Aljaraque

Aljaraque is a judicial district within the town of Huelva and situated in the region of Tierra Llana. The landscape is made up of land designated for cereals and olive orchards as well as land for general use. The landscape includes extensive pine forests in the vicinity of the Odiel marshes and is declared a Natural Site.

History

The Greeks named the district Aljaraque Kalatathousa, the word has its etymology in the Arabic term Al Xarat, meaning hill. Over time the name was modified and by the thirteenth century was called was called Aljafar, which resulted in the current name of Aljaraque.

The presence of man in this land goes back to ancient times. Many villages were established by those with potential as the ideal place for trade. The oldest traces of trade were found in estuaries such as the Casa del Rio (Dehesa Golf), where men lived in cabins made of vegetation. A little later, in the Neolithic age 3000 years before Christ, the core product of Papa Uvas (pope grapes) was supported by a diverse economy that was dominated by agriculture and livestock.

After the Copper Age, which is represented by a dolmen, the Phoenicians arrived in Spain. In the seventh century A.C. these merchants established a factory dedicated to salting fish. With the subsequent arrival of the Romans in Aljaraque the economy falls significantly but manages to maintain its trade in minerals as shown by the slag found in camps in Las Vegas and some farming villages such as Los Villares.

During the Arab epoch population shrinks even more, because this was more than just about territorial and border disputes, especially during the Taifa Kingdoms. Islamic remains have been found at the city of El Christo.

Alfonso X el Sabio granted a charter; however, this remained a fairly unpopulated area until the fifteenth century. Nevertheless, it was frequently visited by cattle merchants using three roads which later joined together in the famous Fuente Juncal.

From the end of the fifteenth century until 1835 Aljaraque falls within the jurisdiction of the Dukes of Medina Sidonia. The Duke repopulates Aljaraque with people mainly from neighbouring populations. However, the poverty of people who relied on agriculture is constant.

In the Modern Age, the severe war of the mid-seventeenth century and epidemics that prevented villagers from gathering together resulted in depopulation of villages. However, at the end of the seventeenth century people arrived from the depopulated villages of San Antonio and San Jorge on grounds of ill-health and gave Aljaraque a breath of life. In the eighteenth century these people joined with new migrants from places such as Portugal, Cartaya and Gibraleón. In 1833 Aljaraque became part of the province of Huelva, starting a fierce battle to keep the city, given its situation near major cities that aspired to the municipality. It is even said that some of the current area Gibraleón was first known as Aljaraque.

With the injection of French and English mining capital, Corrales became a focus of attraction to the population seeking employment  because of the building of a quay and a factory dedicated to crushing and screening rock for the mineral pyrite, Tharsis. In 1866 the construction of the railway line began in order to link the mining sites to the port of Huelva and the quays on the right bank of the River Odiel. At the same time the private railroad permitted not only the movement of passengers from the municipalities along the route to Corrales but  also to cross the Odiel to reach Huelva and vice versa.

In the last quarter of the nineteenth century the usual lines of communication within the municipality's immediate environment consisted of two highways and other horse tracks.  In the early twentieth century numerous complaints from neighbouring towns to the government about the problems of isolation of the municipality and towns near the capital ended with the operation of the siphon (or floating) bridge of Santa Eulalia on the Odiel River in 1969.

The mining crisis left this old industrial complex, which could well have been exploited for tourism. However, Aljaraque was not saved in this way and the exodus of the 60s, when many of its people left for countries such as the Netherlands and Germany followed.

More recently the Centre for Development of the city of Huelva has been formed. Aljaraque before the urban and industrial growth of Huelva was the urban area of the capital with the implementation of green buildings for the mining industry, agriculture and livestock to help the depressed area.

Monuments

Railway Station Corrales
Iglesia de Nuestra Señora de los Remedios
Church of Our Lady Queen of the World
Cinema Theater Corrales
Payments Office in Corrales
Casino Mining Corrales
Hermitage Aljaraque
Ermita de Corrales

Gastronomy

Fish stews, Fish on the grill, Seafood.
Sweets: Easter cakes.

Getting There

Communications with the rest of the province, as well as the rest of the Andalusia, are excellent by road and linked to the major roads through the state's Autovia Quinto Centenario (A-49), with the next link the development of high speed railway between Madrid and Seville and the proximity to San Pablo Airport in Seville, 130 km away. With nearby Portugal and in particular with the neighbouring region of Algarve, being reached through the motorway's Quinto Centenario (A-49), Faro Airport is shown as being the same distance as that of Seville.
Road
Communications are with Aljaraque Huelva capital through the A-497 and the rest of the provinces of the Andalusian Community, through the V Centenary of the motorway, A-49.

Distancias

To Huelva 9 km
To Aracena 110 km
To Lepe 23 km
To Cartaya 16 km
To El Rompido 17 km
To Ayamonte 42 km
To Isla Cristina 38 km
To Almonte 55 km
To Moguer 28 km
To Punta Umbría 14 km
To El Portil 9,5 km