History of Láchar
The earliest known human settlements date back to the Neolithic period, when people chose the most fertile lands to settle. Subsequently, Vega de Granada was inhabited by the Turduli, Phoenicians, Carthaginians, and Romans. Láchar, due to its elevated location near the Genil River, was home to some of these peoples.
Near Lacen, the name given to Láchar by the Phoenicians and Romans, there are Roman archaeological sites, such as the ancient Villa Rústica of Adamucejo (present-day Daimuz Bajo) and Daragoleja, which administratively belonged to the Roman villa of Ilurco.
In the year 709, the Chronicles mention the construction of a Visigothic palace by Count Julian, governor of Ceuta and Tangier. According to legend, the Count took his daughter to the royal palace in Toledo as a lady-in-waiting to Queen Egilona, where she was allegedly abused by King Roderic. Don Julián ordered the construction of the small palace in Láchar to hide his daughter from the King’s clutches, but, eager for revenge, Don Julián allowed the Arabs to enter the Iberian Peninsula, where they defeated Don Rodrigo at the Battle of Guadalete, thus beginning the unstoppable Muslim invasion.
With the arrival of the Arabs, the hamlet of Al-Áchar appeared in the Vega, its lands belonging to Boabdil’s mother: Queen Mother Aixa. In 1431, the hamlet was attacked by Constable Álvaro de Luna to prevent it from supplying food to the city of Granada.
After the Reconquista, Láchar became part of the Soto de Roma (royal property), but there are records of a complaint from 1568 filed by Don Álvaro de Luna claiming these properties; ultimately, these lands passed to the Benalúa family, stewards of the Royal Household.
In 1700, they adopted the title of Counts, granted by the Royal Household for their services, and Láchar became a seigniory; the reconstruction of the small palace, as it stands today, dates from this period.
In 1870, the Lord of Benalúa y Las Villas became Duke of San Pedro de Galatino. During a trip to America, he observed the cultivation of sugar beets and, upon his return, introduced it to the Granada plains. In Láchar, he built a sugar factory and the irrigation canal that still exists today: the Canal del Duque (Duke’s Canal). In addition to a power plant, making it one of the first towns in the area with electricity, Don Julio Quesada-Cañaveral also proposed an initial project for the construction of what is now the Bermejales Reservoir, intending to improve irrigation for his lands, but this project was never realised.
During the Second Spanish Republic, in 1934, the Duke voluntarily surrendered his lands to the people, making Láchar a pioneer in agrarian reform.
Later, in 1940, the National Institute of Agrarian Colonisation purchased the estate that remained in the Benalúa family’s possession. A chapel was built alongside the small palace, where members of the family were buried until it became necessary to expand the structure, at which point their remains were transferred to Granada Cathedral. Currently, the title of ‘Duke of San Pedro and Lord of Láchar’ is held by someone who does not live in the town.
In the 1960s, the town of Peñuelas was created within its municipal boundaries by the National Institute of Colonization, becoming Láchar’s only hamlet.