Niebla is a town and

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' ...

located in the province of

Huelva Huelva ( , , ) is a municipality of Spain and the capital of the Huelva (province), province of Huelva, in the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia. Located in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula, it sits betwee ...

, in

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 ...

, southern

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 ...

. It lies on the banks of the Rio Tinto, 30 km from

and 60 km from

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, ...

. According to the 2008

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

, it has a population of 4,200 inhabitants. A 2-km town wall surrounds the perimeter of the town. The municipality has a long historical tradition, a fact favored by its geographical location. During the

Caliphate of Córdoba A caliphate ( ) is an institution or public office under the leadership of an Islamic steward with Khalifa, the title of caliph (; , ), a person considered a political–religious successor to the Islamic prophet Muhammad and a leader of ...

, it was the capital of the Cora of the same name, and during taifa period, it was the center of the Taifa of Niebla. The

castle A castle is a type of fortification, fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by Military order (monastic society), military orders. Scholars usually consider a ''castle'' to be the private ...

dates mostly from the 15th century. Just outside the town a

Roman bridge The ancient Romans were the first civilization to build large, permanent bridges. Early Roman bridges used techniques introduced by Etruscan immigrants, but the Romans improved those skills, developing and enhancing methods such as arches and k ...

, still in use today, crosses the Rio Tinto.

History

Niebla's history dates back 3,000 years. The town's early importance was due to the silver industry, exploited by

Phoenicia Phoenicians were an Ancient Semitic-speaking peoples, ancient Semitic group of people who lived in the Phoenician city-states along a coastal strip in the Levant region of the eastern Mediterranean, primarily modern Lebanon and the Syria, Syrian ...

n traders by the 8th century B.C. The town was a commercial and political centre known as ''Ilipla'' in Roman times. By 713 the town of Ilipla was under Muslim control. The town became part of the emirate of Cordoba in 756 and further fortifications were constructed. From 1023 Niebla became the capital of the Taifa of Niebla, whose army fought the

Taifa of Seville The Taifa of Seville ( ''Ta'ifat-u Ishbiliyyah'') was an Arab kingdom which was ruled by the Abbadid dynasty. It was established in 1023 and lasted until 1091, in what is today southern Spain and Portugal. It gained independence from the Calipha ...

. The battle was lost and Niebla fell under the control of Seville in 1053. Islamic rule began to weaken after 1212, and the town was conquered in 1262 by

Alfonso X of Castile Alfonso X (also known as the Wise, ; 23 November 1221 – 4 April 1284) was King of Castile, Kingdom of León, León and Kingdom of Galicia, Galicia from 1 June 1252 until his death in 1284. During the April 1257 Imperial election, election of 1 ...

. Descriptions of the siege suggest that this town was the place where

gunpowder Gunpowder, also commonly known as black powder to distinguish it from modern smokeless powder, is the earliest known chemical explosive. It consists of a mixture of sulfur, charcoal (which is mostly carbon), and potassium nitrate, potassium ni ...

was first used in Spain. During the last third of the 19th century, the railway arrived in the municipality. In 1875, the

Riotinto Railway The Riotinto Railway was a Spanish narrow-gauge railway line, predominantly used for mining and industry, that operated between 1875 and 1984. During this time it became one of the main railways in the province of Huelva, gaining a large fleet ...

entered service, linking Huelva with the

Riotinto-Nerva mining basin The Riotinto-Nerva mining basin is a Spanish mining area located in the northeast of the province of Huelva (Andalusia), which has its main population centers in the municipalities of El Campillo, Huelva, El Campillo, Minas de Riotinto and Nerva ...

and had its own station in the municipality of Niebla. Five years later, the Seville-Huelva line was put into service, which also had its own station in Niebla. Furthermore, in 1896, a connecting station was installed in the Las Mallas area to allow freight exchanges between trains on the Riotinto and Seville-Huelva lines. Railway activity remained very active until the closure of the Riotinto line in 1984. In 1982, the historic center of Niebla was declared ''Conjunto Monumental Histórico-Artístico''.

Ecclesiastical history

Niebla has once been a Catholic bishopric,

suffragan A suffragan bishop is a type of bishop in some Christian denominations. In the Catholic Church, a suffragan bishop leads a diocese within an ecclesiastical province other than the principal diocese, the metropolitan archdiocese; the diocese led ...

of the Metropolitan Archdiocese of Sevilla in the

Visigothic Kingdom The Visigothic Kingdom, Visigothic Spain or Kingdom of the Goths () was a Barbarian kingdoms, barbarian kingdom that occupied what is now southwestern France and the Iberian Peninsula from the 5th to the 8th centuries. One of the Germanic people ...

, founded probably around 400. It survived the Muslim conquest of

Iberia 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, compri ...

, until the arrival of the most intolerant

Almohads The Almohad Caliphate (; or or from ) or Almohad Empire was a North African Berber Muslim empire founded in the 12th century. At its height, it controlled much of the Iberian Peninsula (Al-Andalus) and North Africa (the Maghreb). The Almohad ...

in the 12th century, when its last (name lost) bishop fled to Seville. Its former territory is now entirely comprised in the Diocese of Huelva. ;''Suffragan Bishops of Elepla/Niebla : incomplete * Vincomalos (466–509) * Basilio (circa 585 – 590) * Juan (John) (mentioned between 633 and 646) * Servando (between 653 and 656) * Geta (between 681 and 688) * Pápulo (in 693) * (anonymous) (?–1154)

Titular see

In 1969 the diocese was nominally restored as Latin

Titular bishopric A titular see in various churches is an episcopal see of a former diocese that no longer functions, sometimes called a "dead diocese". The ordinary or hierarch of such a see may be styled a "titular metropolitan" (highest rank), "titular archbish ...

under the names of Elepla (also Curiate Italian) / Eleplen(sis) (Latin adjective). It has had the following incumbents, so far of the fitting Episcopal (lowest) rank :http://www.gcatholic.org/dioceses/former/t0696.htm GCatholic * Luis Almarcha Hernández (1970.04.04 – resigned 1970.12.11) on emeritate as former Bishop of León (Spain) (1944.07.10 – retired 1970.04.04), died 1974 * Ciro Alfonso Gómez Serrano (1972.07.24 – 1975.10.25) as

Coadjutor Bishop A coadjutor bishop (or bishop coadjutor) ("co-assister" in Latin) is a bishop in the Latin Catholic, Anglican and (historically) Eastern Orthodox churches whose main role is to assist the diocesan bishop in administering the diocese. The coa ...

of Socorro y San Gil (

Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

) (1972.07.24 – 1975.10.25), later succeeding as Bishop of Socorro y San Gil (1975.10.25 – death 1980.01.19); previously Bishop of Girardot (Colombia) (1961.04.08 – 1972.07.24) * Pablo Ervin Schmitz Simon,

Capuchin Franciscans The Order of Friars Minor Capuchin (; postnominal abbr. OFMCap) is a religious order of Franciscan friars within the Catholic Church, one of three " First Orders" that reformed from the Franciscan Friars Minor Observant (OFMObs, now OFM), the ot ...

(O.F.M. Cap.) (1984.06.22 – ...), first as

Auxiliary Bishop An auxiliary bishop is a bishop assigned to assist the diocesan bishop in meeting the pastoral and administrative needs of the diocese. Auxiliary bishops can also be titular bishops of sees that no longer exist as territorial jurisdictions. ...

Bluefields Bluefields is the capital of the South Caribbean Autonomous Region in Nicaragua. It was also the capital of the former Kingdom of Mosquitia, and later the Zelaya Department, which was divided into North and South Caribbean Coast Autonomous Reg ...

(

Nicaragua Nicaragua, officially the Republic of Nicaragua, is the geographically largest Sovereign state, country in Central America, comprising . With a population of 7,142,529 as of 2024, it is the third-most populous country in Central America aft ...

) (1984.06.22 – 1994.07.28), then having succeeded as

Apostolic Vicar Apostolic may refer to: The Apostles An Apostle meaning one sent on a mission: *The Twelve Apostles of Jesus, or something related to them, such as the Church of the Holy Apostles *Apostolic succession, the doctrine connecting the Christian Churc ...

of Bluefields.

References

Bibliography

* * *

Sources and external links