Cáñar

Cáñar, one of the first villages on the west side of the Alpujarra in Granada, shares the typical features of all Alpujarra villages, i.e. a single type of architecture in the buildings, adapted to the structure of the land and to the climate of the AREA, which is characterized by narrow streets with memories of a Moorish past.

History

The history of Cañar runs in a parallel history to other villages in Alpujarra, an AREA that, due to its geographical isolation has developed its own characteristic culture. It had its moment of splendour under the Arab Andalusian period when all of the Alpujarra was an important agricultural centre, specializing in silk production.

After the Christian re-conquest of Granada in 1492 by the Catholic Monarchs, the population suffered to an unbearable extreme and thus, in 1568, Hernando de Córdoba y Válor, a rich landowner proclaimed himself as Abén Humeya, uprising against Phillip ll, causing a general revolt amongst the Moors from all over the kingdom of Granada.

In a farmhouse, called the alquería de Fex, Fárax aben Fárax, one of Aben Humeya's deputies, was made prisoner. He, in revenge, destroyed the whole hamlet. King Philip II granted Cáñar the title of Villa as a gratification for its supportive role. Internal disagreements amongst the Moors, who in 1569 assassinated Abén Humeya, allowed Don Juan de Austria to terminate this revolt. The Moors were eventually expelled in 1609.The Alpujarra was later inhabited by peasants from Galicia, León, Asturias and Castile.
Nearby there was a hamlet called Barja that was destroyed by the 1816 floods.
According to the chronicles, in 1832 the tower of the church in Cáñar was demolished to the bell tower because "it was tall, graceful and could be knocked down by the wind."