Comares is a town and municipality in the province of

Málaga Málaga (; ) is a Municipalities in Spain, municipality of Spain, capital of the Province of Málaga, in the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia. With a population of 591,637 in 2024, it is the second-most populo ...

, part of the

autonomous community The autonomous communities () are the first-level administrative divisions of Spain, created in accordance with the Spanish Constitution of 1978, with the aim of guaranteeing limited autonomy to the nationalities and regions that make up Sp ...

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 ...

in southern

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 Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

. The municipality is situated approximately 28 kilometers from the provincial capital and 24 from

Vélez-Málaga Vélez-Málaga () is a municipality and the capital of the Axarquía comarca in the province of Málaga, in the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia. It is the most important city in the comarca. Locally it is referred to as Vélez. Vélez- ...

. It is located in the foothills of the Montes de Málaga 703 meters above sea level. Comares is one of the 31 villages that make up the

comarca A ''comarca'' (, , , ) is a traditional region or local administrative division found in Portugal, Spain, and some of their former colonies, like Brazil, Nicaragua, and Panama. The term is derived from the term ''marca'', meaning a "march, mark ...

Axarquía Axarquía () is a in the province of Málaga, Andalusia in southern Spain. It is the wedge-shaped area east of Málaga. Its name is traced back to Arabic (, meaning "the eastern egion). It extends along the coast and inland. Its coastal towns m ...

. It is bordered to the north with Riogordo, to the north, northeast and east with Cútar, to the south with El Borge, to the southwest and west with Málaga and to the northwest with Colmenar. It has a population of approximately 1,420 residents. The natives are called ''Moriscosos''.

Geography

The population core is located in slight decline, on the crest of a steep mountain at 703 m. The region is full of ravines, hamlets and farms scattered around the mountain. Its highest point is the hill of Mazmúllar (721 m). A dip the end of the rivers Cuevas or Benamargosa feeds the streams of Cútar, Fuente Delgada and Solano, which are dry most of the year. The town's water supply comes from the springs called Délga, Gorda, Caño Seco and Maroto. The main economic activity is agriculture, such as olives, grapes and almonds. Comares is on the ''Ruta de la Pasa'', the route of the grape. The

Pasas de Málaga ''Pasas de Málaga'' (lit. "raisins from Málaga") is a protected designation of origin (PDO) for raisins produced in the province of Málaga, Spain, that meet the requirements established by its regulatory council. History Muscat grapes were bro ...

are a

Protected Designation of Origin The protected designation of origin (PDO) is a type of geographical indication of the European Union aimed at preserving the designations of origin of food-related products. The designation was created in 1992 and its main purpose is to designat ...

. These grapes are only grown in the

and around

Manilva Manilva is a municipality which lies on the coast at the southwesternmost edge of the province of Málaga on its border with the Province of Cádiz in the autonomous community of Andalusia in Spain. It belongs to the comarca of Costa del Sol Occi ...

. The grapes are dried in the sun in typical drying cages called '' paseros''. In recent years rural tourism has become a major part of the economy of Coresma.

History

The origin of the name Comares is 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 ...

word ''qumaris'' or ''hins comarix'', which means "castle in the height." Comares was not founded by the

Arabs Arabs (, , ; , , ) are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in West Asia and North Africa. A significant Arab diaspora is present in various parts of the world. Arabs have been in the Fertile Crescent for thousands of yea ...

, but by the Greeks and

Phoenicia Phoenicians were an Ancient Semitic-speaking peoples, ancient Semitic group of people who lived in the Phoenician city-states along a coastal strip in the Levant region of the eastern Mediterranean, primarily modern Lebanon and the Syria, Syrian ...

ns who arrived on the coast of Magala in the seventh century CB. It was a

moorish The term Moor is an exonym used in European languages to designate the Muslim populations of North Africa (the Maghreb) and the Iberian Peninsula (particularly al-Andalus) during the Middle Ages. Moors are not a single, distinct or self-defi ...

fortress since the eighth century C

We also know that was one of the defensive bastions of

omar ben Hhfsun Umar ibn al-Khattab (; ), also spelled Omar, was the second Rashidun caliph, ruling from August 634 until his assassination in 644. He succeeded Abu Bakr () and is regarded as a senior companion and father-in-law of the Islamic prophet Muh ...

in his fight against the

Umayyad The Umayyad Caliphate or Umayyad Empire (, ; ) was the second caliphate established after the death of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and was ruled by the Umayyad dynasty. Uthman ibn Affan, the third of the Rashidun caliphs, was also a membe ...

Caliphate of Córdoba A caliphate ( ) is an institution or public office under the leadership of an Islamic steward with Khalifa, the title of caliph (; , ), a person considered a political–religious successor to the Islamic prophet Muhammad and a leader of ...

. It was considered one of the strategic points of the rayya (

archidona Archidona is a town and municipality in the province of Málaga, part of the autonomous community of Andalusia in southern Spain. It is the center of the comarca of Nororiental de Málaga and the head of the judicial district that bears its name. ...

), then capital of the of Magala.

References

Municipalities in the Province of Málaga {{Andalusia-geo-stub

Geography

History

See also

References