The climate of Almería, for some sub-desert, Mediterranean, hot and dry, is nevertheless very varied. Its most remarkable feature is its clear and bright sky. On the southern coast the strong west wind is characteristic. For its part, the Levante is famous in the capital as it tends to raise the temperature by several degrees.

The flag of the Province of Almería is based on the provincial coat of arms on La Cruz de San Jorge. This banner was proposed for adoption by the Government team of the Almería Provincial Council in the Plenary Session of the Provincial Council on April 29, 2016 and approved the same day

Relief

Almería is one of the most mountainous provinces in Spain. Not surprisingly, 46% of the populations are located in mountains, 34% in hills and 19% in plains. It is crossed from west to east by various mountain ranges of alpine origin, integrated into the Penibetic mountain range. This unique orographic arrangement is largely responsible for the historical isolation both of the province in relation to the rest of Spain and of the different Almeria regions among themselves.

The province reaches its maximum height in the Chullo, 2609 m, which is located in the Sierra Nevada of Almeria and watches over the Puerto de la Ragua, border with the province of Granada. Other important peaks are Almirez (2518 m), Morrón de la Launilla (2249 m), in the Gádor mountain range, Calar Alto (2168 m), in the Filabres mountain range, La Tetica de Bacares (2080 m ), in this same mountain range and the María peak (2,045 m), in the homonymous mountain range, therefore, Almería consists of four mountain ranges that exceed two thousand meters in height.

Coasts, Rivers and Vegetation

Its 219 kilometers of coastline include various geographical features, the most prominent being the Gulf of Almería, Cabo de Gata, Punta Entinas and Punta Sabinar.

The islets of Terreros and San Andrés and the island of Alboran, an important natural, fishing and strategic enclave whose name is due to the Berber pirate Al Borán, who used it as a base, and is included in the municipality of Almería should not be forgotten.

The most important rivers are the Almanzora, the Andarax, the Nacimiento (a tributary of the previous one), the Grande de Adra, the Alias ​​and the Aguas. The latter is responsible for the karst system of Sorbas. The north of the province belongs to the Segura basin through the Rambla de Chirivel, a tributary of the Guadalentín river.

There are also three reservoirs, that of Almanzora (water sports venue of the XV Mediterranean Games), that of Benínar, on whose bed rests the town of the same name, and that of Isabel II, which is one of the oldest in Spain: It was inaugurated near Níjar in 1850 and is currently clogged and in disuse.

Vegetation depends on many factors, among which the rainfall, strongly correlated with altitude, and the type of soil stand out. In this way, on the summits of Sierra Nevada and Los Filabres -above 1800 m s. n. m.- the predominant vegetation is the broom and juniper, adapted to the physical conditions of the high mountains.

Meanwhile, in the mid-mountain areas the holm oak forest predominates, although it is quite degraded in the case of Los Filabres. Holm oak is also the dominant vegetation in dry areas with basic soils, with a greater extension in the Sierra de Gádor; in Sierra Alhamilla there is one of the largest and best preserved holm oak groves in the province. The semi-arid areas of the interior are mainly populated by mastic, which surround the main mountainous areas in a fringe.

This vegetation is very degraded and very often leads to espartales. As we approach the coast and lower the altitude, the arid character of the vegetation increases. In the depressions of Campo de Níjar and in the Almanzora valley, thorn groves predominate – mostly jujube trees – which give the landscape a clear desert character increased by strong anthropic action. In this area, the great floristic richness in many cases of endemic nature is very notable.

In the Campo de Dalías and the Andarax, with similar but not so arid soils, arto predominates in the thorns, although the anthropic action – crops in greenhouses – barely allows us to see remains of natural vegetation. In the Cabo de Gata and Cabrera mountain ranges, the altitude intensifies the marine action and the development of less sparse vegetation than in the neighboring areas. Finally, the edafoxerophilic formations -Campo de Tabernas, where the formations adapted to gypsum- or edafohygrophilous in the areas of the river mouths stand out.

Fauna

The fauna of the province of Almería has great biodiversity and richness. In Cabo de Gata and Níjar, the fox, the Moorish hedgehog, the ocellated lizard (subspecies nevadensis) and the snout viper stand out.11 In the Sierra de los Vélez the birds of prey, the cogujada, the calandria and the common pipit are characteristic ; snakes and butterflies also abound – Parnassius stands out due to its endemic status. In Sierra Nevada and in the Sierra de los Filabres there are also abundant birds of prey and various protected mammals, such as the mountain goat, the wild cat or the wild boar, among others.

A national park, that of Sierra Nevada, shared with the province of Granada, where you can find wild goats and wild boars.

Three natural parks: Cabo de Gata-Níjar, declared in 1987 and the first Maritime-terrestrial in the country, is probably one of the last strongholds of the unspoiled Mediterranean coastline and has a multitude of endemic xerophytic plant species and until a few years ago it was sanctuary of the last monk seals in Europe; another is that of the Sierra de María-Los Vélez, which has large areas of holm oak forests and populations of the rare Moorish tortoise, and, finally, that of Sierra Nevada.

There are also five natural landscapes: Alboran, Tabernas Desert, Karst in Yesos de Sorbas, Punta Entinas-Sabinar and Sierra Alhamilla. Of these, the most important are perhaps the first two. The Tabernas desert is technically the only desert on the European continent. It is an exceptional ecosystem, whose characteristic landscapes have been used by the audiovisual industry since the early 1960s. For its part, the nearby karst in Yesos de Sorbas is a complex of caves, canyons and other karst phenomena excavated by the Aguas river. in a gypsum deposit near the town of Sorbas.

Ten natural monuments: Posidonia Barrier Reef, San Andrés de Carboneras Island, Terreros Island and Negra de Pulpí Island, Piedra Lobera and Sabina Albar de Chirivel, Peñón de Bernal, Cueva de Ambrosio in Vélez Blanco, Canales de Padules, Encina de La Peana in Serón, Encina del Marchal del Abogado in Serón, and the periurban park of Castala, in Berja.

Other notable natural areas in the province are the giant olive tree of Agua Amarga, one of the oldest in the European continent; and the Pulpí gypsum geode, among the largest on the planet; the Cañada de Las Norias wetland and the Ribera de la Algaida wetland.

There are also several centers for the recovery, conservation and study of fauna and flora in the province. Some of them are:

• Saharan Fauna Rescue Park in Almería.
• Albardinar Botanical Garden in Rodalquilar (Níjar).
• Umbrian Botanical Garden of the Virgin in Mary.
• Aquarium of Roquetas de Mar.

The province of Almería is one of the Andalusian demarcations with the largest number of real estate registered in the General Catalog of Andalusian Historical Heritage.

From the very dawn of human settlements, there are vestiges of their presence in these lands as well as the cultural and artistic legacy linked to all human cultures.

Some of the archaeological assets of greatest historical and artistic interest are:

• The cave paintings of the Levantine Arch in Almería.
• The Chalcolithic town of Los Millares in Santa Fe de Mondújar.
• The Bronze Age town of Fuente Álamo in Cuevas de Almanzora ..
• Bronze Age villages of El Argar and La Gerundia in Antas.
• The Phoenician remains of Abdera in Adra and Villaricos in Cuevas de Almanzora.
• The Chalcolithic town of El Barranquete in Níjar.
• Remains of the Iberian villages of El Chuche in Benahadux, El Cerrón in Dalías and the Punic site of Dalías.
• Remains of Roman settlements of the ancient Vergi in the area of ​​Villavieja in Berja.
• Archaeological site of La Ribera de la Algaida or Turaniana, in Aguadulce, Roquetas de Mar, with archaeological remains dating from the Bronze Age to the Muslim period.

Between the 16th and 18th centuries some of the most significant buildings of Almeria’s military architecture were also erected, especially those that served to defend the coasts against attacks by pirates.

Some of these historical assets are the monumental complex of the Alcazaba and the Walls of Cerro de San Cristóbal in Almería, the castle of the Fajardo in Vélez-Blanco, the castle of the Marqués de los Vélez de Cuevas del Almanzora, that of Gérgal, the from San Juan de los Terreros, the citadel of Tabernas, or the coastal defense towers of Macenas in Mojácar or Villaricos.

In the province of Almería countless movies, television series, short films, music videos and television spots have been shot. The 60s and 70s were the height of the film industry, especially with spaghetti westerns, highlighting those of the Italian director Sergio Leone.

Not only the desert of Tabernas and the municipality of Níjar have been the scene of movies and not only westerns have been shot in Almería. Many films known to the general public have been filmed in other places or municipalities of Almería, such as, for example, in the Cabo de Gata-Nijar natural park or in the streets of the capital. These, specifically, have served to represent Messina in Patton, Alexandria in Cleopatra or Iskenderun for Indiana Jones and the last crusade, as well as another long list of films.

The Indalo

The indalo is a very popular symbol throughout the province. Its origin dates back to the Neolithic, appearing in various caves and shelters in the north of the province, such as Cueva de los Letreros in Vélez Blanco. It is a Levantine cave painting that could be interpreted in various ways, the first describing an archer pointing to the sky, and the other more mystical that would be an idol or god. This symbol survived throughout the centuries in eastern Almería and in the middle of the 20th century it was still painted on the lime walls of towns such as Mojácar, where it was believed that it protected from lightning and scared away witches and the evil eye. Its popularity grew when it became a tourist symbol of the town and is currently representative of the entire province.

The prehistory

In the Paleolithic, Almería is characterized by small nomadic groups, hunters and gatherers. The oldest site being that of Cueva de Zájara I, in Cuevas del Almanzora and the Cueva de Ambrosio Natural Monument, of great importance for the dating of Palaeolithic rock art.

The Neolithic the first villages and the first spaces dedicated exclusively to burials appear. The cave paintings of the Cueva de los Letreros and another twenty caves and shelters in the Velez region, considered a World Heritage Site in 1989 by Unesco, date from this period.

Old age

In the Metal Age, cultures maintained contact with civilizations throughout the Mediterranean, colonies that the Phoenicians founded years later, in the 8th century BC. C. Abdera (Adra) and Baria (Villaricos) were important, centers of trade and fishing. Phoenician control became Carthaginian when the Punic civilization spread through the southeast of the peninsula, until the year 209 BC. C. with the II Punic War. Numerous remains from the time are preserved, in Vera, Los Vélez and Dalías.

Almería fell into the hands of Rome during Scipio the African’s campaign against the Carthaginians. The Romans called it Portus Magnus, leaving the city nestled in Ulterior Hispania. Pliny the Elder mentions it in his work; not in vain did it become one of the most important ports in the South of Hispania.

Rome brought the territorial organization, communication routes and taxes, and systematically exploited the territory’s mineral resources, including the Macael marble. Trade was strengthened, especially that of garum, a tasty fish sauce and spices highly appreciated at the time and whose exact formula is still unknown today. In Adra, Torregarcía and in the capital, on the Nicolás Salmerón Park, salt pans and salting factories from this time are preserved. Other remains of great importance are the Dionisio de Chirivel, the Berja sarcophagus, the Daymún (funerary temple from the late Roman period) of El Ejido and the bridge and remains of the Roman road of Bayanna, on the outskirts of the capital.

Almería was later occupied by Vandals and Visigoths. After a short period of Byzantine occupation. Suintila definitively integrates Almería into the Visigothic kingdom in 621 and expels the forces of Byzantium. In those years, the ancient populations of Abdera, Urci and Baria maintained their importance.

Middle Ages

There are only a few centuries left for Almería to reach its first historical, political and socioeconomic zenith. The great history of Almería in fact begins with the Muslim occupation, which began in 713 at the hands of populations of Berber and Yemeni origin, whose earliest contribution was the substantial remodeling of the landscape and agricultural method.

The Muslim period is divided into two phases, separated by a brief period of Christian occupation, the decade between 1147 and 1157, in which the armies of Alfonso VII of León occupied the city and the province. However, although brief, these ten years represented an insurmountable break in the growth of Muslim Almería. The first notable phase thus goes from the official foundation of the city in 955 to 1147, and the second from 1157 to 1489.

The last origin of the capital Almería is in fact in Pechina, since shortly after its foundation a coastal settlement and a watchtower would be created, dependent on it, which would receive the name of Al Mariyyat Bayyana.

Much has been written about the origin of the name of the city and province. The Indalian movement, always so idealistic, thought that Al Mariyyat would mean in Arabic “Mirror of the Sea”, but it is much more probable that the place name comes from the word “al miraya”, “watchtower”. Indeed, Al Mariyyat functioned as a port and defense of a prosperous and enriched Bayyana, which would become one of the most important commercial centers of al-Andalus, as already reflected in his chronicles Al Himyari.

We thus arrive at the official foundation of the city in 955, the year in which Abderramán III (or Abd-er-Rahman) ordered the work to begin on a fortress, the Alcazaba, whose objective was to defend the area from the threat posed by the Fatimid caliphate. , a native of Tunisia. The Alcazaba thus becomes the largest Muslim fortress in Spain and Europe, with 43,000 square meters that allowed it to house an entire military detachment of 20,000 men, the palaces of successive kings and even places of protection for the population in case of attack. Later it will be the subject of remodeling and extensions by Muslim kings and the Catholic Monarchs.

The disintegration of the Caliphate of Córdoba in the 11th century gave rise to the Taifa kingdoms, including that of Almería, which would have its first king in Jairán (or Hayran), remodeling the Alcazaba.

Almería is already much more important than Bayyana and it becomes a city with a new caliphal plant, equipped with a major mosque that is currently the church of San Juan, where the original qibla and mihrab are preserved today, and an active port , which over the years would be the most important commercial port of all al-Andalus. Indeed, this century constitutes the first historical zenith of Almería. It was then a walled city, with a classic Arab urban layout and three well-differentiated neighborhoods: the Al Hawd neighborhood (or the Aljibe), the Musalla and the Medina.

During the second half of the century, Almotacen (or Al Mutasim) (1052-1091), the poet king, reigned, enriching the court with writers and scientists. Advances were made in irrigation systems; Baths and mosques flourished in the city and the trade in silk, oil and grapes was booming in the port.

The Almeria taifa ended with the Almoravid invasion, but the city will continue to be a true commercial emporium highly coveted by Christians. It is then that Alfonso VII the Emperor, decides to take the city with the help of Catalans, Franks, Pisans and Genoese (hence the name of the Cabo de Gata beach, where they landed). The armies entered the city on October 17, 1147, it was an ephemeral period of occupation, but it totally truncated the development of the capital and its territory.

Countless remains from the Muslim period are preserved, such as La Alcazaba or the remains of the main mosque, but also the reservoirs of Jairán, which at one time supplied the city, and the walls built by the king himself. There are also paintings from the port wall and remains of the Puerta de Purchena, in the basement of the Rambla Obispo Orberá. Not only cities flourished in Muslim Almería, numerous baths, mosques and castles can be found scattered throughout the Filabres, the Alpujarras and the Almanzora valley.

In 1489 the Catholic Monarchs conquered Almería, whose populations in most cases capitulated peacefully, with the exception of a few Mudejar rebellions.

Modern age

The sixteenth century is the century of decline and abandonment of the city and the province. There were several factors that influenced this; In the first place, Almería was cut off from any American trade route, and saw all the riches from the New Continent and the activity they brought with them pass by. On the other hand, both earthquakes and attacks by Barbary and Turkish pirates such as Barbarossa (a century later, those of the English navy would succeed them) were lavished in these hundred years. The former depleted the population and the latter terrified it and forced it to move inland.

In 1522 a strong earthquake almost completely destroyed the city and reduced the population to just 700 inhabitants, who settled around the newly built cathedral.

The Cathedral of Almería is a great example of a defensive building of the time. The first cathedral temple was built in 1496 under the orders of the Cardinal Archbishop of Toledo Pedro González de Mendoza, on top of the old mosque. The 1522 earthquake completely destroyed it and it was then that Fray Diego Fernández de Villalán, bishop of Almería, ordered the construction of the current one, under the dedication of Our Lady of the Incarnation.

The saints in Almería are rich in legends. The aforementioned San Indalecio is the patron saint of the city and the remains of him came to rest in Almería after centuries in the Abbey of San Juan de la Peña, in Huesca. Saint Indalecio was one of the Seven Apostolic Men, evangelizers of southern Spain, who, according to old traditions collected in Mozarabic writings, accompanied Santiago el Mayor in the evangelization of this area of ​​the country in the middle of the 1st century AD. C.

Among them were also Tesifonte, Torcuato, Segundo, Hesiquio, Cecilio and Eufrasio; all of them were bishops of populations in the south and southeast of Spain (among them Berja and Abla) before the Muslim occupation. But perhaps the most interesting thing were the statements about them that were found inscribed in the famous Sacromonte weights, documents inscribed in that metal and discovered in the Granada abbey in the 16th century. They affirm, in a syncretic attempt by Moorish thinkers to unite Islam and Christianity, that all of them were of Arab origin.

Thus, Indalecio would have been called, before his Latinization, Ibn Al Mugira. Another saint present in Almería is Saint Valentine, whose remains are believed to be hidden somewhere in the cathedral, although this honor is disputed by the church of San Antón, in Madrid, and the Abbey of Terni, in Italy.

The Moorish population was, despite the incipient Christian repopulation, the majority in large regions of the province, such as the Alpujarras and the upper Almanzora. It was precisely in the Alpujarra Almeriense where Abén Humeya (born Fernando de Válor and converted to Islam) rebelled in 1568; the insurrection spread to the entire province and soon Vera was conquered and Cuevas de Almanzora attacked.

In his retirement, Abén Humeya founded a competition in Purchena to celebrate the appointment of the city as head of the Almanzora valley. It was about sports and cultural games of undeniable analogy with Olympism, which included wrestling, races on foot and horseback, shooting and poetry and that have been recovered today, receiving the praise of, among others, Juan Antonio Samaranch and the International Olympic Committee.

One of the bloodiest episodes of the repression against the Moors took place in Nijar, and constituted what was agreed to be called the “Inox business.” In the Christmas riots of 1569, hundreds of Moorish families came to take refuge in the Moorish castle of the Peñón de Inox, near Níjar. Informed the Christians, they assembled an improvised army of mercenaries that easily took over the fortress, taking at once more than 3,000 slaves, women and children and countless spoils. This “business” is the name of the current nearby farmhouse, La Matanza, in whose surroundings the walls of the old Inox mosque can still be found, half-ruined among the undergrowth.

The massacre and expulsion of the Moors were a severe blow that plunged the province into what would be the darkest period in the history of Almería, the seventeenth century. Indeed, those who had taught the Christians the cultivation of morality, silk weaving, irrigation techniques and carpentry left. The desert province from Níjar to Mojácar was left and the population of the capital was reduced to 7000 inhabitants. Attempts at Christian repopulation were futile and earthquakes and Barbary and English pirate attacks kept the province in shadow for the next 100 years.

Despite all this, mining activity is driven by the exploitation of iron in Los Filabres, lead in Gádor and marble in Macael. The counterpart is the consequent massive fellings in the Gádor and Almagrera mountains, which would worsen during the following centuries and would contribute significantly to the deforestation that the entire territory suffers today (this is due to the fellings and the atavistic dryness of the province, and not to the need for wood to build the Invincible Armada, as is often said in Almería).

In terms of art, it is worth highlighting the construction in this century of two temples of great importance in the province, the Church of the Incarnation in Vélez-Rubio and the Sanctuary of Saliente in Albox, to which must be added the numerous religious images of the Murcian Francisco Salzillo that today are venerated at Easter. Indeed, the north of the province is perhaps in a better condition than the rest, due to the successful repopulation and urbanization carried out by the Marquis of Los Vélez.

Contemporary age

The Spanish War of Independence did not pass by Almería. Although their threat seemed distant, the French came to occupy it, commanded by Goudinot, who entered the city on March 15, 1810. The famous guerrillas Mena, Villalobos and Arostegui offered resistance. In 1812, the French withdrew from Almería after being defeated at Arapiles.

In 1814 Ferdinand VII returned to power and with him absolutism and the repeal of the Cortes of Cádiz in 1812. In this context, another of the capital’s best-known historical episodes took place, the massacre of the “coloraos”. It took place in 1824, when a group of soldiers from Gibraltar, who were nicknamed the “coloraos” for the tone of their jackets, landed in Almería with the intention of proclaiming Freedom and restoring the Constitution of 1812.

These were related to a secret society, the Holy Brotherhood, of community inspiration. When their attempt failed, twenty-two of them were shot by the absolutists on the Rambla de Belén near Granada Street. Years later, a monument was raised in his honor in the Plaza Vieja, affectionately called the “pingurucho”, which was also the subject of controversy, destroyed in 1943 on the occasion of Franco’s first visit to Almería, it was not restored. until 1987, at the behest of the city’s most progressive groups, who also revived the annual tribute to the “coloraos” held every 24 August.

It was on January 27, 1822 when the Cortes approved by decree the creation of the province, with the same territory with which it is known today, but with the revolts of the following year it was once again part of the old kingdom of Granada .

The nineteenth century is also the century of geopolitical, urban and infrastructure advances. The Liberals, once they took over the government of Madrid, promoted an administrative restructuring of the country from which the current provinces were born. It was thanks to the efforts of the Count of Ofalia, exiled to Almería, that the province was born de facto and acquired by decree of 1834 its own administrative personality, being disconnected from the old Kingdom of Granada.

From the economic point of view, it is the silver century of mining in the province, with the deposits of lead, silver and gold, in the Sierra de los Filabres, Sierra Almagrera and Rodalquilar, among other places. Hugely productive mining in another time that has left unusual places such as the tourist facilities and the mining towns of Las Menas and Rodalquilar, in permanent rehabilitation as tourist and cultural services, or palatial houses such as the Palacio de Almanzora. A silent witness of this bygone era is the steam engine found in 2002 in the Chaparral ravine, in Los Lobos (Sierra Almagrera), which dates from 1873 and is considered BIC and the oldest steam engine dedicated to mining in Spain.

The appearance of the city will undergo a drastic change in what has come to be called the evolution from a conventual city to a bourgeois city. Indeed, Almería spills out of its walls, which end up being almost completely demolished in 1855. The wide monastic perimeters (orchards, fields), recently disentailed, are urbanized, giving rise to squares such as San Francisco (now San Pedro) , the city is equipped with a sewage system and potable water, and new streets are laid out. The new Puerta de Purchena is opened, the Rambla de Belén is channeled and the axis of the city moves from Calle Real to the brand-new boulevard, clearly French inspiration, which would receive so many other names before becoming the current Paseo de Almería.

La entrada History and Characteristics of Almería se publicó primero en Live in Almería.