Defining Las Alpujarras

When I set up the Alpujarras page some years ago, I tried to define what was (or were) La(s) Alpujarra(s). Since then, it has sat at the bottom of the homepage - as a footnote. I recently joined the Costa Living Forum and it made made me go back and look at it again. The "Consejería de Turismo y Deporte de la Junta de Andalucía" (roughly the Sport & Tourism Office) considers there to be two Alpujarras: La Alpujarra Almeriense and La Alpujarra Granadina. So there are two of them - one now in Granada province and one in Almeria Province (at least by this interpretation). It is probably close to being the Alpujarras that was given to the last Moorish Kings after they were expelled from Granada city (see history page). Though in those days it also extended down to the coast.

And this is the way they appear on the current map of "comarcas" (roughly: shires or counties):

Comarcas have no formal/administrative recognition - they are areas with geographic, cultural, or historical connections. Though there is the possibility that they may one day have some legal standing (ie: one up from a municipio and one down from a provincia). According to the Ministry of Agriculture, on the other hand, the Granadan Alpujarra is defined as "Las Alpujarras" and the Almerian Alpujarra as "Alto Andarax". Some people also consider the Alpujarras to extend, even to this day, across the Contraviesa mountain range and down to the coast. The recently published guide book entitled "The Alpujarra of Granada", for example, includes the municipalities of Albondon, Albunol, Gulachos, Lujar, Polopo, Rubite and Sorvilan. Produced by the "Mancomunidad de Municipios de la Alpujarra Granadina", this book is well worth the 15€ the Ayuntamiento make it available for. From Wikipedia:

The current statutory entity that most closely resembles a comarca is the mancomunidad, a freely chosen, bottom-up association of municipalities intended as an instrument of socioeconomic development and coordination between municipal governments.

and . . . .

Almost every Andalusian municipality outside of the capitals and major cities is a member of some such group. These groups consist of municipalities freely united by their economic interests and are often endowed with funds used for external dissemination of their identity.

Perhaps the guide-book mentioned above may have got some funding from this source. Interestingly, looking at Almeria Province, I see that there is a " Mancomunidad del Medio-Alto Andarax y Bajo Nacimiento" so that would seem to make some of the east-enders no longer Alpujareños. They may have been taken over by the Andraxians! Just to further confuse the issue, there is also a Mancomunidad de Municipios de la Costa Tropica! They even have their own website at http://www.ctropical.org/ and have staked a claim on our very-own Murtas and Turon! So, in our southern regions we are in danger of being grabbed by the tropics. Here is a quote from the Alpujarra/Vallee de Lecrin leaflet published by the GRANADA tourist office:

The heart of the district is the Sierra de la Contraviesa, situated between Sierra Nevada and the Mediterranean coast. Vineyards abound on its hillsides, producing the excellent“Costa” wine, the ideal drink to accompany the area’s meat and cured ham products.

It doesn't include anywhere in Almeria (of course!) but does include Albondón, Albuñol/la Rábita,Lujar, Polopos, Rubite and Sorvilán. Even the name Alpujarra doesn't really help much as its original meaning has been lost in history. There are some links at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alpujarras if you really want to follow it up but, in summary:

The name Alpujarras may derive from Arabic al Busherat meaning "the grass-land". Pedro Antonio de Alarcón travelled through the Alpujarras in the second half of the nineteenth century publishing in 1874 a book about the experience titled La Alpujarra. In this book he gives four possible origins for the name, based on the classical writer Luis del Mármol:

• From Arabic "abuxarra" ('turbulent') referring to the tendency of its inhabitants to rebel against authority.
• From Arabic "abuxarra" ('the unvanquished') based on the work of the Arabist Miguel Lafuente Alcántara.
• From Arabic "albordjela

" ('fortified'), following opinion of the Arabists Romey and Silvestre de Sacy. They based their conclusions on the work of the Arab historian Suar el-Kaicí.

From Arabic "albuxarrat" ('white mountains' or 'snowy mountains'), following the view of Spanish historian Simonet.

So, in the spirit of inclusiveness, I will amend the site to include all the pueblos that have a claim to be Alpujarran. But it might not all get done this week!