The Almeria region

History

Almeria is the easternmost province of Andalusia in Southern Spain located on the Mediterranean coastline. Almeria is also the name of the capital.

The name Almeria stems from al-Meraya (Arabic, “the watchtower) because of the magnificent Moorish castle, Alcazaba in Almeria city.

Among the Muslim fortresses of Andalusia, only the Alhambra in Granada is larger.
The city was founded by Abd ar-Rahman 11 of Cordoba in 955 as a principal harbour in his extensive domain, to strengthen his Mediterranean defences against the Fatimid caliphate in Tunisia. In this period the port city of Almeria reached its historical peak, continuing, after the fragmentation of the caliphate of Cordoba, under powerful local Muslim taifa emirs like Jairan, the first independent Emir of Almeria and Cartegena and Almotacin the poet emir, both fearless warriors but also patrons of the arts.

A silk industry, based on the planting of Mulberry trees in the hot dry landscape supported Almeria in the 11th century and made its strategic harbour an even more valuable prize. Contested by the emirs of Granada and Valencia, Almeria suffered many sieges, and one especially fierce when Christians, called to the 2nd crusade by Pope Eugene 111, were also called to fall upon the Muslim infidel on a more familiar coast. On that occasion Alfonzo V11, at the head of a mixed force of Catalans, Genoese, Pisans and Franks led a crusade against the rich city, and Almeria fell to occupation in October 1147.

In a decade it had fallen under the control of the puritanical Almoravid emirs, and though its glorious culture was diminished it was not until the late 15th century it fell permanently into Christian hands when it was surrendered to the Catholic Monarchs, Ferdinand and Isabella in December 1489.

The 16th century was for Almeria a century of natural and human catastrophes. There were at least four earthquakes, of which one in 1522 was especially violent, devastating the city.

The people who had remained faithful to the Muslim faith were expelled from Almeria after the war of Los Alpujarras in 1568 and scattered across Spain.
Incursions and attacks by Berber pirates became frequent in that century and continued unabated until the early 18th century.

At that time huge iron mines were discovered and French and British companies came to settle in the area bringing new wealth and prosperity raising the regions relative importance within Spain overall.


Economy
In the 2nd half of the 20th century Almeria witnesses spectacular economic growth driven by a burgeoning tourism industry but more importantly intensive agricultural industry (as evidenced by the greenhouse development in the Almeria bay area around the airport) primarily produced for many of the major northern European markets.
The economy had a further uplift when Almeria hosted the Mediterranean games in 2005 and the investment in enhancing the regions infrastructure

Tourism

People and culture
As in other parts of Spain there is a strong populist desire to achieve the status of an “autonomous region” in spite of great efforts of the Andalusian regional government to dissuade voters pressing for this course of action.

Geography

Almeria in the far sun baked south-eastern corner of Andalusia is the driest region in Europe with the highest hours of sunshine and the lowest rainfall with an annual average temperature of 19 degrees. It’s no surprise therefore that much of the province is comprised of semi-arid desert like landscape supporting a sparse population