Écija () is a city and
municipality
A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate.
The term ''municipality'' may also mean the ...
of
Spain
, image_flag = Bandera de España.svg
, image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg
, national_motto = '' Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond")
, national_anthem = (English: "Royal March")
, ...
belonging to the
province of Seville
The Province of Seville ( es, Sevilla) is a province of southern Spain, in the western part of the autonomous community of Andalusia. It is bordered by the provinces of Málaga, Cádiz in the south, Huelva in the west, Badajoz in the north and ...
, in the autonomous community of
Andalusia
Andalusia (, ; es, Andalucía ) is the southernmost autonomous community in Peninsular Spain. It is the most populous and the second-largest autonomous community in the country. It is officially recognised as a "historical nationality". The ...
. It is in the countryside, 85 km east of the city of
Seville
Seville (; es, Sevilla, ) is the capital and largest city of the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the River Guadalquivir, in the southwest of the Iberian Penins ...
. According to the 2008 census, Écija had a total population of 40,100 inhabitants, ranking as the fifth most populous municipality in the province. The river
Genil
The Genil River is the main (left) tributary of the river Guadalquivir in Andalusia, Spain. The Roman ''Singilis'', its modern name derives from the Moorish rendering of the Roman name: ''Sinyil, Sannil'', and ''Sinnil''.
Route
The source of th ...
, the main tributary of the river
Guadalquivir, runs through the city.
The economy of Écija is based on agriculture (
olive
The olive, botanical name ''Olea europaea'', meaning 'European olive' in Latin, is a species of small tree or shrub in the family Oleaceae, found traditionally in the Mediterranean Basin. When in shrub form, it is known as ''Olea europaea'' ' ...
s,
cereal
A cereal is any grass cultivated for the edible components of its grain (botanically, a type of fruit called a caryopsis), composed of the endosperm, germ, and bran. Cereal grain crops are grown in greater quantities and provide more food ...
s and vegetables), cattle (cows and horses) and
textile
Textile is an Hyponymy and hypernymy, umbrella term that includes various Fiber, fiber-based materials, including fibers, yarns, Staple (textiles)#Filament fiber, filaments, Thread (yarn), threads, different #Fabric, fabric types, etc. At f ...
industry.
The most distinctive feature of the urban landscape of Écija are the city's
Baroque
The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including ...
bell towers.
History
Roman Astigi
Ancient Iberian finds date back to the 8th century BC, and there are several archaeological remains of later
Greek and
Roman
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
* Rome, the capital city of Italy
* Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lett ...
settlements. In Roman times the town was at first known as ''Astigi''. During the
Roman civil war
This is a list of civil wars and organized civil disorder, revolts and rebellions in ancient Rome (Roman Kingdom, Roman Republic, and Roman Empire) until the fall of the Western Roman Empire (753 BCE – 476 CE). For the Eastern Roman Empire or B ...
Écija stood "firmly" at the side of
Julius Caesar
Gaius Julius Caesar (; ; 12 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC), was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in a civil war, an ...
in the
Battle of Munda. As a reward Caesar ordered the town's fortification and refounded it as a Julian colony, possibly ''Colonia Iulia Firma Astigitana''. Under the reign of
Octavian
Caesar Augustus (born Gaius Octavius; 23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14), also known as Octavian, was the first Roman emperor; he reigned from 27 BC until his death in AD 14. He is known for being the founder of the Roman Pr ...
, the later emperor Augustus, the colony was strengthened according to Caesar's construction plans, and its name was finalised as ''Colonia Iulia Augusta Firma Astigitana''.
According to
Pliny the Elder
Gaius Plinius Secundus (AD 23/2479), called Pliny the Elder (), was a Roman author, naturalist and natural philosopher, and naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and a friend of the emperor Vespasian. He wrote the encyclopedic ' ...
and
Pomponius Mela, who both wrote in the 1st century AD, it was the rival of
Cordova and
Seville
Seville (; es, Sevilla, ) is the capital and largest city of the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the River Guadalquivir, in the southwest of the Iberian Penins ...
.
Astigi was an important town of
Hispania Baetica
Hispania Baetica, often abbreviated Baetica, was one of three Roman provinces in Hispania (the Iberian Peninsula). Baetica was bordered to the west by Lusitania, and to the northeast by Hispania Tarraconensis. Baetica remained one of the basic di ...
, as well as the seat of the Astigitanus, one of the four ''conventi'' where the chief men met together at fixed times of the year under the eye of the proconsul to oversee the administration of justice. It was also from an early date the seat of a diocese.
St. Fulgentius (died before 633), was named to the see by his brother
Isidore of Seville
Isidore of Seville ( la, Isidorus Hispalensis; c. 560 – 4 April 636) was a Spanish scholar, theologian, and archbishop of Seville. He is widely regarded, in the words of 19th-century historian Montalembert, as "the last scholar of ...
. With the
Reconquista
The ' ( Spanish, Portuguese and Galician for "reconquest") is a historiographical construction describing the 781-year period in the history of the Iberian Peninsula between the Umayyad conquest of Hispania in 711 and the fall of the N ...
, by which areas that had been held by Muslims were restored to Christian hands, the
archdiocese of Seville
The Archdiocese of Seville is part of the Catholic Church in Seville, Spain. The Diocese of Seville was founded in the 3rd century. It was raised to the level of an archdiocese in the 4th century. The current archbishop is José Ángel Saiz Me ...
was recovered, leading to the overshadowing of nearby Astigi, whose territory was joined to that of the archdiocese in 1144. Astigi thus ceased to be a residential diocese and is today listed by the
Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwide . It is am ...
as a
titular see
A titular see in various churches is an episcopal see of a former diocese that no longer functions, sometimes called a "dead diocese". The ordinary or hierarch of such a see may be styled a "titular metropolitan" (highest rank), "titular archbi ...
.
Post-Roman
After the Romans, it was ruled by successively by
Suevs and
Visigoths
The Visigoths (; la, Visigothi, Wisigothi, Vesi, Visi, Wesi, Wisi) were an early Germanic people who, along with the Ostrogoths, constituted the two major political entities of the Goths within the Roman Empire in late antiquity, or what is k ...
.
In 711, Écija was conquered by an Islamic army on its way to Córdoba, meeting strong opposition from the population, who offered a 6-month-long resistance before capitulating. Capital of an extensive , Écija (known as ''Istiǧǧa'' during the Muslim era) preserved its condition as a centre of high agricultural productivity, featuring a cereal-based production (
wheat
Wheat is a grass widely cultivated for its seed, a cereal grain that is a worldwide staple food. The many species of wheat together make up the genus ''Triticum'' ; the most widely grown is common wheat (''T. aestivum''). The archaeologi ...
,
barley
Barley (''Hordeum vulgare''), a member of the grass family, is a major cereal grain grown in temperate climates globally. It was one of the first cultivated grains, particularly in Eurasia as early as 10,000 years ago. Globally 70% of barley p ...
,
sorghum
''Sorghum'' () is a genus of about 25 species of flowering plants in the grass family (Poaceae). Some of these species are grown as cereals for human consumption and some in pastures for animals. One species is grown for grain, while many other ...
). Enjoying from productive agricultural systems able to sustain several harvests a year, Écija served as food provider for Córdoba and Seville. The city walls were demolished in the early 10th century as punishment for the local support to the rebellion against
Umayyad
The Umayyad Caliphate (661–750 CE; , ; ar, ٱلْخِلَافَة ٱلْأُمَوِيَّة, al-Khilāfah al-ʾUmawīyah) was the second of the four major caliphates established after the death of Muhammad. The caliphate was ruled by the ...
rule led by
Umar ibn Hafsun. New walls, enclosing a smaller area than the Roman era ''Astigi'' were built by
Almohads, tightening the size of the
''medina''.
The place was seized by Christians on 3 May 1240. The proximity to the newly born
Nasrid Kingdom of Granada turned Écija into a border town for years to come. Écija soon became a ''realengo'', a territory directly dependent on the Crown (of
Castile). Most of the
mudéjar
Mudéjar ( , also , , ca, mudèjar , ; from ar, مدجن, mudajjan, subjugated; tamed; domesticated) refers to the group of Muslims who remained in Iberia in the late medieval period despite the Christian reconquest. It is also a term for M ...
population was expelled in 1263. The countryside of Écija greatly suffered from the
Marinid ''
razzias'' in the Guadalquivir Valley initiated in 1275. The Jewish population of Écija apparently suffered the
antisemitic revolt initiated after the assault on the jewry of Seville in June 1391, that spread across Andalusia and much of the Iberian Peninsula. Écija consolidated its status as border town during the 14th century. Écija was granted the title of city in 1402. It was not until 1410, with the conquest of
Antequera
Antequera () is a city and municipality in the Comarca de Antequera, province of Málaga, part of the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia. It is known as "the heart of Andalusia" (''el corazón de Andalucía'') because of its central loca ...
, that Écija stopped being the head of a borderland territory. During the 15th century, Écija was the third most important urban centre of the Kingdom of Seville after Seville and Jerez, progressively evening the distance with the latter. Estimations for the 15th century yield a population of about 18,000.
Modern era
During the transition from the late middle ages to the early modern period, Écija remained integrated, within the Crown of Castile, in the
Kingdom of Seville. A significant community of "
new christians" of Portuguese origin settled in Écija in the Early Modern period, acquiring a notable influence in the city. Olive oil production grew at the expense of the relative dominance of the traditional cereal crops starting by the 17th century.
Strategically located in between Seville and Córdoba, Écija remained one of the most important Andalusian cities, economically thriving in the 17th and 18th centuries. It also stood out for its wool trade, with the ''lavaderos'' in control of Flemish merchants. Écija featured a relatively multicultural society, allowing for Peninsular and European denizens, and even from the Americas, to share a common space of interchange.
The effects of the
1755 earthquake forced a deep urban renewal in Écija. The city had an urban population of 29,343 circa 1786–1787.
Although Astigi was one of the largest and most complete Roman cities ever unearthed, the city council decided in 1998 to
bulldoze Écija's Roman ruins, including "a well-preserved Roman forum, bath house, gymnasium and temple as well as dozens of private homes and hundreds of mosaics and statues" and replace them with a 299-car
parking lot
A parking lot (American English) or car park (British English), also known as a car lot, is a cleared area intended for parking vehicles. The term usually refers to an area dedicated only for parking, with a durable or semi-durable surface ...
.
Geography
Location
The urban nucleus of Écija lies on the left bank of the
Genil
The Genil River is the main (left) tributary of the river Guadalquivir in Andalusia, Spain. The Roman ''Singilis'', its modern name derives from the Moorish rendering of the Roman name: ''Sinyil, Sannil'', and ''Sinnil''.
Route
The source of th ...
, over the river's fluvial terraces, built in the Roman era on a location apt for the control of the river and its meadows.
Climate
Écija is known in Spain as ''La sartén de Andalucía'' ("The Frying Pan of Andalusia"),
supposedly because its high summer temperatures, although records show higher temperatures elsewhere in Spain (Murcia or Montoro, Córdoba).
Écija suffered several floods in December 2010.
Population
Landmarks
*
Convento de la Santísima Trinidad y Purísima Concepción
*
Real Monasterio de Santa Inés del Valle
*Church of Santa María
*St. James' Church
*Holy Cross Church
*St John the Baptist's Church
*Peñaflor House
*Benamejí Palace
*Vallehermoso House
References
;Citations
;Bibliography
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External links
Turismo Écija in English.
EcijaWeb in Spanish.
list
Astigi (titular see)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ecija
Municipalities of the Province of Seville