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The village of today with its castle was the site
of a Roman community known in Latin as Castra Vinaria.
Crudely translated this means the "fortress of wine", which could
have some truth. The hillsides are perfect for wine growing and
the ruined castle stands on the site of a Roman fortification. The
Roman community was well served by a paved road running from Málaga
to Ronda, traces of which can be seen today. One stretch can be
found running south towards Málaga and the other going west towards
Ronda. A paved side road led south to a small Roman settlement known
today as Tavilla.
The Moors remodelled both fortress and village for
their own use. The Arabic invaders took the Latin name and corrupted
it to Csar Bonaira. Much of the existing ruins date from
the 10th century, after the Mozarabe uprising that was
centred nearby at Bobastro. The castle was one of the last
to fall to the Arabs in 922, when Abd Al Rahmann III used it as
a base. The castle was one of strategic importance, as views of
other white villages can be seen all the way down to Málaga and
the coast.
It was known that the castle and by this stage a walled town was going to be a hard nut to crack. An obscure reference suggests that the Christians made an attempt to take the town as early as 1366. However under Mohammed V, based in Granada, reinforcements were obtained from North Africa. The borders of his small kingdom stabilised and the Christians remained in Zahara on the other side of Ronda for a further 120 years.
According to the chronicles, the castle was well
defended by the Moors. Another Christian attempt was made on 21
June 1484 but failed when its leader Count Belalcazar was killed
by an arrow outside the walls. Whether the town and castle was then
besieged is not known, but the castle did not fall until 2 June
1485. After a heavy toll on both sides, the castle and town surrendered
to Sancho de Rojas, in the name of the Catholic King, Don
Fernando. Almost immediately martial law was enforced and Sancho
de Rojas was appointed mayor.
Extensive population studies of the Moorish population between 1492 and 1500 have been conducted. What strikes any student of this period is the large population when compared to much of the surrounding area. The pueblo had 240 families when compared to Tolox, which only had 186 and Yunquera just 55. The Moorish population seems to have remained constant during this period. A church record confirms that the village had 97 cows, 66 oxen and 3,126 goats. Though the cattle numbers are low when compared to the local villages, the number of goats is double to the surrounding pueblos. This probably explains why the village was only taken after a hard fight, due to high number of defenders.
Obviously social conflict soon boiled over, as the
Moors were forced to convert to Christianity. This was fuelled by
the Inquisition which visited the village in 1560, and found 31
persons guilty. This was too much for the Moriscos and
they openly revolted along with the whole region during Christmas
1568. This led to a two year civil war with the village only falling
to Christian control again in 1570. Almost immediately any one suspected
was executed or expelled, which led to the depopulation of the Moriscos.
An interesting footnote can be found in a book called
Andalucia, written by Nina Epton. The mayor at the time
of Carratraca was from Casarabonela, and Nina described him with
delicate Moorish features and hands. She further quoted that the
inhabitants are still referred to as Moriscos by the neighbouring
locality. (Though the mayor was only a shepherd boy with seven months
schooling under his belt, during the Civil War, he was billeted
in Salvador Dali's house in Cadaques. There he made use of an extensive
library and educated himself over the months he was there).
To attract settlers from Extremadura King Phillip
II gave the village a charter in 1574 granting it the title of Villa
or town. The charter still exists in the town hall archives.
By 1781 the population had reached 2,800 and over
the next 200 years it was to peak at 5,148. However today the numbers
have fallen to levels last seen back to the 18th century. This is
a common theme and the mother of one of Hollywood's hottest properties,
Antonio
Banderas came from the pueblo.
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