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History of Frigiliana

Diputación de Málaga
Barribarto. Frigiliana. Axarquía

History of Frigiliana

Though the best-preserved remains are those of the Arabic period, Frigiliana is also home to traces of prehistoric human settlements, specifically dating back to the late Neolithic period (around 3,000 before Christ).

However, numerous traces of Phoenician and Roman settlements are also to be found, the latter period marking the appearance of the village’s name, a derivative of the Roman name "Frexinius" to which the suffix "-ana, meaning “village” when used in conjunction with a patronym, was added. The result was "Frexinius ana", which roughly translates as "Frexinius’ Farm".

Nevertheless, the urban design of the village, which sprang up from a 9th and 10th century farmstead, is undeniably Arabic. While part of the Nazarî kingdom of Granada, its economic subsistence was based on the production of olive oil, raisins and figs, in addition to the breeding of silkworms.

The arrival of the Catholic Monarchs in 1485 saw the start of a repressive campaign for the conversion to Christianity of the defeated Mudêjars, who were subsequently known as moriscos. These Moorish converts were not accepted by their Old Christian neighbours and, tired of discrimination and crippling taxes, they rebelled in 1568 and 1569, the uprising spreading to the whole of the Kingdom of Granada and culminating in the Battle of El Peñón de Frigiliana. Besieged in the fortress, the rebels, led by Hernando el Darro and Martîn Alguacil, resisted the onslaught of the Christian troops for 20 days. However, military forces numbering over 5,000 soldiers eventually overcame this resistance and the fortress was destroyed. Over 7,000 moriscos died, the survivors being expelled in 1570.

In 1812 the people of Frigiliana also resisted the French. In six months, they succeeded in expelling them from the area, though there was a high price to pay, of which a spot near the village known as La Horca (the gallows) provides a grisly reminder. From the 17th century onwards, Frigiliana began to acquire its political, economical and social structure. Its population grew steadily from 160 inhabitants in 1640 to 3,200 in 1887, a figure which has not been surpassed even today. The final years of the 19th century were marked by the exploits of the highwaymen, the great earthquake of 1884 and the phylloxera plague.

Frigiliana could possibly be said to have retained its Arabic legacy better than any other village in the Axarquîa region. A number of awards bear witness to this, including the Pueblos de España prize for beauty (1982) or the Premio Nacional de Pueblos Andaluces (1988). A stroll through its morisco-mudêjar old centre is a journey back to the period of splendour during which the village’s inhabitants bend over backwards to show the visitor the very best that Frigiliana has to offer. The streets and houses have been maintained as neat and white as they were in Arabic times. In order to commemorate the village’s history, the artist Pilar Garcîa Millán painted twelve murals in the streets of the Barrio Alto district which will transport the visitor back to this illustrious past.