Aljarafe

The Aljarafe is a region located in the province of Seville, in Andalusia, Spain. The 30 municipalities that make it up together have more than 390,000 inhabitants, making up the largest urban agglomeration in the south of the country, the Seville Metropolitan Area. The population density is equivalent to 344 inhab./km², with a total area of 1,136 km².

The region is located just 7 km from the Atlantic Ocean to the south and 112 km from the Strait of Gibraltar. The Guadalquivir river separates it from the Andalusian capital, just 2 km by motorway from the Quinto Centenario.

Location

El Aljarafe limits to the north with the region of Campo de Gerena. Nature marks this limit in the foothills of Sierra Morena to the north of the municipalities of Sanlúcar la Mayor, Olivares, Albaida del Aljarafe and Salteras and in the southern parts of Aznalcóllar and Gerena.

It borders to the south with the quaternary lands of the Guadalquivir marshes and to the east with the main channel of the Guadalquivir river itself. The eastern bank is clearly indicated by the cornice that runs parallel to the river from Santiponce to the south, until it ends in the marshes.

The western limit has traditionally been the subject of debate, since there are authors who place it on the Guadiamar river compared to others who extend it to the contact with the province of Huelva (and even beyond, to Niebla.

County Campo de Gerena (Sevilla)	County Campo de Gerena (Sevilla)	County Campo de Gerena (Sevilla)
County region (Huelva)		Metropolitan District of Seville
County region (Huelva)	Comarca Costa Noroeste (Cádiz)	Metropolitan District of Seville

Territorial distribution

Provincial Aljarafe Map

Aljarafe is organized into three metropolitan crowns:

• First crown: Bormujos, Camas, Castilleja de la Cuesta, Castilleja de Guzmán, Coria del Río, Gines, Mairena del Aljarafe, Santiponce, Tomares, San Juan de Aznalfarache, Gelves, Palomares del Río and Valencina de la Concepción.

• Second crown: Albaida del Aljarafe, Almensilla, Benacazón, Bollullos de la Mitación, Espartinas, Olivares, Sanlúcar la Mayor, Salteras, Umbrete and Villanueva del Ariscal.

• Third crown: Aznalcázar, Carrión de los Céspedes, Castilleja del Campo, Huévar del Aljarafe Villamanrique de la Condesa y Pilas.

And divided into several corridors: Aljarafe Norte (between the train track and the A-49), Aljarafe Central (between the A-49 and the Mairena highway), Aljarafe Centro Sur (south of the highway de Mairena) and Aljarafe Ribereño (articulated around the Coria highway).

For the autonomous legislation, the following municipalities, located in Aljarafe, are part of the Seville metropolitan area: Albaida del Aljarafe, Almensilla, Aznalcázar, Benacazón, Bollullos de la Mitación, Bormujos, Camas, Carrión de los Céspedes, Castilleja de Guzmán, Castilleja de la Cuesta, Castilleja del Campo, Coria del Río, Espartinas, Gelves, Gines, Huévar del Aljarafe, Mairena del Aljarafe, Olivares, Palomares del Río, Pilas, La Puebla del Río, Salteras, San Juan de Aznalfarache, Sanlúcar la Mayor, Santiponce, Tomares, Umbrete, Valencina de la Concepción, Villamanrique de la Condesa and Villanueva del Ariscal.

The following municipalities are in the Commonwealth of Development and Promotion of Aljarafe: Albaida del Aljarafe, Almensilla, Aznalcázar, Benacazón, Bollullos de la Mitación, Bormujos, Camas, Carrión de los Céspedes, Castilleja de Guzmán, Castilleja del Campo, Castilleja de la Cuesta, Coria del Río, Espartinas, Gelves, Gines, Huévar del Aljarafe, Isla Mayor, Mairena del Aljarafe, Olivares, Palomares del Río, Pilas, La Puebla del Río, Salteras, San Juan de Aznalfarache, Sanlúcar la Mayor, Santiponce, Tomares, Umbrete, Valencina de la Concepción, Villamanrique de la Condesa and Villanueva del Ariscal.

Demographics

Photography height from Mairena del Aljarafe

The origin of the region's growth began in the 1940s, when upper-class citizens of Seville decided to have their residences on the outskirts of the city. Today the population of Aljarafe represents 3.8% of the Andalusian total, and represents a quarter (25.2%) of the urban agglomeration of Seville. Despite conserving an important part of the traditional landscape of olive groves and other uses agricultural, today it fulfills a metropolitan and residential function that has considerably transformed its image. While it could be considered a "bedroom town" Within the urban agglomeration of Seville, it would be more appropriate to refer to this region as a "chalet city", due to the predominance of this type of low-density buildings, so typical of contemporary suburban growth. After the passing of the years and the population growth, a large part of the municipalities of the first crown are conurbated, forming a contiguous urban space, in which the limits between one municipality and another are not clear.

History

Its name comes from an Arabic word meaning knoll or elevation (الجرف, Al Jaraf). The place is named Alxaraf in the XIII.

In Valencina de la Concepción are found most of the sites between the Chalcolithic and the Early Bronze Age. Findings from this stage extend east to Castilleja de Guzmán. In Valencina are the dolmens of La Pastora, Matarrubilla, Ontiveros and Los Veinte. Habitat areas and funerary structures have been found in this area. Remains from this period have also been found in the municipality of Camas (in the Carambolo area) and in Coria del Río (on the San Juan hill).

In the Carambolo hill, in the municipality of Camas, a Tartessian site was found between the 9th and 6th centuries BC. C. In this place the treasure of the Carambolo was found.

The Roman stage in the Lower Guadalquivir began when in 206 a. C., in the context of the Second Punic War, the victory of Publius Cornelius Scipio "the African" on the Carthaginians in the battle of Ilipa (Alcalá del Río).

Shield of the House of Guzmán. In the 16th and 17th centuries the Guzman, Counts of Olivares, obtained the dominion of many localities of the Aljarafe. This has been known as the State of Olivares.

Scipio founded the city of Itálica. High-class Romans would arrive at this place, such as the families of the Ulpios and the Aelios. In the second century Trajan, of the Ulpi, and Hadrian, of the Aelios, were emperors. The Western Roman Empire disappeared in the 5th century. From the 7th century Itálica became a small town, which was completely abandoned in the 13th century. In 1301, the Cistercian monastery of San Isidoro del Campo was founded near this place. In 1431 this monastery became the property of the Jerónimos. In the 15th century the town of Santiponce was founded next to the river. In 1603 a flood caused Santiponce to move to a higher place, near the monastery. The Roman ruins de Itálica were used as a quarry and a large amount of artistic material was taken from the place. In 1912 they became protected by the Superior Board of Excavations.

The Roman Pliny mentions Itálica, Osset, called Iulia Constantia (San Juan de Aznalfarache) and Caura (Coria del Río) in this area, since Vergentum is just a misreading for Lucurgentum, which was not in Gelves but at the Morón de la Frontera Air Base.

This area was in the province of Bética, which exported wine and oil to Rome and other cities of the Empire. In Aznalcázar there are remains of an ancient Roman bridge and some mosaics in Castilleja del Campo.

In Muslim times, oil production continued to be the main economic sector in the region and was exported to the Maghreb and the East. Numerous vestiges of this period remain, such as the towers of Olivares, Bollullos de la Mitación and Albaida del Aljarafe and numerous mosques later converted into Christian temples.

After the Reconquest, in the 13th century, the lands of Aljarafe were divided up between the nobility and the clergy. The military orders of San Juan, Alcántara, Calatrava and Santiago also received land. Fernando III ceded the village of Alhadrín, near the Aznalfarache fortress, to the Order of Saint John of Jerusalem (known as the Order of Malta). However, the village was depopulated after the Marinid invasions between 1275 and 1277. Alfonso X rebuilt it and placed it as a royal estate administered by the Seville council in 1284. Although that order was in place for a short time, the town was renamed San Juan of Aznalfarache. The Order of San Juan managed a small village in Robaina (Huévar del Aljarafe), which continued to exist in the 16th century, although with a small population. The state of the public coffers during the reign of Carlos I meant that it had He had to sell land belonging to the military orders, of which he was master, using the bulls of Clemente VII of 1529 and Paul III of 1536. Regarding the Order of Santiago, in 1537 he sold Villanueva del Ariscal and the lands of Almúedano and Torrequemada to Jorge de Portugal, 1st Count Gelves, and in 1539 he sold land in Castilleja de la Cuesta to Pedro de Guzmán, 1st Count of Olivares, and Benazuza to Juan de Almansa. With regard to the Order of Alcántara in 1538 sold Castilleja de Alcántara (after Guzmán), Heliche and Characena to Pedro de Guzmán, 1st Count of Olivares. Felipe II sold ecclesiastical assets with a bull from Pope Gregory XIII of 1574: Rianzuela was sold to the twenty-fourth knight Fernando de Solís in 1574 and between 1578 and 1579, Albaida de Aljarafe and the vado del Quema were sold to Enrique de Guzmán, II Count of Olivares. After this, the archbishopric would keep Umbrete and the Lopas land. In the 17th century, Felipe IV sold all their own lands (realengos) of this region. Most were bought by the Count-Duke of Olivares and the rest by other nobles.

Among the noble families that had lordships in the region, the Guzmán, who were counts of Olivares, can be highlighted. In the 17th century, Gaspar de Guzmán, Count-Duke of Olivares, was the patron of Philip IV. In 1623 he acquired Sanlúcar la Mayor, in 1625 the remaining third of Castilleja de la Cuesta, in 1627 Tomares, of which San Juan de Aznalfarache was a part, and Aznalcóllar; in 1630 Coria del Río; in 1635 Beds; and in 1641 Bollullos de la Mitación, Palomares del Río, Mairena del Aljarafe and Salteras. After all the acquisitions, Gaspar de Guzmán divided his inheritance into two: the one known as the State of Olivares, which included Olivares, Albaida del Aljarafe, Camas, Castilleja de la Cuesta, Castilleja de Guzmán, Salteras, Tomares and San Juan de Aznalfarache, which was bequeathed to his nephew Luis Méndez de Haro; and a mayorazgo that included the marquisate of Mairena del Aljarafe, Palomares del Río, the duchy of Sanlúcar la Mayor, the county of Aznalcóllar, Coria del Río and the mayorship of the castle of San Jorge de Triana, which passed to Enrique Felipe de Guzmán.

There were also pasture areas owned by the councils and for common use by residents, especially as grazing areas for cattle. The disappearance of the manor system in the 19th century XIX and the confiscation of communal lands put an end to this form of organization.

Economy

Cornisa del Aljarafe (East)

Aljarafe currently has its own facilities, such as hospitals, a private university, television studios, hotels, a marina (Puerto Gelves) and shopping centers (including one of the largest shopping centers in southern Spain).

Among the most important facilities in Aljarafe are the San Juan de Dios hospital, the Nisa Aljarafe hospital, numerous shopping centers (Metromar, Ábaco and others), the RTVA headquarters, the PISA industrial estate and the PIBO estate. It also has large stores such as Ikea, Merkamueble, Makro, Carrefour, El Corte Inglés, etc., as well as numerous educational centers.

According to a study by the Tax Agency published in 2018, eight of the ten municipalities with the highest declared income in all of Andalusia are in Aljarafe.

Transportation

Road transport

El Aljarafe has several free highways that run through the region.

• SE-30: Ronda de circumvalación de Sevilla. Located to the east end of the Aljarafe. It is a great motorway that separates the Aljarafe from the city of Seville.
• SE-40: Second round of Seville circumvalence. It is a motorway of great capacity, three lanes per sense and can be increased to four by sense in the future. The motorway is located in works, with some sections already open to the public; it crosses the aljarafe, at the moment, from Coria del Rio to the crossroads with the A-49
• A-49: Autovía Sevilla-Huelva. Car that divides the Aljarafe in north and south. It consists of three lanes to Benacazón.
• A-8057: Autovía Sevilla-Mairena del Aljarafe.
• A-8058: Autovía Sevilla-Coria del Río.
• A-8077:Carretera Camas- Sanlucar the Major

Station Line 1 City Expo.

Railway

Sevilla's C-5 suburban line arrives at Aljarafe, which runs through the northern towns of Aljarafe to Benacazón.

Line 1 of the Seville metro passes through San Juan de Aznalfarache and Mairena del Aljarafe. It has four stations, two in each municipality. It has been proposed that line 2 of the metro be extended to Tomares and Camas.

A tram line is under construction that runs through the most populated towns from north to south, connecting with metro line 1 at the Ciudad Expo intermodal station.

Fluvial

In Gelves is the marina Puerto Gelves, on the banks of the Guadalquivir river. It is within the ports managed by the Junta de Andalucía.

Taxi Service

In 2006, the Aljarafe Taxi Joint Service Area was created, encompassing 31 municipalities. Giving rise to the Taxi Radio Aljarafe service that came to have 135 taxi licenses that could pick up passengers in any town.

Nature

The Aljarafe and the metropolitan area of Seville.

The Guadiamar pass through this region. In 2003, the banks of the municipalities of Aznalcázar, Aznalcóllar, Benacazón, Huévar del Aljarafe, Olivares, Sanlúcar la Mayor and Villamanrique de la Condesa became a Protected Landscape, with the name of Guadiamar Green Corridor. This area also includes the streams Alcarayón, Cigüeña, el Molinillo, Ardachón, de los Frailes or del Tardón and the Cañada de los Charcos. The Guadiamar also has the streams of Baldarrago, Valdegallinas, Cañaveroso, Crispinejo, Barbacena, San Bartolomé, Las Cuevas and Tejadillo. The region also has the streams of Majalbarraque, Riopudio and Montijos.

Speak

A compilation of features, words and phrases of western Aljarafe speech: abador, (a)barrumbado, aboparse, achichotarse, from waters there, ajolá, algofifa, morrarse, ancá i>, anteoso, antiernoche, apulgararse, etc., etc., around 1200 terms and characteristics, has been published by Fernando José Sánchez Bautista in two parts.