Comares information
Comares stands on a rock which overlooks the Periana Corridor
and part of the Axarquia mountains to the North, while the
immense Velez Valley and La Sierra de Tejeda are visible
in the south. Of Arabic origin, its location suggests that
it must have been built as a military vantage point, its
layout still conserving the typical features of fortress
villages, its narrow, winding streets lined with white one
or two-storey houses. Places of architectural interest include
the remains of the fortress, Masmullar Hill, the Arabic
cistern and Our Lady’s Church, built in Mudejar style.
History
Due to its location atop a mountain overlooking most of the Axarquia region,
the village has a long history dating back to prehistoric era. It may
also have been the site of Iberian settlements and, later, a Roman colony.
Nazari texts refer to Comares by the name Hisn Qumarich - the Castle of
Comares - . It was one of the main defensive bastions of the muladí
- Christian convert to Islam - rebellion led by Omar Ben Hafsun before
being recaptured at the start of the 10th century by Abderraman III. Some
authors have believe the nearby Masmullar or Mazmullar plateau to have
been the site of the fortress town of Bobastro, though it seems certain
that it actually stood on the Villaverde plateaux, between the present-day
villages of Alora and Ardales. In the 11th century, it was the administrative
headquarters of a group known as “The Four Villages” - El
Borge, Almachar, Moclinejo and Cutar - , which enjoyed the protection
of Comares Castle. In May 1487, shortly after Vélez Málaga
fell into Christian hands, Mohamed El Jabis (the last Moslem governor
of Comares) paid homage to the Catholic Monarchs in an attempt to avoid
any reprisals and to conserve some semblance of rights for the Moslem
population. Though the moriscos - Moslem converts to Christianity - of
Comares enjoyed more advantages than their counterparts in other villages
of the Axarquia region, their lives would not have easy; proof of this
is the gradual abandonment of the village’s lands which are chronicled
as having been repopulated in 1490 by Old Christians from Extremadura,
other parts of Andalusia, Valencia and even Portugal. In 1512, the village
was incorporated in to the estate of the Marquis of Comares, Don Diego
Fernandez de Córdoba. Though the inhabitants of Comares played
no part in the morisco uprising which engulfed practically the whole of
the Axarquia region in 1568 and 1569, the 1570 expulsion which followed
these events affected all of the Mudejars in the area, who were forced
to leave lands which they had owned for centuries.
Malaga province
|
