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Municipality in Region of Murcia, Spain From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Mazarrón is a municipality in the autonomous community and province of Murcia, southeastern Spain. The municipality has an area of 318.7 square kilometres (123.1 sq mi),[2] and a population of 31,562 inhabitants in 2019.[3] A military fort (named C1 or Castillitos-small castles) which was built between 1930 and 1936 during the reign of Alfonso XIII of Spain and the Second Spanish Republic exists as a tourist attraction on the old road between Mazarrón and Cartagena, and although it is accessible from the Bay of Mazarrón it is not in the municipality itself.[4]
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Mazarrón | |
|---|---|
Municipality | |
 Mazarrón port and beach | |
 Flag  Coat of arms | |
 Location in Murcia | |
  Mazarrón Location in Region of Murcia  Mazarrón Mazarrón (Spain) | |
| Coordinates: 37°35′54″N 1°18′50″W | |
| Country |  Spain |
| Autonomous Community |  Region of Murcia |
| Province | Region of Murcia |
| Comarca | Bajo Guadalentín |
| Own municipality | 1572 |
| Government | |
| • Mayor | Ginés Campillo Méndez (UIDM) |
| Area | |
| • Total | 319 km2 (123 sq mi) |
| Elevation (AMSL) | 55 m (180 ft) |
| Population (2018)[1] | |
| • Total | 31,562 |
| • Density | 99/km2 (260/sq mi) |
| Time zone | UTC+1 (CET) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC+2 (CEST (GMT +2)) |
| Postal code | 30870 |
| Area code | +34 (Spain) + 968 (Murcia) |
| Website | Official website  |
The Bay of Mazarrón is sheltered by the last foothills of the Sierra de la Almenara, a mining area since the Carthaginian era. Over 35 km of beaches, unspoiled coves and rocky sea beds. Due to the nature of the surrounding rocks, however, the beach at Bolnuevo is of coarse grit, as are most of the beaches along this part of the coast.
The Torre de los Caballos on Los Caballos peak were built for the town's protection against pirates from the mid-16th to the early 18th centuries.[5]
The economic development of the early 20th century led to the construction of emblematic buildings in the style known as Murcian Modernism, including the Mazarrón Town Hall and the former Cultural Athenaeum.
The guns in Cartagena were built to defend the vital port of Cartagena in the 20th century, these guns alongside the fort and other coastal defences, stand 56 feet long, weighing a total of 88 tons each and being able to fire at a range of some 20 miles.
Mazarrón is located in the South of Region of Murcia. This municipality borders Cartagena and Fuente Álamo at its east, Alhama de Murcia and Totana and its North and Lorca at its West. In addition, it adjoins the Mediterranean Sea at its south.[2]
The main landform of the municipality is a mountain range named Sierra de Las Moreras, which is located in the west.[6][7] In regards to waterbeds, there is not any river, but there are several arroyos (creeks) or ramblas and a remarkable one is Rambla de Las Moreras.[8] There is also a group of three ponds named Lagunas de Las Moreras.[9][10]
This municipality has 13 towns and villages. These are Mazarrón which is in the southern half and is inhabited by 12,478 people; Puerto de Mazarrón, located in the south and home to 10,253 people; Saladillo, in the northern half and with a population of 3,086; Ifre-Cañada de Gallego, located in the southeast and occupied by 1,194 people; Balsicas, in the east, is home to 1,174 people; Moreras (where Bolnuevo is included), is in the southern half and is inhabited by 1,034 people; Garrobo, in the northern half, has a population of 475; Leiva, in the southwestern quarter, is home to 306 people; Majada in the east is inhabited by 200 people; Ifre-Pastrana, located in the southwest and inhabited by 456 people; Gañuelas, in the northwest, has a population of 75; Rincones is located in the eastern half and is home to 27 people, and Mingrano in the east, which is occupied by 23 residents.[11][12]
The most ancient data which are known about the territory corresponding to the current municipality date from the Middle and Upper Paleolithic. There are some archaeological sites such one which is placed in Permera Cave, other which is located in Los Tollos ravine, one which is named La Peñica and another one whose name is Las Palomas. The two last ones are placed in the hillock Cabezo del Faro.[13]
The remains of these spots consist of material related to manufactured tools such as flint spear tips, scrapers, racloirs and hammerstones. There were also another ones related to ritual burials. As glaciations ended, prehistory communities organizations were developing.[13]
When the sedentism appeared, some material such as ceramic and some structures such as the first megalithic burial sites in Palomarico Cave and Caballo Cave emerged.
In regards to Chalcolithic and Bronze Age in this current municipality, a prehistoric hamlet in a local range named Sierra de las Moreras can be mentioned. A cemetery is located in this ancient locality, but nowadays the only remains of this necropolis consist of a circle-shaped megalithic tumulus.[13][14]
There are also other sites related to these eras such as Ifre, La Ciñuela, one of which is placed in a hillock named Cabezo Negro and another one which is located in a beach whose name is Playas de Calnegre. These ones have argaric origins.
In regards to Iron Age, the presence of Phoenicians in this territory was meaningful. Two Phoenician vessels were discovered in the beaches of Mazarrón. This fact led Mazarrón to be an appealing point related to underwater archaeology.[15]
The main activities of this civilization in this territory were the ones related to mining. In this lands these people realized the broad possibilities, especially fishing and plumber mining. The abundance of this mineral has been constant during the history of this current municipality and the mineral was a main resource in the mining activities in Mazarrón.[15]
Phoenicians were who introduced in plumber in this area, but they did not build lengthy settlements. A noteworthy fact of this civilization is the advance in shipbuilding.[15]
During this period there was also Hellenic presence, but their influence in Mazarrón lower than the Phoenician one. Nevertheless, they also set trading routes which affected this village.[15]
Some centuries after the Phoenicians and Greeks, there was an Iberian presence in this area, but this occupancy left few traces.[15]
From 211 to 209 BD there was a war between the Romans and the Punics of Carthage named Second Punic War. In 209, Romans conquered the current Spaniard locality of Cartagena (whose name was Qart-Hadast in that era) and won the war. Great part of the Iberian Peninsula became part under the Roman control and its southeast was included, so the current municipality of Mazarrón was also affected in these facts.[16][17]
When the Romans obtained territory in the Iberian Peninsula, they settled a town in this territory named Ficaria.[15]
During this era, the mining was very important in the territory corresponding to the current municipality of Mazarrón. In this area there are remnants of the presence of the Roman people such as dwelling and object remains. A noteworthy archaeological site related to Romans is the Villa del Alamillo. There are also remains of marble statues of the Roman goddess Ceres.[15]
The Romans built structures for producing a typical Roman sauce named garum. It consisted of fermented fish entrails (especially from mackerell).[15]
In the year 711 AD there was a Muslim conquer of great part of the Iberian Peninsula, in particular it was carried out by an Islamic Berber conquering party. Consequently, Mazarrón became part of Al-Andalus, the territory in the Iberian Peninsula under Muslim government and control and also a province of the Umayyad Caliphate.
Due to the Reconquista, the territory became quite uninhabited. In that period Mazarrón was part of the conciliium (a governmental institution of that era) of Lorca. An important construction of this era period is the Vélez Castle.[18]
On 1 August 1572 the king Philip II of Spain conceded Mazarrón the status of villa (a status of localities in that era). Since that fact, an own towncouncil was avoidable for Mazarrón and its period as a municipality (which remains nowadays) started.[19]
Mining activities, as traditionally, was an economy activity in that period and as a consequence an economic rise took occurred.
In that period, besides the economic rise, there was also insecurity in the territory due to pirate entrances and attacks. As a consequence, some towers were built in the municipality.[19]
From 18th century fishing became moderately important and in previous periods this fishing importance did not exist. This significance endures nowadays. The Crown and other institutions began to promote this activity. Other economic activity which began to be done in this century is the alum transportation.[20]
As a result of those economic activities a need of building dwellings on the coast rose. However, there wasn't a weighty town in that area before the 19th century.
In the 19th century, mining continued being an activity an it underwent a boom. This mining rush underwent its peak in the 1840s and mining extraction was favoured by the law. This apogee in mining led to a progress in the environment, many investments, a lot of immigration, electric streetlight, railways, important buildings, miner hospital, etc.[20]
The municipality got into a decline due to the depletion of mining resources in the early 20th century. The decaying situation in which there were even famine spells, was very connected to the political and social situation of the whole country.[20]
The crisis of the municipality has some symptoms such as the decrement of the number of inhabitants - In the year 1900, 23,284 people were living there and 63 years after the number of inhabitants was 17,630. During those years, people in the village just tried to survive and foreign capital stop being invested in Mazarrón. This last fact emphasized the crisis.[20]
Mazarrón began to leave the situation of recession because the economic activity was addressed to other areas and they would bring this territory its current characteristics. During the 20th century the society changed the economic activities from mining to agriculture, construction and tourism.[20]
36.98% of the inhabitants are foreigners - 11.29% from other countries of Europe, 12.94% are Africans, 4.27% are Americans and 167 Asian people reside there.[21] The table below shows the population trends during the 20th and 21st centuries by the beginning of their decades.[22]
| 1900 | 1910 | 1920 | 1930 | 1940 | 1950 | 1960 | 1970 | 1981 | 1991 | 2001 | 2011 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Population | 23,362 | 22,878 | 18,206 | 14,120 | 11,928 | 9,501 | 9,998 | 9,191 | 10,270 | 14,591 | 20,841 | 34,442 |
In regards to primary sector, the main activities that are performed in the municipality are agriculture and fishing. 21.9% of the territory is used for crops purposes.[23] The most grown products are tomatoes and cucumbers. Greenhouses are quite frequent. The main sea species that are obtained are sardines and prawns. Due to the tourism in Mazarrón, the service sector has a high weight in the territory. In 2013, 44.97% of the agreements corresponded to agricultural sector and 52.39% of the workers had jobs as labourers. In regards to the service area, 51.05% of the agreements were present, and 15.18% were corresponding to waiter job.[24][25]
As generally in Spain, the governors of Mazarrón are elected indirectly from the votes for political parties that take place in the municipality and autonomous community elections day every four years.[26] The governors compose the pleno (a government body), which has 21 members in Mazarrón. The alcalde (head governor in a municipality) of Mazarrón elects 7 members from the pleno in order to form the junta de gobierno. The alcalde and three members else belong to PSOE (Partido Socialista Obrero Español) party and three members belong to UIDM (Unión Independiente de Mazarrón) party. Besides the governors in the junta de gobierno, seven partisans of Partido Popular, two partisans of Ciudadanos and one partisan of Vox are members of the pleno.[27][28]
A road, which name is N-332 and connects Valencia and Vera, traverses the south of the municipality.[34] A public highway named A7 and a private motorway named AP-7 stretch the municipality and can be seen near the main town.[35][36]
There are bus services for movements to Murcia, Cartagena, Alhama de Murcia and Totana from Mazarrón and Puerto de Mazarrón.[37]
Mazarrón is included in the Health area II, which main place is Cartagena. In this area there are two subareas related to the municipality: Mazarrón and Puerto de Mazarrón. There is a consultorio (primary care health centre with fewer functions and less specialised than the centros de salud) in Camposol and another in La Majada. A centro de salud (primary care health centre) can be found in Mazarrón and another in Puerto de Mazarrón.[38][39]
4 early childhood and primary education centres are placed in Mazarrón and 2 secondary education centres. Puerto de Mazarrón is home to 3 early childhood and primary education centres and 1 secondary education centre. 2 earlychildhood and primary education centres are located in the other localities of the municipality.[40]
5 degrees of basic vocational education, 2 degrees of medium level vocational education and 1 degree of higher vocational education are taught in the territory.[41] A centre for adult education (CEA) can also be found in the main town.
There is an organisation of the towncouncil named Universidad Popular, in which several courses are taught.[42] Two centres of a national public organisation about language teaching, which name is Escuela oficial de idiomas, can be found in the municipality - one of them is in Mazarrón and another is in Puerto de Mazarrón.[40]
There are some of the notable sites in Mazarrón owing to their historic, artistic and cultural values.[43][44][45]
Probably, the most remarkable element in regards to sport in the municipality is the football team Mazarrón Fútbol Club (Mazarrón F. C.) which is in Tercera División (the fourth level of the Spanish football league system).[64]
Other sport teams such as C. D. Mazarrón Basket, the futsal team C. D. Mazarrón Futbol Sala and the ping pong team C. D. Mazarrón tenis de mesa.[65]
The sport facilities of the territory consist in the Sport Municipality Pavilion, the La Cañadica Municipality Pavilion, Mazarrón Municipality Sports Centre, the paddle courts and soccer pitch in Ginés García school and Pedro Méndez Méndez Stadium in Mazarrón, and Manuela Romero Pavilion, Playasol de Puerto de Mazarrón Stadium in Puerto de Mazarrón.[66]
This festivity is held from 4 to 8 December. It is a patron saint festivity, which is consecrated to the Virgin Mary in regards to her Immaculate Conception. This tradition has its origins in the 18th century.[67]
During these days there are groups of people who get together specifically throughout the festivities and do activities related to the celebration (the Spanish concept of 'peña'). They prepare the events that will take place during these festive days and issues related to that such as the floats of the parades.
Besides the parade, there are other activities such as the election of the queen (a tradition in Spanish traditional festivities is choosing a female child or a young girl who will have the symbolic role of queen during the festivities), popular games, performances from locals, graffiti exhibitions, and some popular contests such as boules contest, pet contests, tennis competitions, soccer competitions, regattas, athletics contests, etc.[67]
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