Guardamar del Segura

Guardamar del Segura (in Spanish until 1916, Guardamar) is a city and coastal municipality in the province of Alicante, in the Valencian Community, Spain. Located on the southeast coast of the province, it is part of the Vega Baja del Segura region. Its population is 16,138 inhabitants (INE 01/01/2022).

In its municipal term is the mouth of the Segura river; The town is also known for its pine forest, planted at the beginning of the 20th century to stop the advance of the mobile coastal dunes, which until then invaded the surrounding crop fields.

Physical geography

The center of the urban area of Guardamar is located two kilometers south of the mouth of the Segura river, which flows into the Mediterranean in its municipal area. Officially and traditionally it has always been part of the Vega Baja del Segura region.

Map of the municipality

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Interactive map — Guardamar del Segura and its municipality

Beaches

Its municipal term has 11 km of coastline, in which are found from north to south:

• Tossals Beach: located south of the border with Elche and separated from the rest of the term by the mouth of the Segura, is a mostly nudist beach. It has 500 m in length and 50 in width of sand.
• Playa Vivers
• Playa Babylon
• Playa Centro: It has the distinctive blue flag since 1987. It has 2600 m long.
• Playa de La Roqueta: It has the distinctive blue flag since 1987. It has 1180 m long.
• Playa del Moncayo: It has the distinctive blue flag. It has 1460 m long.
• Camp Beach: It has 1200m in length.
• Playa de Les Ortigues: continues in the south with the municipality of Torrevieja.

The pine forest of Guardamar (Dunas de Guardamar)

Dunes of Guardamar

Dunes of Guardamar

Way to the Pinada

The Pinada de Guardamar

This forest area covers 800 hectares and was originally a set of mobile sand dunes, which were fixed by planting various plant species such as agaves, stone pines, palm trees, cypresses or eucalyptus.

There had always been a dense pine forest in the area, but in the 18th century it was felled to build warships without ever being repopulated. The consequent desertification prevents the sediments of the Segura river and the sand from the sea from being fixed, which, blown by the easterly wind, form dunes that in 1896 began to invade the northern part of the town, threatening several houses and part of the orchard.

On December 2, 1897, the Defense Project and Repopulation of the Guardamar Dunes (broken link available at Internet Archive; see history, first and last version).. The forest engineer Francisco Mira y Botella tackles the task of fixing the dunes, using the so-called Bremontier method. He begins by planting lines of marram grass and rushes, protecting the space with brushwood of Aleppo pine, until he forms palisades 80 cm high. As the sands bury it, a new series is planted, until a counter-dune 4 meters high is formed. Then the reeds are replaced by agaves, which grow to the rhythm of the dune, and the slopes are planted. With this, it is possible to stop the sand coming from the sea.

Once this is achieved, you must repopulate the dunes between Elche and Guardamar. In the process, 700 hectares are repopulated with 600,000 pines (mainly Aleppo and stone pines), 40,000 palm trees and 5,000 eucalyptus trees. Of the herbaceous species, nightshade, sainfoin and pegamoscas are planted, the latter being the one that provided the best results. 8 km of roads, 14 km of dunes, 3 nurseries, 3 forest houses, and warehouses were built. In all these works, 647,000 pesetas were invested, an amount that the engineer believed was less than the value of the buildings and land that were saved.

The process is visited by the general director of Agriculture, Mines and Forestry in 1911 and by Alfonso XIII in 1923, which contributes to spreading the success of the intervention. In 1929 the process ended giving rise to the current mass Consolidated forestry next to the sea. This pine forest, divided into two parks called Parque de Alfonso XIII and Parque Reina Sofía, extends between the city center and the beaches of Babilonia and Los Viveros.

One of the legacies of the process to the town is the tree festival in which plantations have been carried out in the pine forest since 1902. Originally reserved for schoolchildren supervised by the village teacher, it survives today in day with the support of the Guardamar Town Hall. It is celebrated on January 31 of each year.

History

Origins

Pound with the Arabic inscription found in 1897 in the caliphal rabbi

In the municipality of Guardamar del Segura there are several archaeological remains from Prehistory and Ancient History, such as a Phoenician site (Cabezo Pequeño del Estaño) with a town and necropolis from the 7th century BC. C. and another Iberian where the Lady of Guardamar was discovered, called Cabezo Lucero. There are also indications that allow us to locate a possible port sanctuary in the surroundings of the mouth of the Segura river, perhaps dedicated to the Phoenician goddess Astarte, with documented records up to the 3rd century. to. C.

In 2021, remains of a Roman villa were found on the beach.

Possibly the name of Guardamar in Arab times was Almodóvar, being the Andalusians who fortified the population and founded, in the year 944, a caliphal rabita that is considered one of the oldest in Spain.

Christian reconquest and assimilation

View from the north flank of the Castle of Guardamar, 14th century

Fuero de Guardamar del Segura awarded by Alfonso X (1271).

Around 1244 the infante Alfonso, future king Alfonso X the Wise, reconquered the area for the Crown of Castile, maintaining the Muslim population. However, a general Mudejar uprising in the kingdom of Murcia in 1264 had as a reprisal the expulsion of the Muslims from the town. A few years later, around 1277, Alfonso X founded the Christian town of Guardamar at the height of the current castle. The king created it as an independent municipality with the same government laws as the city of Alicante (the Fuero de Alicante). Subsequently, in 1296, King Jaime II of Aragon militarily occupied the south of the province of Alicante, and from 1304, through the Torrellas Arbitral Judgment, it definitively passed to the Crown of Aragon, joining the Kingdom of Valencia and politically organizing within the Orihuela Governorate. In Guardamar the previous legislation and the privileges of the Villa de Guardamar were maintained. In addition, the municipality obtained the rank of Villa Real, that is, it was the direct property of the king, and it was outside the regime of aristocratic manor, so it had direct representation in the Cortes within the Royal Arm.

Guardamar between the 14th and 17th centuries

Fishing boats on the mouth of the Segura River, in the northern part of the term

In an incursion carried out by the people of Granada led by Rebdán or Redwan (founder of the nearby town of Redován) in 1331, whose objective was to attack Orihuela, the town was looted and 1,200 captives captured. Later (1358-1359), during the War of the Two Pedros between Castile and Aragon, the castle was burned down. In punishment for his weak opposition to the Castilian troops, Pedro the Ceremonious abolished the municipality its status as Villa Real and its autonomy, becoming from that moment a village of Orihuela. All these circumstances created difficulties in maintaining a stable population throughout the XIV century. The inhabitants of medieval Guardamar dedicated themselves mainly to fishing, salt exploitation, and to a lesser extent to agriculture, while livestock, more important, was in the hands of Oriolan farmers. There was also a floating population of smugglers, outlaws and corsairs, who took advantage of the marginal situation of the town.

This situation began to change when in 1400 Martin the Human granted it a Puebla Charter which, together with the increase in arable land, allowed for a significant growth in the population. In 1558, to defend the town from Berber attacks, the wall was reinforced; In 1692, after numerous lawsuits with Orihuela and the payment of a large sum, Carlos II reinstated the title of Villa Real to the municipality. During the Spanish Succession War, it supported Felipe V de Borbón, for which it suffered the attack and looting of the Austrians.

Guardamar in the 18th century

The 18th century was, like the rest of the region, a century of growth based on agriculture. Cardinal Belluga bought 13,000 atahúllas (about 15 hectares) from the municipality of Guardamar for his Fundaciones Pías project; In 1770 the place of Rojales was segregated from the Guardamarenco term to become an independent municipality.

Contemporary Age

At the beginning of the 19th century, a small group of liberals led by the Bazán brothers disembarked and occupied the town, proclaiming the Constitution of 1812 with the frustrated hope that all of Vega Baja would rise up against Fernando VII.

At the bottom is the Torreta de Guardamar, the highest structure in Spain.

In 1829 a major earthquake caused numerous deaths, left more than three thousand people homeless throughout the region and destroyed the medieval town, forcing the planning of a new urban area: the new Guardamar was planned with a neoclassical urban planning criteria (straight and perpendicular streets oriented from north to south and three squares arranged symmetrically) and a design of houses with a purpose of prevention against earthquakes (low houses with large patios). The old site was used as a quarry for the construction of the new houses.

At the beginning of the XX century, the Guardamar pine forest was planted to stop the advance of the dunes and it was expanded again the irrigated area of the term. The 1950s greeted the first stammering of tourism which, over the years, has become the main engine of urban and demographic growth in Guardamar.

Demographics

Guardamar has been showing strong demographic growth since the eighties, reaching 16,863 according to the INE 2011 census. 40.4% of its inhabitants are foreign nationals, mainly from other countries on the European continent.

Graphic of demographic evolution of Guardamar de Segura between 1842(1) and 2021

(1) In these Censuses it was called GuardamarPopulation of law according to population censuses of the INE.Population in fact according to population censuses of the INE.

Economy

Segura River mouth in Guardamar

Tourism is the great dynamizer of the local economy. Construction and irrigated agriculture are also important. The cultivation of "ñora" it is traditional and emblematic of Guardamar, as well as that of melon, lemon and orange. The fishing of prawns and eels was a traditional and artisanal activity today that has practically disappeared and has been replaced by farming in fish farms located in the sea itself. In industry, it is worth noting the Johnson Controls-Varta car battery factory (called Johnson Controls Autobaterías) located in the north of the term.

Politics

Mayors since the 1979 elections

Period	Name	Party
1979-1983	Manuel Senent Pérez	UCD
1983-1987	Manuel Aldeguer Sánchez	PSPV-PSOE
1987-1991	Manuel Aldeguer Sánchez	PSPV-PSOE
1991-1995	Manuel Aldeguer Sánchez	PSPV-PSOE
1995-1999	Francisco García Gómez	P
1999-2003	Francisco García Gómez	P
2003-2007	María Elena Albentosa Ruso	PSPV-PSOE
2007-2011	María Elena Albentosa Ruso	PSPV-PSOE
2011-2015	Carmen Verdú García	P
2015-2019	José Luis Sáez Pastor	PSPV-PSOE
2019-2023	José Luis Sáez Pastor	PSPV-PSOE
2023-	n/d	n/d

Current layout of the Town Hall

Education

• C.E.I.P. Catholic Kings: Public College of Child and Primary Education
• C.E.I.P Molivent: Colegio Público de Educación Infantil y Primaria.
• C.E.I.P Dama de Guardamar: Colegio Público de Educación Infantil y Primaria.
• I.E.S Les Dunes: Center for Compulsory Secondary Education and Baccalaureate.

Heritage

• Phoenician port town La Fonteta. Phoenician installation located in the mouth of the Segura river, dated in the 8th to 6th centuries BC. Traditionally known as Alone city.
• Little Tin Head. Small walled core of the Old Iron of the 8th and 7th centuries B.C., located in the departure of the Rhineland.
• Archaeological site of Cabezo Lucero. It consists of the remains of a necropolis and a village of the VI to III century BC. The Lady of Guardamar was found at this site.
• Caliphal orbit of the Dunes of Guardamar. Archaeological site of the X century where is the oldest rabid in Spain.
• Castle of Guardamar. The upper part, of Arab origin, was destroyed almost entirely by the earthquake of 1829. The lower part is larger and is surrounded by a Gothic wall that underwent important modifications in the 16th century; in this lower part was the villa until the earthquake, which forced it to be rebuilt at its current location.
• San Antonio Mill. On a medieval mill it was built around 1915, the current mill of San Antonio, in historicalist style with neo-Mudéjar windows. This building is located on the right bank of the Segura River, next to the last sulphur of the river, before its mouth
  

  Molino de San Antonio

Culture

The abundant cultural heritage facilitated the selection of the city as Cultural Capital of the Valencian Community in 2023 together with the city of Geldo, in Castellón.

Museums

• Municipal Archaeological Museum: It is located in the old town and exhibits a permanent collection of the findings of the excavations that develop in the area. Particularly outstanding is the Lady of Guardamar, whose origin is dated around the sixth century BC.
• Casa Museo Ingeniero Mira: Located in the center, it is currently the tourist office. It was Engineer Mira's house, impeller and father of what is a beautiful wooded land. Today is a museum with photographs and material used to perform such photographs, at the end of the s. XIX and early 20th century.

Parties

• Tree party: It is celebrated on January 31.
• Moros and Christians: The Moors and Christians of Guardamar are celebrated the last two weeks of July.
• Patron Festivals: The celebrations are held on October 7 in commemoration of the Virgin of the Rosary.
• Holy Week: It is formed by the fellowships of: the Prayer of the Garden, Brotherhood of the Flagellation, Ntro. Father Jesus Nazarene, Ntro. Father of the Fall, Christ of Good Death, Ntra. Stma. Virgin of the Dolores, Holy Sepulchre, St. John Evangelist. Virgin of the Soledad.

Language

Monument to the common culture, in Jaime II Square

It is the southernmost municipality where Valencian is spoken. This language has co-official rank along with Spanish, in the municipality, and is therefore used in local administration.

The characteristics of Valencian in Guardamar are those of the southern dialect, common to the towns located to the south of the Biar-Busot line. In addition, due to its status as a linguistic island, the speech of Guardamar has numerous characteristics of its own, especially in the lexicon, in which the influence of the Murcian dialect, spoken in the rest of the Vega Baja del Segura, is evident.

As in other areas of the Valencian Community, the use of Valencian has been decreasing throughout the XX century. The reasons that explain this process are of a different nature. On the one hand are the policies, specifically the prohibition of Valencian in the spheres of public life during the long period of the dictatorship. In this sense, the arrival of democracy has made it possible to carry out campaigns and measures to revitalize the use of Valencian by the local population. The educational system, in the hands of the Valencian regional administration, has also contributed in this regard by integrating the teaching of Valencian into the general curriculum for all students.

Another reason that has accentuated this process of abandonment of Valencian is the fact that Guardamar constitutes a linguistic island surrounded by nearby towns with a predominantly Spanish language, of the 27 municipalities that make up the Vega Baja region, none of them speaks Valencian except in Guardamar; It is necessary to highlight that this situation always had a limited importance: Despite being an isolated Valencian-speaking nucleus, the people of Guardamar continued to use Valencian regardless of the political and historical evolution of the country, since the end of the century XIII until a few decades ago; This is a phenomenon that is repeated in other areas of the community.

The fundamental reason for this change in trend in favor of Spanish is the tourist and economic development of the area, which has multiplied the population of the municipality, attracting a large stable immigrant population for more than forty years and a number still largest number of vacationers from other parts of Spain and the rest of Europe. According to data from the 1991 census of inhabitants, 41.8% of the population of Guardamar del Segura knew how to speak Valencian and only 20.5% of the population was able to read it.

Sports

• Basketball: The Baloncesto Guardamar Club was founded on May 13, 1986, and is currently the active club with more years uninterrupted in local competition. It started with a single team that militated in a senior category. At that time meetings were disputed as local in the Colegio Público Reyes Católicos. There were no lower categories or sports municipal schools at that time.
• Football: The Guardamar Soccer Club livescore of Football is currently the only Guardamar club of the Segura. Every year a campus is held, the Juanma Ortiz campus that is held from 4 to 9 July.
• Tennis: The Tenis Guardamar Club is born in 1998 thanks to the concerns of some fans for organizing and getting young people from the town to compete with the federative license representing Guardamar. Another objective was to negotiate with the City Council the advantageous use, for all partners, of the municipal facilities as the club does not have them.

Personalities