Almería (,
also ; ) is a
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 the
autonomous community
The autonomous communities () are the first-level administrative divisions of Spain, created in accordance with the Spanish Constitution of 1978, with the aim of guaranteeing limited autonomy to the nationalities and regions that make up Sp ...
of
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 ...
, Spain. It was named after the Arab ruler of Taifa, Banu Al-Miri. It is bordered by the provinces of
Granada
Granada ( ; ) is the capital city of the province of Granada, in the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. Granada is located at the foot of the Sierra Nevada (Spain), Sierra Nevada mountains, at the confluence ...
,
Murcia
Murcia ( , , ) is a city in south-eastern Spain, the Capital (political), capital and most populous city of the autonomous community of the Region of Murcia, and the Ranked lists of Spanish municipalities#By population, seventh largest city i ...
, and the
Mediterranean Sea
The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern Eur ...
. Its capital is the
homonymous
In linguistics, homonyms are words which are either; ''homographs''—words that mean different things, but have the same spelling (regardless of pronunciation), or ''homophones''—words that mean different things, but have the same pronunciatio ...
city of
Almería
Almería (, , ) is a city and municipalities in Spain, municipality of Spain, located in Andalusia. It is the capital of the province of Almería, province of the same name. It lies in southeastern Iberian Peninsula, Iberia on the Mediterranean S ...
.
Almería has an area of . With 701,688 (2014) inhabitants, its population density is 79.96/km
2, slightly lower than the Spanish average. It is divided into
103 municipalities.
Geography
The highest mountain range in the Province of Almería is the long
Sierra de Los Filabres, a subrange of the
Sierra Nevada
The Sierra Nevada ( ) is a mountain range in the Western United States, between the Central Valley of California and the Great Basin. The vast majority of the range lies in the state of California, although the Carson Range spur lies primari ...
.
Europe's driest area is found in Almería and is part of the
Cabo de Gata-Níjar Natural Park. The arid landscape and climate of the province have made it an ideal setting for
Western film
The Western is a film genre defined by the American Film Institute as films which are "set in the American West that mbodythe spirit, the struggle, and the demise of the new frontier." Generally set in the American frontier between the Calif ...
s, especially during the 1960s. Because of the demand for these locations, quite a number of Western towns were built near the
Tabernas Desert. Films such as ''
A Fistful of Dollars
''A Fistful of Dollars'' (, (''For a Fistful of Dollars'')) is a 1964 spaghetti Western film directed by Sergio Leone and starring Clint Eastwood in his first leading role, alongside Gian Maria Volonté, Marianne Koch, Wolfgang Lukschy, Si ...
'', ''
For a Few Dollars More
''For a Few Dollars More'' () is a 1965 Spaghetti Western film directed by Sergio Leone. It stars Clint Eastwood and Lee Van Cleef as bounty hunters and Gian Maria Volonté as the primary villain. Klaus Kinski plays a supporting role as a se ...
'', and ''
The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly'' were shot here. Years later, the film of ''
800 Bullets'' was filmed in the same place. Large sections of ''
Conan the Barbarian
Conan the Barbarian (also known as Conan the Cimmerian) is a fictional sword and sorcery hero created by American author Robert E. Howard (1906–1936) and who debuted in 1932 and went on to appear in a series of fantasy stories published in ''We ...
'' (1982), ''
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
''Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade'' is a 1989 American action adventure film directed by Steven Spielberg from a screenplay by Jeffrey Boam, based on a story by George Lucas and Menno Meyjes. It is the third installment in the Indiana Jone ...
'', ''
Lawrence of Arabia'' and ''
Patton'' were shot there as well.
The main rivers are the
Andarax River and
Almanzora River, which are located near Granada in the
Alpujarras. The
Benínar Reservoir, located near
Darrical, provides part of the water needed in the production in greenhouses.
Fauna
Almería has very diverse and rich fauna. Animals found in
Cabo de Gata and
Níjar include the
red fox
The red fox (''Vulpes vulpes'') is the largest of the true foxes and one of the most widely distributed members of the order Carnivora, being present across the entire Northern Hemisphere including most of North America, Europe and Asia, plus ...
, the
Algerian hedgehog and reptiles such as the
ocellated lizard, ''
Timon nevadensis'', and the
ladder snake. Birds characteristic of the
Sierra de María-los Vélez include the
crested lark
The crested lark (''Galerida cristata'') is a species of lark widespread across Eurasia and North Africa, northern Africa. It is a non-migratory bird, but can occasionally be found as a Vagrancy (biology), vagrant in Great Britain.
Taxonomy and ...
, the
calandria, and the common
pipit, as well as birds of prey like
Bonelli's eagle. Snakes and butterflies are common. The
Parnassius butterfly stands out due to its
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 ...
status. In the
Sierra Nevada
The Sierra Nevada ( ) is a mountain range in the Western United States, between the Central Valley of California and the Great Basin. The vast majority of the range lies in the state of California, although the Carson Range spur lies primari ...
and the
Sierra de los Filabres there are also many birds of prey and protected mammals such as the
mountain goat, the
European wildcat and the
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 ...
.
Economy

Historically, Almería was an important exporter of minerals (especially iron, lead, and fine marble) and grapes. The most important economic activity is now
greenhouse
A greenhouse is a structure that is designed to regulate the temperature and humidity of the environment inside. There are different types of greenhouses, but they all have large areas covered with transparent materials that let sunlight pass an ...
farming. Millions of tons of vegetables are exported to other European countries and other parts of the world each year.
Tourism is also a key sector of the economy, due to the sunny weather and attractive areas such as
Roquetas de Mar,
Aguadulce,
El Ejido,
Mojacar,
Vera
Vera may refer to:
Names
*Vera (surname), a surname (including a list of people with the name)
* Vera (given name), a given name (including a list of people and fictional characters with the name)
**Vera (), archbishop of the archdiocese of Tarr ...
or
Cabo de Gata.
Industry
The principal industrial activity is in the
Macael (
Comarca del Marmol) ''canteras''
marble
Marble is a metamorphic rock consisting of carbonate minerals (most commonly calcite (CaCO3) or Dolomite (mineral), dolomite (CaMg(CO3)2) that have recrystallized under the influence of heat and pressure. It has a crystalline texture, and is ty ...
quarrying area in the Sierra de los Filabres region from Macael Viejo to Chercos, Lijar and Cobdar which produce in excess of 1.3 million tons. The Cantoria, Fines, Olula del Rio and Purchena area of the
Alto Almanzora valley is fast becoming the regional megalopolis through high imports and exports and employment in local, national and international marble processing. All the tourist accommodations and construction throughout coastal Spain has driven high demand and brought huge modernisation. Small ''pueblos'' of agriculturalists have given rise to computerised machining factories.
Research facilities
The German-Spanish
Calar Alto Observatory
The Calar Alto Observatory (Centro Astronómico Hispano en Andalucía or "Spanish Astronomical Centre in Andalusia") is an astronomical observatory located in Almería province in Spain on Calar Alto, a mountain in the Sierra de Los Filabre ...
is one of the most important observatories of Spain.
In Tabernas there is a solar energy research centre,
the ''
Plataforma Solar de Almería'' (PSA).
France
France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...
's
Michelin
Michelin ( , ), in full ("General Company of the Michelin Enterprises P.L.S."), is a French multinational tyre manufacturing company based in Clermont-Ferrand in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes '' région'' of France. It is the second largest t ...
operates an industrial research centre in
Cabo de Gata.
Issues
Fruit pickers
An estimated 7,000-10,000 immigrant fruit pickers live in toxic conditions in shanty towns next to fruit farms in the region, and are exploited by employers who pay them less than minimum wage and offer no
PPE as mandated by law.
History
Prehistoric
The
Paleolithic Age of Almería was characterized by small nomadic and hunter-gatherer groups. The oldest Paleolithic site is Zájara Cave I (Cueva de Zájara I) in the Caves of the Almanzora (Cuevas del Almanzora).
The first villages and spaces dedicated exclusively to burials appear by the Neolithic Age, and even before the Upper Paleolithic Age. The cave paintings of the Cave of the Signs (Cueva de los Letreros) and twenty other caves and shelters of Los Vélez are dated to this era, and were designated a World Heritage site by Unesco in 1989.
In one of the shelters of the first settlers of the peninsula, the Coat of the Beehives (Abrigo de las Colmenas), there remains a human figure with arms outstretched holding an arc above its head. According to legend, this picture represents a covenant made by prehistoric man with the gods to prevent future floods. It is the earliest depiction of the Almerían
Indalo, which was named in memory of
Saint Indaletius, and means ''Indal Eccius'' ("messenger of the gods") in the Iberian language.
Over the years, the Indalo has become the best known symbol of Almería. Some see this figure as a man holding a rainbow, but it might also be an archer pointing a bow towards the sky. The Indalo lent its name to the artistic and intellectual movement of the Indalianos led by
Jesús de Perceval and
Eugenio d'Ors which was a movement of nostalgic attraction by the people of
Mojácar. The people of Mojácar painted Indalos with chalk on the walls of their houses to guard against storms and the
Evil Eye
The evil eye is a supernatural belief in a curse brought about by a malevolent glaring, glare, usually inspired by envy. Amulets to Apotropaic, protect against it have been found dating to around 5,000 years ago.
It is found in many cultures i ...
.
It was
Luis Siret y Cels, an eminent Belgian archaeologist, who described the rich prehistoric wealth of Almería, particularly that of the
Metal Age. Siret said that Almería was like "an open-air museum". Indeed, Almería is home to two of the most important cultures of the Metal Age in the peninsula:
Los Millares and
El Argar.
The earliest known city, Los Millares, dates to the
Copper Age
The Chalcolithic ( ) (also called the Copper Age and Eneolithic) was an archaeological period characterized by the increasing use of smelted copper. It followed the Neolithic and preceded the Bronze Age. It occurred at different periods in dif ...
and is strategically located on a spur of rock between the Andarax River and the Huéchar Ravine (rambla de Huéchar), in the southern part of the province. It was a town of more than a thousand inhabitants, protected by three lines of walls and towers, and had an economy based on copper metallurgy, agriculture, animal husbandry, and hunting on a moderate scale. Furthermore, they constructed a large necropolis and exported metal figures and pottery to a large part of the peninsula.
The equally influential culture of El Argar appeared later, during the
Bronze Age
The Bronze Age () was a historical period characterised principally by the use of bronze tools and the development of complex urban societies, as well as the adoption of writing in some areas. The Bronze Age is the middle principal period of ...
. They developed a characteristic form of pottery, the
vaso campaniforme ("beaker") that spread throughout all of Northern Spain. Their cemeteries were more advanced with respect to the culture of Los Millares and they had diverse agricultural production and animal husbandry.
Ancient
The rich local customs and
fiestas retain links deep into the past, back to the eras of the
Umayyad
The Umayyad Caliphate or Umayyad Empire (, ; ) was the second caliphate established after the death of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and was ruled by the Umayyad dynasty. Uthman ibn Affan, the third of the Rashidun caliphs, was also a membe ...
s,
Romans,
Greeks
Greeks or Hellenes (; , ) are an ethnic group and nation native to Greece, Greek Cypriots, Cyprus, Greeks in Albania, southern Albania, Greeks in Turkey#History, Anatolia, parts of Greeks in Italy, Italy and Egyptian Greeks, Egypt, and to a l ...
, and
Phoenicians
Phoenicians were an 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 Syrian coast. They developed a maritime civi ...
.
Middle Ages
It became part of the
Muslim Empire
This article includes a list of successive Islamic states and Muslim dynasties beginning with the time of the Islamic prophet Muhammad (570–632 CE) and the early Muslim conquests that spread Islam outside of the Arabian Peninsula, and continui ...
in 711. During the
taifa
The taifas (from ''ṭā'ifa'', plural ''ṭawā'if'', meaning "party, band, faction") were the independent Muslim principalities and kingdoms of the Iberian Peninsula (modern Portugal and Spain), referred to by Muslims as al-Andalus, that em ...
era, it was ruled by the Arab Muslim
Banu al-Amiri tribe from 1012 to 1038, briefly annexed by
Valencia
Valencia ( , ), formally València (), is the capital of the Province of Valencia, province and Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, the same name in Spain. It is located on the banks of the Turia (r ...
(1038–1041), then given by
Zaragoza
Zaragoza (), traditionally known in English as Saragossa ( ), is the capital city of the province of Zaragoza and of the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Aragon, Spain. It lies by the Ebro river and its tributaries, the ...
to the
Banu Sumadih dynasty until its conquest by the
Almoravids in 1091. Some centuries later, it became part of the kingdom of
Granada
Granada ( ; ) is the capital city of the province of Granada, in the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. Granada is located at the foot of the Sierra Nevada (Spain), Sierra Nevada mountains, at the confluence ...
.
See also
*
List of municipalities in Almería
Almería (province), Almería is a provinces of Spain, province in the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain, which is divided into 103 Municipalities of Spain, municipalities. Spanish census, Almería is t ...
*
1966 Palomares B-52 crash
The Palomares incident occurred on 17 January 1966, when a United States Air Force Boeing B-52 Stratofortress#Variants, B-52G bomber collided with a Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker, KC-135 tanker during Aerial refueling, mid-air refueling at over th ...
Notes and references
External links
Diputación Provincial de Almería(Provincial government)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Almeria, Province of