Benaojan Skyline

When visiting Ronda, getting out into the little villages is one of the must do excursions that would render your vacation incomplete if you didn’t do, however a lot of visitors to Ronda don’t have access to a car, so Benaojan is one of the options to see an authentic white village.

Located on the southern boundary of the Sierra de Grazalema, Benaojan is convenient because both bus and train visit the village, and the trip is only 25 minutes from Ronda. My own trip saw me take the train along Mr Henderson’s railway, a comfortable and air conditioned journey that does however stop at Benaojan Estación, a small hamlet below the main village that requires a 20 minute walk before you see what Benaojan has to offer.

Arriving by train you’ll see Benaojan to your right and up the hill, it is a steep walk but is more or less suitable for most fitness levels except those with heart conditions. Begin by crossing the railway line and following the signs for the Hotel Molino del Santo. You’ll have to pass the little venta next to the drinking fountain at the station, and this is a great place to have a drink or some tapas while you wait for your return train.

Continue past the hotel and just beyond you’ll see the first of Benaojan’s many small reasons to visit. Below the path you’ll see a small pool of water, which is the Nacimiento de los Cascajales, a fresh water spring that is one of the sources of the Rio Guadiaro.

Our next stop is in the village, you’ll pass several run down properties that are home to local Gitanos, who are very friendly people and will happily exchange an ‘hola’ as you walk by. At the first little plaza entering Benaojan you come across a rather dirty and run down fountain, ‘Fuente del Zuque’.

Ancient Fountain

During Moorish times this plaza was where the local market would be held, the zoco, a modern word derived from the Arabic souk. It was also a popular livestock watering station, and is historically important for being the former laundry of the village, Benaojan used to have a soap factory, and this fountain is where local ladies would wash clothes and blankets.

As you wander the streets of Benaojan you will see several factories of local pork products, and the best is a little shop at the end of the main street, in the direction of Montejaque, the shop is called Jamones Isidoro, and everything sold is made in Benaojan, from legs of ham (Pata Negra), to chorizo, and other products, and everything is hermetically sealed making it easy to take home.

Benaojan has the appearance of a modernish village, in fact people have lived near Benaojan since pre-historic times and one of Europe’s most important sites of paleolithic cave paintings is just 4.5km away at the Cueva de la Pileta, though the people who inhabit the village are a more recent wave of migrants.

Prior to the Christian reconquest of Andalucía, Benaojan was a small Moorish village, part of the defensive tower line that defended Grenadine Andalucía from Christian incursions, and her people were herders and lumber merchants. The village is named after the clan leader Ojan whose people settled the area after 712 AD, thus naming the village Benaojan.

Church in Benaojan

After the Christian conquest a Moorish uprising effectively spelt the end of Muslim people in the Serranía de Ronda, and Benaojan was not spared, in fact the entire village was cleared and on the 6th November 1571, 60 families loyal to the Spanish crown were given alotments to rebuild the village as they saw fit.

The Mosque was destroyed, and in its place the Christian church built, the Iglesia de Nuestra Señora del Rosario, evident by the octagonal shape of the nave and squashed outline of the church which is completely surrounded on all sides by homes.

The church has undergone several improvements since it was first built, notably in the 17th and 18th centuries as the population of the village boomed, and then again in the 1940’s to restore the church after the devastating effects of the Spanish civil war. Within the church the original gothic vault near the main altar can still be seen.

In the upper streets of the village you will also see several narrow alleys where the rock outcrop covers the street and seems to push the houses down into the valley below. In fact the village is generally quite stable, and those rocky outcrops you see have been in place throughout the occupied timeline of the village.

As you wander the streets, do not miss seeing the painted fountain, Puente Pintada, the most important of Benaojan’s many fountains, and the one which gives the main street its name, Calle Fuente. This little fountain has been retiled and decorated by the Asprodisis Association, but has been in use since ancient times, and was the main fountain on the road between Cortes de la Frontera and Villaluenga del Rosario.

Be sure to appreciate the karst mountains surrounding Benaojan while you are here, most are still growing as Africa pushes under Iberia. To return to Ronda, simple retrace your steps back to the station, or at around 1:30 you could catch the bus outside the Unicaja bank.

Omar ibn Hafsun Mural in Juzcar

The Serranía de Ronda was extensively populated by neolithic and then bronze age people and Juzcar is no exception. A stone structure that could have been a defensive tower on the boundary between Juzcar and Farajan, is proof of ancient peoples living and working in the district. Very little evidence of their activities has been found, though the area has not been excavated to any great extent.

In Roman times, whilst Acinipo and Arunda were thriving, we believe the area around Juzcar was mostly unoccupied but may have possessed a local iron mine. In fact the name Juzcar, terminating in -ar is highly suggestive that Arab invaders in 711 AD encountered either Romanised Iberians or Visigothic people who would have adopted Roman customs.

The Berber settlers typically kept the pre-existing name when they established their new settlements. Thus Juzcar may have been a Roman mine with attached villa, that by the early 8th century could have been a small hamlet. Historically, we know that many of the villages of the Serranía were considered to be Mozarab villages. Mozarabs were Christians who adopted the Arab language as their own, and some of the customs of their Muslim neighbours, but never converted to the Islamic faith.

These people were tolerated, but never truly accepted, and were often removed from their homes in the village and forced to live further away on the outskirts or even in the countryside, and it is from this community that the Christian rebel Omar ibn Hafsun (also known as Omar ben Hafsun) is believed to have been descended.

Omar ibn Hafsun’s was a rebel during the reign of the Caliphate at Córdoba who at his height controlled a significant amount of territory in Andalusia. He is believed to have been born in 850AD on an outlying farm or defensive hamlet known as Torrichela which may have been located a few kilometres north of Juzcar, however his story is very confused, and some think he was actually born further away at the coast. What is certain is that the good people of Juzcar and Parauta claim him as their own.

After Omar ibn Hafsun’s death in 917 AD, his kingdom centred at Bobastro in central Málaga province was administered by his sons, but eventually fell to the Caliphate’s forces in 928 AD. Juzcar and most other Mozarab strongholds found it increasingly difficult to remain Christian after this time, and almost impossible 100 years later when the Almoravid and Almohad empires invaded Al-Andalus, all Mozarabs being required to convert to Islam or face the consequences. In those days, the consequences could simply be higher taxes and restrictive practices, or in some cases being arrested on trumped up charges and executed or sold into slavery.

Prior to the Christian conquest Juzcar was known for it’s silk which was hand made by local artisans, some of whom were Jewish and lived as free men. Jews were generally accepted in Islamic Spain, though their lives weren’t always comfortable. Juzcar’s Christian population was small, and consisted almost exclusively to be slaves.

Around the time of the Christian reconquest in 1485, Juzcar and this valley was Moorish and Islamic, but was quickly evacuated as Moors were compelled to leave the area to make way for Christian settlers from the north, and nothing of Juzcar’s Moorish past survives. Some historians relate that Juzcar was selected by the Catholic Monarchs Ferdinand and Isabella to be a slave village. In essence the entire population would be rounded up and sent to work as slaves in the royal factories.

Santa Catalina Church at Sunrise

The neighbouring village of Moclon was spared this calamity, allowing many muslims, known as Moriscos, to stay and attempt to rebuild their lives. Though few were allowed to remain in their own homes as these were allocated to soldiers and supporters of the Catholic monarchs as spoils of war. Sadly these people were pressured to become Christian, and during the inquisition several people from the Genal Valley, including families in Moclon were fined or imprisoned for secretly practising Islam.

Juzcar’s church of Santa Catalina of Siena was built in 1505 in the village square, containing only a single nave, and supposedly on the location of the village mosque that had been destroyed. Moclon’s church was built several years later in 1531, largely owing to Moclon retaining it’s Muslim population. However the times were not peaceful, and in 1568 a Morisco uprising brought war and carnage to Andalucía, and Moclon was not spared. So devastating was the rebellion that hundreds of thousands of Moriscos were forcibly removed from Spain to North Africa.

A legend hailing from Moclon, tells of a bandit Morisco named El Tarajillo who refused to leave and was forced into the mountains for safety or face arrest. To survive he would steal from the rich and give to the poor, an Andalucian Robin Hood, but the story is alas only a legend, believed to have been based on the history of the young Omar ibn Hafsun who was indeed a thief until the age of 19 when he was forced to flee to Morocco after accidentally murdering a noble he was trying to rob. This was of course long before he became king of the Mozarab rebellion, but note the similarity of the names, El Tarajillo, and ibn Hafsun’s bithplace Torrichela. Today there is a pass in the mountains known as the Paso de Tarajillo.

The church in Juzcar has been rebuilt several times, first to increase it’s size when the nearby Moclon village was abandoned in the early 1600s, and then again after Spain’s civil war. Anarchists, communists, and republicans during the civil war would attack church property because the nationalists under Franco were staunch Catholics. The Mudejar style belfry is original, as is part of the arch supporting the tower.

Behind the church, and very much within the village proper, lies the cemetery, a white washed maze of above ground crypts with Christian arches, and towers reminiscent of medieval castles. It sounds strange, but the cemetery in Juzcar is actually one of the most interesting I’ve seen anywhere, and if these things don’t upset you it is well worth a look.

Tin Factory Juzcar

Further away from the village, in the valley below where the Genal River passes, you’ll find the ruined buildings of an old tin mine that was established at Moclon in the 18th century. Back in those days Germany produced the world’s best tin, and in a tale worthy of the best James Bond story, Spanish spies recruited two Swiss engineers named Pedro Menrón and Emerico Dupasquier, and then smuggled them out of Germany in wine barrels to prevent them being arrested.

Knowledge was jealously protected in those days and the German engineers would likely have been executed if they’d been discovered. The tale doesn’t improve, on entering Spain they were whisked to the factory located on a farm outside Juzcar, and given a laboratory and lodgings behind secret doors to prevent word of their presence leaking to German assassins who were on the lookout for the engineers.

Building the tin factory started in 1726, and by 1730 was in full production under the direct control of the king and queen of Spain. On a stone pediment near the factory entrance you can still discern the words “La nunca vista en España REAL FABRICA DE HOJA DE LATA Y SUS ADHERENTES, reinando los siempre invictos monarcas y Católicos Reyes don Felipe V y doña Isabel de Farnesio”. Roughly translated this means “The Never-Before-Seen in Spain Royal Factory For the Manufacture of Tin Sheeting and its By-Products, in the Reign of the Unvanquished Catholic Monarchs Don Felipe V and Doña Isabel de Farnesio”.

The invasion and occupation of Spain in the early 1800s by Napoleonic France changed the Serranía, this once subdued mountain region became a hotbed of rebellion in the struggle for Spanish independence, with many of the villages including Juzcar becoming relatively safe havens for rebels. This wasn’t just a war between France and Spain, it was also a war between afrancesados (Spanish Francophiles) and nationalists.

During May of 1810 the villagers of the Serranía including from Juzcar, but known simply by the pejorative ‘Serranos’, translated as mountain people, attacked and looted Ronda whilst the bulk of the French forces were engaged elsewhere. For this and other actions during the Peninsula War Juzcar was granted the title “Villa muy noble y fidelísima” by the restored Spanish monarchy in 1814.

The remainder of the 19th century, and early 20th century until Franco’s defeat of the republicans were troubled times in Spain. Politically the country struggled to establish a stable government, and civil disobedience or outright rebellion were common. Juzcar’s fortunes waned as the tin factory went into bankruptcy and workers left the village for Ronda or the larger cities. The 1960s saw the final death knell when Juzcar’s remaining flour mills were shutdown for good.

Today Juzcar is little more than a hamlet, with most employment being seasonal in the agriculture industry. However the village is making strides to reinvent itself as a nature tourism destination for the Alto Genal.

Nasrid Fabric (from Metropolitan Museum of Art)

By the middle of the 13th century the Almohads had lost most of their former possessions in Iberia to Castile, all that remained in 1238 was the Kingdom of Granada, of which Ronda was now an important capital. The first Nasrid Sultans of Granada managed to halt the first reconquista of Ferdinand I by promising fealty to Castile, and historical evidence confirms that until 1480 an annual payment of gold was made to the treasury of Castile.

It was during this time that one of Ronda’s most famous poets lived. Abul Beka (also known as Salih ben Sharif al-Rundi), born 1204 and who died in 1285 was a poet and master of Arab-Andalucian culture and history, who wrote some of the Arab world’s most poignant poetry about the futility of war and the great losses to the world of the Muslim cities of Sevilla, Toledo, and Córdoba.

Even today Abul Beka is remembered in Ronda, the square in front of the San Sebastian Minaret is named Plaza de Abul Beka, and a dance school that has won international acclaim for teaching Flamenco and traditional Andalucian dance honours him in its name, the Abul Beka Folk Dance Association.

Despite the official peace, war was an almost constant irritant in the region, indeed soldiers from the Kingdom of Granada regularly fought alongside Almohad and then Marinid troops in the Maghreb, as well as the frontier villages of Al-Andaluz. Christian forces continued their attacks in Southern Andalucia as they desperately tried to reach the straits of Gibraltar and prevent further invasions from Africa in support of Moorish Spain.

Whilst part of the Kingdom of Granada, Ronda in fact exercised considerable autonomy. Located close to the frontier with Christian Spain local decisions often had to be made quickly so a system of defences and signalling towers in the Serrania were built. Many of the local villages to the North and West of Ronda are known to have changed hands several times. Further South in Cadiz a new threat to both Christian Spain and Muslim Granada had appeared, an emergent Morocco under the Marinids.

In 1288, sensing that his armies wouldn’t be able to contain those of the Christian Kingdoms to his North, the emir of Granada approached Abu Yaqub Yusuf an-Nasr, the Marinid King of Morocco and cedes Cadíz to the Maronids in return for additional Berber troops in Al-Andalus.

In 1329, Abu Al-Hasan ‘Ali ibn ‘Othman (1297-1351), sultan of Morocco invades Granada, capturing Algeciras, and shortly after installs his son Abomelic Abd al-Malik (also known as King Abomelic of Ronda), as king of Ronda, Algeciras and Gibraltar.

Abomelic started an ambitious period of construction and renovation in Ronda, including some of Ronda’s most beautiful Moorish buildings such as the Arab Baths, and the Casa del Gigante. Abomelic successfully engaged the forces of Christian Spain from Ronda, at one point nearly capturing Jerez de la Frontera from Alfonso XI, but in 1388, he was finally defeated on the battlefield and killed by Diego Fernandez Herrera of Jerez, at which point Ronda once again came under the control of the Nasrid dynasty in Granada.

By 1340 Portuguese-Castilian forces are on the march again, inflicting a terrible defeat on Marinid forces at the Battle of Rio Salada, and four years later after a two year siege Algeciras is finally lost. Gibraltar fell to Christian forces in 1462, long after the last of the Marinids had returned to Africa and Ronda was back under the control of Granada.

Ronda’s new palaces and economic growth in a time of war sadly didn’t lead to peace-time prosperity because around 1349 one of the greatest tragedies of the medieval ages, the black death (bubonic plague), appeared as if from nowhere and within months is estimated to have killed a third of the population of Iberia including Alfonso XI and the bulk of his army. Ronda itself was devastated, her citizens decimated. In such a small city with only a single supply of water, it would have been almost impossible to avoid the disease.

One of the survivors of the black death was another of Ronda’s most famous sons, Ibn Abbad al-Rundi (1333-1390) who was born in Ronda to a wealthy and influential family. He studied law in Ronda before leaving for Fez to follow his heart and study sufism. Ibn Abbad quickly established a reputation as one of the leading sufi scholars and is credited with writing a series of “Letters on the Sufi Path”.

Despite endless wars against the Christian north, and frequent small invasions from North Africa, Ronda, the “Rose of the Kingdom of Granada”, remained under Muslim control until 1485, her citizens waking on the morning of the 14th May 1485 to the dreadful site of thousands of Christian soldiers surrounding their fair city.

Ceiling of the Arab Baths

Whilst in ruins now, the Arab Baths are still the best preserved in Spain and offer a tantalising peek into Moorish life during the 13th to 16th centuries. Be sure to watch the animated short presentation (5 minutes) when you get here. Be aware that the video presentation describes the water tower as a Noria (the modern Spanish word derived from Arabic), however the water pump in Ronda is a chain pump and is more correctly known even today as a Saqiya.

Located just outside the old city walls near the Puente Arabe, the Arab Baths (Baños Arabes) of Ronda are considered the best preserved Moorish baths in Spain, better even than those that survive in Granada. They were originally built sometime in the late 12th or early 13th centuries during the reign of the Almohad dynasty, although tradition seems to favour the reign of Abomelic from the 14th century as the time of their construction.

The exterior of the baths is more or less intact, the Saqiya (water pump tower) still exists, as does the aqueduct. On the top of the Saqiya, and accessed by a ramp from ground level, a donkey turned a wheel that pumped water from the river below and along the aqueduct at the side wall of the baths. As you enter the gates into the bath compound look to the far front right corner of the compound and you’ll see a tower with a connecting wall, at the top of which is a channel for water, and beside which is the ramp.

A wide well was sunk inside the tower and then connected to the confluence of the two rivers, the rio Guadalevín and arroyo de las Culebras. Within the tower two large wheels and a rope belt would pull the water from the well to the top of the tower in a series of large terracotta buckets (canjilones) that were emptied into a wooden channel that then exited the tower at its top and emptied into the aqueduct adjoining the tower. From the aqueduct the water would run into the baths to be heated and distributed into the hot rooms of the Hammam, the Arabic word for the baths.

The technology used in the Saqiya here in Ronda was invented by an Islamic engineer named Abu al Tz ibn Razaz Al-Jazari (1136-1206), and described in a book he published to great acclaim Kitáb fí ma’rifat al-hiyal al-handasiyya which roughly translated means the Book of Mechanical Devices. While Al-Jazari never visited Ronda, or indeed Iberia, his achievements were followed with interest throughout the Islamic world, and his book spread far and wide very quickly.

Al-Jazari improved on the traditional Saqiya designs that had been common in the middle eastern nations since pre-Christian times, and also invented the crankshaft which the builders of Ronda’s Arab Baths incorporated, so we know that the baths could not have been built earlier than the late 12th century. Of course an older and more primitive bathhouse may have existed on the same site but we have no evidence of this.

Given that much of Ronda’s defensive capability including the Puente Arabe and the defensive walls above it were built by the Almohads, it isn’t unreasonable to suggest the Baños Arabes were built in the same time. Almohad influence in Al-Andaluz started to wane after 1212 when they lost a decisive battle to Christian Spain at Las Navas de Tolosa near Jaén, around the same time Ronda had become an important trading and cultural city.

Islam requires cleanliness of it’s adherents, even more so when entering a city of importance such as Ronda, so most Islamic historians believe a bathhouse would have been built alongside the new entrance to the city. Whilst the Arab Baths in Ronda may have been expanded or extensively renovated during the time of Abomelik, it is reasonable to believe a bathhouse at the entrance to the city would

To make things easier for the donkey powering the pump, a flywheel was used comprising a weight on the drawbar behind the donkey which would rotate the vertical shaft leading to the Saqiya’s crankshaft. The purpose of the flywheel was to reduce load on the animal and provide a smoother rotation thus also minimising jerky movements on the donkey’s spine. The flywheel was an invention of a prominent Islamic Andalucían scholar named Abu Abdallah Muhammad Ibn Ibrahim Ibn Bassal, one of the court scholars in Toledo who published a seminal work on agronomy Diwan al-filaha.

Moorish Defensive Walls

By 1085 the Christian armies of the North under Alfonso VI had retaken Madrid and crushed a Moorish army at Toledo, the first major city to fall in the reconquest of Spain. Fearing that the Taifa’s would be powerless to stop their onslaught, the kings sent emissaries to the Almoravid clans of North Africa pleading for their intervention.

The following year an Almoravid army swept North from their landing point at Gibraltar and within a few short months had routed Alfonso’s army. In 1090 they returned, but this time they deposed all the Taifa’s except for Zarogoza, and unified what was left of Muslim Spain under the Almoravid dynasty.

Ronda at the time was a promising beacon of enlightenment filled with poets and philosophers, but the murder of her poet governor Abu Khalid Yazid Al-Radi, son of the emir in Sevilla in 1091 by an Almoravid general named Garur al-Lamtuni, was a portent of the times to come.

The surrender of Ronda was negotiated to allow the governor and his family, and the important families of Ronda to leave in peace and return to their lands, but in a treacherous moment reminiscent of the best of Shakespeare, Al-Radi was held captive, publicly tortured, and killed in Ronda’s main square.

A period of vicious persecution of Jews and Christians followed, and at the same time Almoravid disdain for the easy and corrupt lifestyle of the Spanish Moors saw an austere society develop with Sharia law at the heart of their religious society. The Almoravid elite were known for being quite zealous and were required to cover their faces.

Almoravid architecture too has been described as functional rather than beautiful. Never very numerous, and fearing assassination from their subjects, the Almoravid elite frequently employed Christian mercenaries for protection.

In 1145, a very brief independence ensued in Ronda which was joined with Jerez (today known as Jerez de la Frontera), under a quick succession of rulers, Abu-l-Qaim Ahyal banu Idris, Abu-l-gamma banu ‘Azzun banu Galbun, and ‘Ali banu Isà banu Maymun. By all accounts the rebellion was swiftly and viciously put down by Almoravid soldiers, with many of Ronda’s nobel families put to death.

The Almoravid’s natural enemies in the Maghreb, the Almohads, instigated riots throughout the Almoravid empire in protest at heavy handed Almoravid rule, and in 1148 having ousted the Almoravid in Morocco now invade Muslim Spain. The Almohad siege and conquest of Ronda was decisive and destroyed large parts of the defensive structure of the city, resulting in a second golden age in Ronda as the city was rebuilt.

The Almohad dynasty was every bit as orthodox as the Almoravid they replaced, yet in Ronda their rule is marked with a number of major defensive projects, the city walls were strengthened, the Almocabar Gate built along with the octagonal defensive tower which collapsed during the Catholic Monarchs attack on Ronda in 1485, and where the Iglesia de Espiritu Santo now stands.

They are also responsible for the construction of the water mine and fortress below the Casa del Rey Moro, and it is believed the original Puente Arabe, the lowest of the three bridges may have also been built by them.

It was during the Almohad rule that fake conversions to Islam became common, historians believe that well over 50% of the population of Muslim Spain were Mozarab, people who spoke Arabic as their mother tongue, yet still kept the Christian faith. The wars of reconquest with the Christian Kingdoms to the North were well underway, and non-Muslims in Al-Andaluz had many of their rights curtailed, in fact random imprisonment or torture on trumped up charges of aiding the enemy are believed to have been common.

Yakub Al-Mansur, the emir of the Almohad dynasty decreed in 1198 that all converters to Islam should wear a blue tunic with very wide sleeves, and a blue skullcap that covered the ears, apparently similar to a packsaddle used on donkeys. No doubt this design was deliberate, and fueled even more rebellion.

Christian Cross in Ronda

Ronda is famous for it’s churches built after the reconquest as Catholic Spain asserted it’s control over the formerly Muslim city. Four of the many churches in Ronda are especially noted for their architecture or the story behind them, and all are part of every great tour of Ronda.

Christianity in Ronda began with Visigothic control of Iberia after the collapse of the Roman Empire in the 5th century, and quickly became the dominant faith. Arab invaders entered Iberia and overran the Visigoths beginning in 711 AD, and until 1485 Ronda was a Muslim stronghold alternating between liberal interpretations of Muslim faith and the more conservative Sharia versions.

At times Ronda was a centre of enlightenment with many Islamic poets and scholars born in Ronda although most found fame and fortune in other cities such as Córdoba, Baghdad, Cairo, or the Berber courts in North Africa.

Despite nearly 800 years as a Muslim city, Christianity in Ronda was never fully extinguished, and if you have a bit of time to spare, a trip to the Mozarab cave church ‘Virgen de la Cabeza’ is well worth your time though it is never open to the public.

None of the Muslim mosques of Ronda survived the reconquest, all were destroyed and Christian churches built on their foundations. Part of a minaret from one of Ronda’s mosques still stands, the San Sebastian Minaret, the lower third is Moorish, whilst the top two thirds are Christian.

Inside Santa Maria la Mayor it is possible to see part of the original Mosque which stood in its place. A single column from the mosque is located behind the alter. This same church was the original location of Julius Caesars Temple of Diana, which subsequently became a Visigothic church prior to the Muslim invasion.

Rondeños are often quite proud of their Catholic faith, and many will make the sign of the cross against their chests when passing a church entrance, as too will nuns walking through town, although you may also see a nun stop at the entrance to a church she is passing and briefly bow before continuing on her way.

There are several convents in Ronda, all of which are still home to nuns. There are also private convents for retired priests and nuns, though these are strictly off limits to all but family of the residents. The most famous convent in Ronda, The Convent of Santo Domingo, is however no longer used as such. In fact the building is owned by the Ayuntamiento and used as the city exhbition centre.

Abbas ibn Firnas

In 711 AD, an Arab prince named Musa Ben Nusayr conquered most of Iberia and parts of southern France for the Ummayad Caliphate. A captain in the Berber army, Zaide Ben Kesadi El Sebseki, realising the importance of Ronda as a fortress managed to negotiate a peaceful surrender of the city in August of that year, and henceforth Ronda was known as Izn-Rand Onda which in the Arabic of the day meant “City of the Castle”, and became capital of the Cora of Takurunna of the Córdoba Emirate.

The Arab and Berber men who invaded Iberia came alone, they brought no families with them, most settled in Iberia with Iberian wives, but their children spoke Arabic and were born into the Muslim faith. Native Iberian peoples were forced to learn Arabic, and those who chose to retain their Christian or Jewish beliefs were known as Mozarabs.

Many converted to Islam and became known as Muwallads. A great many Christian women and children were captured and sold into slavery at the markets in Córdoba, often being taken to Baghdad, Damascus and other parts of the Arab world.

By 750 the muslim world was in upheaval, as the Abbasid revolution unfolded. The last surviving Ummayyad, prince Abd al-Rahman fled to Spain from Baghdad and founded a new Umayyad dynasty in Spain which lasted a further 300 years centered at Córdoba.

Moorish invaders in the 8th century completely changed the landscape and personality of Ronda as the city became an important capital in the Moorish caliphate over Spain. Muslim mosques quickly replaced Roman and Visigothic churches, new technology from the Arab world improved irrigation and farming practices, and the arts and philosophy flourished in this enlightened of provinces, just as the sun had darkened over the rest of Europe.

One of Ronda’s first famous sons was born only 100 years after the Arab conquest, Abbas Ibn Firnas a man with a fascination for science, mathematics, music, astronomy, music, engineering, and who is credited with being the first man to ever fly a glider. He is also credited with a number of important inventions such as a method of making colourless glass, reading lenses, an innovative design for a water clock, and is widely believed to be the first man to successfully build and then fly a glider.

His glider was tested in 875 by gliding from the top of the minaret of the Great Mosque at Córdoba, at the time a centre of enlightenment. Ibn Firnas wasn’t successful in sustaining flight but eyewitnesses described him managing to glide like a bird before crashing. He was 65 at the time, and injured his back in the attempt.

Rebellion and Ronda’s Independence

By the end of the 9th century disaffection amongst the Mozarabs and Muwallads triggered a revolt led by Umar ibn Hafsun (also known as Omar ben Hafsun), an Iberian born Moor, over high taxes and humiliating treatment on the part of the Ummayyad dynasty.

By 885 ibn Hafsun controlled most of Western and Southern Andalucia including Ronda. His capital was at Bobastro, a short ride from Ronda, although some historians believe this was only his spiritual capital, and that Ronda was his military and administrative capital.

The rebellion might have continued for longer than it did, perhaps a peace might even have been arranged, except for ibn Hafsun’s conversion to Christianity and baptism under the name Samuel in 899 AD, an event that immediately caused his Muwallad supporters to abandon the rebellion.

Renewed determination on the part of the Emir in Córdoba to capture and kill ibn Hafsun was swift. Sadly, ibn Hafsun’s rebellion which had previously been a simple matter of economics and political rights, quickly became a struggle between Muslim and Christian as Mozarabs flocked to his cause.

After his conversion a number of Christian chapels, and churches were built within the Serrania de Ronda and parts of Andalucia under ibn Hafsun’s control. Two in particular are worthy of mention, the Iglesia Mozarab at Bobastro, and La Iglesia rupestre Virgen de la Cabeza located just outside Ronda.

The Iglesia Mozarab at Bobastro was founded by ibn Hafsun as a church, convent and bishopric and built before his death in 917. The city and bishopric of Bobastro was completely destroyed in 928, in retaliation for ibn Hafsun’s impertinence. The bodies of ibn Hafsun and his three sons were carried to Córdoba shortly after the rebellion was crushed, and then ritually crucified outside the Mezquita.

Outside Ronda the Iglesia rupestre Virgen de la Cabeza was spared any damage and allowed to remain as shelter for a small hermitage of about 10 monks who continued to provide prayer to the Mozarabs of Ronda. In fact Virgen de la Cabeza is one of the oldest Christian churches in Andalucia, and most likely the oldest Mozarab church.

From 928 till 1015 Ronda enjoyed relative peace under the Umayyad dynasty in Córdoba again, and history tells us the repercussions for being a key city in the rebellion were quickly forgiven. The collapse of the Caliphate saw Ronda achieve independence again, this time as the Muslim Taifa Ronda, a kingdom amongst many in Moorish Spain.

The period saw a local dynasty under Abu Nur Hilal establish itself and led to one of Ronda’s golden periods, now known as Madinat Runda, with new villages founded in the Serrania, the city walls upgraded, and new buildings constructed.

The first Taifa in Ronda lasted from 1039 to 1065, and endured its fair share of political upset. The first emir, a Berber named Abu Nur Hilal banu Abi Qurra banu Dunas al-Yafraní (Abu Nur Hilal), expelled the Umayyad representative in 1039, proclaiming himself ruler.

His first reign was continually harassed by the Taifa of Seville, and in 1053 he was deposed, being held prisoner in Sevilla. For a period of four years Badis banu Hilal, his son, assumed the throne, but willingly allowed his father’s restoration on his escape from Sevilla in 1057.

Abu Nur Hilal’s second period on the throne was short lived, lasting less than a year until his death. He was succeeded by Abu Nars Fatuh, who ruled from 1057 until 1066 after successfully having Abu Nur Hilal’s son and family killed to prevent them assuming power.

Abu Nars Fatuh was himself killed on a trip to Sevilla, on the pretext of securing peace, and his city quickly fell to Sevilla in 1066, coincidentally the year of the Norman conquest of England, however peace wasn’t long secured, war with an emboldened Christian Spain was coming.

Roman Coins from Acinipo

The Roman Empire had been expanding out of the Italian peninsula and finally found it’s way to Iberia as Roman and Carthaginian forces battled for control of the Mediterranean, and sadly the peace known around Ronda was shattered beginning in the 2nd century BC. Rome and Carthage fought two bloody and protracted wars, with Spain suffering terribly as Roman armies vied for control of key supply routes.

Scipio Emilianus himself ordered the construction of a castle at Ronda, which in it’s day was known as the “Castle of Laurels”. The foundations of this castle lie beneath the Iglesia Convento de la Caridad in Plaza Duquesa de Parcent, right in the heart of Ronda’s old town.

Romanization of Spain happened very quickly once Roman legions had pacified the peninsula, and most linguistic and cultural groups were assimilated into the Roman Empire becoming the forebears of today’s modern Spaniard.

The defeat of Carthage brought only a momentary peace to Ronda and surrounding areas, and by 45 BC the district castle and town was destroyed once again during the Roman civil war that pitted Julius Caesar against Pompey the Great.

The 1st century AD brought a renewed peace and prosperity to the Serrania, Acinipo grew into a modern Roman City with Ampitheater and the right to mint its own coins, in fact Acinipo has been mentioned as one of the more important Roman towns in Iberia.

Acinipo

The collapse of the unified Roman Empire in 395 brought Ronda and the rest of Iberia under the control of the Western Roman Empire, although by 409 much of Iberia had been overrun by Germanic Vandals, Suevi, and Alans, and so weak had the empire become that Rome itself was sacked for the first time in its 800 year history.

In 440, the Suevi under Rechila are known to have been in control of both Acinipo and Arunda, however they, and the vandal tribes control over Iberia was short lived. By the end of the 5th century the Kingdom of the Visigoths was dominant in much of Iberia, the Vandals had been pushed into North Africa and the Alans and Suevi brought under Visigothic rule.

Visigothic Iberia never really knew much peace, it was troubled with a series of bloody disputes over succession to the throne at Toledo, culminating in the defeat of Agila I when the citizens of Córdoba revolted in 550 AD killing his son and destroying the royal treasure.

Seville fell to Athanagild in 549 or 550, who declared himself king in opposition to Agila I, and at some point in 552 the assistance of Justinian, emperor of the Eastern Roman Empire, was requested to help settle the dispute.

Justinian had long held ambitions of reuniting the Eastern and Western Roman Empires and immediately dispatched an army which landed at Malaga in June of 552, then joined forces with Athanagild’s army and marched on towards Agila I’s army around Seville.

By 554 Justinian’s army in Iberia had taken control of most of Southern Spain’s coastal land and the Balearic Islands, while Athanagild reigned in the North. A new province of the Eastern Roman Empire known as Hispania was formed and included the cities of Malaga, Cadiz, Almería, Cartegena, Valencia, and of course Arunda.

Acinipo had been destroyed by the time of the founding of the Hispania province, never to be rebuilt, whilst Ronda became a prize worth fighting for due to its location above the Tajo gorge. The Byzantines immediately set about rebuilding Arunda and redeveloping the farmland, but their efforts were short-lived, by 624 the Visigothic Kingdom had finally reasserted its influence in Hispania and driven the Byzantines back to Constantinople.

Pre-Historic Cave Paintings

As far back as pre-Roman times Ronda has occupied an important role in this part of Southern Spain because of it’s high cliffs, deep gorge, and easily defensible position on a main trade route. Located on one of the main routes inland from southern coastal ports, Ronda and it’s older but now ruined sister city Acinipo, have together been occupied since at least 1,100BC.

Paleolithic and Neolithic people roamed the hills around Ronda leaving many fascinating reminders of their presence, including cave paintings at Cueva de la Pileta, dolmen burial sites near Montecorto, and in the Grazalema Natural Park, and numerous sites where archeologists have discovered stone age pottery and other relics.

Cueva de la Pileta is open to the public and your guide will show you all the important cave art in an easy walk through the cave that takes about two hours. It’s fascinating to think that the very land we live on in the 21st century was also inhabited in historical times ancient humans and maybe even Neanderthal tribes.

It is tempting to imagine life for the cave dwellers who called Ronda home all those thousands of years ago, picture a small tribe of maybe 20 or 30 individuals hunting deer, or wild boar, and sitting around a campfire in the valleys below Ronda, with skins drying in the summer heat with a knowledge that they would be needed when the autumn rains appear, and more so, in the bitter cold of winter.

The descendants of these cave dwellers are believed to be Tartessian, or at the very least closely related to Tartessians, an indigenous people to Southern Portugal and Western Andalucia. It is commonly thought that the Tartessians were Celtic, but linguistic evidence suggests the Tartessian language was unrelated to any of the other languages of Iberia. It is possible the Tartessian people were the same builders of the dolmen burial chambers seen scattered around the mountains of the Serrania.

Around 1,100 BC the Phoenicians, later known as Carthiginians settled in Iberia and founded Cádiz, as well as numerous other villages, including Acinipo, whilst Greek merchants arriving much later established a trading post in Ronda.

Acinipo is a Roman corruption of the Phoenician name of the town which translated means “Land of Wine”, whereas Ronda, which was settled by Greek merchants, was known to the Greeks as Runda, and roughly translated means “surrounded by mountains”.

The Tartessians, Phoenicians, and Greeks are believed to have lived in relative harmony for hundreds of years, and in fact Tartessian culture is known to have directly benefited from it’s close association with both in the development of their own writing system from the 7th century BC.

Strabo, a Greek historian who lived from 64 BC to 24 AD wrote that most of the indigenous peoples of Spain claimed to have written histories going back as far as 6,000 years which ties in nicely with the neolithic evidence found in these parts.

By the 6th century BC Celtic peoples from the north had arrived and taken control of the area and mixed with the Tartessian descendants, the Turdetani. Collectively the area controlled by the new Celtic peoples became known as Beturia, which stretched from the Rio Guadiana to the Guadalquivir River.

Pliny the Elder in his “Third Book Of The History Of Nature” describes the towns of Acinippo and Arunda as being within the region of Beturia, and specifically the part controlled by Celtici whilst the other part, further to the west and north were still controlled by the Turduli.

Evidence suggests when the Celts first arrived in Iberia and started to settle that vast parts of the countryside emptied in their wake, and current thinking suggests the Turdetani simply abandoned the areas around Ronda and Acinipo either before the Celts arrived, or around the same time.