Nigüella

Nigüella municipality
Nigüella - View of the town with the new church
coat of arms	Map of Spain
Basic data
Autonomous Community :	Aragon
Province :	Zaragoza
Comarca :	Comunidad de Calatayud
Coordinates	41 ° 32 ′  N , 1 ° 32 ′  W Coordinates: 41 ° 32 ′  N , 1 ° 32 ′  W
Height :	500  msnm
Area :	30.42 km²
Residents :	62 (Jan. 1, 2019)
Population density :	2.04 inhabitants / km²
Postal code :	50269
Municipality number  ( INE ):	50187
administration
Website :	Nigüella

Nigüella is a northern Spanish town and municipality ( municipio ) with only 62 inhabitants (as of January 1, 2019) in the west of the province of Saragossa in the west of the autonomous region of Aragon . The place belongs to the poorly populated Serranía Celtibérica .

Location and climate

The place Nigüella is located on the Río Isuela about 50 km southeast of the Sierra de Moncayo, which is a maximum of 2315  m high and a good 75 km (driving distance) southwest of the provincial capital Saragossa near the border with the old Castilian province of Soria at an altitude of about 480 to 515  m . The climate is temperate to warm; the rather sparse rain (approx. 400 mm / year) falls spread over the year with the exception of the dry summer months.

Population development

year	1857	1900	1950	2000	2017
Residents	295	270	300	122	69

The mechanization of agriculture , the abandonment of small farms and the associated loss of jobs led to a significant decline in population ( rural exodus ) since the middle of the 20th century .

economy

For centuries, the residents of the village lived directly or indirectly as self-sufficiency from agriculture, which also included livestock farming. The processing of sheep's wool was an important economic factor in the 16th and 17th centuries. Today orchards and viticulture play important roles in the economic life of the place; In addition, holiday apartments (casas rurales) are rented out.

history

Although the place belonged to the settlement area of ​​the Celtiberian Lusones , so far neither Celtiberian nor Roman or Visigoth traces have been discovered. In the 8th century Arab-Moorish armies advanced into the upper Ebro Valley; around 1120 the area was recaptured by Alfonso I of Aragón ( reconquista ) . For a long time it was disputed between the kingdoms of Aragón and Castile ( Guerra de los Dos Pedros ) ; this dispute only ended with the marriage of the Catholic Kings Isabella I of Castile and Ferdinand II of Aragón in 1469.

Attractions

• Some of the older houses in the village are built on the edge of a cliff (casas colgadas) .
• The old church (Iglesia de la Visitación) was demolished in the 1990s and replaced by a modern new building.
• The Ermita de San Vicente stands on the highest point of the place.
• A wash house (lavadero) is located on the river bank.

Web links

Commons : Nigüella  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Nigüella and Arándiga - photos + brief information (Spanish)
• Nigüella and Arándiga - photos + brief information (Spanish)

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. ↑ Nigüella - climate tables
3. ↑ Nigüella - Population Development