Mazarrón is a municipality in Murcia, south-east Spain. It is on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea and has an area of . It had a population of 31,562 in 2019.Instituto Nacional de Estadistica, Madrid, 2019.
The Bay of Mazarrón is sheltered by the foothills of the Sierra de la Almenara, a mining area since the Carthaginian era. The Bay has over 35 km of beaches, unspoiled coves and rocky sea beds. The beach at Bolnuevo is of coarse grit, as are most beaches along this part of the coast.
A military fortification built in the 1930s is a tourist attraction, and is located on the old road between Mazarrón and Cartagena, just outside the municipality.
The 'Torre de los Caballos' tower was built to defend the town from pirate raids that occurred from the mid-16th to the early 18th centuries.
The economic development of the early 20th century led to the construction of buildings in the style known as Murcian Modernism, including the Mazarrón Town Hall and the former Cultural Athenaeum.
Geography - Physical & Human
Physical geography Mazarrón is in the south of the Region of Murcia. It borders on Cartagena and Fuente Álamo to the east, Alhama de Murcia and Totana to the north. Lorca to the west and the Mediterranean Sea to the south.
The main landform of the municipality is a mountain range named Sierra de Las Moreras, which is located in the west. In regards to waterbeds, there is not any river, but there are several arroyos (creeks) or ramblas and a remarkable one is Rambla de Las Moreras. There is also a group of three ponds named Lagunas de Las Moreras.
Human geography This municipality has 13 towns and villages. These are Mazarrón which is in the southern half and is inhabited by 12,478 people; Puerto de Mazarrón, located in the south and home to 10,253 people; Saladillo, in the northern half and with a population of 3,086; Ifre-Cañada de Gallego, located in the southeast and occupied by 1,194 people; Balsicas, in the east, is home to 1,174 people; Moreras (where Bolnuevo is included), is in the southern half and is inhabited by 1,034 people; Garrobo, in the northern half, has a population of 475; Leiva, in the southwestern quarter, is home to 306 people; Majada in the east is inhabited by 200 people; Ifre-Pastrana, located in the southwest and inhabited by 456 people; Gañuelas, in the northwest, has a population of 75; Rincones is located in the eastern half and is home to 27 people, and Mingrano in the east, which is occupied by 23 residents.
History
Prehistory The most ancient data which are known about the territory corresponding to the current municipality date from the Middle and Upper Paleolithic. There are some archaeological sites such one which is placed in Permera Cave, other which is located in Los Tollos ravine, one which is named La Peñica and another one whose name is Las Palomas. The two last ones are placed in the hillock Cabezo del Faro.
The remains of these spots consist of material related to manufactured tools such as flint spear tips, scrapers, racloirs and hammerstones. There were also another ones related to ritual burials. As glaciations ended, prehistory communities organizations were developing.
When the sedentism appeared, some material such as ceramic and some structures such as the first megalithic burial sites in Palomarico Cave and Caballo Cave emerged.
In regards to Chalcolithic and Bronze Age in this current municipality, a prehistoric hamlet in a local range named Sierra de las Moreras can be mentioned. A cemetery is located in this ancient locality, but nowadays the only remains of this necropolis consist of a circle-shaped megalithic tumulus.
There are also other sites related to these eras such as Ifre, La Ciñuela, one of which is placed in a hillock named Cabezo Negro and another one which is located in a beach whose name is Playas de Calnegre. These ones have argaric origins.
In regards to Iron Age, the presence of Phoenicians in this territory was meaningful. Two Phoenician vessels were discovered in the beaches of Mazarrón. This fact led Mazarrón to be an appealing point related to underwater archaeology.
The main activities of this civilization in this territory were the ones related to mining. In this lands these people realized the broad possibilities, especially fishing and plumber mining. The abundance of this mineral has been constant during the history of this current municipality and the mineral was a main resource in the mining activities in Mazarrón.
Phoenicians were who introduced in plumber in this area, but they did not build lengthy settlements. A noteworthy fact of this civilization is the advance in shipbuilding.
During this period there was also Hellenic presence, but their influence in Mazarrón lower than the Phoenician one. Nevertheless, they also set trading routes which affected this village.
Some centuries after the Phoenicians and Greeks, there was an Iberian presence in this area, but this occupancy left few traces.
Ancient history From 209 BC when the Second Punic War was being fought between Rome and Carthage, Romans conquered Qart-Hadast the current city of Cartagena which bought a large part of the Iberian Peninsula under Roman control including the area of Mazarrón, settling a town they called Ficaria.
Mining was very important in the Roman era in the Mazarrón area and there are archaeological remnants of the Roman presence. A noteworthy archaeological site related to Romans is the Villa del Alamillo. There are also remains of marble statues of the Roman goddess Ceres.
The Romans also built facilities to producing the common Roman sauce garum which consisted of fermented fish entrails (particularly mackerell). They also produced a fish salting factory, the remains of which have been developed into a museum.
Middle Ages and Early modern period In the year 711 AD there was a Muslim conquer of great part of the Iberian Peninsula, in particular it was carried out by an Islamic Berber conquering party. Consequently, Mazarrón became part of Al-Andalus, the territory in the Iberian Peninsula under Muslim government and control and also a province of the Umayyad Caliphate.
Due to the Reconquista, the territory became quite uninhabited. In that period Mazarrón was part of the conciliium (a governmental institution of that era) of Lorca. An important construction of this era period is the Vélez Castle.
On 1 August 1572 the king Philip II of Spain conceded Mazarrón the status of villa (a status of localities in that era). Since that fact, an own towncouncil was avoidable for Mazarrón and its period as a municipality (which remains nowadays) started.
Mining activities, as traditionally, was an economy activity in that period and as a consequence an economic rise took occurred.
In that period, besides the economic rise, there was also insecurity in the territory due to pirate entrances and attacks. As a consequence, some towers were built in the municipality.
From 18th century fishing became moderately important and in previous periods this fishing importance did not exist. This significance endures nowadays. The Crown and other institutions began to promote this activity. Other economic activity which began to be done in this century is the alum transportation.
As a result of those economic activities a need of building dwellings on the coast rose. However, there wasn't a weighty town in that area before the 19th century.
Late modern period and Contemporary era In the 19th century, mining continued being an activity an it underwent a boom. This mining rush underwent its peak in the 1840s and mining extraction was favoured by the law. This apogee in mining led to a progress in the environment, many investments, a lot of immigration, electric streetlight, railways, important buildings, miner hospital, etc.
The municipality got into a decline due to the depletion of mining resources in the early 20th century. The decaying situation in which there were even famine spells, was very connected to the political and social situation of the whole country.
The crisis of the municipality has some symptoms such as the decrement of the number of inhabitants - In the year 1900, 23,284 people were living there and 63 years after the number of inhabitants was 17,630. During those years, people in the village just tried to survive and foreign capital stop being invested in Mazarrón. This last fact emphasized the crisis.
Mazarrón began to leave the situation of recession because the economic activity was addressed to other areas and they would bring this territory its current characteristics. During the 20th century the society changed the economic activities from mining to agriculture, construction and tourism.
Demographics 36.98% of the inhabitants are foreigners - 11.29% from other countries of Europe, 12.94% are Africans, 4.27% are Americans and 167 Asian people reside there. The table below shows the population trends during the 20th and 21st centuries by the beginning of their decades. +190019101920193019401950196019701981199120012011Population23,36222,87818,20614,12011,9289,5019,9989,19110,27014,59120,84134,442
Economical Growth In regards to primary sector, the main activities that are performed in the municipality are agriculture and fishing. 21.9% of the territory is used for crops purposes. The most grown products are tomatoes and cucumbers. Greenhouses are quite frequent. The main sea species that are obtained are sardines and prawns. Due to the tourism in Mazarrón, the service sector has a high weight in the territory. In 2013, 44.97% of the agreements corresponded to agricultural sector and 52.39% of the workers had jobs as labourers. In regards to the service area, 51.05% of the agreements were present, and 15.18% were corresponding to waiter job.
Government As generally in Spain, the governors of Mazarrón are elected indirectly from the votes for political parties that take place in the municipality and autonomous community elections day every four years. The governors compose the pleno (a government body), which has 21 members in Mazarrón. The alcalde (head governor in a municipality) of Mazarrón elects 7 members from the pleno in order to form the junta de gobierno. The alcalde and three members else belong to PSOE (Partido Socialista Obrero Español) party and three members belong to UIDM (Unión Independiente de Mazarrón) party. Besides the governors in the junta de gobierno, seven partisans of Partido Popular, two partisans of Ciudadanos and one partisan of Vox are members of the pleno. Governing party2007–2011Partido Popular2011–2015UIDM and PSOE (successively)2015–2019Partido Popular2019–2023Partido Socialista Obrero Español
Transportation A road, which name is N-332 and connects Valencia and Vera, traverses the south of the municipality. A public highway named A7 and a private motorway named AP-7 stretch the municipality and can be seen near the main town.
There are bus services for movements to Murcia, Cartagena, Alhama de Murcia and Totana from Mazarrón and Puerto de Mazarrón.
Healthcare Facilities Mazarrón is included in the Health area II, which main place is Cartagena. In this area there are two subareas related to the municipality: Mazarrón and Puerto de Mazarrón. There is a consultorio (primary care health centre with fewer functions and less specialised than the centros de salud) in Camposol and another in La Majada. A centro de salud (primary care health centre) can be found in Mazarrón and another in Puerto de Mazarrón.
Education Mazarrón has four primary and pre-primary education centres and two secondary schools. Puerto de Mazarrón has three early childhood and primary education centres and one secondary school. Two early childhood and primary education centres are located in other parts of the municipality.