Tobarra

History

The settlement of Tobarra is ancient: prehistoric tools and spears have been found at its boundaries, and the Santa Ana valley contains Iberian graves. The origin of the name Tobarra is Arabic from the word "Tabarrah". Tobarra was inhabited before the Roman conquest of the Iberian Peninsula, as shown by the fact that the Via Romana which connected Complutum (Alcalá de Henares) with Carthago Nova (Cartagena) was diverted several kilometres to pass through Tobarra, and afterward continued on its way to Illunum (Minateda). During the Visigoth era a hermitage was carved out of the rock, a short distance from the current city centre, beside a quarry that was used from Roman times until well into the 17th century. In the Muslim era a castle and a mosque (now gone) were built, as well as an extensive irrigation network. Some of the original wells from the Andalusian era still continue to supply water to an area that was, for many years, the most important orchard of Albacete. In 1243 the area of Alcaraz was reconquered by "Infante Alfonso" (the future Alfonso X of Castile), although it soon regained its independence. Ferdinand IV of Castile granted the city a franchise that would be confirmed by the successive kings and nobles of Tobarra until the era of the Catholic Monarchs. In 1324 an expedition of Nasri Moors devastated Tobarra and took part of its enslaved population to Granada, which at that time had already fallen under the influence of the powerful Señorío de Villena, who would soon become Marquess. In 1476 it was definitively joined to the Spanish crown. On Easter Sunday 1766, Tobarra became the second place in Spain, after Madrid, to rise up against food shortages, in the Esquilache Riots. (Indeed, the Marquis of Esquilache had slept in Tobarra the night…

Most-observed species

• Eurasian Magpie

  Pica pica (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  69
• Common Wood-Pigeon

  Columba palumbus Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  68
• Eurasian Coot

  Fulica atra Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  52
• Spotless Starling

  Sturnus unicolor Temminck, 1820 · Aves
  44
• Mallard

  Anas platyrhynchos Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  43
• White Wagtail

  Motacilla alba Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  40
• Eurasian Marsh-Harrier

  Circus aeruginosus (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  38
• European Goldfinch

  Carduelis carduelis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  37