Olvera, History
There is a lack of specific data and studies into the true origin of the town. This means it is to historians of conjecture; some think that the present city was an establishment named Caricus, about the time of the Celts.
Professor Ramos Santana posits that the legendary Cenosia, the original name of Olvera, located near the present city center and was known as Vallehermoso (beautiful valley), existing at the time of the Visigoths.
In this area of the mountain range of Sierra de Lijar are numerous camps and Roman remains. The archaeologist Lorenzo Perdigones’ wrote a report (1986) to show the existence of a Roman establishment in the area, dated the end of third century BC.
Indeed, during the removal of some of the rubble, the foundations
of the city castle were found to be Roman. The original name of Olvera could be
“Ilipa” (established by adjusting geographically in a map of Roman Spain,
published in 1879, between
But what is certain is that names such as Hippo and Hippo Nova, etc.
are likely names of the original village.
But the first demonstrably, reliable Olvera of origin is within Muslim documentation, in the mid-12th century, when it is chronicled as an outpost in the mountains called “WUBIRA” or “URIWILA” (year 1327), when King Alfonso XI wrested it from the Arabs.
Some of the advances and episodes of great importance in Spanish history during the 19th century were echoes in Olvera; for instance, the revolution of September 1868, (known as “The Glorious One”), when (after a brief period as a Republic) the Monarchy granted Olvera, by Royal Decree on May 8, 1877, the title of “City” by Alfonso XII, in gratefulness to certain horses that sped him from the town of Olvera to one of the Carlist wars.
The most recent event for historic Olvera was that it was declared “A Protected Area of Artistic and Historical Importance” in 1983.
The years of the Dictatorship of Primo de Rivero (Franco) provided opportunities for the Olverenos, who benefit from the building of the Jerez-Almargen railroad, which terminated within the municipality. The project was never finished. This is now a well-known “Via Verde,” a nature walk of some 40 km.
At the present time Olvera is dedicated to agriculture, forestry, and animal husbandry, activities that are complemented by the tourist activities and the cooperatives starting in Olvera and reaching Puerto Serrano.
This new acquisition for the King of Castile was named Olivera to commemorate the sea of olive trees that surround it. With time, the “I” was phonetically lost, giving rise to the present name.
In the middle of the 14th century, the town passed to Don Alfonso Perez de Guzman. It is known that Perez de Guzman in 1395, Guzman arranged the marriage of his daughter with the son of the Muslim, Zunigaga.
Olvera was host to a detachment of Napoleonic troops, who were constantly harassed by the activities of guerrillas from the town until the French retreat in 1812.
Subsequently, two stately houses had the dominion over Olvera, the last of which were Tellez Giron and the Dukes of Osuna. The latter was the feudal lord until 1843, when the family went bankrupt.
As part of the Christian conquest plans from
After the negotiations that followed the surrender of the town, Ibrahim-ibn-Utmain secured concessions in respect of the Moors of Olvera that each one of the inhabitants could keep their houses and goods.
The village was repopulated through a decree, a “Letter of
Population,” issued on the August 1, 1327, in which all criminals and debtors
could, and had to, remain for a year within the borders of Nazari (
Out of interest the oldest street in
Also, Nicholas de Ribera “the old one” El Viejo, who was
born in 1487 in Olvera, who took part in the conquest of