Costa del Sol Towns

History of Alhaurin de la Torre

According to a census of residents conducted in 1647 and kept in the Archives of Simancas, it appears with the official name of Alhaurin de la Torre, but the popular name of Alhaurinejo survived until the twentieth century.

Alhaurin de la Torre was inhabited since ancient times, with bastulos its native inhabitants. This village was the first occupied by invaders, the Libyan-Phoenicians, who set up factories in Malaga in the years 1000-700 BC

The primitive inhabitants belonged to a mining town and today still many minerals such as lead, copper, graphite and iron in the area of Llano de la Plata.

After the Roman colonization in the town there was a village called Roman Lauro. According to Alberto Merrsseman, French historian based in the town in the twentieth century, under Roman rule was called Lauro Vetus (Old Laurel), which marked the age of the villa, and then Laurona. Some historians suggest that Lauro was the place where the fugitives had taken refuge in the famous battle of Munda and where-Betica of Julius Caesar Pompey beheaded Cneo the Younger

In the parish of La Alqueria deposits exist in an area of 18 hectares and an occupation that runs from the third century until the mid-fourth century. From this period are abundant archaeological remains but poorly preserved remains of mosaics, wall paintings, pottery, coins, Roman burials, etc.

Over time the descendants of Fuensalida Gomez would be "Lord of Alhaurin de las Torres", reaching, in the seventeenth century, the title of Count of Puertollano, then Duke of Arc and Fernan Nunez. The mansion known as Casa del Conde, which is still preserved, was home to their administrators.

1505 saw the parish of San Sebastian, built in the Plaza de la Concepcion on the ruins of the ancient mosque that dates back to 1610. An earthquake severely damaged it in 1680 and on that site in 1816, began building the temple, as it is known as today, works continued until 1868.

Meanwhile the construction, chapel of the Holy Shrine of Christ, located at the corner of Chapel Street, the Plaza San Sebastian was used as a temporary church.

Governor Bernardo de Galvez, traveled to the state of Louisiana with 700 settlers, many from Alhaurin.

The population increased considerably in 1571 by the arrival of Christian settlers. From this period are abundant archaeological remains, most of them located in the Station area of Alqueria, and officially designated a Cultural Zone.

On June 1st 1778, a group of neighbors from Alhaurin de la Torre sailed on the brig from San Jose to New Orleans to join the contingent of 700 settlers from Malaga and the Canary Islands called by Governor Bernardo de Galvez to the territory of LA, which had belonged to France until a few years before. These settlers founded in early 1779 a town called New Iberia, New Iberia today in the U.S. city twinned with the Alhaurin de la Torre.

At times there was the Muslim village of  Middle Laolin with a neighborhood of homes and several lookout towers in the area and a mosque. Barrio Viejo or Albaicin, Andalusi is the origin of the municipality, as it is known today. The current urban plan a reality show out of the Muslim era, with dead ends and alleyways.

The symbol of Alhaurin de la Torre is the tower-building a watchtower to protect the population it was opposite the post office of Walnut Street. In the 70's the town built a replica, and then demolished it to construct another couple in 1991, at the entrance to Poplar Street. The lookout tower was placed to promote the vision, because of the gap that has always existed between the Old Town as a hub of the town on the Albaicin street and the top of the town where the original tower stood.

There is no clear reference to the date of the conquest by the Catholic Monarchs, but the neighboring town of Alhaurin el Grande was first noted in 1487 and 1485.

The great prosperity of the area at that time turned to Alhaurin de la Torre in an important reference point in the province in terms of commercial transactions. They grew cereals, fruit and citrus trees, and there were several mills for the processing of wheat into flour and an extensive network of irrigation canals that took water from dozens of streams and springs.

The entrance of the Christian troops in the region in March 1484, involved the burning of crops and the partial destruction of Arab villages, while their residents were expelled. The policy of scorched earth, or felling was applied with particular virulence, and its subsequent process of urban reconstruction, administrative and social growth was slow.

 

At the end of the eighteenth century King’s Bridge, the only access on the river Guadalhorce, Alhaurin that connected with the capital was built in wood in 1796 there was a water project that was never used, because in those years it was the need to carry water to the valley of Churriana to irrigate the orchards, but failed to reach the right bank of Guadalhorce, Malaga found because of excess water through the Aqueduct of San Telmo. The arches of the Zapata neighborhood are part of this unfinished project.

The farm of Torre Alqueria within the municipality, was captured by Jose Maria Torrijos in December 1831, and was shot the next day at the beach of San Andres, Malaga

Until mid-twentieth century; Alhaurin was a vital step for the supply of agricultural products to Malaga. During the Spanish Civil War, it belonged to the Republican side from July 1936 to February 1937, then passing into the hands of nationals. During the fighting 87 people died.

During the second half of the century, the population grew from a small agricultural village to experience a massive urban growth, increased in the 1990s and 2000.

Between the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, due to the proximity to the capital and the passivity of the authorities. The settlements of those years were low in population and unstable, although many were citizens of the capital but had properties and gardens to revive agriculture in the area.

Among the beneficiaries of land and mills was the cook of Queen Toribio de la Vega, who received a mill and several lots of land, including the village of Ismail El Retiro. Commander Gutierres Gomez Fuensalida, regent of Malaga and an ambassador in Flanders and England also received land in the area.

 

 

History of Alhaurin de la Torre

Alhaurin is a name of Arab origin, there are two different theories. The first, perhaps poetic, says that it means Garden of Allah, while the other, published by the researcher Baquero Jose Luque collecting various theories of Arabists, said that the name of Alhaurin has nothing to do with the Arab region. Lauro argued that the Merssemann is an original Berber tribe that inhabited the region during the Middle Ages, Hawara, whose members were known as al-hawariyyin.

During the kingdom of Granada was Laulin nazari Alaolin or as shown on the breakdown after the conquest of Malaga in 1487. In the sixteenth century, preserved documents cited as Alhaurinejo, which means the Alhaurin with little to distinguish it from Alhaurin el Grande, Alhaurin.