La Herradura
La Herradura is a Spanish town which belongs to the borough of Almuñécar, in the province of Granada, Andalucía. It is located at Granada's western coast, and it is 70 kilometres away from Málaga.
History
La Herradura had settlers since prehistoric times. In the 19th century, in El Pago de la Mezquita, several tombs with remains of bronze weapons were found and in 1950, in El Sapo, there was another discovery with similar characteristics, but better documented, dated to the 15th century BC. There are vestiges of habitation from Roman times, in places such as in the country house de la Argentina, in the ravine of Las Tejas and in the construction of the old road Málaga-Almería. Also there are the remains of a hermitage or rural mausoleum from the sixth century AD, with origin Byzantine, in the upper course of the river Jate. More information is available from the Islamic period and it is also known the existence of a farmhouse called "Sät" or "Xat". It is known that Abd al-Rahman I arrived to La Herradura in 755 from Damascus, prior to the foundation of the Califato de Córdoba. Numerous details are known about this period, such as the fact that it was the scene of a battle in the muladíes revolt in the 9th century. They also exported grapes from their lands, which were considered the best in the Islamic world at the time. The watchtower of Punta de la Mona, restored in the 18th century and currently converted into a lighthouse, dates from the Nasrid period.
After the Reconquista, in 1562, twenty-five of Juan de Mendoza's twenty-eight Spanish warships sank off La Herradura, and it is estimated that between 3000 and 5000 men died. All due to a blow of sea and to the fact that the wind rolled when the fleet had taken refuge to windward in Los Berengueles, when the galleons changed to the west, they crashed against the steep rocks of the Punta de la Mona propitiating the disaster that, in 1604, Miguel de Cervantes would refer to in his book Don Quijote de la Mancha.
[...] who was the daughter of Don Alonso de Marañón, knight of the habit of Santiago who was drowned in La Herradura [...]
Don Quijote de La Mancha, chapter 31, part 2.
At the time of the Enlightenment La Herradura, newly populated but already in its current location, not in the course of the river, is endowed with a castle-strength for the watchtower of the coast against the incursions of the Berber corsairs. It was the barracks of the Civil Guard and previously, of the Carabineros.
In the 19th century, several families of Italian fishermen arrived, as in the island of Tabarca in Alicante, and in other areas of the Spanish Mediterranean. Two of these families could be the current Barbero and Garciolo. Already in the 20th century the phenomenon of tourism changed forever La Herradura and endowed it with its current physiognomy. During the last three decades there is a segregationist movement that wants the separation of the municipality of Almuñécar, but so far the objective has not been achieved.
Geography
La Herradura is located on the shores of the Mediterranean, in a bay with a single beach, divided into three parts. The town of La Herradura, located in the middle of the wadi of the same name, is steep and runs along the left bank of the sand. Today, however, as a tourist resort, the buildings are found everywhere.
It is the last coastal urban area of the province of Granada towards the west and borders with the town of Maro, district of Nerja. Nearby is the Sierra de la Almijara. La Herradura is the only coastal town in Granada that maintains a small area of vegetation and unspoilt fauna between Cerro Gordo and Maro. The area was declared a Natural Site in the 1980s by the Autonomous Government, both the surface and the seabed, which preserves corals and endangered species. The diving centers of La Herradura, one of the most prestigious in the south of the peninsula, are well known.
To the east are Punta de la Mona, with the marina Punta de la Mona, formerly called Marina del Este, the beach of Los Berengueles and the naturist beach El Muerto, bordering the ravine of Cotobro. To the west are the Cerro Gordo and the beach of Cantarriján, where you can practice nudism, bordering the province of Málaga.
Limits
It is bordered to the north by the municipality of Otívar, to the east by the ravine of Cotobro and the town of Almuñecar, to the south by the Mediterranean Sea and to the west by the ravine of Cantarriján and the municipality of Nerja.
Demography
According to the Spanish National Statistical Institute, in 2012 La Herradura had 4,248 inhabitants.[1]
Culture
Celebrations
Its patron saint festivities are celebrated every year around 19 March in honour of the patron saint of the town, San José.
Day of the cross or cross of May, which is celebrated from 1 to 3 May.
The night of San Juan from 23 to 24 June. Bonfires are made on the beach. At 12 o'clock at night people wash their eyes on the seashore, to attract good luck throughout the year. In the old days, it was the first bath, in the sea of the summer season.
Holy Week with a unique brotherhood that has as headlines all the images that come out during Holy Week and San José and the Virgen del Carmen (Brotherhood of La Herradura).
La Virgen del Carmen 16 July.
Rosary of the dawn in the early hours of 21 to 24 December. A tradition that dates back to the end of the 19th century, where it is carried through the streets of the town with a banner with the image of the virgin and flanked by two lanterns. They accompany musicians with string instruments, bells and triangle. Singing praises to the virgin and culminating with a mass, they sing typical carols of this locality.
Eminent personalities
Jesús Espigares Mira, president of Interpol between 2000 and 2004. He was the first Spaniard and Spanish speaker to run the institution.
References
- "Instituto Nacional de Estadística (España)", Wikipedia, la enciclopedia libre (in Spanish), 1 October 2019, retrieved 12 November 2019