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History of Sierra de Yeguas

Diputación de Málaga
Sierra de Yeguas. Iglesia Inmaculada Concepcion2

History of Sierra de Yeguas

The village known as Sierra de Yeguas has been inhabited, at least, since the Neolithic period., something that is evidenced by the different archeological remains that have been discovered in the area. Roman remains have also been uncovered, the most remarkable of which are undoubtedly the Termal Baths and the necropolis.

It is believed that Prince Don Fernando stayed overnight in Sierra de Yeguas during the rather difficult battle for the city of Antequerra. In 1549 this village fell under the juristiction of Estepa. The coat of arms that belonged to the Marquises of Estepa is inside the parish church.

From a religious standpoint, this village depended on the vicarage, “verenullius", and due to this set of circumstances and this particular institution, it was directly answerable to the Vatican in Rome, wheras as for civil matters the kingdom of Seville was its governor until the 19th century. It is a village that lies on the border line between the provinces of Seville and Malaga.

Water as a resource was extremely important element for its economic growth, especially its agriculture, which was to be known as “madre de la cebada “ (which meant the best of all barley producers around). Its location on the borderline, and this this sepecial economy made for a certain kind of inhabitant and a certain kind of urban development in which low built one or two floor buildings were the order of the day. All with low set windows and, white-washed, of course.

The search for underground water and its final discovery was, to a large extent, due to the perserverence of Don Francisco Granados Arjona between the entre finales del siglo 19th and the 20th centuries. He dedicated himself to boring water holes until he died in 1919 with absolutely no money left and not having been at all successful in his search. However, in the seventies of the past century, his dream of finding water finally came true with the help of modern machinery. The local agricultural activity was the first to benefit from this new source of water, especially the olive grooves, but other crops such as barley, sugar cane, betroot, and, not to mention the rather newer industialised varieties such as green asparagus, which are a truely new era in agriculture in the area. Practically, all the plain is sown with them along with other fruti and vegetable crops, somethingthat was all made posible by the discovery of the abundant underground water reserves.

One of the most important hamlets in the area is one known as Navahermosa which started out as a colony halfway through the 20th century. The Sierra del Caballo and the Rîo Yeguas are part and parcel of the natural environment around this area. However, this area has been the cause of several disputes over the years and had to officially divided up into pieces to avoid futher conflicts: The irrigation area known as Navahermosa was given 12 “fanegas” for each family, while the country estate called, LaPeñuela, where the cooperatives from Sierra Yeguas and Los Corrales work have the rest. This is due to its rather unfortunate or not, location on the borderline between provinces.