supercontinent from around ( Mya), the other being Gondwana. It separated from Gondwana (beginning in the late Triassic period) during the breakup of Pa ...

and

Gondwana Gondwana ( ; ) was a large landmass, sometimes referred to as a supercontinent. The remnants of Gondwana make up around two-thirds of today's continental area, including South America, Africa, Antarctica, Australia (continent), Australia, Zea ...

to crush the Armorican continent. In the

strata In geology and related fields, a stratum (: strata) is a layer of Rock (geology), rock or sediment characterized by certain Lithology, lithologic properties or attributes that distinguish it from adjacent layers from which it is separated by v ...

of Armorican quartzite some spectacular ripples or crinkles are visible,

fossil A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserve ...

effects of

wave In physics, mathematics, engineering, and related fields, a wave is a propagating dynamic disturbance (change from List of types of equilibrium, equilibrium) of one or more quantities. ''Periodic waves'' oscillate repeatedly about an equilibrium ...

s, similar to those that can be observed in any deep, sandy sea, which reveals their origin.

Trace fossil A trace fossil, also called an ichnofossil (; ), is a fossil record of biological activity by lifeforms, but not the preserved remains of the organism itself. Trace fossils contrast with body fossils, which are the fossilized remains of part ...

s also remain of organisms that left their mark in the sandy sediments during the

Ordovician The Ordovician ( ) is a geologic period and System (geology), system, the second of six periods of the Paleozoic Era (geology), Era, and the second of twelve periods of the Phanerozoic Eon (geology), Eon. The Ordovician spans 41.6 million years f ...

, almost 500 years ago. Among the formations visible in Despeñaperros are several that have been given names of their own: ''El Salto del Fraile'' ("Friar's Leap"), ''Las Correderas'' ("The Slides"), or ''Los Órganos'' ("The Organs"). In this last, the quartzite had been folded until it stood in vertical strata, which

erosion Erosion is the action of surface processes (such as Surface runoff, water flow or wind) that removes soil, Rock (geology), rock, or dissolved material from one location on the Earth's crust#Crust, Earth's crust and then sediment transport, tran ...

then gave the forms of pointed tubes, evoking the musical instrument the organ. ''Los Órganos'' has status as a natural monument in its own right.

Flora

Like the rest of the eastern Sierra Morena, the Despeñaperros is dominated by Mediterranean forest. Holm oak ('' Quercus ilex'') and cork oak ('' Quercus suber'') predominate, along with Portuguese oak ('' Quercus faginea''), Pyrenean oak ('' Quercus pyrenaica'') and various pines: stone pine ('' Pinus pinea''), Aleppo pine ('' Pinus halepensis''), and European black pine (''

Pinus nigra ''Pinus nigra'', the Austrian pine or black pine, is a moderately variable species of pine, occurring across Southern Europe from the Iberian Peninsula and Lower Austria to the eastern Mediterranean, on the Anatolian peninsula of Turkey, Corsica ...

''). The predominant

shrub A shrub or bush is a small to medium-sized perennial woody plant. Unlike herbaceous plants, shrubs have persistent woody stems above the ground. Shrubs can be either deciduous or evergreen. They are distinguished from trees by their multiple ...

s are strawberry trees (''

Arbutus unedo ''Arbutus unedo'', commonly known as strawberry tree, also called madrone, is an evergreen shrub or small tree in the family Ericaceae, native to the Mediterranean Basin and Western Europe. The tree is well known for its fruits, the arbutus berr ...

''), heather (genus '' Erica''), rockroses of the genus ''

Cistus ''Cistus'' (from the Greek ''kistos'') is a genus of flowering plants in the rockrose family Cistaceae, containing about 20 species (Ellul ''et al.'' 2002). They are perennial shrubs found on dry or rocky soils throughout the Mediterranean reg ...

'', myrtle (genus '' Myrtus'') and kermes oak (''

Quercus coccifera ''Quercus coccifera'', the kermes oak or commonly known as Palestine oak, is an oak shrub or tree in section '' Ilex'' of the genus. It has many synonyms, including ''Quercus calliprinos''. It is native to the Mediterranean region and Northern ...

''). There are also

riparian forest A riparian forest or riparian woodland is a forested or wooded area of land adjacent to a body of water such as a river, stream, pond, lake, marshland, estuary, canal, Sink (geography), sink, or reservoir. Due to the broad nature of the definitio ...

s along the various rivers and streams, shadier and more humid, with alders (genus ''

Alnus Alders are trees of the genus ''Alnus'' in the birch family Betulaceae. The genus includes about 35 species of monoecious trees and shrubs, a few reaching a large size, distributed throughout the north temperate zone with a few species ext ...

''), ash (genus ''

Fraxinus ''Fraxinus'' (), commonly called ash, is a genus of plants in the olive and lilac family, Oleaceae, and comprises 45–65 species of usually medium-to-large trees, most of which are deciduous trees, although some Subtropics, subtropical specie ...

'') and willows (genus ''

Salix Willows, also called sallows and osiers, of the genus ''Salix'', comprise around 350 species (plus numerous hybrids) of typically deciduous trees and shrubs, found primarily on moist soils in cold and temperate regions. Most species are known ...

''). The natural park also holds 30

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

subspecies In Taxonomy (biology), biological classification, subspecies (: subspecies) is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (Morphology (biology), morpholog ...

unique in the world, and others unique in the

Iberian Peninsula The Iberian Peninsula ( ), also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in south-western Europe. Mostly separated from the rest of the European landmass by the Pyrenees, it includes the territories of peninsular Spain and Continental Portugal, comprisin ...

Fauna

There is an important presence of

deer A deer (: deer) or true deer is a hoofed ruminant ungulate of the family Cervidae (informally the deer family). Cervidae is divided into subfamilies Cervinae (which includes, among others, muntjac, elk (wapiti), red deer, and fallow deer) ...

(''Cervidae'') and

wild boar The wild boar (''Sus scrofa''), also known as the wild swine, common wild pig, Eurasian wild pig, or simply wild pig, is a Suidae, suid native to much of Eurasia and North Africa, and has been introduced to the Americas and Oceania. The speci ...

s (''Sus scrofa''); there are authorized hunts of both. There are also

Iberian lynx The Iberian lynx (''Lynx pardinus'') is one of the four wikt:extant, extant species within ''Lynx'', a genus of medium-sized wild Felidae, cats. The Iberian lynx is endemic to the Iberian Peninsula in southwestern Europe. It is listed as vulnera ...

es (''Lynx pardinus'') and

wolves The wolf (''Canis lupus''; : wolves), also known as the grey wolf or gray wolf, is a canine native to Eurasia and North America. More than thirty subspecies of ''Canis lupus'' have been recognized, including the dog and dingo, though gr ...

, as well as small

carnivore A carnivore , or meat-eater (Latin, ''caro'', genitive ''carnis'', meaning meat or "flesh" and ''vorare'' meaning "to devour"), is an animal or plant Plants are the eukaryotes that form the Kingdom (biology), kingdom Plantae; they ar ...

s such as foxes, Egyptian mongooses (''Herpestes ichneumon'') and wildcats (''Felis silvestris''). Birds in Despeñaperros include the Spanish imperial eagle (''Aquila adalberti'', also known as Adalbert's eagle) and the griffon vulture (''Gyps fulvus'').

History

Early history

As well as the Cimbarra Falls and the

cave Caves or caverns are natural voids under the Earth's Planetary surface, surface. Caves often form by the weathering of rock and often extend deep underground. Exogene caves are smaller openings that extend a relatively short distance undergrou ...

s in the area, Despeñaperros has important examples of

Neolithic The Neolithic or New Stone Age (from Ancient Greek, Greek 'new' and 'stone') is an archaeological period, the final division of the Stone Age in Mesopotamia, Asia, Europe and Africa (c. 10,000 BCE to c. 2,000 BCE). It saw the Neolithic Revo ...

cave painting In archaeology, cave paintings are a type of parietal art (which category also includes petroglyphs, or engravings), found on the wall or ceilings of caves. The term usually implies prehistoric art, prehistoric origin. These paintings were often c ...

, proof that humans have long been aware of these passages between the

and

. Notable among the area's caves are the ''Cueva de los Muñecos'' and the ''Cuevas de las Vacas del Rematoso''. During the

Iron Age The Iron Age () is the final epoch of the three historical Metal Ages, after the Chalcolithic and Bronze Age. It has also been considered as the final age of the three-age division starting with prehistory (before recorded history) and progre ...

, local caves were often use for depositing bronze votive offerings for the local gods. Many are now in the National Archaeological Museum in Madrid but a representative sample is kept in the

British Museum The British Museum is a Museum, public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is the largest in the world. It documents the story of human cu ...

in London. Separating as it does the central part of Spain from the south of the peninsula, the Sierra Morena and its defiles have always had great military importance. The remains of a Roman road lead to the ruins of the castle of (the name ''castro'' being a sign of its antiquity). The castle was later occupied by the Almohads until it was captured and garrisoned by Alfonso VIII's troops on 18 July 1212, following the Battle of the Navas de Tolosa.

Peninsular War

During the

Peninsular War The Peninsular War (1808–1814) was fought in the Iberian Peninsula by Kingdom of Portugal, Portugal, Spain and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom against the invading and occupying forces of the First French ...

, especially during the first weeks of June 1808, Napoleon's troops had great difficulty in maintaining fluid communications between Madrid and Andalusia, mainly due to the activity of guerrilleros in the Sierra Morena. The first attack around Despeñaperros took place on 5 June 1808, when two squadrons of French dragoons were attacked at the northern entrance to the pass and forced to retreat to the nearby town of Almuradiel. On 19 June General Vedel was ordered to head south from Toledo with a division of 6,000 men, 700 horses and 12 guns to force a passage over the Sierra Morena, hold the mountains from the guerrillas and link up with Dupont, pacifying Castile-La Mancha along the way. Foy, Maximilien Sébastien (1827
''History of the war in the Peninsula under Napoleon, to which is prefixed a view of the political and military state of the four belligerent powers, publ. by the countess Foy, Volume 2'', pp. 315–317.
At Google Books. Retrieved 25 August 2013. Vedel was joined during the march by small detachments under Generals Roize and Ligier-Belair. On 26 June 1808 Vedel's column defeated Lieutenant-Colonel Valdecaños' detachment of Spanish regulars and guerrillas with six guns blocking the mountain pass of Puerta del Rey and the following day met up with Dupont at La Carolina, reestablishing military communications with Madrid after a month of disruption. Finally, General Gobert's division set out from Madrid on 2 July to reinforce Dupont. However, only one brigade of his division ultimately reached Dupont, the rest being needed to hold the road north against the guerrillas. File:P_n_despenaperros.jpg , General view of the Despeñaperros Natural Park File:Parque Despeñaperros2.JPG , Despeñaperros path, sight to La Mancha File:Órganos Despeñaperros.JPG , Natural Monument of Los Órganos File:Vacas del Retamoso.JPG , Cave paintings: Anthropomorphic and zoomorphic depictions in one hillside of "Los Órganos" File:Pinturas Despeñaperros1.JPG , Cave paintings: Vertical lines and different figures

References

External links

Parque Natural de Despeñaperros
official site of Santa Elena municipality, within whose borders the park falls; warning: heavy use of

Adobe Flash Adobe Flash (formerly Macromedia Flash and FutureSplash) is a mostly discontinuedAlthough it is discontinued by Adobe Inc., for the Chinese market it is developed by Zhongcheng and for the international enterprise market it is developed by Ha ...

Parque Natural Despeñaperros
Ventana del Visitante de los Espacios Naturales Protegidos de Andalucía (Despeñaperros Natural Park on the official site of the Autonomous Andalusian Government)
Los Órganos
Ventana del Visitante de los Espacios Naturales Protegidos de Andalucía ("Los Órganos" on the official site of the Autonomous Andalusian Government) {{DEFAULTSORT:Despenaperros Sierra Morena Natural parks of Spain Canyons and gorges of Spain Natural parks of Andalusia Landforms of Andalusia Peninsular War