Molina de Segura is a

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

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 ...

in the autonomous community and province of

Murcia Murcia ( , , ) is a city in south-eastern Spain, the Capital (political), capital and most populous city of the autonomous community of the Region of Murcia, and the Ranked lists of Spanish municipalities#By population, seventh largest city i ...

. It is located 10 km from the provincial capital,

. It borders the towns of

Las Torres de Cotillas Las Torres de Cotillas is a Spanish municipality in the autonomous community of Murcia and is located in the eastern half. A Roman villa existed here in the 2nd century BC. Despite the presence of two Moorish settlements in the Middle Ages, the m ...

, Alguazas, Lorquí, Ulea, Archena, Abarán, Blanca,

and Fortuna. It has the fourth largest population in the region after Murcia, Cartagena and Lorca, with over 60,000 inhabitants. It is located 10 km north of the capital. The N-301 highway, that runs from Madrid to Cartagena, passes through it. The town has a line of walls dating to the

Almohad The Almohad Caliphate (; or or from ) or Almohad Empire was a North African Berber Muslim empire founded in the 12th century. At its height, it controlled much of the Iberian Peninsula (Al-Andalus) and North Africa (the Maghreb). The Almohad ...

era (11th-13th centuries). Molina de Segura is home to confectionery makers Vidal Golosinas, Jake S.A. and Sánchez Cano (also known as Fini).

History

From the Prehistory to the Middle Ages

There is evidence of human presence in the municipality from the Middle Paleolithic that consists in a site named Las Toscas-El Chorico. Molina de Segura was also inhabited by people belonging to the Argaric civilisation. One group of remains is located in a hill in the east end of the territory. As a matter of fact, it also covers part of its adjacent municipality

Fortuna Fortuna (, equivalent to the Greek mythology, Greek goddess Tyche) is the goddess of fortune and the personification of luck in Religion in ancient Rome, Roman religion who, largely thanks to the Late Antique author Boethius, remained popular thr ...

. The site was originated in the

Chalcolithic The Chalcolithic ( ) (also called the Copper Age and Eneolithic) was an archaeological period characterized by the increasing use of smelted copper. It followed the Neolithic and preceded the Bronze Age. It occurred at different periods in di ...

. There are some groups of remains corresponding to the Iberians. One site occurs in the northern half and the other in the east end. The Romans ruled large part of the Iberian gradually since 209 BC. They left in Molina de Segura a ''via'' or road that connected Carthago Nova (Cartagena) to Complutum (in the current

Alcalá de Henares Alcalá de Henares () is a Spanish municipality of the Community of Madrid. Housing is primarily located on the right (north) bank of the Henares River, Henares. , it has a population of 193,751, making it the region's third-most populated Municip ...

in Madrid) and another one that connected Elche with Cieza. Apart from those ''viae'', they caused the existence of more remains. There was a war in which Muslim peoples were involved with ruling the peninsula purposes and it began in 711. The

Visigothic The Visigoths (; ) were a Germanic people united under the rule of a king and living within the Roman Empire during late antiquity. The Visigoths first appeared in the Balkans, as a Roman-allied barbarian military group united under the comman ...

king Theodemir and the governor of North Africa

Abd al-Aziz ibn Musa Abd al-Aziz ibn Musa ibn Nusayr () was an Arab general and the first governor of Al-Andalus, in modern-day Spain and Portugal. He was the son of Musa ibn Nusayr, the Umayyad governor of Ifriqiya. ‘Abd al-Aziz had a long history of political and ...

signed the Treaty of Orihuela. It established Muslim sovereignty in the southeast of Spain, that includes the current municipality Molina de Segura. They built an alcazaba (

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 ...

fortification) in the early 11th century. It was part of a spot that was surrounded with walls. According to Arabic travellers, the territory was a crossroads. Besides, the main town, there was a settlement of that era. In 1243, the king of

Taifa of Murcia The Taifa of Murcia () was an Arab ''taifa'' of medieval Al-Andalus, in what is now southern Spain. It became independent as a ''taifa'' centered on the Moorish city of Murcia after the fall of the Umayyad Caliphate of Córdoba (11th century). ...

signed the

Treaty of Alcaraz The Treaty of Alcaraz was an agreement signed in Alcaraz, Albacete, Alcaraz around April 2, 1243, between Alfonso X of Castile, Alfonso of Castile – the future Alfonso X – acting on behalf of Ferdinand III of Castile, and several representativ ...

. Consequently the former Taifa of Murcia would become part of the

Crown of Castile The Crown of Castile was a medieval polity in the Iberian Peninsula that formed in 1230 as a result of the third and definitive union of the crowns and, some decades later, the parliaments of the kingdoms of Kingdom of Castile, Castile and Kingd ...

. This condition was effective in Molina from 1266. The new kingdom of Murcia was repopulated during the following decades and this current municipality was part of that fact. The nobleman Alonso Fajardo granted excellent condition to the people from Christian kingdoms who moved to Molina de Segura with a document named ''Carta Puebla'' in 1396. The territory was named Molina Seca (Dry Molina) in documents related to Christian kingdoms. The current municipality passed on several owners until it belonged to the nobleman Juan Manuel. There are remains that Juan Manuel fortified the fortification. The population of Molina increased during the last centuries of the Middle Ages. After the death of Juan Manuel, Molina received vicissitudes caused by the desires of some possible owners. Finally, it was ruled by the Crown directly during the reign of Henry II of Castile. When Henri III of Castile was the king, the

adelantado ''Adelantado'' (, , ; meaning 'advanced') was a title held by some Spain, Spanish nobles in service of their respective kings during the Middle Ages. It was later used as a military title held by some Spanish ''conquistadores'' of the 15th, 16th a ...

(governor) Alfonso Yánez Fajardo was bestowed the territory.

Early modern and late modern periods

The social and administrative structures didn't vary considerably from the beginning of the Early Modern Period until the

Spanish confiscation The Spanish confiscation was the Spanish government's seizure and sale of property, including from the Catholic Church, from the late 18th century to the early 20th century. It was a long historical, economic, and social process beginning with ...

. There was a significant decrease in population and economy was adversely affected owing to the expulsion of Jews in 1492. Two disasters occurred in the mid-17th century: a plague epidemic in 1648, and a flood in 1651. After the flood, the irrigation system was formed again. As a result, there was an increase in agriculture matters and in population and it reached the highest level during the 18th century. The agriculture received modernisation in the vegetables and mulberry areas. The mulberry conditions lead to a splendour in the silk produced in Molina. The apogee also affected the town and a specific phenomenon of that is the construction of Nuestra Señora de la Asunción Church in 1765. In the second half of the 19th century, tinning economic activities of the grown products started in Molina, but they were performed in a crafted way during the first decades. During that era there was a prevalence of the windmill industry. In 1916, the municipality started to have Molina de Segura as its name. Before the second half of the 20th century, the economy was based on agriculture and ranching. The most grown products were the peach, the apricot, the onions, the peppers, the tomatoes, some cereals, the almonds and the grapes. The most used animals in ranching were the sheep. The food tinning industry was developed during the first half of the century and that fact lead to a economy transformation in which it became mainly industrial. This industry reached its apogee in the 1940s, then Molina became one of the major tinning industry spot nationwide and even worldwide. During the 1990s the industry suffered an important crisis and some factories were forced to close. The secondary sector was diversified as a consequence.

Geography

The town of Molina de Segura is located in Europe, in the east of the

Iberian Peninsula The Iberian Peninsula ( ), also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in south-western Europe. Mostly separated from the rest of the European landmass by the Pyrenees, it includes the territories of peninsular Spain and Continental Portugal, comprisin ...

, belonging to the kingdom of Spain, and part of the Region of Murcia. The township has an area of 169 km² with flora and fauna belonging to the very dry

Mediterranean climate A Mediterranean climate ( ), also called a dry summer climate, described by Köppen and Trewartha as ''Cs'', is a temperate climate type that occurs in the lower mid-latitudes (normally 30 to 44 north and south latitude). Such climates typic ...

(340 mm of rainfall per year) to which it belongs. Some landforms in the municipality are Sierra de la Espada (a mountain range) and Rambla del Chorillo.

Human geography

The three major districts, La Ribera de Molina, Torrealta and El Llano de Molina, all exceed one thousand inhabitants and are the important Orchard Molina, tracing its emergence in the Arab stage, with the government of Murcia by Ibn Mardanis, 12th century. There is a long tradition of huerta, roughly translated kitchen gardens, in the region that are grouped into the inherited irrigation. They water the garden and Subirana Mayor ditches. Its main products are the peach, apricot and vegetables, and its famous tomatoes, onions and peppers. The smaller hamlets, Fenazar, Valientes (The brave), Campotéjar Alta, Campotéjar Baja, Comala, La Espada (The Sword), Rellano (Landing), Albarda, La hornera and Romeral are on dry land with little production of cereals, olives and sheep. Esparto predominates, thyme and rosemary. They are the Sierra de la Espada, the Place and La Pila. In the Campotéjar, in recent years there have been significant changes rainfed to irrigated with the water supply of the Tajo-Segura, highlighting Campotéjar Irrigation Community. Its main crops are fruit trees of high quality, whose destinations are the European markets.

Economy

23.7% of the territory is utilised with grown purposes. and the most widely grown products are the citrus and the apricots. Approximately 15% of the agreements were related to agriculture and fishing activities in 2019. 10.06% of the workers signed agreements to work as labourers. 17.75% of the agreements were written for posts in industry sector and 7.86% were signed by labourers. Almost 60.2% of the agreements were related to the tertiary sector in 2019 and 11.44% of the agreements were signed by waiters.

Main sights

* Remains of the medieval rampart * Casa Cárcel: Its construction ended in 1604, but it was remodelled in the 18th century for the first time and in the 1980s for the second. * Nuestra Señora de la Asunción Parish Church: It is placed in the centre of Molina. It was opened up in 1765. It has a Latin cross plan, which includes a nave and two aisles. Its facade is formed mainly with stone blocks and bricks also occur in the building. There is a ''fresco'' in the inner part of the dome. * Sagrado Corazón Church: This building was built in 1833. * San Roque Church: It was built from 1835 to 1850. * Nuestra Señora de Las Mercedes Church: It was opened up in 1910. Its bell tower is eclectic and the building has neoclassic features. * María Auxiliadora Church: * La Purísima Church: It is located in El Llano district in the east and southern half of the municipality. It was opened up in 1967. * Casa del Canónigo: It dates back to the 19th century. Its name is due to the fact that it belonged to a canon (the translation for ''canónigo''). * Some chimneys: These are traces of the food tinning industrial era in Molina. * Ethnographic Museum Carlos Soriano

Festivities

Some festivities that are held in the municipality are listed below: * San Antón: This festivity occurs in January * Holy Week: * Patron saint festivities: These festive days take place in September. There are several activities such as opening address, a folklore fest, a firework display, a float parade, a car model exhibition. There are also religious activities such as masses,

processions A procession is an organized body of people walking in a formal or ceremonial manner. History Processions have in all peoples and at all times been a natural form of public celebration, as forming an orderly and impressive ceremony. Religious ...

(festive religious parades), romerías and rosary prays; and sport activities such as a rhythmic gymnastics exhibit, a bicycle tour, badminton tournaments, soccer tournaments, and so force. * From Christmas to the Epiphany Day

Transportation

From Murcia Molina de Segura can be reached by two motorways, one direct and one urban population that surrounds and connects the Mediterranean motorway. It has a train to Madrid, from next Alguazas. The airports of Alicante and San Javier and the seaport of Cartagena are located half an hour away by car.

Education

Lycée Français André Malraux de Murcie Lycée Français André Malraux de Murcie or Lycée Français de Murcia () is a French international school in Molina de Segura, Murcia Province, Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western ...

, a French international school, is in the city.Nous contacter
."

. Retrieved on 13 February 2016. "Adresse: Avenida del Golf, 107 Urbanización Altorreal Apartado de correos 133 30506 MOLINA DE SEGURA (Provincia de Murcia) ESPAGNE"

References

{{authority control Municipalities in the Region of Murcia