History - Rubite
The origin of the word “Rubite” is the Mozarabism word for “blackberry”. The village’s foundation preceded the Islamic invasion but there is nothing written on the settlement until the eleventh century when it was then known as Rubayt, which means “Little Rábita”. Under Nasrid rule, from the thirteenth to the fifteenth century, the territory constituted by Sierra Lújar-Contraviesa corresponded to the Alpujarran Tahas of Sahuk, later called Suhayl by the Castilians (Great and Little Cehel). In these mountains the Berber peasants of the Contraviesa cultivated orchards that they irrigated with water from ancient springs and aquifers.
Several Almohad rural cisterns remain, highlighting that of Loma del Aljibe, where we can enjoy the Mirador del Aljibe and spectacular views of the Sierra Nevada and the Mediterranean. During the sixteenth century, the forced conversion of the Mudejars led to the flight of a significant number of Moors to North Africa, leaving the area depopulated. With repopulation during the eighteenth century, the area notably increased its population and economic prosperity, where viticulture was the fundamental source of income.
The locals have always been called “Los Güenos de Rubite”. The origin must be sought in an event that occurred at the beginning of the nineteenth century involving a family with the surname Bueno. In the fall of 1810, a routine patrol of the French army surprised members of the Bueno family on their properties. The confrontation of the Buenos with the French ended the lives of the Gabacho soldiers, the story spreading quickly throughout the surrounding areas and the Buenos remained an example of patriotism for all the neighbours.
After the re-conquest, the town was completely depopulated and shortly after it became dependent on the Lordship of Albuñol, purchased by Luis Zapata y Portocarrero from Queen Juana. In the seventeenth century, the sale of land and houses to farmers in the region was authorised, although paying the corresponding census to the Conde de Cifuentes. The decline of vine cultivation in the nineteenth century forced it to make almond trees its main production.
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