Villaconejos 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' ...

of the

Community of Madrid The Community of Madrid (; ) is one of the seventeen autonomous communities and 50 provinces of Spain, provinces of Spain. It is located at the heart of the Iberian Peninsula and Meseta Central, Central Plateau (); its capital and largest munici ...

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 ...

. Historically, Villaconejos's economy has been based on

agriculture Agriculture encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture was a key factor in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created ...

. Examples of the region's common

crop A crop is a plant that can be grown and harvested extensively for profit or subsistence. In other words, a crop is a plant or plant product that is grown for a specific purpose such as food, Fiber, fibre, or fuel. When plants of the same spe ...

s include olives,

cereal A cereal is a grass cultivated for its edible grain. Cereals are the world's largest crops, and are therefore staple foods. They include rice, wheat, rye, oats, barley, millet, and maize ( Corn). Edible grains from other plant families, ...

s, and

fruit In botany, a fruit is the seed-bearing structure in flowering plants (angiosperms) that is formed from the ovary after flowering. Fruits are the means by which angiosperms disseminate their seeds. Edible fruits in particular have long propaga ...

s, including

melon A melon is any of various plants of the family Cucurbitaceae with sweet, edible, and fleshy fruit. It can also specifically refer to ''Cucumis melo'', commonly known as the "true melon" or simply "melon". The term "melon" can apply to both the p ...

s. The melons of Villaconejos are popular throughout Spain. Villaconejos is home to a Melon Museum.

Etymology

The town's name comes from ''Conejos'' which literally means '

rabbit Rabbits are small mammals in the family Leporidae (which also includes the hares), which is in the order Lagomorpha (which also includes pikas). They are familiar throughout the world as a small herbivore, a prey animal, a domesticated ...

s' in Spanish. The general belief is that the name stemmed from the historical abundance of rabbits in the region, and the hunters attracted to the region by said rabbits.

History

The history of Villaconejos may be traced to the place known as 'El Vedado' ("The Reserve"), and a small

hill A hill is a landform that extends above the surrounding terrain. It often has a distinct summit, and is usually applied to peaks which are above elevation compared to the relative landmass, though not as prominent as Mountain, mountains. Hills ...

known as 'Cerro Barbero' (formerly called 'Cerro Galguera'). These names are closely related to 'hunting,' 'the closed area' and '

hunting dog A hunting dog is a Dog, canine that hunts with or for hunters. There are several different Dog type, types of hunting dog developed for various tasks and purposes. The major categories of hunting dog include hounds, terriers, cur type dogs, and ...

s.' Hunting took place near Villaconejos until the late 16th Century, when deforestation reduced the rabbit population. The historical abundance of rabbits and the reputation of melons in the area have long been recorded in historical writings. There were so many rabbits in the area that wolves began frequenting the area, occasionally attacking persons in the local village. In 1561, significant

deforestation Deforestation or forest clearance is the removal and destruction of a forest or stand of trees from land that is then converted to non-forest use. Deforestation can involve conversion of forest land to farms, ranches, or urban use. Ab ...

occurred within the area known as El Montecillo. There were numerous

oak An oak is a hardwood tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' of the beech family. They have spirally arranged leaves, often with lobed edges, and a nut called an acorn, borne within a cup. The genus is widely distributed in the Northern Hemisp ...

pine A pine is any conifer tree or shrub in the genus ''Pinus'' () of the family Pinaceae. ''Pinus'' is the sole genus in the subfamily Pinoideae. ''World Flora Online'' accepts 134 species-rank taxa (119 species and 15 nothospecies) of pines as cu ...

, and

gall Galls (from the Latin , 'oak-apple') or ''cecidia'' (from the Greek , anything gushing out) are a kind of swelling growth on the external tissues of plants. Plant galls are abnormal outgrowths of plant tissues, similar to benign tumors or war ...

trees that made the area dense in vegetation until the wolf problem arose. The local residents took it upon themselves to deforest the area. Before the deforestation, the rabbits tended to forage on the local farms to survive. The rabbits lived in the vicinity of villages and towns, making their homes in the nearby forests. As a result of the large rabbit populations, wolves were able to thrive, and their numbers rose exponentially. It was in response to the wolf problem that the people of the municipality heavily deforested nearby areas. The result was a reduction in the wolf population, but the rabbit population also decreased dramatically. Over time, the hunters who had come to the area, attracted by the local rabbit population, became less enamored of the area, leading to the collapse of the hunting association and reducing economic growth in the community.

References

{{authority control Municipalities in the Community of Madrid