Historical evolution

STARTING POINT

An open structure like a door in the Alameda square will be the starting point to delve into the history of Coín through the layout of the old Caliphate wall, significant points of the presence of water in the city and buildings that will bring you closer to characters, architecture and times of Coín.

ORIGINS

We can begin our historical evolution between the fourth and third millennium BC with the megalithic phenomenon that takes place in the Río Grande basin, as one of the best exponents in the province of Malaga. We could highlight the dolmen of the Cerrete de la Cañada de Algane, siliform structures of the Villares de Algane and the artificial cave of Sendajo del Quemao, remains that can be visited in the archaeological room of the Convent of Santa María de la Encarnación.

A fortified settlement with a material culture linked to agriculture and livestock can be seen at the Llano de la Virgen site, which dates back to the Bronze Age.

On the other hand, the archaeological findings found in the place known as Cerro del Aljibe, according to the type of pieces and the cultural context where they appear, glimpse a chronology around the 6th century BC.

However, the first news we have about the current population center coincides with the Muslim period. Previously it would be occupied by populations inheriting the Hispano-Roman tradition in scattered towns.

The catalyst of the urbanization impulse that will live, not only Coin, but the cities of Al-Garbia will be the ''fitna'' or civil war unleashed by the Mozarabic rebels led by Omar Ibn Hafsun from the year 879. Symbol of this stage It is the Rupestrian Church of Coín.

Excavated in a large limestone rock wall, it is of great importance due to its size, which suggests a large monastic community close to the population center.

Iglesia rupestre de Coín
 
ANDALUSIAN PERIOD 

It is necessary to wait until the beginning of the 10th century for Castro-Dakwan to begin to be valued as a city, coinciding with its fortification by order of the administration of the Caliphate of Córdoba.

Some of the most prestigious medieval historians consider HisnDakwan as a "medina", since it had a "complete fence" and a "Main Mosque". Both its considerable population and the economic level to which travelers and chroniclers refer, in relation to its supremacy as the seat of judicial administration, in addition to the dimensions of the intramural city, clearly point to a consolidated urban.

“Gardens and ponds; the excellence of its fruits are above all weighting; its buildings are like Jawarnaq and Sadir. It is like a vast table full of exquisite delicacies; the stones of its mills roll constantly and the trees are so thick that their branches are linked in a close embrace. A gentle breeze blows there. In short, the fame of this city is proclaimed throughout the world, as a banner waves at all winds”. Ibn Al Jathib

MEDIEVAL URBAN STRUCTURE 

Inside this wall there is a network of streets impregnated with the Islamic conception of space:
-They are tortuous roads, except for a main axis made up of Cuesta de los Molinos-Mesones streets that joins two access doors.
-It lacks open spaces for gathering, with the exception of the parade grounds and markets that were located in the immediate vicinity of the access gates, such as Plaza de San Andrés and Plaza Bermúdez de la Rubia.
-It would also have representative buildings such as the Aljama mosque, then the Church and convent of Santa María, as well as baths and other public places for administration.
-As for the Wall, of Caliphate origin, it would be reinforced only on the elevations of the southern zone, since due to its elevated situation it would be less necessary on the northern margin because it is more steep.
– There would also be suburbs dependent on the city, of which two can be identified: one in the area of Toledillo-Calle Tejas and another in Calle Málaga-Espíritu Santo, also known as the area of the ''Casas Quemadas''.

Plazuela de San Andrés

CONQUEST OF THE CATHOLIC KINGS 

This town was conquered by the Catholic Monarchs in the year 1485, after some skirmishes in which Captain Pedro Ruiz de Alarcón lost his life in an incursion into the fortress, in which, seeing himself mortally wounded, he exclaimed:

"I didn't go into the fight to get out of the fight by running away"

This loss made the Kings order to place more artillery pieces reinforcing the siege, until it finally fell under Castilian power.

URBAN DEVELOPMENT OF THE MODERN AGE 

With the modern age begins a stage of urban development that will have its most important moment from the seventeenth century.

Queen Isabella the Catholic ordered the construction of the Church of San Juan Bautista, because Santa María de la Encarnación had become too small for worship. In a document dated October 23, 1489, she assigned him the site occupied by the Castle, a place originally intended for the Inns. These will be relocated where the street of the same name is currently located, at the back of the church. The task of repopulation and population growth brings with it the overflow of the city. The result will be a development process around the main axes of access to the walled city. Calle Doctor Palomo and Anaya, Calle de la Feria and Vicario Viejo, the neighborhoods of Los Albaicines and those made up of Calle Gallardo and Calle Matadero.

Coín went from being a Muslim city to a convent city, organized around the Convento de los Trinitarios, located at the end of the Alameda, the Convento de Los Agustinos, located in the current park of San Agustín, and the Convento de Santa María, on the old Aljama Mosque.

The old parade ground became public spaces, Plaza Bermúdez de la Rubia and Plaza de San Andrés, and the current Plaza Alameda was created. Architecturally, the façade begins to have importance and the houses begin to be organized from the exterior to the interior.

Antiguo Convento de Santa María de la Encarnación
THE PRESENCE OF THE BISHOPS IN COÍN

It is necessary to highlight the presence of the bishops in Coín, attracted by the richness and abundance of its water, the great fertility of its lands and its mild climate. Hence the existence of the only episcopal palace in the province for the residence of the high ecclesiastical authorities, ordered to be built by the fifth Bishop of Málaga Don Bernardo Manrique in 1541, next to the Church of San Juan.

The work of Monsignor Eulate Santa Cruz was very important, who commissioned and paid for four of the main fountains of the municipality in the year 1754, one in the Plaza Alta (Alameda), another in his Episcopal Palace (today disappeared), another in the Plaza Lower (Plaza Bermúdez de la Rubia) and the fourth by donation to the Clarisas nuns of the convent of La Encarnación. This palace was also enjoyed by Monsignor José Vicente Lamadrid, bishop who erected the church of San Andrés in the Hospital de la Caridad, built the road from Coín to Málaga, the so-called ''Paseo del Obispo'', and the well-known ''Huerta del Bishop'', which are still preserved today.

Plaza Alameda
ADVISORY OF THE FOUR VILLAS 

The monarchs handed over these lands, along with most of the surrounding towns, to the jurisdiction and protection of Malacitana. They maintained themselves in this way until they achieved, not without great effort, their independence in the third decade of the 1600s through the commitment to pay amounts that we can consider exorbitant for the local economies. This led to the formation of the Corregimiento of "Las Cuatro Villas de la Hoya de Málaga", a legal system of joint government for Coín, Álora, Cártama and Alhaurín el Grande, maintaining the permanent seat of the corregidor, his house, that of his family, servants and slaves in Coín.

The corregidores were the representatives of the absolute power of the sovereign, they exercised administrative functions by presiding over the town councils, they administered justice, controlled the economic life and acted as representatives of the military establishment; In a word, they dominated all the levers of power in an absolute manner. From the date of the first of the corregidores (1666) until the Cortes of Cádiz abolished it in 1808, the corregimiento system was in force in the towns of Guadalhorce, with a greater or lesser degree of rapport between its inhabitants and their foreign leaders.

THE PRESENCE OF WATER

Irrigated agriculture constituted the main economic resource of Coín from the Andalusian period until practically the middle of the 20th century, being one of the main landscape and economic legacies bequeathed by al-Andalus.

The water marks the beginning of the historical trajectory of Coin. Its origins in the 10th century are due to the course that the waters take from the source in a natural way, taking advantage of the fall of the land for irrigation due to flooding or unevenness. The engineering applied to the orchards, as well as to grind mills, will also be used to convey drinking water to the Villa.

This hydraulic infrastructure is one of the most important singularities of the municipality. Composed of springs (water birth points), atanores (ceramic pipes), alcubillas systems (water straw distribution tanks, 4 l/min), water thieves (the alcubillas interconnect at different heights) and of course by the sources. Fountains, public and private, that flood our streets, patios and squares.

Rio Nacimiento
DEVELOPMENT OF THE BOURGEOISIE 

In the contemporary stage, specifically at the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, Coín experienced an industrial boom, with the development of the bourgeoisie. The houses located on the axis that goes from San Agustín to Plaza Alameda, passing through c/ Vicario, Plaza Escamilla and c/ la Feria, are notably improved, large manor houses are built, which are organized around a main axis that joins the door with the patio, garden or orchard, creating a very rich and stately typology.

Another singularity that this time leaves us are the marble sidewalks, extracted from the local quarries. The white and blue marble from Coín has already been exported since the modern age to palaces and churches throughout Andalusia.

With these and more vicissitudes, we have reached the current Coin. A city to discover, full of corners, recesses, interiors, water, stories and characters.