History

Ferreira, of Latin origin, refers to the mineral "iron", which is very abundant in this AREA. The Arab Andalusian geographer, al-Idrisi (12th century) describes it in his chronicles as a fortified place, famous too for its chestnuts because they would open up by themselves. Ferreira runs in a parallel history to other villages on the north and south faces of Sierra Nevada. After the Christian reconquest 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. Internal disagreements amongst the Moors, who murdered Abén Humeya in 1569, allowed Don Juan de Austria to put an end to the revolt. The Moors were eventually expelled in 1609. These lands, rich in mineral sites, were called the Sened by the Arabs and inhabited later by people from Galicia and Castile. Eventually, they became part of the Marquisate of the Zenete, firstly granted to Don Rodrigo de Mendoza.