History

Yegen, also of Arab origin, had at that time two separate districts that exist nowadays.

Most of the current inhabitants are descendants of the settlers who came from northern and central Spain to repopulate the area after the definitive expulsion of the Arabs in the 16th century.

Later, in the late 19th and early 20th century, this became a land of emigrants, particularly people looking to make their fortune in the Americas. This emigration persisted throughout the whole of the century, although the destinations moved closer to home, and in the 1980s included primarily destinations such as Andorra, Germany and Switzerland. This trend has now reversed, and recently particularly English, Dutch and Germans citizens have themselves bought a large number of properties to refurbish and inhabit or for the purposes of rural tourism. Numerous former emigrants have also returned to enjoy their old age in the village they have never forgotten.

The British Hispanist Gerald Brenan lived in this place for the years between 1920 and 1934 and immortalised these corners of the Alpujarras in his works.