History
There is evidence that human settlements existed in La Calahorra and the Marquesado region during the Neolithic period. Bronze Age sites belonging to the El Argar culture have also been documented in the Marquesado del Zenete area, most notably at El Zabelí in Esfiliana.
It is likely that there was a settlement under the protection of the hill on which the castle currently stands. It is known that the Phoenicians occupied it, and that it belonged to the Roman province of Bastetania in Roman times. This province included the areas of Acci (Guadix) and Basti (Baza), where there was a town called Arcilasis. This town later changed its name to Alcalá la Real (Castle of the Rocks).
In his work Guerra de Granada, the poet and diplomat Diego Hurtado de Mendoza states that Count Don Julián owned the fortress of La Calahorra and other castles in the region during the Visigothic period.
These castles passed into the possession of the Zenete people from Barbary Coast of North Africa following the Moorish invasion.
During the Nasrid Kingdom of Granada, this region enjoyed a rich economic activity based on livestock farming and the cultivation of cereals and mulberry trees, the basis of a silk industry. In the novel, ‘El Manuscrito Carmesí’ (The Crimson Manuscript), Antonio Gala narrates that in 1457, Enrique IV de Castilla, continuing the centuries-old Wars between Christians and Muslims, in a fight against Abu Nazar Said, Boabdil’s grandfather and King of Granada, seized Jaén. Among the skirmishes that followed, Constable Miguel Lucas de Iranzo attacked the towns of and La Calahorra in July 1462, taking many prisoners and riches, indicating the importance of these towns at that time.
During the Nasrid Kingdom of Granada, this are enjoyed rich economic activity based on livestock farming, cereal cultivation and mulberry trees, which formed the basis of a silk industry. In his novel El Manuscrito Carmesí (The Crimson Manuscript), Antonio Gala recounts that, in 1457, Enrique IV of Castile seized Jaén in a fight against Abu Nazar Said, Boabdil’s grandfather and King of Granada, thus continuing the centuries-old wars between Christians and Muslims. During the subsequent skirmishes, Constable Miguel Lucas de Iranzo attacked the towns of Aldeire and La Calahorra in July 1462, capturing many prisoners and treasures, which highlights the importance of these towns at that time.
In December 1489, during the Catholic Monarchs' conquest of the Kingdom of Granada, the Muslim leader Cidi Yahya El Nayar surrendered several places in the Zenete region to the Christians, including La Calahorra.
The second uprising of the Alpujarras took place during the reign of Felipe II, between 1568 and 1571. According to the accounts of Diego Hurtado de Mendoza and Luis de Mármol Carvajal, La Calahorra was attacked by Moriscos from the Alpujarras, resulting in significant loss of life and damage to property. The Christian inhabitants took refuge in the castle until soldiers from Guadix rescued them. From that point onwards, La Calahorra and its castle emerged as an important centre for supplying and accommodating troops from Guadix heading to La Alpujarra via the La Ragua mountain pass. The Marqués de Vélez was the captain who remained in the town for the longest time. Following the end of the uprising, the goods and property of all the Moriscos were confiscated, and they were expelled and distributed throughout the peninsula.
With the exception of references to the castle, it is difficult to find any mention of La Calahorra after the expulsion of the Moriscos. English travellers who toured Spain in the second half of the 18th century and the first half of the 19th century noted in their accounts that the roads from Granada to Almería and Murcia passed through Guadix and Baza,. They made no mention of the plains of the Marquisate, which indicates its economic stagnation and poor communications.
The municipality saw the arrival of the railway at the end of the nineteenth century, with the inauguration of the Guadix–Almería section of the Linares–Almería line in 1895. The construction of La Calahorra station facilitated communication with the rest of Spain. Improvements were also made to the road between Guadix and Almería, as well as to the paths linking the villages of the Marquisate and those leading to La Alpujarra.