Химена-де-ла-Фронтера: Тарихы мен табиғаты

Jimena de la Frontera is a historic town and municipality located in the province of Cádiz, Spain. According to estimates made by the National Statistics Institute of Spain (INE), the municipality has a population of 6,707 inhabitants as of 2020. The municipality contains three major towns, Jimena de la Frontera, Los Ángeles and San Pablo de Buceite. Other towns include Montenegral Alto and Marchenilla. It is situated in the eastern part of the province, on the (San Roque Ronda) road. It is located near Málaga, practically being the border between the provinces of Málaga and Cádiz. Its location between the Serranía de Ronda and the Bay of Algeciras preserves one of the most important Mediterranean forest spots in southern Europe: the Alcornocales Natural Park. Almost two thirds of the municipality belong to the park.

The existence of caves and natural shelters with abundant remains and cave paintings throughout the Campo de Gibraltar indicates the existence of human settlements that date back to the Palaeolithic. Jimena de la Frontera is no exception, with the paintings of Laja Alta, with unique maritime scenes from the Bronze Age in the Iberian Peninsula. The ancient Phoenician city of Oba, known for its minting of coins in the Libyan Phoenician alphabet, is usually identified with Jimena. In the castle, epigraphs have been found with the text: res publica Obensis. This name was used during Roman times. During this period, Jimena flourished as a commercial and strategic center. According to local tradition, the great grandfather of Mark Antony was born here. The location of the town, sheltered by hills but reasonably close to the Strait of Gibraltar, meant that its strategic functionality was exploited by the different peoples that have populated it. Thus, after the fall of the Roman Empire, the site served as a defensive post over the Strait of Gibraltar for the Visigoths, who lost it to Byzantine hands in the 6th century. According to a local legend, the great grandfather of Mark Antony was born here. The arrival of the Muslims in the 8th century did not alter this situation. The conquerors carried out a series of actions to reinforce the enclave, already called Xemina (from which the Christian name of Ximena and later Jimena would derive), building a new fortification. The town was in the hands of the Marinids, until 1319, when Ismail I gave it, along with other cities, to the Nasrid kingdom of Granada in exchange for help against Christian advances.

It remained at the frontier position of the Nasrid kingdom (hence its name of de la Frontera) until 1431, when it was conquered during the Reconquista by Pedro García de Herrera, Marshal of Castile, under the reign of Juan II of Castile, who took the town on March 11. Its border situation was not stable, since it made it change hands between Muslims and Christians during the 15th century on some occasions. In 1451 it returned to Nasrid power, until in 1456, Enrique IV conquered it definitively, handing it over to Beltrán de la Cueva, beginning the rebuilding and repopulation of the town during the last third of the 15th century. Finally in 1510 it went to the Casa de Medina Sidonia, sold by its previous lords, the Dukes of Alburquerque. A few years later, the troops formed in this city participated in the taking of Granada under the command of Rodrigo Ponce de León, for which the Catholic Monarchs gave the town the title of Loyalty in 1493, and later, in 1498, Royal Charter. The end of the conflicts makes the town lose its military condition in favor of other more productive activities such as agriculture, especially cereal and legumes, cattle ranching and the exploitation of forests, which report abundant amounts to the Duchy of Medina Sidonia. A consequence of the economic development is the growth of the population, which begins to settle outside the walled enclosure. In the seventeenth century, disputes began with the Duke of Medina Sidonia to obtain freedom from the manorial system, although without any result. The loss of Gibraltar in the 18th century once again transformed Jimena into a military enclave, this time in a fight with the English. Felipe V granted him in 1717 the dictate of Faithful for his attitude during the War of the Spanish Succession. At the end of the century the second blast furnace began to be built, along the banks of the Hozgarganta River, which supplied the warlike needs of the area. The company was maintained as long as these circumstances persisted, but the high costs and the site of Gibraltar ended its existence.

The Spanish War of Independence has Jimena as the scene of battles, with disastrous consequences, human losses and local historical heritage (such as the loss of municipal archives during the French invasion). After this conflict, the 19th century passed between shocks, such as Riego's pronouncement in 1820, carried out in Jimena by the "Prince" Battalion, one of the first to rise up and based in the town. Apart from this, two events determined the development of the town: the decree of suppression of the manors in 1837, which led to the independence of the ducal power and the appointment of the city by King Alfonso XII of Spain in 1879. The initial consideration of San Pablo de Buceite and San Martín del Tesorillo as towns must be specifically sought in 1869, when the estates of Buceite and Montenegral Bajo were sold, where these population centers were integrated, by the Duke of Medina Sidonia to the Marquis of Larios. Between 1875 and 1879 the Rural Colonies of Buceite and Tesorillo were established. At the end of the last century, in 1887, the properties of the heirs of the Marquis de Larios became part of the Guadiaro Industrial and Agricultural Society, beginning to be called San Pablo de Buceite and San Martín del Tesorillo. In the 1930s, the Sociedad Industrial y Agrícola de Guadiaro (Guadiaro Industrial and Agricultural Society) was bought by Juan March Ordinas, a Mallorcan businessman and banker (Banca March), who in 1944 decided to disintegrate the large estate to pass into the hands of small owners that remain to this day. During the Civil War and the subsequent Francoism there was an important repression in the town, especially with the destruction of La Sauceda. In 2018, after 20 years, the Junta de Andalucía approved the segregation of San Martín del Tesorillo. Today, Jimena's population of around 7,000 has been made up of an increasing number of British ex pats. The town is served by road and rail. The main road stretches north to Ronda, and south to San Roque. The railway station is situated just outside the town in nearby Los Ángeles. Several trains a day stop at Jimena on the line between Algeciras and Granada.

The castle was built on the hill by the Moors around 750 CE. as part of making Jimena a strategic military position, today it is known as Castle of Jimena de la Frontera. Views stretch as far Gibraltar to the south. It is believed that the castle was built on Roman ruins, constructed using locally sourced limestone. It was declared an asset of cultural interest with the category of Monument in 1931, it is the emblematic building par excellence of the town. The fortress, probably built on the ruins of the ancient city of Oba and which, due to its easy defense and strategic location, especially in times of Muslim domination and above all, due to its border position, will reach its maximum splendor. The castle was taken by the Jerezan people in 1430, reconquered by the Granadines in 1451 and definitively integrated into the Crown in 1456. Inside there is a cemetery with two mass graves from the Civil War. It consists of an elongated irregular wall to adapt to the terrain at the top. With watchtowers arranged in sections, the set of the Torre del Reloj (or Albarrán) stands out, with a bent entrance arch and cisterns from different periods. The Alcázar also stands out, renovated after the Christian capture, with its airy and circular keep, which inside hides a previous one with a polygonal plan.

Jimena de la Frontera is located in the north of an expanse of fertile plains bordered on the south by the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea. Located in the heart of the Los Alcornocales Natural Park and perched on a hill, the Cerro de San Cristóbal, the municipality has a large variety of landscapes. Jimena de la Frontera enjoys a moderate Mediterranean climate. There are 3,000 hours of sunshine per year, which contributes to average temperatures of between However, the rainfall pattern differs significantly from the rest of southern Spain, due to the topography of the Strait of Gibraltar region, which is swept by east and west winds that bring humidity and, therefore, rainfall averaging
For this reason, rivers that have a regular flow – in contrast to the discontinuous flow of many Andalusian rivers on the Mediterranean side – are of great importance. Three of such rivers flow through the municipality: the Guadiaro, a river from the province of Málaga, which ends its course in the province of Cádiz, and the Guadarranque, a river that rises in Jimena de la Frontera. The most important river, however, is the Hozgarganta, which flows into the Guadiaro shortly before its mouth. It flows through the urban centre of Jimena and is characterised by its unregulated wildness. The river has a well preserved fauna and flora, and is covered in places by a gallery forest; and is one of the last untouched rivers in Spain.