Minas de Riotinto

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Minas de Riotinto municipality
coat of arms Map of Spain
Coat of arms of Minas de Riotinto
Minas de Riotinto (Spain)
Finland road sign 311 (1994-2020) .svg
Basic data
Autonomous Community : Andalusia
Province : Huelva
Comarca : Cuenca Minera
Coordinates 37 ° 41 ′  N , 6 ° 35 ′  W Coordinates: 37 ° 41 ′  N , 6 ° 35 ′  W
Height : 416  msnm
Area : 24 km²
Residents : 3,848 (Jan 1, 2019)
Population density : 160.33 inhabitants / km²
Postal code : 21660
Municipality number  ( INE ): 21049
administration
Mayoress : Rosa María Caballero Muñoz ( PP )
Website : www.aytoriotinto.es
Location of the municipality
Map of Minas de Riotinto (Huelva) .png

Minas de Riotinto is a municipality in the Spanish province of Huelva in Andalusia . Minas de Riotinto is about 74 km from the provincial capital Huelva , and Seville is almost 90 km away.

Surname

The name of the place can be traced back to the eponymous mines and the reddish colored water of the Río Tinto river due to the presence of iron and copper .

Population development

Population over the last ten years:

1996 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2011
5,212 5,056 5,027 4,888 4,825 4,724 4,567 4,509 4,478 4.157

history

Minas de Riotinto was and is a village that was only dependent on mining . This dependence has given rise to characteristics that distinguish it from other Andalusian villages. The structure of the settlement, legacy of the English presence in mining between the end of the 19th and around the middle of the 20th century , preserves a distinct colonial character not only in the structure of the street system, but also in the Victorian architecture, especially in the “El Valle "and" Bella Vista ".

Beginnings

The history of ore mining in Minas de Riotinto can be traced back to the Bronze Age and culminates in the Tartessian culture and the colonization of the area by the Phoenicians . Found slag residues show a major advancement in mining through technical innovations introduced by the Romans . Under the Almohads , medicinal tinctures were extracted from the ore-containing rock, whereas mining was hardly developed in this dynasty .

Commercial exploitation of the mines

Río Tinto: Acid mine water

The mines were hardly used until the 18th century until the Swede L. Wolters leased them from the Spanish state in 1775. In 1873 a British consortium, with the Rothschild brothers holding a 30 percent stake, bought the mines, founded the Riotinto Company Limited (RTCL) and opened up other mines. As early as 1875, the railway connection to the provincial capital, which was built within just two years, was inaugurated, which enabled the ores to be transported directly to the Riotinto pier in the Atlantic port of Huelva and thus documented the outstanding economic position of Riotinto.

The rapid expansion of the mining industry also led to social changes in the village structure, caused by the immigration of workers from other parts of Spain and Portugal . The original village structure was also blown up by the demolition of the old Riotinto, which the mining company founded with the fact that the original location of the village stood in the way of further expansion of mining. The villagers were relocated to the newly built “Del Valle” district, which was built according to British plans, while the company's executives settled in the exclusive Victorian “Bella Vista” district, which has been preserved in its original form to this day. The living conditions for the common people were catastrophic. The use of the open roasting ovens (Spanish: Teleras), which was banned in England, poisoned the air and many residents became sick or died. At a protest rally in 1888, the owners had over 100 civilians shot by Spanish soldiers.

Up to 1903, in addition to small amounts of manganese and iron, a total of around 80,000 tons of copper ore were mined.

Nationalization of the mine and current situation

In 1954 the mines returned to state ownership, the ore mining was carried out by various Spanish companies such as "Compañía española de Minas de Riotinto", " Unión Explosivos Riotinto ", "Riotinto Patiño", "Riotinto Minera" and "Minas de Riotinto SAL", Most of which have now been closed: Minas de Riotinto could no longer build on the glory and success of bygone times, the economic crises in the mining industry in the second half of the last century were too profound. In 2001 the last mine was closed. In view of the rising raw material prices since 2008, especially for copper, the mining became lucrative again. The mine has been back in operation since 2016.

The 11 km long former mine train line along the Rio Tinto is now a tourist attraction ( Museo Ferroviario de Riotinto ). In 1992 a mining museum ( Museo Minero ) was opened in the former English hospital of the village , which shows finds from all mining eras.

Minas de Riotinto, cradle of Spanish football

"Football" was first played in Spain in Minas de Riotinto, introduced by the English who settled there after taking over the mine in 1873. Until the opening of the railway line to Huelva on July 28, 1875, Minas de Riotinto was almost cut off from the outside world, there were only communal roads to the neighboring villages of Zalamea la Real and Aracena . After their work was done, the English were looking for diversion and diversion in a village that lacked leisure time, and so they began to liven up the football game, popular in their homeland. The locals were amazed at this strange pastime of kicking a ball between two posts guarded by a so-called "goal-keeper" - and horrified mothers forbade the daughters of the village to watch this spectacle in shorts.

In 1878 the mining company founded the "Club Inglés", from which the "Rio Tinto Foot-Ball Club" (RTFC) emerged. The locals of Minas de Riotinto were initially reluctant to accept this game. It was not until the end of the 19th century that her passion was awakened and football was played in the courtyards of the schools run by the RTCL under the guidance of enthusiastic British supervisors. It was not until 1914 that the Riotinteñers founded a purely Spanish equivalent, the "Balompié Río Tinto", and the RTCL built a soccer field on the eastern edge of the "Alto de la Mesa" district. The enthusiasm for football increased so much that in the twenties there were more than 20 football teams or clubs in the city, which now had around 12,000 inhabitants.

Web links

Commons : Minas de Riotinto  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. Cifras oficiales de población resultantes de la revisión del Padrón municipal a 1 de enero . Population statistics from the Instituto Nacional de Estadística (population update).
  2. El corazón de la tierra, (film, Spain 2007)