HISTORY OF BERJA
Berja is thought to be of Iberian origin. Its Roman heritage is more assured, having been the Vergis of Roman Betica, from which period the remains of the Villavieja amphitheater stand out. The Romans left other artistic vestiges including the early Christian sarcophagus of Alcaudique (currently exhibited in the National Archaeological Museum) . The Roman occupation of the area was followed by that of the Arabs, who stayed here for eight centuries and brought Vega de Berja to its maximum splendor, thanks to silk that was appreciated throughout the world.
Almost a century after the Castilian conquest, which took place here in 1489, a revolt took place, known as Navidades de Sangre (Christmas of Blood - Christmas Eve 1568) , in which almost all the Christians who inhabited these lands were murdered. This initiated the War of the Alpujarras, which could well have changed the course of the town’s history. The only private tower-fortress that is preserved in the whole of the Alpujarra remains in Berja today as evidence of this turbulent time of conflict; today, it houses the Municipal Tourist Office and a site Museum about the Moorish rebellion.
It was here in Berja that Aben Humeya suffered his main defeat, after a bloody battle that reduced his troops and that determined the outcome of the War in favor of the Christians. Even so, the resistance that the Moors continued to pose was such that it was Commander-in-chief of the Royal Forces, D. Juan de Austria who ended the War, not without the help of the elite Spanish troops of the time, the famous Tercios de Flandes.
After centuries of attacks by Berber pirates from the coast, supported by the “monfies” bandits from the mountains, it wasn’t until the end of the eighteenth century that Berja started to regain its splendor, thanks to the abundance of lead from the Sierra de Gádor. Suffice to say that, in the midst of the European industrial revolution, the world price of lead was regulated according to the production of this mountain range. Berja received the title of city in 1876.
