Ajamil de Cameros

Ajamil de Cameros municipality
	Ajamil de Cameros - town view
Basic data
Autonomous Community :	La Rioja
Comarca :	Tierra de Cameros
Coordinates	42 ° 10 ′ N , 2 ° 29 ′ W Coordinates: 42 ° 10 ′ N , 2 ° 29 ′ W
Height :	1040 msnm
Area :	66.15 km²
Residents :	66 (Jan. 1, 2019)
Population density :	1 inhabitant / km²
Postal code :	26133
Municipality number ( INE ):	26004

Ajamil de Cameros is a mountain village and a municipality ( municipio ) belonging to the populous Serranía Celtibérica with a total of only 66 inhabitants (as of January 1, 2019) in the autonomous community of La Rioja in northern Spain .

Location and climate

The mountain village of Ajamil de Cameros is located in a side valley of the Río Leza a good 52 km (driving distance) south of the provincial capital Logroño at an altitude of approx. 1040 m . Soria , the capital of the Old Castilian province bordering the Rioja to the south , is a good 66 km south. The climate is temperate to warm; Rain (approx. 640 mm / year) falls mainly in the winter months.

Population development

year	1857	1900	1950	2000	2018
Residents	177	222	151	61	62

As a result of the mechanization of agriculture , the abandonment of small farms and the resulting lower demand for labor, the population of the mountain town has declined significantly since the middle of the 20th century ( rural exodus ). The municipality also includes the hamlets (pedanías) Larriba and Torremuña, which were incorporated in the 1970s, each with around 10 inhabitants.

economy

For centuries, the community was agriculturally oriented for the purpose of self-sufficiency , with livestock farming (milk, cheese, meat) in the foreground; Weaving products were made from the sheep's wool and could also be exchanged or sold. But fruit, vegetables and grain were also grown. Today holiday apartments (casas rurales) are rented out mainly in the summer months .

history

Celtiberian , Roman , Visigoth and even Islamic-Moorish traces of settlement were not discovered in the municipality. The high-lying area served as summer pasture for sheep and goats for centuries . A military reconquest ( reconquista ) by the Christians did not take place, but the place was gradually settled as part of the Repoblación . Since about 1040 the area belonged to the Navarre King García Sánchez III. created manor (señorio) of the Tierra de Cameros . In the further course of the Middle Ages, the region was at times disputed between the kingdoms of Castile and Navarre ; In 1366, Henry of Trastamara bequeathed 40 villages, including Ajamil, to Juan Ramírez de Arellano, whose descendants, the Condes de Águilar and the Duques de Abrantes, remained landlords (señores) of the area for a long time . After the abolition of manorial lords in 1811, the Cameros area belonged to the Soria Province and only came to the newly created Logroño Province in 1833, from which the La Rioja Autonomous Region emerged in the 1980s.

Attractions

Torremuña hamlet

Ajamil

The three-aisled Iglesia de la Asunción , built from rubble stones in the 16th century , is dedicated to the Assumption of Mary; it was slightly raised and vaulted in the 17th century. In the rectangular apse there is an altarpiece (retablo) in the Renaissance style .