Almanzora is a small city in the

province A province is an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman , which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire, Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...

Almería Almería (, , ) is a city and municipalities in Spain, municipality of Spain, located in Andalusia. It is the capital of the province of Almería, province of the same name. It lies in southeastern Iberian Peninsula, Iberia on the Mediterranean S ...

Andalusia Andalusia ( , ; , ) is the southernmost autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in Peninsular Spain, located in the south of the Iberian Peninsula, in southwestern Europe. It is the most populous and the second-largest autonomou ...

, Spain. Its name, derives from the

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

''al-Mansura'' (المنصورة), "place of victory", and has been passed on from the city to which is shared with a river and to the surrounding Comarca of Almanzora. The area has been settled at least since

Roman times In modern historiography, ancient Rome is the Roman civilisation from the founding of the Italian city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD. It encompasses the Roman Kingd ...

. In 1436, during the ''

Reconquista The ''Reconquista'' (Spanish language, Spanish and Portuguese language, Portuguese for ) or the fall of al-Andalus was a series of military and cultural campaigns that European Christian Reconquista#Northern Christian realms, kingdoms waged ag ...

'', an expedition of Murcians conquered the city from

Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

rule. In 1753, the town was the administrative center of the Comarca of Almanzora, and in the 19th century Antonio Abellán y Peñuela was made Marquis of Almanzora. As in many rural areas of Andalusia, there was much emigration during the 20th century. Since roughly the 1990s, there has been an influx of people from the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

who have come for the sunny Almerían climate, as well as some return of earlier migrants. The economy has traditionally been mainly agricultural, especially

citrus fruit ''Citrus'' is a genus of flowering plant, flowering trees and shrubs in the family Rutaceae. Plants in the genus produce citrus fruits, including important crops such as Orange (fruit), oranges, Mandarin orange, mandarins, lemons, grapefruits, ...

s, with

lemon The lemon (''Citrus'' × ''limon'') is a species of small evergreen tree in the ''Citrus'' genus of the flowering plant family Rutaceae. A true lemon is a hybrid of the citron and the bitter orange. Its origins are uncertain, but some ...

s as an important export crop. The area is also noted for its artisanal breads. Recent immigration from the UK has caused something of a construction boom. There is also a rise in

rural tourism Rural tourism is a form of tourism that focuses on actively participating in a rural lifestyle. It can be a variant of ecotourism, emphasizing sustainable practices and community involvement. Many villages can facilitate tourism because of the ho ...

(farm stays, etc.)

Places of interest

Palace of Almanzora A palace is a large residence, often serving as a royal residence or the home for a head of state or another high-ranking dignitary, such as a bishop or archbishop. The word is derived from the Latin name palātium, for Palatine Hill in Rome whi ...

, dating from the time of the

marquisate A marquess (; ) is a nobleman of high hereditary rank in various European peerages and in those of some of their former colonies. The German-language equivalent is Markgraf (margrave). A woman with the rank of a marquess or the wife (or widow) ...

. A neoclassical building designed by

Ventura Rodríguez Ventura Rodríguez Tizón (July 14, 1717 – September 26, 1785) was a Spanish architect and artist. Born at Ciempozuelos, Rodríguez was the son of a bricklayer. In 1727, he collaborated with his father in the work at the Royal Palace of Ar ...

, declared part of the Patrimonio Histórico Andaluz. * ''El Púlpito'' windmill, a flour mill disused since the 19th century, used from milling wheat grown near the banks of the

Almanzora River The Almanzora River () is a river in the province of Almería in Andalusia, Spain. The Almanzora river rises on the northern slope of the Sierra de Los Filabres on the border between the provinces of Granada and Almeria. It passes through ...

. The building was originally a military watchtower, one of a series in the river valley, dating back to the Muslim-ruled

Kingdom of Granada The Emirate of Granada, also known as the Nasrid Kingdom of Granada, was an Islamic polity in the southern Iberian Peninsula during the Late Middle Ages, ruled by the Nasrid dynasty. It was the last independent Muslim state in Western Europe. ...

, intended to defend against the invaders of the ''Reconquista''. * Albox-Almanzora railway station. The best-preserved of the stations of the former

Guadix Guadix (, ) is a city and municipalities of Spain, municipality in southern Spain, in the Granada (province), province of Granada. The city lies at an altitude of 913 metres, in the centre of the Hoya of Guadix, a high plain at the northern footh ...

Almendricos Almendricos is a village in Murcia, Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Eur ...

rail line, closed in 1985. The station chief continued to live there until around the year 2000. It was then used as a band rehearsal space, and later was renovated and converted into a lounge for seniors, with a bar, the "Café-bar La Estación". * Mirador de la Cerrá, a viewpoint constructed by local youths. * Rail bridge over the

Rambla de Albox Rambla may refer to: *Rambla, a synonym of Arroyo (creek), an intermittent or seasonal stream. *La Rambla, Barcelona, a street in central Barcelona *Rambla de Catalunya, Barcelona, a major street in Barcelona *La Rambla, Córdoba, municipality in ...

, a

tributary A tributary, or an ''affluent'', is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream (''main stem'' or ''"parent"''), river, or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean. Tributaries, and the main stem river into which they ...

to the Almanzora River * ''Las Minas'', iron mines closed in the mid-20th century. *''La Cimbra'', a remnant of an old irrigation system. An artificial spring near ''El Púlpito'' waters the only

elm Elms are deciduous and semi-deciduous trees comprising the genus ''Ulmus'' in the family Ulmaceae. They are distributed over most of the Northern Hemisphere, inhabiting the temperate and tropical- montane regions of North America and Eurasia, ...

forests in the area. Such structures were more common in centuries past, with irrigation by similar techniques dating back even before Roman times.

External links

Almanzora
official web site
Palacio de los Marqueses de Almanzora

Photo gallery of Almanzora
pueblos-espana.org {{authority control Municipalities in the Province of Almería