History of Castro de Filabres

HISTORY OF CASTRO DE FILABRES

The history of Castro de Filabres dates to the Roman era, although there are some vestiges of prehistoric times, particularly from the Copper Age. Remains of polished stone instruments with axes, known as “Lightning Stones” , have also been found, made with a material called diorite.

The foundation of the town is framed between legend and reality. On the one hand, there are abundant Roman remains and chronicles that relate the existence of a camp in the times of the Roman Empire. On the other, there is the legend dating to the eighth-century Muslim occupation of the Iberian Peninsula. The difficult access and the remoteness of the population centres of the Sierra de los Filabres favoured the arrival of ethnic groups fleeing from other places, especially Berbers fleeing from the Arabs. These highly Romanized Berbers set up a camp on the mountainside led by Queen al-Kahima. This is thought to have been in the area called Mujer del Manto.

At the end of the fifteenth century, the Catholic Monarchs conquered the lands of Vélez, Vera, Filabres, Baza and Almería, forcing the Muslims of the Kingdom of Granada (to which Almería belonged) to be baptised or emigrated. But the Muslims who inhabited the Sierra de los Filabres resisted until their death. Castro de Filabres was one of the towns that the Catholic Monarchs yielded to the Duke of Infantado in 1490 for the favours he granted the Monarchs during the Granada War. Later, Castro would pass into the hands of the heirs of Enrique Enríquez, forming part of the State of Tahal. Castro was repopulated with 10 inhabitants who came from Castile since people were afraid of the continuous attacks by pirates who had taken refuge inside the Sierra de los Filabres.

At the beginning of the twentieth century, the highest population rate in the town’s history was achieved, thanks to the mining operations in the area and the high birth rate generally registered in the province of Almería. But this changed with the arrival of the Civil War and the general emigration that was so characteristic in the 1970s.

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