La Herradura

La Herradura's first settlers have been dated to prehistoric times. In the 19th century, in El Pago de la Mezquita, several tombs with remains of bronze weapons were found and in 1950, in El Sapo, there was another similar discovery, but better documented, dated to the 15th century BCE.

There are vestiges of habitation from Roman times, in places such as in the country house de la Argentina, in the ravine of Las Tejas, and in the construction of the old road Málaga-Almería. There are also the remains of a hermitage or rural mausoleum from the sixth century AD, of Byzantine design, in the upper course of the river Jate.

More information is available from the Islamic period and it is also known the existence of a farmhouse called "Sät" or "Xat". It is known that Abd al-Rahman I arrived to La Herradura in 755 from Damascus, prior to the foundation of the Califato de Córdoba. Numerous details are known about this period, such as the fact that it was the scene of a battle in the Muwallad revolt in the 9th century. The raisins exported from the area were considered the best in the Islamic world at this time.

The watchtower of Punta de la Mona, restored in the 18th century and now serving as the base for a lighthouse, dates from the Nasrid period. It was part of a chain of watchtowers running along the coast that were rebuilt in the late 16th century to guard against corsairs. Cerro Gordo has a similar 10.5-meter-high tower that was part of this warning system, using smoke signals during the day and fire at night.

In 1764, Charles III of Spain ordered the construction of nine fortresses along this coast and La Herradura castle was finished in 1768. This defensive system of forts and towers was reinforced before the Peninsular War. French forces later took La Herradura castle before guerilla soldiers under the Mayor of Otivar recaptured it. It served as the barracks of the Carabineros and then the Civil Guard before becoming a cultural centre, used for concerts and similar events. Originally on the seafront, the castle now stands well back from the shore because of sea-level changes.

On 19 October, 1562, 25 Spanish galley warships from a fleet of 28 sank in La Herradura Bay in the La Herradura naval disaster, with the loss of up to 5,000 of those aboard.[1] A monument on La Herradura’s seafront commemorates the tragedy. Erected in 1990, it is by Granada-based sculptor Miguel Moreno.

In the 19th century, several families of Italian fishermen settled in La Herradura. Two of these families were the ancestors of the current Barbero and Garciolo families.

During the 20th century the rapid growth in tourism experienced throughout Spain caused major changes in La Herradura. In modern times, there has been a call by a small group for separation from the municipality of Almuñécar, without any success to date.

La Herradura is on the Spanish shore of the Mediterranean, standing on the horseshoe-shaped bay from which it takes its name ("La herradura" is Spanish for horseshoe). Its two-kilometre-long sand and pebble beach is divided into several parts by rocky promontories and a river outlet. An unusual feature of Playa La Herradura is its stands of palm trees. Behind the beach is the main street, Paseo Andrés Segovia, lined with cafés, restaurants, bars, shops and apartments.

The older town of La Herradura was built with typical whitewashed Andalucian houses on the steep sides of a wadi of the same name running down to the eastern side of the beach. As the settlement has grown from a fishing village into a tourist resort, more modern developments have spread along both sides of the bay and into the surrounding hills.

It is the most western coastal urban area of the province of Granada and borders the town of Maro, in the district of Nerja. Inland is the Sierra de la Almijara, popular for hiking.

La Herradura is the only coastal town in Granada with an indigenous nature reserve. The Maro Cerro Gordo Cliffs Reserve is a small area of natural vegetation and unspoilt fauna between Cerro Gordo, the headland at the western end of La Herradura Bay, and Maro. Both the land and the seabed, which preserves corals and endangered species, were declared a Natural Site in the 1980s by the Autonomous Government. The flora includes Mediterranean pines, carob, juniper, boxwood, olive and palm trees, while the fauna is most notable for numbers of wild mountain goats (Iberian Ibex). There are various coastal hiking trails of varying lengths and difficulty. The reserve is a major attraction for La Herradura’s many diving centres and also draws large numbers of kayakers in summer.[2]

The eastern headland of Punta de la Mona separates the town from the marina of Punta de la Mona, formerly called Marina del Este, the beach of Los Berengueles and the naturist beach of El Muerto which borders Cotobro ravine. To the west of Cerro Gordo is the naturist beach of Cantarriján, which borders the province of Málaga.

According to the Spanish National Statistical Institute, in 2012 La Herradura had 4,248 inhabitants.[3]

Jesús Espigares Mira, president of Interpol between 2000 and 2004, was born in La Herradura in 1946. He was the first Spaniard and first Spanish speaker to run the institution.[4]