Cabañas del Castillo

Cabañas del Castillo municipality
	Cabañas del Castillo - mountain landscape in the area
Basic data
Autonomous Community :	Extremadura
Province :	Cáceres
Comarca :	Villuercas-Ibores-Jara
Coordinates	39 ° 33 ′ N , 5 ° 31 ′ W Coordinates: 39 ° 33 ′ N , 5 ° 31 ′ W
Height :	775 msnm
Area :	105.27 km²
Residents :	431 (Jan. 1, 2019)
Population density :	4.09 inhabitants / km²
Postal code :	10373
Municipality number ( INE ):	10033
administration
Website :	Cabañas del Castillo

Cabañas del Castillo is a place and a municipality ( municipio ) with 431 inhabitants (as of January 1, 2019) in the southeast of the province of Cáceres in the autonomous region of Extremadura in central Spain . The hamlets (pedanías) Retamosa , Roturas and Solana also belong to the municipality .

location

The place Cabañas del Castillo is located in the mountains of the Sierra de Villuercas (also called Sierra de Guadalupe ), a section of the Montes de Toledo a good 100 km (driving distance) east of the provincial capital Cáceres at an altitude of about 775 m above sea level. d. The pilgrimage site of Guadalupe , famous throughout Spain, is only 36 km away. Because of the altitude, the climate is temperate to warm; Rain (approx. 500 mm / year) falls mainly in the winter half-year.

Population development

year	1857	1900	1950	2000	2017
Residents	1,669	2.152	1,724	550	447

The significant population decline since the 1930s is mainly due to the settlement of Navecuelas in 1927, but also to the mechanization of agriculture and the associated loss of jobs.

economy

The stony soils in the area were mainly used for pasture farming; few fields provided the basis for the cultivation of wheat and other crops for the inhabitants who in earlier times lived mainly as self-sufficient . Traders, craftsmen and service providers of all kinds gradually settled in the town itself. Today tourism plays an important role for the income of the place and its inhabitants.

history

Estela de Solana with warrior representation, weapons, round shield and chariot; today in the National Archaeological Museum , Madrid.

Remains of stone age rock paintings have been discovered in some caves or rock overhangs. One of the Bronze Age or Iron Age finds is the extraordinary Estela de Solana . The area belonged to the Roman province of Lusitania for a long time , but neither Romans nor Visigoths cared about the mountainous area and left no trace. The region was overrun by the Arabs and their Moorish auxiliaries in the 8th century ; the local castle (castillo) dates from the late period of their presence . After the recapture ( reconquista ) of the neighboring town of Trujillo in 1232 by the Castilian - Leonese troops of Ferdinand III. (ruled 1230–1252) Cabañas was handed over to the Calatrava - order of knights and successively repopulated by Christians from the north and by refugees from Al-Andalus ( repoblación ) . In 1272 Alfonso X. (ruled 1252–1284) sold the place and its surroundings for 30,000 maravedis to the knights of Trujillo. In 1375 the place received city rights , but remained under the manor (señorio) of the Counts of Oropesa .

Attractions

The ruins of the castle, which was built in Moorish times but later changed under the orders of the Knights of Calatrava and Trujillo, are enthroned on a rock high above the town.
All four districts have simple village churches from the 15th and 16th centuries. Century.