Las Hurdes
Encyclopedia
Las Hurdes is a comarca
in the Sistema Central
, at the northern end of province of Cáceres of Extremadura
, one of Spain's seventeen Autonomous Communities.
to the west, Sierra de Francia
(Salamanca Province
) of Castile-Leon to the north and Trasierra/Tierras de Granadilla
to the south. It is a relatively high mountain region with low population density. Its territory is linked to the neighboring valley of Las Batuecas, in whose lower fringes lies the Las Mestas alquería which is historically part of Las Hurdes.
The average weather patterns of the region mark the climate in Las Hurdes as Mediterranean/Continental with Atlantic influence. Despite being usually included as part of the "humid" section of Spain ("España húmeda") physical conditions and natural vegetation are semiarid
. There are seven rivers cutting stony valleys in Las Hurdes: The Río Malo or Ladrillar, Batuecas, Hurdano, Malvellido, Esperabán, Ovejuela and the Río de Los Ángeles.
Age. The oldest stone inscriptions (petroglyphs) date from about 4000 years before the Iberian Roman
era began. The remains are largely testimonial, proving merely that the area was inhabited, for there is no evidence of large settlements.
Remains of settlements from Roman times, when the whole area around Las Hurdes was part of the ancient Roman province of Lusitania
, have been found in sites near Caminomorisco.
The Las Hurdes region was depopulated after the Arab invasion of Spain
in the 8th century, and the first vestiges of repopulation in isolated compounds of a few dwellings or hamlet
s, locally known as alquerías, are dated around the end of the 12th century.
. Livestock illnesses were also widespread. The conditions in the households were unsanitary and, according to visitors, the stench and the misery were overwhelming.
There was also no literacy
in Las Hurdes owing to the harsh living conditions, as well as the distances and travel difficulties involved in reaching the closest centres of learning. The weak church presence
favored widespread ignorance and the survival of ancient superstition
s. The first census in Las Hurdes was made in the 16th century. And it is at that time when the legend of the darkness and backwardness surrounding the region began to be established.
Before 1635 playwright Lope de Vega
set a comedy, Las Batuecas del Duque de Alba, in Las Hurdes in which he cast the area as a haunted place and its inhabitants as benighted and barbarous. Porque no saben que hay Dios / ni más mundo que este valle.
Lope de Vega relied on writings by Alonso Sanchez Racionero of Salamanca (“De Rebus hispaniae”, Alcalá de Henares
, 1632), who travelled to the region and was shocked by the poverty he saw, to write his play.
As the centuries went by other Spanish writers would follow, casting Las Hurdes as a "bad and hidden place", thereby adding to the myth, the prejudice
and the horrified fascination.
Even some serious chroniclers, like Pascual Madoz
in his "Diccionario Geografico Estadistico-Historico", published in 1849, magnified the perceived savagery and moral degradation of the local Hurdanos, with statements like "religion is unknown (there)". This spurious contribution to the dark legend about the region was denounced by a Spanish intellectual, Marcelino Menéndez y Pelayo
, who deemed that such information was "probably supplied by a disgruntled priest of the region" and that Madoz did not bother to verify it.
doctor J. B. Bidé travelled to Las Hurdes researching the region, drawing a map and publishing a report in the Boletín de la Sociedad Geográfica de Madrid.
In 1904 José María Gabriel y Galán
composed the poem "A Su Majestad el Rey" in Salamanca
, asking the crown for help in favor of his forgotten subjects in las Hurdes. This poem was published in "Las Hurdes", a magazine issued for the first time that same year in order to create awareness about the needs of the region.
Finally Francisco Jarrín y Moro, then bishop
of Coria
, established a philanthropic society, "Sociedad Esperanza de Las Hurdes", in 1908. This first organized move attracted many participants in certain key cities keen to take initiatives in order to alleviate the backwardness and superstition of the region's inhabitants. Maurice Legendre, French Catholic intellectual and head of the French Institute in Madrid, visited Las Hurdes in 1912 and denounced the historical neglect of the region. In 1914 he invited his friend and fellow intellectual Miguel de Unamuno
to travel through las Hurdes. Legendre visited the region again in 1922 with an official Comisión Sanitaria; led by his friend Doctor Gregorio Marañón
the latter prepared the ground for the royal visit the same year.
King Alfonso XIII visited Las Hurdes in 1922 in order to display the concern of the crown. Gregorio Marañón accompanied the young king as guide. The king and his retinue lived in military tents planted near the town of Casares de las Hurdes
. During the king's visit a strange incident took place: A local village chief, concerned that the king was drinking only black coffee
(a consequence of the king's aides distrusting the quality of the local milk owing to unsanitary conditions in the area) served the king a small jug of milk saying "Your Majesty rest assured that this milk is totally trustworthy", which turned out to be milk
from his wife who had recently given birth. The king became aware of this fact only after having had his café con leche
.
In 1927 Legendre published an ethnographic
study about Las Hurdes. This study was read by Luis Buñuel
, who continued the gloomy legend that cast a pall over the area by means of the modern media. In a short 1933 film about the hurdanos, Las Hurdes: Tierra Sin Pan
, that Buñuel shot around the town of La Alberca, Las Hurdes was portrayed as an isolated spot full of darkness. Buñuel exaggerated some scenes of the film by staging them beforehand in order to create strong impressions in the public. Screening of Buñuel's movie was banned by the authorities at that time, the Government of the Second Spanish Republic
, for allegedly exploiting the misery in which the local people lived.
's era las Hurdes entered a time of economic stagnation and population loss, as urban centers and some areas close to the coast were favored for development much to the detriment of rural Spain. Following the dictatorship's Plan de Estabilización in 1959, the population declined steeply as people emigrated towards the industrial areas of the large cities and the coastal towns where tourism grew exponentially. Between 1955 and 1975 many Hurdanos left behind small villages where living conditions were often harsh, with cold snowy winters and very basic facilities. Some places like Arrocerezo, La Batuequilla, La Horcajada and El Moral, among others, were abandoned and became ghost town
s.
In 1976, at the beginning of the transition to democracy
, minister Manuel Fraga Iribarne
visited Las Hurdes and drew a plan to do away with the bad name of the region and boost its economy called Plan Hurdes. Fraga's plan was welcomed by Las Hurdes' inhabitants for the positive publicity and the fanfare it provided, but it met with scant success. Spearheaded by ICONA
, much reafforestation was done by planting pine
s, a non-indigenous species, on formerly bare mountain slopes. This measure was counterproductive for the traditional goat
herders and beekeepers
, for the new forests killed the smaller flowering bushes and aromatic plants favoured by goats and bees. The pine woods also made the region highly vulnerable to fires. Other complaints by locals living in alquerías in Valle del Malvellido are that the new forests obliterated ancient paths and clogged wells. New houses were built and the traditional houses of stone and shale
, often small and overcrowded, were replaced with modern dwellings. In places like Las Mestas no ancestral houses have been left.
The Asociación Sociocultural de Las Hurdes (ASHURDES), was established in 1985 . It organized the "II Congreso Nacional de Hurdanos y Hurdanófilos" in 1988, where it sought to ask for greater participation of the local people in policies concerning Las Hurdes. The chief concerns of the ca. 6,000 present day inhabitants of the region are to fight against the stigma issues affecting Las Hurdes and to reverse its depopulation. Despite the presence of experts in the congress, its effect and responses have been less marked than during the 1908 church-led philanthropic effort.
King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia visited Pinofranqueado
in Las Hurdes in April 1998, the first royal visit since 1922. In his speech the king praised the Hurdanos for having overcome the miseries and illnesses of the past. Despite all the media attention trying to cast an appearance of normality, the region still faces difficulties. While Caminomorisco
and Pinofranqueado have seen a certain measure of development, Nuñomoral
, Casares de las Hurdes and Ladrillar
are in recession, losing population owing to emigration to the cities and the ageing of those who remain in the villages.
In 2001, thanks to the Plan Hidrológico Nacional scheme, water supply to the regions of Las Hurdes and La Vera
was improved.
Nowadays Las Hurdes is a good holiday destination for city-dwellers because of its scant population, its pristine wilderness and its landscapes. Thanks largely to tourism, present-day standards of living have risen to the average Spanish levels.
s, potato
es, cereal
s, cherries
, forest products cork
and goat herding.
In recent years, the economy of the area has flourished due mainly to tourism
and beekeeping
. There is a company commercializing the region's honey
.
in the recipe.
The pork products (embutidos) of Las Hurdes have a taste particular to the region, like the local chorizo
s and the morcilla de calabaza, made with pork blood
and pumpkin
.
Among the staples, the best known are the habichuelas and a stew with offal
known as olla con "asaura".
Las Hurdes sweets (buñuelos, hijuelas, bollos fritos (fried buns), roscas, floretas, socochones hurdanos and jeringas) are mostly based on the local honey
, as well as lard
and flour.
The pollen and honey candy caramelos de miel y polen is perhaps the most well-known local sweet outside of the area.
Casar de Palomero
is historically not part of Las Hurdes, but has been merged with the other municipalities of the comarca to form the Mancomunidad de Las Hurdes.
Comarca
A comarca is a traditional region or local administrative division found in parts of Spain, Portugal, Panama, Nicaragua, and Brazil. The term is derived from the term marca, meaning a "march, mark", plus the prefix co- meaning "together, jointly".The comarca is known in Aragonese as redolada and...
in the Sistema Central
Sistema Central
The Sistema Central is one of the main systems of mountain ranges in the Iberian Peninsula.-Description:The Sistema Central is a primary feature of the Meseta Central, the inner Iberian plateau, splitting the meseta into two parts...
, at the northern end of province of Cáceres of Extremadura
Extremadura
Extremadura is an autonomous community of western Spain whose capital city is Mérida. Its component provinces are Cáceres and Badajoz. It is bordered by Portugal to the west...
, one of Spain's seventeen Autonomous Communities.
Description
Las Hurdes covers an area of 470 km², bordered with Sierra de GataSierra de Gata, comarca
Sierra de Gata is a comarca at the northern end of province of Cáceres in Extremadura, one of Spain's seventeen Autonomous Communities. The mountain range of Sierra de Gata is in the area and has given its name to the comarca...
to the west, Sierra de Francia
Sierra de Francia
The Sierra de Francia is a mountain range located at the southern end of province of Salamanca, Castile and León, Spain. It is located about 70 km from Salamanca city, the provincial capital....
(Salamanca Province
Salamanca (province)
Salamanca is a province of western Spain, in the western part of the autonomous community of Castile and León. It is bordered by the provinces of Zamora, Valladolid, Ávila, and Cáceres; and by Portugal....
) of Castile-Leon to the north and Trasierra/Tierras de Granadilla
Trasierra/Tierras de Granadilla
Trasierra/Tierras de Granadilla, traditionally known as Tierras de Granadilla, is a comarca at the northern end of province of Cáceres in Extremadura, one of Spain's seventeen Autonomous Communities....
to the south. It is a relatively high mountain region with low population density. Its territory is linked to the neighboring valley of Las Batuecas, in whose lower fringes lies the Las Mestas alquería which is historically part of Las Hurdes.
The average weather patterns of the region mark the climate in Las Hurdes as Mediterranean/Continental with Atlantic influence. Despite being usually included as part of the "humid" section of Spain ("España húmeda") physical conditions and natural vegetation are semiarid
Arid
A region is said to be arid when it is characterized by a severe lack of available water, to the extent of hindering or even preventing the growth and development of plant and animal life...
. There are seven rivers cutting stony valleys in Las Hurdes: The Río Malo or Ladrillar, Batuecas, Hurdano, Malvellido, Esperabán, Ovejuela and the Río de Los Ángeles.
History
Early history
Archaeological evidence has been found that Las Hurdes region was inhabited in the ChalcolithicChalcolithic Europe
Chalcolithic Europe, the Chalcolithic period of Prehistoric Europe lasts roughly 3500 to 1700 BC.It is the period of Megalithic culture, the appearance of the first significant economic stratification, and probably the earliest presence of Indo-European speakers.The economy of the Chalcolithic,...
Age. The oldest stone inscriptions (petroglyphs) date from about 4000 years before the Iberian Roman
Ancient Rome
Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....
era began. The remains are largely testimonial, proving merely that the area was inhabited, for there is no evidence of large settlements.
Remains of settlements from Roman times, when the whole area around Las Hurdes was part of the ancient Roman province of Lusitania
Lusitania
Lusitania or Hispania Lusitania was an ancient Roman province including approximately all of modern Portugal south of the Douro river and part of modern Spain . It was named after the Lusitani or Lusitanian people...
, have been found in sites near Caminomorisco.
The Las Hurdes region was depopulated after the Arab invasion of Spain
Umayyad conquest of Hispania
The Umayyad conquest of Hispania is the initial Islamic Ummayad Caliphate's conquest, between 711 and 718, of the Christian Visigothic Kingdom of Hispania, centered in the Iberian Peninsula, which was known to them under the Arabic name al-Andalus....
in the 8th century, and the first vestiges of repopulation in isolated compounds of a few dwellings or hamlet
Hamlet (place)
A hamlet is usually a rural settlement which is too small to be considered a village, though sometimes the word is used for a different sort of community. Historically, when a hamlet became large enough to justify building a church, it was then classified as a village...
s, locally known as alquerías, are dated around the end of the 12th century.
The dark legend
The Las Hurdes region was remote, poor and isolated. The general lack of hygiene meant that goiter, pelagra, parasitic worms and other, sometimes repulsive, diseases were common. Many of the local inhabitants (hurdanos) were also suffering from birth defects owing to inbreedingInbreeding
Inbreeding is the reproduction from the mating of two genetically related parents. Inbreeding results in increased homozygosity, which can increase the chances of offspring being affected by recessive or deleterious traits. This generally leads to a decreased fitness of a population, which is...
. Livestock illnesses were also widespread. The conditions in the households were unsanitary and, according to visitors, the stench and the misery were overwhelming.
There was also no literacy
Literacy
Literacy has traditionally been described as the ability to read for knowledge, write coherently and think critically about printed material.Literacy represents the lifelong, intellectual process of gaining meaning from print...
in Las Hurdes owing to the harsh living conditions, as well as the distances and travel difficulties involved in reaching the closest centres of learning. The weak church presence
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
favored widespread ignorance and the survival of ancient superstition
Superstition
Superstition is a belief in supernatural causality: that one event leads to the cause of another without any process in the physical world linking the two events....
s. The first census in Las Hurdes was made in the 16th century. And it is at that time when the legend of the darkness and backwardness surrounding the region began to be established.
Before 1635 playwright Lope de Vega
Lope de Vega
Félix Arturo Lope de Vega y Carpio was a Spanish playwright and poet. He was one of the key figures in the Spanish Golden Century Baroque literature...
set a comedy, Las Batuecas del Duque de Alba, in Las Hurdes in which he cast the area as a haunted place and its inhabitants as benighted and barbarous. Porque no saben que hay Dios / ni más mundo que este valle.
Lope de Vega relied on writings by Alonso Sanchez Racionero of Salamanca (“De Rebus hispaniae”, Alcalá de Henares
Alcalá de Henares
Alcalá de Henares , meaning Citadel on the river Henares, is a Spanish city, whose historical centre is one of UNESCO's World Heritage Sites, and one of the first bishoprics founded in Spain...
, 1632), who travelled to the region and was shocked by the poverty he saw, to write his play.
As the centuries went by other Spanish writers would follow, casting Las Hurdes as a "bad and hidden place", thereby adding to the myth, the prejudice
Prejudice
Prejudice is making a judgment or assumption about someone or something before having enough knowledge to be able to do so with guaranteed accuracy, or "judging a book by its cover"...
and the horrified fascination.
Even some serious chroniclers, like Pascual Madoz
Pascual Madoz
Pascual Madoz , Spanish politician, statistician, was born at Pamplona.In early life he was settled in Barcelona, as a writer and journalist. He envisioned the construction of the Vielha tunnel. He joined the Progresista party formed during the First Carlist War, 1833-40...
in his "Diccionario Geografico Estadistico-Historico", published in 1849, magnified the perceived savagery and moral degradation of the local Hurdanos, with statements like "religion is unknown (there)". This spurious contribution to the dark legend about the region was denounced by a Spanish intellectual, Marcelino Menéndez y Pelayo
Marcelino Menéndez y Pelayo
Marcelino Menéndez y Pelayo was a Spanish scholar, historian and literary critic. Even though his main interest was the History of ideas, and Hispanic philology in general, he also cultivated poetry, translation and philosophy.He was born at Santander where he showed that he was an infant prodigy...
, who deemed that such information was "probably supplied by a disgruntled priest of the region" and that Madoz did not bother to verify it.
Efforts to change the image of the region
At the end of the 19th century, however, las Hurdes was ushered into an unprecedented era of patronage and scholarly attention. Some people began to express publicly genuine concern for the extreme poverty, as well as the resulting abject living conditions, of the people in Las Hurdes. In 1892 FrenchFrance
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
doctor J. B. Bidé travelled to Las Hurdes researching the region, drawing a map and publishing a report in the Boletín de la Sociedad Geográfica de Madrid.
In 1904 José María Gabriel y Galán
José María Gabriel y Galán
José María Gabriel y Galán was a Spanish poet in Castilian and Extremaduran.He was a teacher in Guijuelo & Piedrahíta...
composed the poem "A Su Majestad el Rey" in Salamanca
Salamanca
Salamanca is a city in western Spain, in the community of Castile and León. Because it is known for its beautiful buildings and urban environment, the Old City was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1988. It is the most important university city in Spain and is known for its contributions to...
, asking the crown for help in favor of his forgotten subjects in las Hurdes. This poem was published in "Las Hurdes", a magazine issued for the first time that same year in order to create awareness about the needs of the region.
Finally Francisco Jarrín y Moro, then bishop
Bishop
A bishop is an ordained or consecrated member of the Christian clergy who is generally entrusted with a position of authority and oversight. Within the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox Churches, in the Assyrian Church of the East, in the Independent Catholic Churches, and in the...
of Coria
Coria, Cáceres
Coria is a municipality located in the province of Cáceres, Extremadura, Spain, with some 12,900 inhabitants as of 2009.-History:Coria was taken twice during the Reconquista, firstly after 1085. It was lost to the Almoravids just after 1109 and unsuccessfully besieged in 1138...
, established a philanthropic society, "Sociedad Esperanza de Las Hurdes", in 1908. This first organized move attracted many participants in certain key cities keen to take initiatives in order to alleviate the backwardness and superstition of the region's inhabitants. Maurice Legendre, French Catholic intellectual and head of the French Institute in Madrid, visited Las Hurdes in 1912 and denounced the historical neglect of the region. In 1914 he invited his friend and fellow intellectual Miguel de Unamuno
Miguel de Unamuno
Miguel de Unamuno y Jugo was a Spanish essayist, novelist, poet, playwright and philosopher.-Biography:...
to travel through las Hurdes. Legendre visited the region again in 1922 with an official Comisión Sanitaria; led by his friend Doctor Gregorio Marañón
Gregorio Marañón
Gregorio Marañón y Posadillo was a Spanish physician, scientist, historian, writer and philosopher. He married Dolores Moya in 1911, they had four children ....
the latter prepared the ground for the royal visit the same year.
King Alfonso XIII visited Las Hurdes in 1922 in order to display the concern of the crown. Gregorio Marañón accompanied the young king as guide. The king and his retinue lived in military tents planted near the town of Casares de las Hurdes
Casares de las Hurdes
Casares de las Hurdes , is a municipality located in Las Hurdes, province of Cáceres, Extremadura, Spain. According to the 2006 census , the municipality has a population of 582 inhabitants...
. During the king's visit a strange incident took place: A local village chief, concerned that the king was drinking only black coffee
Black Coffee
Black coffee may refer to:* Coffee, served as a beverage without cream or milk-Music:* "Black Coffee" , written by Sonny Burke, the lyrics by Paul Francis Webster* Black Coffee , 1956...
(a consequence of the king's aides distrusting the quality of the local milk owing to unsanitary conditions in the area) served the king a small jug of milk saying "Your Majesty rest assured that this milk is totally trustworthy", which turned out to be milk
Breast milk
Breast milk, more specifically human milk, is the milk produced by the breasts of a human female for her infant offspring...
from his wife who had recently given birth. The king became aware of this fact only after having had his café con leche
Café con leche
Café con leche is a Spanish coffee beverage. More similar to the Italian caffe latte than to the French café au lait, café con leche is a coffee beverage consisting of strong or bold coffee mixed with scalded milk in approximately a 1:1 ratio...
.
In 1927 Legendre published an ethnographic
Ethnography
Ethnography is a qualitative method aimed to learn and understand cultural phenomena which reflect the knowledge and system of meanings guiding the life of a cultural group...
study about Las Hurdes. This study was read by Luis Buñuel
Luis Buñuel
Luis Buñuel Portolés was a Spanish-born filmmaker — later a naturalized citizen of Mexico — who worked in Spain, Mexico, France and the US..-Early years:...
, who continued the gloomy legend that cast a pall over the area by means of the modern media. In a short 1933 film about the hurdanos, Las Hurdes: Tierra Sin Pan
Las Hurdes: Tierra Sin Pan
Las Hurdes: Tierra Sin Pan , is a 27-minute-long documentary film directed by Luis Buñuel and co-produced by Buñuel and Ramon Acin...
, that Buñuel shot around the town of La Alberca, Las Hurdes was portrayed as an isolated spot full of darkness. Buñuel exaggerated some scenes of the film by staging them beforehand in order to create strong impressions in the public. Screening of Buñuel's movie was banned by the authorities at that time, the Government of the Second Spanish Republic
Second Spanish Republic
The Second Spanish Republic was the government of Spain between April 14 1931, and its destruction by a military rebellion, led by General Francisco Franco....
, for allegedly exploiting the misery in which the local people lived.
Present day
During Francisco FrancoFrancisco Franco
Francisco Franco y Bahamonde was a Spanish general, dictator and head of state of Spain from October 1936 , and de facto regent of the nominally restored Kingdom of Spain from 1947 until his death in November, 1975...
's era las Hurdes entered a time of economic stagnation and population loss, as urban centers and some areas close to the coast were favored for development much to the detriment of rural Spain. Following the dictatorship's Plan de Estabilización in 1959, the population declined steeply as people emigrated towards the industrial areas of the large cities and the coastal towns where tourism grew exponentially. Between 1955 and 1975 many Hurdanos left behind small villages where living conditions were often harsh, with cold snowy winters and very basic facilities. Some places like Arrocerezo, La Batuequilla, La Horcajada and El Moral, among others, were abandoned and became ghost town
Ghost town
A ghost town is an abandoned town or city. A town often becomes a ghost town because the economic activity that supported it has failed, or due to natural or human-caused disasters such as floods, government actions, uncontrolled lawlessness, war, or nuclear disasters...
s.
In 1976, at the beginning of the transition to democracy
Spanish transition to democracy
The Spanish transition to democracy was the era when Spain moved from the dictatorship of Francisco Franco to a liberal democratic state. The transition is usually said to have begun with Franco’s death on 20 November 1975, while its completion has been variously said to be marked by the Spanish...
, minister Manuel Fraga Iribarne
Manuel Fraga Iribarne
Manuel Fraga Iribarne is a Spanish People's Party politician. Fraga's career as one of the key political figures in Spain straddles both General Francisco Franco's dictatorial regime and the subsequent transition to democracy. He served as the President of the Xunta of Galicia from 1990 to 2005...
visited Las Hurdes and drew a plan to do away with the bad name of the region and boost its economy called Plan Hurdes. Fraga's plan was welcomed by Las Hurdes' inhabitants for the positive publicity and the fanfare it provided, but it met with scant success. Spearheaded by ICONA
ICONA
Instituto para la Conservación de la Naturaleza , better known by its acronym ICONA was the administrative entity that was established in Spain in order to preserve and research the natural environment in the Spanish territory.Founded four years before General Franco's death, ICONA played an...
, much reafforestation was done by planting pine
Pine
Pines are trees in the genus Pinus ,in the family Pinaceae. They make up the monotypic subfamily Pinoideae. There are about 115 species of pine, although different authorities accept between 105 and 125 species.-Etymology:...
s, a non-indigenous species, on formerly bare mountain slopes. This measure was counterproductive for the traditional goat
Goat
The domestic goat is a subspecies of goat domesticated from the wild goat of southwest Asia and Eastern Europe. The goat is a member of the Bovidae family and is closely related to the sheep as both are in the goat-antelope subfamily Caprinae. There are over three hundred distinct breeds of...
herders and beekeepers
Beekeeping
Beekeeping is the maintenance of honey bee colonies, commonly in hives, by humans. A beekeeper keeps bees in order to collect honey and other products of the hive , to pollinate crops, or to produce bees for sale to other beekeepers...
, for the new forests killed the smaller flowering bushes and aromatic plants favoured by goats and bees. The pine woods also made the region highly vulnerable to fires. Other complaints by locals living in alquerías in Valle del Malvellido are that the new forests obliterated ancient paths and clogged wells. New houses were built and the traditional houses of stone and shale
Shale
Shale is a fine-grained, clastic sedimentary rock composed of mud that is a mix of flakes of clay minerals and tiny fragments of other minerals, especially quartz and calcite. The ratio of clay to other minerals is variable. Shale is characterized by breaks along thin laminae or parallel layering...
, often small and overcrowded, were replaced with modern dwellings. In places like Las Mestas no ancestral houses have been left.
The Asociación Sociocultural de Las Hurdes (ASHURDES), was established in 1985 . It organized the "II Congreso Nacional de Hurdanos y Hurdanófilos" in 1988, where it sought to ask for greater participation of the local people in policies concerning Las Hurdes. The chief concerns of the ca. 6,000 present day inhabitants of the region are to fight against the stigma issues affecting Las Hurdes and to reverse its depopulation. Despite the presence of experts in the congress, its effect and responses have been less marked than during the 1908 church-led philanthropic effort.
King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia visited Pinofranqueado
Pinofranqueado
Pinofranqueado, locally known as Pinofranqueáu, is a municipality located in Las Hurdes, province of Cáceres, Extremadura, Spain. According to the 2005 census , the municipality has a population of 1651 inhabitants.-Royal visit:...
in Las Hurdes in April 1998, the first royal visit since 1922. In his speech the king praised the Hurdanos for having overcome the miseries and illnesses of the past. Despite all the media attention trying to cast an appearance of normality, the region still faces difficulties. While Caminomorisco
Caminomorisco
Caminomorisco, locally known as Caminomoriscu, is a municipality located in Las Hurdes, province of Cáceres, Extremadura, Spain. According to the 2006 census , the municipality has a population of 1292 inhabitants, which are known as morisqueños....
and Pinofranqueado have seen a certain measure of development, Nuñomoral
Nuñomoral
Nuñomoral, is the head village of a municipality of the same name located in the center of Las Hurdes, province of Cáceres, Extremadura, Spain. According to the 2006 census , the municipality has a population of 1,494 inhabitants...
, Casares de las Hurdes and Ladrillar
Ladrillar
Ladrillar, also known by its extremaduran name Ladrillal, is a municipality located in Las Hurdes, province of Cáceres, Extremadura, Spain. According to the 2006 census , the municipality has a population of 234 inhabitants.-Alquerías:...
are in recession, losing population owing to emigration to the cities and the ageing of those who remain in the villages.
In 2001, thanks to the Plan Hidrológico Nacional scheme, water supply to the regions of Las Hurdes and La Vera
La Vera
La Vera is a comarca in Extremadura, western Spain. The largest town is Jaraíz de la Vera.Located at the feet of the Sierra de Gredos mountain range, in the Tiétar river valley, the comarca is economically based on agriculture....
was improved.
Nowadays Las Hurdes is a good holiday destination for city-dwellers because of its scant population, its pristine wilderness and its landscapes. Thanks largely to tourism, present-day standards of living have risen to the average Spanish levels.
Economy
Las Hurdes was once one of the poorest regions in Spain. Its traditional economy was based on agriculture, including oliveOlive
The olive , Olea europaea), is a species of a small tree in the family Oleaceae, native to the coastal areas of the eastern Mediterranean Basin as well as northern Iran at the south end of the Caspian Sea.Its fruit, also called the olive, is of major agricultural importance in the...
s, potato
Potato
The potato is a starchy, tuberous crop from the perennial Solanum tuberosum of the Solanaceae family . The word potato may refer to the plant itself as well as the edible tuber. In the region of the Andes, there are some other closely related cultivated potato species...
es, cereal
Cereal
Cereals are grasses cultivated for the edible components of their grain , composed of the endosperm, germ, and bran...
s, cherries
Cherry
The cherry is the fruit of many plants of the genus Prunus, and is a fleshy stone fruit. The cherry fruits of commerce are usually obtained from a limited number of species, including especially cultivars of the wild cherry, Prunus avium....
, forest products cork
Cork Oak
Quercus suber, commonly called the Cork Oak, is a medium-sized, evergreen oak tree in the section Quercus sect. Cerris. It is the primary source of cork for wine bottle stoppers and other uses, such as cork flooring. It is native to southwest Europe and northwest Africa.It grows to up to 20 m,...
and goat herding.
In recent years, the economy of the area has flourished due mainly to tourism
Tourism
Tourism is travel for recreational, leisure or business purposes. The World Tourism Organization defines tourists as people "traveling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes".Tourism has become a...
and beekeeping
Beekeeping
Beekeeping is the maintenance of honey bee colonies, commonly in hives, by humans. A beekeeper keeps bees in order to collect honey and other products of the hive , to pollinate crops, or to produce bees for sale to other beekeepers...
. There is a company commercializing the region's honey
Honey
Honey is a sweet food made by bees using nectar from flowers. The variety produced by honey bees is the one most commonly referred to and is the type of honey collected by beekeepers and consumed by humans...
.
Gastronomy
Local cuisine is based on different ways of preparing goat (cabrito en caldereta, cabrito en cuchifrito, cabrito a la sal and cabrito a la hortelana). One dish (cabrito al polen) includes pollenPollen
Pollen is a fine to coarse powder containing the microgametophytes of seed plants, which produce the male gametes . Pollen grains have a hard coat that protects the sperm cells during the process of their movement from the stamens to the pistil of flowering plants or from the male cone to the...
in the recipe.
The pork products (embutidos) of Las Hurdes have a taste particular to the region, like the local chorizo
Chorizo
Chorizo is a term encompassing several types of pork sausages originating from the Iberian Peninsula.In English, it is usually pronounced , , or , but sometimes ....
s and the morcilla de calabaza, made with pork blood
Blood as food
Some cultures consume blood as food, often in combination with meat. The blood may be in the form of blood sausage, as a thickener for sauces, a cured salted form for times of food scarcity, or in a blood soup. This is a product from domesticated animals, obtained at a place and time where the...
and pumpkin
Pumpkin
A pumpkin is a gourd-like squash of the genus Cucurbita and the family Cucurbitaceae . It commonly refers to cultivars of any one of the species Cucurbita pepo, Cucurbita mixta, Cucurbita maxima, and Cucurbita moschata, and is native to North America...
.
Among the staples, the best known are the habichuelas and a stew with offal
Offal
Offal , also called, especially in the United States, variety meats or organ meats, refers to the internal organs and entrails of a butchered animal. The word does not refer to a particular list of edible organs, which varies by culture and region, but includes most internal organs other than...
known as olla con "asaura".
Las Hurdes sweets (buñuelos, hijuelas, bollos fritos (fried buns), roscas, floretas, socochones hurdanos and jeringas) are mostly based on the local honey
Honey
Honey is a sweet food made by bees using nectar from flowers. The variety produced by honey bees is the one most commonly referred to and is the type of honey collected by beekeepers and consumed by humans...
, as well as lard
Lard
Lard is pig fat in both its rendered and unrendered forms. Lard was commonly used in many cuisines as a cooking fat or shortening, or as a spread similar to butter. Its use in contemporary cuisine has diminished because of health concerns posed by its saturated-fat content and its often negative...
and flour.
The pollen and honey candy caramelos de miel y polen is perhaps the most well-known local sweet outside of the area.
Main towns
There are still some people living in about 40 traditional alquerías scattered through the region, like Las Mestas. The main towns in Las Hurdes are:- CaminomoriscoCaminomoriscoCaminomorisco, locally known as Caminomoriscu, is a municipality located in Las Hurdes, province of Cáceres, Extremadura, Spain. According to the 2006 census , the municipality has a population of 1292 inhabitants, which are known as morisqueños....
- Casares de las HurdesCasares de las HurdesCasares de las Hurdes , is a municipality located in Las Hurdes, province of Cáceres, Extremadura, Spain. According to the 2006 census , the municipality has a population of 582 inhabitants...
- LadrillarLadrillarLadrillar, also known by its extremaduran name Ladrillal, is a municipality located in Las Hurdes, province of Cáceres, Extremadura, Spain. According to the 2006 census , the municipality has a population of 234 inhabitants.-Alquerías:...
- NuñomoralNuñomoralNuñomoral, is the head village of a municipality of the same name located in the center of Las Hurdes, province of Cáceres, Extremadura, Spain. According to the 2006 census , the municipality has a population of 1,494 inhabitants...
- PinofranqueadoPinofranqueadoPinofranqueado, locally known as Pinofranqueáu, is a municipality located in Las Hurdes, province of Cáceres, Extremadura, Spain. According to the 2005 census , the municipality has a population of 1651 inhabitants.-Royal visit:...
Casar de Palomero
Casar de Palomero
Casar de Palomero is a municipality located in the province of Cáceres, Extremadura, Spain. According to the 2005 census , the municipality has a population of 1343 inhabitants....
is historically not part of Las Hurdes, but has been merged with the other municipalities of the comarca to form the Mancomunidad de Las Hurdes.
External links
- Picture of Alfonso XIII's royal visit
- Literature on Las Hurdes
- Descripción socioeconómica e inventario de recursos de la Mancomunidad de las Hurdes