Alqueria

An alquería (Spanish:

An alquería is a small rural community formed by a few houses. The inhabitants were usually one or more families who made a living exploiting the surrounding lands, including farming and rearing livestock.[1] The word alquería can be traced back to the 15th century.^[3] In the

The lands to the west the Las Hurdes region in Extremadura was depopulated after the muslim conquest of the Iberian Peninsula in the 8th century, and the first vestiges of re-population in isolated compounds of a few dwellings or hamlets, locally known as alquerías, are dated around the end of the 12th century.^[4]

Many of the alquerías in the modern sense have disappeared. Some adopted different activities, such as mills or workshops, although many of them were abandoned through lack of use or depopulation. Moreover, in the urban expansionary policy, the alquerías are goods which are coveted in terms of the economic value that the greenfield that they occupy has.^[3] All this has implied that many of the alquerías that still exist are threatened with ruin. Some, of private property, have been restored as dwellings, usually as second residences, but they are not the most numerous ones.^[3] Due to the rise of the rural tourism, many of the rest ones have been adapted to the hotel trade as accommodations or restaurants, other cultural centers or museums.^{[citation needed]}

Typologies

Valencian alquerías

In the typical Valencian alquería, the floor is a rectangle, which is sometimes joined with another perpendicular one, thus forming a

Others, however, were not that lucky and they disappeared as a result of the exodus to big cities.

Companies using this name

Since this name is so characteristic of the Valencian land, many companies have adopted it for their trade names.

See also

• Cortijo

References