Fortuna

History

There is evidence of human occupancy of the municipality since the Chalcolithic. [The proof consists in an archaeological site named La Loma II.] There are also remains of inhabitance of the Bronze Age. It consists in a settlement of people belonging to the argaric civilization. In the late Bronze Age another civilization was present in large part of the Iberian Peninsula and specifically in the municipality - the Iberians. In regards to Fortuna, they had a settlement and a necropolis. During the Roman Iberian Peninsula there were also people in Fortuna. One trace of those people is the archeological site Baños de Fortuna. It includes a former sanctuary, a former hostelry and an ancient quarry zone. There are few documentary references about this current municipality during the Islamic Iberian Peninsula era. There is a documentary reference about the main remain of Fortuna under Islamic rule – It is a castle named currently Torre Vieja or Castillo de los Moros, and them named Yusor castle. The reference consists in the fact that the castle was given by the last Muslim king in Murcia to Alfonso X in the year 1264, in the era of Christians conquer of the Taifa of Murcia. It is speculated that the quantity of inhabitants decreased from the Roman Iberian Peninsula era to the Muslim era. The excavation of the site Baños de Fortuna also showed the presence and use of the Muslims of the termal bath structure. After the expulsion, there was an aim about repopulating Fortuna with Christians. There were some privileges for the people who moved there. In the year 1628, Fortuna was awarded with the status of ‘villa’ (a settlement with several new rights). Consequently, the barren lands began to be cultivated. In the late 19th century, other remarkable buildings were also…

Geography

Large part of Sierra del Corque mountain range and part of Sierra de la Pila rely on this municipality. The last one occupies the north of the territory. Other landforms are several gullies and some ramblas (dry stream beds but in rainy periods). The inhabitants of the municipality are distributed in the following localities: Fortuna (town), where 7,342 people live; Los Baños, with a population of 740; La Matanza, whose number of inhabitants is 389; La Gineta; where 252 people reside; Las Casicas, which has a population of 111; La Garapacha, where there are 108 residents; Fuente Blanca, where 60 people live; Caprés, which has a population of 57; Hoyahermosa, where 19 people reside; Zafra de Arriba, which has a population of 15 and Zafra de Abajo, where 5 people live.

Most-observed species

• Eurasian Blackbird

  Turdus merula Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  1,693
• White Wagtail

  Motacilla alba Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  1,511
• Sardinian Warbler

  Curruca melanocephala (J.F.Gmelin, 1789) · Aves
  1,484
• House Sparrow

  Passer domesticus (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  1,458
• Mallard

  Anas platyrhynchos Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  1,261
• Eurasian Collared-Dove

  Streptopelia decaocto (Frivaldszky, 1838) · Aves
  1,220
• European Serin

  Serinus serinus (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  1,178
• Eurasian Moorhen

  Gallinula chloropus (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  1,102